Thursday 28th March 2024

Home » Pope Francis » Recent Articles:

Pope: the patience of God’s people keeps the Church going

February 18, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope: the patience of God’s people keeps the Church going

2014-02-17 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) The people of God endure the challenges of daily life with faith and patience. That – Pope Francis said – is what keeps the Church going. Speaking at morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Monday, the Pope commented on the Letter of St. James in which he says:  “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds”. Patience he explained – has nothing to do with resignation – “when we endure trials with faith they ripen our lives”. He who wants everything immediately – the Pope said – he who does not know the wisdom of patience and perseverance is like a spoilt child. That kind of person – he added –…Continue Reading

Pope Francis meets with engaged couples in St. Peter’s Square

February 17, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis meets with engaged couples in St. Peter’s Square

2014-02-14 Vatican Radio  (VIS/Vatican Radio) Ten thousand engaged couples from all over the world gathered today, on the feast of St. Valentine, in St. Peter’s Square to consider the vocation of marriage, with the theme “The joy of ‘Yes’ forever”, and to meet with Pope Francis. The event, organised by the Pontifical Council for the Family, takes as its starting point the idea that one does not get married once all problems are solved, but rather that one marries in order to face problems together, and concludes that it is still possible to take the risk of saying “forever”, that it takes courage, but “forever” is a prospect that brings joy and allows us to look to the future with…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Sunday Angelus

February 16, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Sunday Angelus

2014-02-16 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful in St Peter’s Square this Sunday. Bright sunshine and unseasonable warmth in the air encouraged 50 thousand people to gather beneath the window to the Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. Ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, they heard the Holy Father speak of the day’s Gospel reading, taken from that according to St. Matthew (5:17-37). In that Gospel reading, Our Lord is delivering his Sermon on the Mount – specifically, the part of the sermon in which Jesus addresses the question of His relationship to the Law of Moses. “Jesus does not want to erase the commandments that the Lord gave through Moses,” explained…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Walk Joyfully As Lamb Of The Lord

February 15, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Walk Joyfully As Lamb Of The Lord

2014-02-14 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) A true Christian is someone who walks joyfully through the world as a lamb of the Lord. These were the words of Pope Francis at Mass on Friday morning in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. Commenting on the day’s first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, Pope Francis reflected on the nature of Christian identity, noting that a Christian is first of all someone who is “sent”: the Lord sends his disciples out into the world to proclaim the Gospel, so a Christian is a disciple “who walks, who always moves forward”. A Christian who stands still “is sick”, the Pope said, because the first marker of Christian identity is the capacity “to…Continue Reading

Pope Mass: Faith in the word of God leads to salvation

February 14, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Mass: Faith in the word of God leads to salvation

2014-02-13 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Believers can lose their faith because of passion and vanity, while a pagan can become a believer through his or her humility. Those were the Pope’s comments during his Homily at morning Mass Thursday at the Casa Santa Marta. Lydia O’Kane reports. In his Homily at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis, referring to Thursday’s readings recalled a courageous woman, a pagan, who asks Jesus to free her daughter from the devil. Jesus , recounted the pope, says to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replies“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Eucharist Leads Us To Help Those Most In Need

February 13, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Eucharist Leads Us To Help Those Most In Need

2014-02-12 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) The Eucharist is not just a weekly way of celebrating our faith, but should radically affect our relationship with others, especially with those most in need. That was the message Pope Francis shared with the crowds gathered in St Peter’s square for his general audience on Wednesday.  How do we experience the Eucharist, Pope Francis asked the crowds gathered in a sunny St Peter’s Square on Wednesday? Does it just make us feel good about ourselves or is it something more than that? He suggested three ways of discovering how the Eucharist can make a real difference in our lives and in our relationships with those around us. The first clue, Pope Francis said, is…Continue Reading

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI A Year From His Resignation

February 12, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI A Year From His Resignation

2014-02-11 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) It was exactly one year ago, on February 11th, 2013, that the then-Pope, Benedict XVI, stunned the Church and the world with the announcement of his resignation, effective just over two weeks later, at the end of the month. The resignation set in motion a series of events, the momentum of which is still very much with us. Since his resignation took effect, however, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI has stayed largely out of the public eye: “withdrawn from the world,” as he himself described his circumstances. Nevertheless, the man who served nearly eight years as bishop of Rome and then became the first Pope in nearly 600 years to resign the office, continues his life of…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Rediscover A ‘Sense Of The Sacred’

February 11, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Rediscover A ‘Sense Of The Sacred’

2014-02-10 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) To rediscover the sense of the sacred, the mystery of the Real Presence of God in the Mass: that was Pope Francis’ invitation during the Eucharistic celebration this morning at Casa Santa Marta. The first Reading of the day speaks about the “theophany” of God in the time of Solomon the king. The Lord came down like a cloud upon the temple, which was filled with the glory of God. The Lord, the Pope said, speaks to His people in many ways: through the prophets, the priests, the Sacred Scriptures. But with the theophanies, He speaks in another way, “different from the Word: it is another presence, closer, without mediation, near. It is His presence.”…Continue Reading

Mass at Santa Marta – Return to the first Galilee

January 13, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Mass at Santa Marta – Return to the first Galilee

2014-02-08 L’Osservatore Romano Pope Francis focused his homily on “the image of a disciple” at the Mass he celebrated on Friday morning, 7 February, in the Chapel of Santa Marta. Inspired by the story of John the Baptist’s ministry and death, as told in the Gospel of Mark (6:14-29), the Pope said that John was “a man who had a short life, a short time to announce the Word of God”. He was “the man who God sent to prepare the way for his Son”. But “John’s death is brutal”; he was beheaded at the order of Herod. He became “the price of a show for the royal court gathered at a banquet”. “Where the court was concerned many things…Continue Reading