Pope Francis sends condolences to victims of Hurricane Harvey

August 31, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Vatican City, Aug 31, 2017 / 08:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday, Pope Francis voiced his sympathy to those suffering from the effects of Hurricane Harvey, offering prayers for the victims and rescue workers.

In an Aug. 31 letter to Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Pope offered his “spiritual closeness and pastoral concern” to all those affected by “the violent hurricane that swept through the states of Texas and Louisiana in these days.”

Signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the letter said Francis has been “deeply moved by the tragic loss of life and the immense material devastation that this natural catastrophe has left in its wake.”

The Pope then offered his prayer for the victims and their families, and for all those involved in “the vital work of relief, recovery and rebuilding.”

So far Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in Houston last week and is the most powerful storm to hit Texas in 50 years, has caused some 37 deaths and has left thousands stranded or forced to evacuate their homes, according to CNN.

After ravishing swaths of east Houston, the storm moved on to Port Arthur and has now hit Louisiana, making landfall early Wednesday morning and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Although flood waters in Houston are finally beginning to recede, roughly one-third of the city is still covered in water, and rescuers are unsure how many people are still in need of assistance.

Early Wednesday morning two explosions were heard at the Arkema chemical plant, which is located in Crosby, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Houston, and had lost power during the flooding. Authorities on the ground expect that there will be more explosions as a result of the storm.

In his telegram, Pope Francis voiced his confidence that the “immense and immediate” needs of the thousands affected will continue to prompt “a vast outpouring of solidarity and mutual aid in the best traditions of the nation.”

He renewed his assurance of prayer, and offered his blessing “as a pledge of consolation, strength and peace in the Lord.”

 

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Pope offers Mass alongside patriarch of Melkite Greek Church

February 13, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Feb 13, 2018 / 06:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At Mass at Santa Marta Tuesday, Pope Francis concelebrated Mass with the patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Youssef Absi, saying that offering the liturgy together is like an embrace between the two Churches.

“This is what the ceremony of today means: the embrace of the father of a Church with Peter. A rich Church, with its own theology within the Catholic theology, with its own wonderful liturgy, and with a people,” the Pope said Feb. 13.

Speaking in place of a homily, Francis noted how a great number of the people of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church are being “crucified, like Jesus.”

He also said that the Mass was being offered “for the people that suffer, for persecuted Christians in the Middle East, who give their lives, give their goods, their properties, because they are driven away. And we also offer Mass for the ministry of our brother Youssef.”

At the end of the Mass, Patriarch Youssef, who concelebrated, offered his own words to the Pope, saying that he was moved by “his fraternal charity, by the gestures of fraternity, of solidarity that he has shown to our Church during this Mass.”

“We promise to keep it always in our hearts, in the heart of all of us, clergy and faithful, and we will always remember this event, these historical moments, this moment that I cannot describe for how beautiful it is: this fraternity, this communion that binds all disciples of Christ.”

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite in full communion with Rome. It consists of some 1.5 million members and is based in Syria and Lebanon, with most of its eparchies in the Arab world. It also has structures to serve the Melkite diaspora in Australia, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.

On Feb. 12, Pope Francis met with bishops of the Greek-Melkite synod, assuring the patriarch and bishops of his closeness in prayer.

In his speech, the Pope remarked on the presence of their Church in the Middle East, in particular Syria, where their Church “is deeply rooted and performs a precious service for the good of the People of God.”

He also extended his prayer for all the people and priests of the Church throughout the world. “In this difficult historical period, many Christian communities in the Middle East are called to live their faith in the Lord Jesus in the midst of many trials,” he said.

“I sincerely hope that with their testimony of life, the Greek-Melkite bishops and priests can encourage the faithful to remain in the land where Divine Providence has wanted them to be born.”

Francis said that on Feb. 23 he has called for a special day of prayer and fasting for peace, and that on that occasion he would not fail to make special mention of Syria, which has been hit in recent years “by unspeakable suffering.”

Referencing the most recent assembly of the synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which took place in Lebanon earlier this month, he said that those meetings are both an important moment of communion and when important decisions are made for the faithful.

Among these decisions is the election of new bishops, which Francis said are called to be shepherds, accompanying their people and helping them to seek the things of Christ, not of the world.

“We need so many Pastors to embrace life with the breadth of God’s heart, without settling on earthly satisfactions, without being content to carry forward what is already there, but always aiming high,” he said.

He also asked the bishops and the patriarch, when they return to their offices, to remind the faithful, and the men and women religious, that they are “in the heart and in the prayer of the Pope,” and gave his apostolic blessing.

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