Vatican City, Mar 12, 2018 / 04:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a personal letter reportedly sent to the head of the Secretariat for Communications, Benedict XVI said that he sees continuity between himself and his successor, Pope Francis.
The letter, according to a press release from the Secretariat March 12, was sent to Msgr. Dario Vigano on the occasion of the release of a series of books called “La Teologia di Papa Francesco” (“The Theology of Pope Francis”) published by the Vatican’s publishing house.
The books “show rightly that Pope Francis is a man of profound philosophical and theological formation and, therefore, help to show the inner continuity between the two pontificates, even with all of the differences of style and temperament,” Benedict wrote.
“I applaud this initiative that wishes to oppose and react to the foolish prejudice that Pope Francis is only a practical man lacking in particular theological or philosophical formation,” he continued, “while I am only a theorist of theology that has understood little of the concrete life of a Christian today.”
Excerpts from the letter were included in the Secretariat’s press release, though it was not available in its entirety.
The eleven-book series was written by international theologians and edited by Fr. Roberto Repole, president of the Italian Theological Association.
There are currently agreements for the books to be published in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish and Romanian.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Pope Francis greets thousands of children and their families as he makes his way through St. Peter’s Square during the first World Children’s Day, Saturday, May 26, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, May 26, 2024 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
After an exuberant kick-off event on Saturday for the first World Children’s Day, Pope Francis gathered together with tens of thousands of children in St. Peter’s Square for Mass on this feast of the Holy Trinity. A piercing early summer sun moved everyone — from nuns to the boys’ choir — to shade their heads with colorful hats.
Thousands gather in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Saturday, May 26, 2024, for the first World Children’s Day with Pope Francis. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The creation of a World Children’s Day was announced by the pope on December 8, 2023, at the midday Angelus. The idea for it was suggested to the pope by a 9-year-old boy in an exchange shortly before World Youth Day in Lisbon.
Among the special guests at the Mass was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who together with her daughter Ginevra, met the Pope briefly before the Mass.
With this first event complete, Francis announced at the end of the festivities today that the next World Children’s Day will be held in September 2026.
Among the special guests at the Mass for the first World Children’s Day was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who together with her daughter Ginevra, met the pope briefly before the Mass on Saturday, May 26, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The One who accompanies us
The Holy Father, smiling and clearly happy to be surrounded by children, completely improvised his homily, making it a brief and memorable lesson on the Holy Trinity.
“Dear boys and girls, we are here to pray together to God,” he began. But then counting on his fingers and enumerating, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he asked, “But how many gods are there?”As the crowd answered “one,” the pope praised them and started talking of each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.
He began with God the Father — “who created us all, who loves us so much” — asking the children how we pray to him. They quickly answered with the “Our Father.”
Pope Francis went on to speak of the second person of the Trinity, after the children called out his name — Jesus — as the one who forgives all of our sins.
When he got to the Holy Spirit, the pope admitted that envisioning this person of the Trinity is more difficult.
“Who is the Holy Spirit? Eh, it is not easy …,” he said.
“Because the Holy Spirit is God, He is within us. We receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism, we receive Him in the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit is the one who accompanies us in life.”
Using this last phrase, the Pope invited the children to repeat the idea a number of times: “He is the one accompanies us in life.”
“He is the one who tells us in our hearts the good things we need to do,” the Pope said, having the kids repeat the phrase again: “He is the one who when we do something wrong rebukes us inside.”
The pope speaks to thousands of children and many others who gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for the first World Children’s Day on the feast of the Holy Trinity. May 26, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The pope ended the homily thanking the children and also reminding them that “we also have a mother,” asking them how we pray to her. They answered “with the Hail Mary.” The pope encouraged them to pray for parents, for grandparents, and for sick children.
“There are so many sick children beside me” he said, as he indicated the children in wheelchairs near the altar. “Always pray, and especially pray for peace, for there to be no wars.”
Applauding the grandparents
The pope frequently urges young people to seek out their grandparents, and the give-and-take of his homily gave the impression of a beloved grandpa surrounded by his grandkids. He insisted that the kids quiet down for the time of prayer.
When the Mass concluded, and after praying the midday Angelus, the pope summarized the lessons of the homily: “Dear children, Mass is over. And today, we’ve talked about God: God the Father who created the world, God the Son, who redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit … what did we say about the Holy Spirit? I don’t remember!”
The children needed no further invitation to answer loudly that “the Holy Spirit accompanies us in life.” Joking that he couldn’t hear well, the Pope had them say it again even louder, and then prayed the Glory Be with them.
Pope Francis speaks with a group of children in St. Peter’s Square in Rome during the first World Day of Children on Saturday, May 26, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The pope also asked for a round of applause for all the grandparents, noting that at the Presentation of the Gifts, a grandfather had accompanied a group of children who brought forward the bread and wine.
Dreaming and dragons
After the closing procession, Italian actor Roberto Benigni took the stage for a lively and inspirational monologue that combined good humor and life lessons.
While Benigni is known especially to the English-speaking world for his role in Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful, in Italy he’s also known for his commentaries on important issues, combined with his exuberant humor.
“When I was a boy, I wanted to be pope,” he told the audience.
Urging the children to read — “Kids need to read everything!” — he paraphrased G.K. Chesterton who insisted that fairy tales are important: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed,” Chesterton said.
Italian actor Roberto Benigni speaks at the World Children’s Day in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. He took the stage for a lively and inspirational monologue that combined good humor with a call for children to read and to dream. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
“Dream!” Benigni urged the children. “It’s the most beautiful thing in the world. But I want to tell you a secret. You’ll tell me you know how to dream; you’ll say you just have to close your eyes, sleep, and dream. … No, no. I’ll tell you a secret — to dream, you don’t have to close your eyes. You have to open them! You have to open your eyes, read, write, invent.”
The actor emphasized the need to be peacemakers, saying that the Sermon on the Mount contains “the only good idea” that’s ever been expressed. War is the “most stupid sin,” he lamented.
“War must end,” Benigni insisted, going on to quote a famous author of children’s literature. “You will tell me: That is a dream, it is a fairy tale. Yes, it is, but as Gianni Rodari said, ‘Fairy tales can become reality, they can become true!’”
Vatican City, Sep 4, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a frequent collaborator of Pope St. John Paul II, has died at 96.
Etchagaray, from the French Basque region, was born in Espelette on September 25, 1922.
He attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining licentiate in theology and a doctorate of canon law.
He was ordained a priest in 1947 and incardinated in the Diocese of Bayonne.
In 1961 he began working in the French bishops’ conference, and from 1966 to 1970 was its general secretary.
In 1969, Pope Paul VI appointed him an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Paris.
On Dec. 22, 1970 he became the Archbishop of Marseille. In 1975 he was elected president of the French episcopal conference.
In 1979, Pope St. John Paul II named him a cardinal.
In April 1984 Pope John Paul II named him the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the president of the pontifical council Cor Unum, he retained this second post until 1995.
In 1994 he was taken with overseeing the Church’s observance of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
He served often as de facto “ambassador” of John Paul II in delicate diplomatic missions: in 2003 he worked on behalf of the pope to avoid the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that began the Second Gulf War.
On April 30, 2005, Benedict XVI approved his election as Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals.
In January 2017, he left the Vatican to return to his native Diocese of Bayonne.
After the death of Cardinal Pimiento Rodriguez , which occurred yesterday, he was, briefly, become the oldest living cardinal.
A version of this story was first published by ACI Stampa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus prayer on Sept. 1, 2024, the pope called for peace in the Holy Land, urging the release of the remaining hostages and humanitarian aid for the polio outbreak in Gaza. The… […]
This a prank right? There’s a youtube version also …that will hit tomorrow? Here is my worst encounter with the theological formation mentioned:
Paragraph 297, AL: “No one is condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”
Aboard the papal plane, Oct 2, 2016 / 06:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis:
“Mercy has the last word. I like to tell, I do not know if I told you, because I repeat it so much … in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena – I told you or no? – There is a beautiful capital, but it is more or less from the thirteenth century. Medieval cathedrals were catechesis with sculptures. And in a part of the capital there is Judas hanged with his tongue out and eyes (bulging) out, and on the other side of the capital there is Jesus the Good Shepherd who takes (Judas) and carries him with him. And if you look closely, the face of Jesus, the lips of Jesus are sad on the one hand, but with a small smile of understanding in the other. They understood what mercy is … with Judas, huh! “
Not so fast. Msgr Dario Edoardo Viganò Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication omitted [deviously?] Benedict’s last paragraph, cited by journalist Socci in a Sandro Magister essay, “However, I do not feel like writing a short and dense theological page on them because in all my life it has always been clear that I would write and express myself only on books that I had also really read. Unfortunately, even for physical reasons, I am not able to read the eleven volumes in the near future, all the more so because I am already waiting for other commitments. I am sure he will have understanding and I greet him cordially” (Benedict XVI). If true it exposes the Vatican attempt to discredit Benedict as a supporter of the papal plan for doctrinal revolution and secularization of the Church.
Traditional Church Teaching can never contradict Itself.
Nor can Pope Benedict XVI who, in his masterpiece Jesus of Nazareth, writes ‘this apodictic law is pronounced in the name of God himself.’ It is divine law that applies at all times.
Not much sign of ‘interior continuity’ between himself and Pope Francis it seems.
Who knows who wrote that letter.
This a prank right? There’s a youtube version also …that will hit tomorrow? Here is my worst encounter with the theological formation mentioned:
Paragraph 297, AL: “No one is condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”
Aboard the papal plane, Oct 2, 2016 / 06:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis:
“Mercy has the last word. I like to tell, I do not know if I told you, because I repeat it so much … in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena – I told you or no? – There is a beautiful capital, but it is more or less from the thirteenth century. Medieval cathedrals were catechesis with sculptures. And in a part of the capital there is Judas hanged with his tongue out and eyes (bulging) out, and on the other side of the capital there is Jesus the Good Shepherd who takes (Judas) and carries him with him. And if you look closely, the face of Jesus, the lips of Jesus are sad on the one hand, but with a small smile of understanding in the other. They understood what mercy is … with Judas, huh! “
Not so fast. Msgr Dario Edoardo Viganò Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication omitted [deviously?] Benedict’s last paragraph, cited by journalist Socci in a Sandro Magister essay, “However, I do not feel like writing a short and dense theological page on them because in all my life it has always been clear that I would write and express myself only on books that I had also really read. Unfortunately, even for physical reasons, I am not able to read the eleven volumes in the near future, all the more so because I am already waiting for other commitments. I am sure he will have understanding and I greet him cordially” (Benedict XVI). If true it exposes the Vatican attempt to discredit Benedict as a supporter of the papal plan for doctrinal revolution and secularization of the Church.
Traditional Church Teaching can never contradict Itself.
Nor can Pope Benedict XVI who, in his masterpiece Jesus of Nazareth, writes ‘this apodictic law is pronounced in the name of God himself.’ It is divine law that applies at all times.
Not much sign of ‘interior continuity’ between himself and Pope Francis it seems.