Vatican City, Nov 30, 2019 / 02:07 pm (CNA).- Marking the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Pope Francis sent a message to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on Saturday, voicing his desire for full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox.
“It is with great spiritual joy and in profound communion of faith and charity that I join the prayer of the Church of Constantinople in celebrating the feast of its holy patron, the Apostle Andrew, the first-called and brother of the Apostle Peter,” the pope said in his letter.
Each year, the Holy See sends a delegation to Istanbul on Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, while the Patriarchate of Constantinople sends a delegation to Rome each year on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, celebrated June 29.
Leading the Holy See delegation this year was Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“Through the delegation, I convey the assurance of the unwavering intention of the Catholic Church, as well as my own, to continue in our commitment to working towards the reestablishment of full communion among the Christians of the East and the West,” Pope Francis said.
He noted that it has been 40 years since the establishment of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, created by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dimitrios I, and he thanked all those who have contributed to the commission over the years.
“The search for the re-establishment of full communion among Catholics and Orthodox is certainly not confined to theological dialogue, but is also accomplished through other channels of ecclesial life,” the pope continued.
“Our relations are nourished above all through authentic gestures of mutual respect and esteem,” he said. “Such actions show a shared fidelity to the word of our one Lord Jesus Christ, and the will to remain together in his love.”
Catholics and Orthodox are already united through their one baptism and the one Holy Spirit guiding them, Pope Francis said.
He also pointed to joint initiatives to share the Gospel and aid the needy, voicing hope that both Catholics and Orthodox would work to “strengthen the daily dialogue of love and life” in these shared projects, and ultimately work toward re-establishing full communion.
“United in prayer to the Apostle Andrew, I renew to you and to all those present my warmest best wishes, and I exchange with you a holy embrace in Christ our Lord,” the pope concluded.
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Vatican City, Nov 9, 2017 / 06:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a move likely to have some Vatican employees fuming, Pope Francis has decided to ban the sale of cigarettes inside the City State on the grounds that the Holy See cannot profit from a proven health hazard.
In a Nov. 9 statement, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the reason for the decision “is very simple: the Holy See cannot contribute to an activity that clearly damages the health of people.”
Available for sale exclusively at “Palazzo della Stazione,” the building that sits in front of the Vatican’s small train station, the cigarettes have until now been sold at a lower price than in tobacco stores around Rome, making it an ideal place for smokers holding a Vatican employee card to pick up their next pack.
However, citing numbers from the World Health Organization, Burke noted how each year some seven million people throughout the world die due to smoking-related causes.
Despite the fact the cigarettes sold to Vatican employees and pensioners has been a source of revenue for the Holy See, “no profit can be legitimate if it puts lives at risk,” Burke said.
The sale of cigarettes inside the Vatican will officially cease as of 2018, but the sale of larger cigars, with which smoke is not inhaled, was not mentioned in the statement.
While Pope Francis himself doesn’t smoke, the habit is practically considered a national vice in Italy, and many even within the Vatican can be found to have a pack or two on hand.
However, the Pope’s decision to crack-down on cigarette sales in the Vatican brings him on par with other European countries who have enforced comprehensive smoke-free laws, the most strict being found in Ireland, the UK, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta, Spain and Hungary.
Jacob Matham’s portrait of Leo XI, who reigned April 1-27, 1605. / public domain
Denver Newsroom, Sep 18, 2022 / 14:00 pm (CNA).
Blessed John Paul I did not serve as Roman Pontiff for long, but 10 other popes had shorter pontificates than he did. Their stories are a microcosm of the history of the papacy. Some were friends of saints and worked for the good of the Church, while the qualifications of others might be a bit questionable. Through all these more or less flawed men who sat in the Chair of Peter, the Catholic Church teaches that the connection to St. Peter and his profession of faith in Christ endures.
Urban VII was pope for 13 days, Sept. 15–27, 1590.
He was born Giambattista Castagna at Rome, the home city of his mother. His father was of Genoan nobility. His uncle was a cardinal, whom he served at points during his long career in the Church. He held doctorates in civil and canon law.
Castagna worked in government and diplomacy on behalf of the papacy, which at the time held civil power over parts of Italy. He led several commissions during the Council of Trent and helped organize the military alliance against the Ottoman Empire, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. He was appointed archbishop in 1553 and became a cardinal in 1583.
He had a reputation for genuine piety, intelligence, and ability to govern.
Jacopino del Conte’s portrait (c. 1590) of Urban VII. public domain
After his election as pope, he made sure to address the needs of the poor in Rome. His initial plans included expanded public works to employ the poor.
As God’s providence allowed, he did not have time to do much more than plan. He died of malaria at the age of 69. In his will, he left his personal fortune to support poor girls.
Celestine IV reigned for 15 days, Oct. 25–Nov. 10, 1241.
The future pope was born Goffredo da Castiglione in Milan. He spent time with the Cistercian religious order and was a cardinal bishop of Sabina. He was a nephew of Pope Urban III. He was already in poor health when he was elected, at a time when the papacy was a center of political conflict between backers and opponents of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Boniface VI reigned for 16 days, April 11–26, 896.
He was born in Rome. Not much is known about this pope, though records indicate that during his life he was canonically deprived of holy orders on two occasions: the first time as a subdeacon, and the second as a priest. His irregular past caused controversy over his election, the New Catholic Encyclopedia says.
Theodore II reigned for 20 days in December 897.
Another little-known pope, it is said that his clergy loved him, that he loved peace, and that he lived a life of chastity and charity to the poor. He came to power soon after a low point of the papacy. Pope Theodore annulled the acts of the “Cadaver Synod,” which had put on trial the corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus. He recovered the dead Roman Pontiff’s body from the River Tiber and gave it a proper burial. He also reinstated clergy who had been forced to resign.
Sisinnius was pope for 21 days, Jan. 15–Feb. 4, 708.
This pope was born in Syria. His health troubles included disabling arthritis, and he was unable to feed himself. The papacy was responsible for the military defense of Rome at this time, with Lombards invading from the north of Italy and Muslim armies advancing from the south. Sisinnius ordered the walls of Rome to be reinforced as his first act, the New Catholic Encyclopedia says. Before he died, Pope Sisinnius ordained one priest and consecrated a bishop for Corsica.
Marcellus II was pope for about 22 days in April and May, 1555.
He was born Marcello Cervini, at Montefano in Tuscany. Like the sainted Pope Marcellus of the fourth century, he kept his baptismal name as his papal name.
His father worked under several pontificates as a scribe and secretary.
Before Cervini was elected pope he served various roles as a secretary to popes and cardinals, including work to correct the Julian calendar. He was actively engaged with the “New Learning” of Renaissance humanism. He served as protector of the Vatican Library and helped improve and expand its collection. Cervini served the Vatican at the time of its response to the Protestant Reformation. He was a president at the Council of Trent, which continued through his short pontificate.
He gained a reputation as a Church reformer and had hoped to pursue this path during his papacy. He was not consecrated a bishop until the day after he was elected pope.
Pope Marcellus reputedly became sick from overwork during the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter, and the illness turned fatal.
The Missa Papae Marcelli of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was composed in his honor.
Damasus II reigned for 24 days in July and August, 1048.
This pontiff was named Poppo. He was born in Bavaria and was of German extraction. He served as Bishop of Brixen in Tyrol, in what is now western Austria.
Popes at the time could be nominated in an unusual manner. Pope Damasus II was named by Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. The pope, however, soon died of malaria.
Pius III was pope for 27 calendar days, Sept. 22–Oct. 18, 1503.
He was born Francesco Todeschini in Siena. He was the nephew of Pope Pius II, a famous Renaissance-era pope. His uncle took him into his household and became his patron, allowing the young man to add the pontiff’s family name Piccolomini to his own last name.
Francesco studied canon law. His uncle named him to become administrator of the Archdiocese of Siena and later made him a cardinal-deacon.
The future Roman Pontiff had a reputation of living an upright life as a cultured, gentle man, the New Catholic Encyclopedia reports. He took part in several conclaves of his time, including that which elected Alexander VI.
His service to the papacy included several diplomatic appointments to Germany, France, and Perugia.
Francesco’s own papal election took place amid ruling Italian families’ disputes over control of Rome and included an unsuccessful power play by the Borgia family.
Pius III was known to be in poor health. At the time of the papal coronation he was already suffering from a diseased leg, which developed into a septic ulcer. He died at the age of 64.
Leo XI was pope for 27 days, from April 1–27, 1605.
The Florentine-born Alessandro de Medici was a member of the famous Medici family. He was grand-nephew to Pope Leo X. He sought to become a priest from an early age, but because his mother objected he was not ordained until after she died, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. He served as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of Tuscany, before he began to advance in the Church. He would eventually become a bishop, then archbishop of Florence, before being named a cardinal.
He served as a papal legate to France and was head of the Congregation of Bishops.
Among his great friends was St. Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorians.
He was elected pope at the age of 69 and became sick almost immediately.
Benedict V served as pope for 33 days, May 22–June 23, 964.
He was born in Rome and had a reputation for great learning.
He reigned at a time of great turmoil in the Church. Holy Roman Emperor Otto I had interfered with the pontificates of his predecessors. The emperor had forcibly deposed a pope and installed his own nominee on the See of Peter. There were rival claimants to the papacy under Benedict V and Otto again interfered, laying siege to Rome and taking the pope away from Rome by force. Benedict either renounced the papacy or was forcibly deposed. He lived in exile in Hamburg for another year.
John Paul I served as Roman Pontiff from Aug. 26–Sept. 28, 1978, 33 calendar days.
His beatification on Sept. 4 renewed attention to his life. He had a reputation for humility and for teaching the faith in an understandable way.
The future John Paul I took part in the Second Vatican Council and was named patriarch of Venice.
As a cardinal, Luciani published a collection of “open letters” to historic figures, saints, famous writers, and fictional characters. The book, “Illustrissimi,” included letters to Jesus, King David, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Christopher Marlowe, as well as Pinocchio and Figaro, the barber of Seville.
He was the first pope to have two names. He took his papal name from his immediate predecessors, Sts. John XXIII and Paul VI.
St. Josemaria Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei / Flick Torreciudad Sanctuary (CC BY 2.0)
Rome Newsroom, Aug 8, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis changed canon law on Tuesday regarding the governance of Opus Dei and any future personal prelatures…. […]
4 Comments
Won’t a big hurdle be the Orthodox permission of divorce and remarriage?
And married priests. Won’t Pope Francis accomplish many things on his agenda with a re-unification with Orthodox churches? One swell foop, as they say.
[“The search for the re-establishment of full communion among Catholics and Orthodox is certainly not confined to theological dialogue, but is also accomplished through other channels of ecclesial life,” the pope continued.
“Our relations are nourished above all through authentic gestures of mutual respect and esteem,” he said. “Such actions show a shared fidelity to the word of our one Lord Jesus Christ, and the will to remain together in his love.”]
Pope Francis really should do some studying of the theological issues involved – then he might realize that gestures of mutual respect touch upon how primacy is exercised and what the patriarchate of Rome has declared dogmatically up to this point.
Won’t a big hurdle be the Orthodox permission of divorce and remarriage?
And married priests. Won’t Pope Francis accomplish many things on his agenda with a re-unification with Orthodox churches? One swell foop, as they say.
And contraception.
[“The search for the re-establishment of full communion among Catholics and Orthodox is certainly not confined to theological dialogue, but is also accomplished through other channels of ecclesial life,” the pope continued.
“Our relations are nourished above all through authentic gestures of mutual respect and esteem,” he said. “Such actions show a shared fidelity to the word of our one Lord Jesus Christ, and the will to remain together in his love.”]
Pope Francis really should do some studying of the theological issues involved – then he might realize that gestures of mutual respect touch upon how primacy is exercised and what the patriarchate of Rome has declared dogmatically up to this point.