What Pope Francis told Tim Tebow

Vatican City, Mar 25, 2018 / 04:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Jesus was the first target of “fake news” spread by those who wanted spin and twist his message for their own benefit, Pope Francis said Palm Sunday, but stressed that despite the pride and skepticism of some, nothing can dampen the joy of Christ’s message or his Resurrection.

On the cross, Jesus died “crying out his love for each of us: young and old, saints and sinners, the people of his times and of our own,” the Pope said March 25.

“We have been saved by his cross,” and despite the coldness and skepticism of some, “no one can repress the joy of the Gospel; no one, in any situation whatsoever, is far from the Father’s merciful gaze.”  

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims present for his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. He began the liturgy at the obelisk in the center of the square, where he blessed the palms and olives to be used in the celebration. He then processed to the main altar and began Mass.

Palm Sunday also coincided with the diocesan celebration of World Youth Day, which this year holds the theme “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

It also marked the end of the March 19-24 pre-synodal meeting in Rome, which gathered some 300 youth from around the world and drew participation from an additional 15,000 on social media. The event served as a precursor for the October synod of bishops on “Young people, faith and the discernment of vocation.”

At the end of Sunday’s liturgy, young people presented Pope Francis with their conclusions, which were complied into a 16-page final document based on discussions held throughout the week.

Listening to the reading of the Passion of the Lord #PopeFrancis #PalmSunday pic.twitter.com/K5yfW2d78v

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) March 25, 2018

In his homily, Pope Francis said the account of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem evokes a range of different and at times contradictory sentiments, including love and hatred, self-sacrifice and indifference; the joy of those who welcome Jesus and the bitterness of those who want him crucified.

The sense of love and joy conveyed in the passage is reminiscent of all those “living on the edges” of society or who have been “left behind and overlooked,” but who have also been touched, healed or forgiven by God in some way.

In contrast, this joy, Francis said, is a source of “scandal” for those who consider themselves faithful to the law and its precepts, and it is “unbearable for those hardened against pain, suffering and misery.”

“How hard it is for the comfortable and the self-righteous to understand the joy and the celebration of God’s mercy! How hard it is for those who trust only in themselves, and look down on others, to share in this joy.”

The cry of those who shout “crucify him!” the pope said, is the voice “armed with disparagement, slander and false witness. It is the voice of those who twist reality and invent stories for their own benefit, without concern for the good name of other.”

Francis said people with this attitude have no problem “spinning facts” and making Jesus look like a criminal. As a result “hope is demolished, dreams are killed, joy is suppressed; the heart is shielded and charity grows cold.”

However, faced people who have this attitude, the best remedy, the pope said, “is to look at Christ’s cross and let ourselves be challenged by his final cry,” which Jesus made as he died for each and every person.

Looking to the cross means to challenge and question oneself about one’s actions and choices, including the sensitivity to those who are experiencing difficulty, the pope said, asking: “Where is our heart focused? Does Jesus Christ continue to be a source of joy and praise in our heart, or does its priorities and concerns make us ashamed to look at sinners, the least and forgotten?”

Speaking directly to the young people present, Pope Francis said that like the Pharisees who told Jesus to “rebuke your disciples,” there are also people who try to silence and exclude the youth.

“There are many ways to silence young people and make them invisible. Many ways to anesthetize them, to make them keep quiet, ask nothing, question nothing. There are many ways to sedate them, to keep them from getting involved, to make their dreams flat and dreary, petty and plaintive,” he said.

However, pointing to Jesus’ response that “if these were silent, the very stones would cry out,” Francis told youth not to give into the pressure to stay quiet, because “you have it in you to shout.”

“It is up to you not to keep quiet,” he said, and “even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?”

After Mass Pope Francis led pilgrims in praying the Angelus, asking that Mary would help each person to live Holy Week well. “From her we learn the interior silence, the gaze of the heart and loving faith to follow Jesus on the path of the cross, which leads to the joyful light of the Resurrection.”

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>&quot;Dear young people, you have it in you to shout. It is up to you to opt for Sunday’s 'Hosanna!', so as not to fall into Friday’s 'Crucify him!'&quot; <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PopeFrancis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PopeFrancis</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6IaPjO5hGY”>pic.twitter.com/6IaPjO5hGY</a></p>&mdash; Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) <a href=”https://twitter.com/cnalive/status/977837199315099648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Vatican City, Aug 1, 2017 / 05:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After violence followed a controversial vote in Venezuela this weekend, the Vatican Secretary of State has encouraged the country’s citizens to find a “peaceful and democratic” way out of the crisis.

The violence comes on the heels of a vote for an assembly charged by the country’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, with writing a new constitution.

According to ANSA news agency, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that he and Pope Francis are “very committed” to seeking a peaceful solution to the crisis in Venezuela. The Vatican has been “seeking to help all, indiscriminately, and calling each person to fulfill their own responsibility.”

“The criteria should be only the good of the people,” he said. “The dead are too many and I do not think there are other criteria to follow that is not in the common good of the people,” he insisted.

With that in mind, Cardinal Parolin said that “it is necessary to find a peaceful and democratic way to get out of this situation, and the only way is always the same: we must find, talk, but seriously, to find a way to solution.”

His statements come only days after July 30 nation-wide elections, which approved a constitutional assembly to reform the country’s 1999 constitution. However, some reports and members of Venezuela’s opposition have disputed the fairness of the elections, which were boycotted by the opposition.

Although the government claims that more than 8 million voters attended, the Democratic Unity Table, an organization monitoring the election, reported that only 2.4 million votes, or 12 percent of eligible voters, were cast, of which a quarter would have voted “no”.

Furthermore, in the days leading up to and following the election, uprisings and protests swept throughout the country. Conflicts between protestors and the country’s Bolivarian National Guard have resulted in the death of at least 15 people, including two minors.

According to critic of the Maduro regime and Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Díaz, “10 people lost their lives surrounding Sunday’s vicious election, totaling 121 deaths since the protests began in April.”

The constitutional revisions have been rejected by the Venezuelan bishops for being not only “unconstitutional, but also unnecessary, inconvenient and harmful for the Venezuelan people.”

In their message of July 27, the bishops said that Maduro’s initiative “has not been convened by the people, has unacceptable commissions, and only the partisans of the ruling party will be represented there.”

“It will be a biased and biased instrument that will not solve, but will aggravate the acute problems of high cost of living, the shortage of food and medicines that suffer the people, and deepen and worsen the deep political crisis we currently face,” .

Two opposition leaders, Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, have been re-arrested following the vote.

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Vatican City, Dec 7, 2018 / 10:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.

“The Church has always paid special devotion to the martyrs, who have faith and love for the Lord Jesus, even to the shedding of their blood as witness,” he wrote in a letter to Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Becciu, as the pope’s envoy, will celebrate the Dec. 8 beatification of the 19 Algerian martyrs at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Cross in Oran.

In his letter, composed in Latin, the pope recalled the suffering and persecution experienced by Christ, quoting his words to his disciples that “a servant is no greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

These words have been confirmed throughout time and place in the persecution and martyrdom of Christians, he continued.

“Persecutions are not a reality of the past,” he said, quoting his 2018 apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, “for today too we experience them, whether by the shedding of blood, as is the case with so many contemporary martyrs, or by more subtle means, by slander and lies.”

He also said that “at other times, persecution can take the form of gibes that try to caricature our faith and make us seem ridiculous.”

But Christians should not be afraid of persecution, Francis said, because Christ told his followers that “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. […] And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

The death of these 19 martyrs has acted like a seed planted in the desert, and “the seeds have sprouted,” resulting in the growth of virtues, Francis said. The martyrs loved eternal life more than death, and now “they possess what they loved, and they will possess it even more fully at the resurrection of the dead.”

Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to recognize the martyrdoms in January.

Bishop Claverie, who was a French Algerian and the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his Aug. 1, 1996 martyrdom, is one of the future blesseds. He and his companions were killed during the Algerian Civil War by Islamists.

In addition to Claverie, those being beatified are: Brother Henri Vergès, Sister Paul-Hélène Saint-Raymond, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso, Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, Fr. Jean Chevillard, Fr. Alain Dieulangard, Fr. Charles Deckers, Fr. Christian Chessel, Sister Angèle-Marie Littlejohn, Sister Bibiane Leclercq, Sister Odette Prévost, Brother Luc Dochier, Brother Christian de Chergé, Brother Christophe Lebreton, Brother Michel Fleury, Brother Bruno Lemarchand, Brother Célestin Ringeard, and Brother Paul Favre-Miville.

The best known of Claverie’s companions are the seven monks of Tibhirine, who were kidnapped from their Trappist priory in March 1996. They were kept as a bartering chip to procure the release of several imprisoned members of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, and were killed in May. Their story was dramatized in the 2010 French film Of Gods and Men, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

After the death of the monks of Tibhirine, Bishop Claverie knew his life was in serious danger. A bomb exploded at the entrance of his chancery Aug. 1, 1996, killing him and an aide, Mohamed Bouchikhi.

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