Nuns put altar bread production on hold as they weather pandemic

Fatima, Portugal, Apr 21, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The canonization of Fatima visionaries Francisco and Jacinta Marto has been hailed as an exciting moment for the Church, but the rector of the Marian shrine has said that it bears an even greater significance in terms of putting a spotlight on Our Lady’s message.

“I think the canonization in a certain way helps to give credibility to the apparitions and to the message of Fatima,” Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas told CNA.
 
This is an “indirect credibility,” he said, but one which nonetheless “makes us look to the protagonists of the events of Fatima and to see their holiness, the holiness with which they challenge us to live this message.”

Mary appeared to Francisco, Jacinta and their cousin Lucia May 13, 1917, for the first time, asking them to pray the rosary and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, which they did with decisive commitment.

Our Lady continued to appear to them on the 13th of each month until October of that year, making constant appeals for an increase in faith, hope, conversion and prayers for peace. In addition, she also revealed to the children three “secrets,” which are now known to be a vision of hell interpreted as scenes from World War II, the rise and fall of Soviet Communism, and what was a foreshadowing of the 1981 assassination attempt on St. John Paul II.

After the apparitions, Francisco and Jacinta Marto died in 1918 after a serious bout of the Spanish flu at 9 and 11, but were known to pray often and offered up daily sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and an increase in love for God.

In this context, Fr. Cabecinhas said he believes the canonization of siblings Francisco and Jacinta “has this value: not only two Saints in the Church, but two Saints who challenge us to look to the message of Fatima and to understand that Fatima is also a school of holiness for each one of us.”

Fr. Cabecinhas has been the rector of the Fatima Marian Shrine since 2011, and is in charge of the bulk of preparations for the Pope’s May 12-13 visit.

He said the centenary of the apparitions, the canonization and the growing anticipation of Pope Francis’ visit “is a moment of great joy” for the people of Portugal, but also for him personally.

“For me it has been a great gift of God to be able to live this moment before the shrine and to have in my hands the decisions of the Shrine. It’s a gift of God, but also a great responsibility,” he said, explaining that they are in the midst of making final preparations.

In general, preparations are going “very well,” he said, noting that all of the big decisions have been made and things are falling into place, so it’s down to the final, last-minute work of getting ready to host an estimated 500-800,000 pilgrims during the May celebrations.

Speaking of the reason why pilgrims choose to visit Fatima in particular, the priest said it’s “without a doubt” because “they seek a strong experience of God, a strong encounter with God.”

“This is specific to Fatima,” he said, noting that while other shrines and holy sites are associated with physical healings or other fruits, the people who come to Fatima “come to have a strong experience with God, they come to change their lives, and many times this is the experience they transmit.”

“We say that at Fatima there are no physical healings – there are some, but (what is) specific to Fatima is the change of heart, the change of life, orienting one’s life toward God,” he said, saying that another characteristic unique to Fatima is “silence.”

Cabecinhas said that when pilgrims speak to him about their experience visiting the shrine, many of them comment on how silent and prayerful the environment is, which is something he hopes each person who comes is able to experience.

The shrine has also been a popular place for Popes to visit, with Bl. Paul VI being the first pontiff to do so in 1967. St. John Paul II followed suit in 1982, making a trip that was largely intended to pay homage to Our Lady of Fatima, whom he credited with saving his life when he was shot May 13, 1981.

Benedict XVI also visited the Fatima shrine in 2010, continuing the papal tradition of traveling to the holy site, and cementing even further it’s link to the Pope.

Fr. Cabecinhas said he believes Popes come to Fatima so often is because it has “a universal message, a message for the entire Church,” which is something each one of them have understood.

“They have seen that Fatima has something to say to the entire Church on the place of God in the life of the believer, and it’s because of this they have come, to highlight this message,” he said, adding that he has no doubt that the presence of Popes at the shrine “has helped to then diffuse the message in the entire world.”

With an entire year of celebrations extending beyond just the May celebrations, Cabecinhas said he hopes those who come even after Pope Francis’ visit get to experience and understand Our Lady’s message on a deeper level.

The priest said he wants pilgrims to have “a joyful experience of being at Fatima” and to have “an experience of encounter with God through the Madonna.”

“She is presented here as a path toward God and a refuge in our hardship,” he said, so “what we want is that each pilgrim who visits this year can have this experience and can say, ‘yes, I went to Fatima, and the Madonna for me was a refuge in difficult moments, but a path that guided me to God.’”

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CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2020 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- The Vatican Secretary of State on Wednesday consecrated as a bishop Ante Jozić, who was appointed apostolic nuncio to Belarus in May. Archbishop Jozić was welcomed by the president of the Belarusian bishops’ conference, who has been exiled.

Belarus has seen widespread protests in recent weeks following a disputed presidential election. Protests began Aug. 9 after president Alexander Lukashenko was declared to have won that day’s election with 80% of the vote. Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since the position was created in 1994.

Relations between the Holy See and Belarus are strained by the invalidation of the passport of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev. He was blocked from returning to Belarus from Poland by border guards Aug. 31.

Archbishop Jozić, 53, was appointed apostolic nuncio to Belarus May 21.

He was consecrated a bishop Sept. 16 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin in Solin, Croatia, just outside Split.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz wrote to the nuncio, saying: “Your Excellency, on the day of your episcopal ordination, I cordially greet you on my own behalf, as well as on behalf of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Belarus and all Catholics of our country … For the development of our pastoral and social activities, as well as relations with the state at this turning point in our history, we need your support as a representative of the Holy See.”

“Therefore, we look forward to your arrival in Belarus, where you will perform the ministry entrusted to you by the Holy Father Francis,” the Minsk-Mohilev archbishop added.

Archbishop Jozić was born in Trilj, about 25 miles northeast of Split, in 1967. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska in 1992, and began preparing for diplomatic service to the Holy See in 1995 at the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy, studying canon and civil law.

Beginning in 1999 he served at the nunciatures in India and Russia. He is also reported to have worked in Hong Kong and as an adviser to the Filipino nunciature.

He was appointed apostolic nuncio to Ivory Coast and Titular Archbishop of Cissa in February 2019. He was to have been consecrated a bishop that May, but he was hospitalized in critical condition after a car accident in early April.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz’ passport will no doubt play an important role in Archbishop Jozić’s early days as nuncio to Belarus.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, met with Vladimir Makei, the Belarusian foreign minister, Sept. 11, on the first of a four-day visit to Belarus.

During the talks, Makei renewed an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Belarus. The Vatican has asked that Archbishop Kondrusiewicz be permitted entry to the country.

Last week, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz received a reply signed by Anatoly Lappo, chairman of the border committee, stating that the archbishop was blocked from entering the country “in connection with the decision made by the internal affairs bodies to invalidate the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus.”

The archbishop is appealing to the Belarusian interior ministry over the invalidation of his passport.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz was born in 1946 in Odelsk, in what was then the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (part of the USSR), to an ethnic Polish family. The Byelorussian SSR was succeeded in 1991 by the Republic of Belarus.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz traveled last weekend to Lithuania, preaching Sept. 13 at the Marian shrine of Šiluva, thanking Catholics there for their prayers for Belarus.

The archbishop has spoken in defense of protests following last month’s presidential election, and demanded an investigation late in August into reports that riot police blocked the doors of a Catholic church in Minsk while clearing away protesters from a nearby square.

He met with Interior Minister Yuri Karaev Aug. 21 to express his concerns about the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests, and he outside a prison Aug. 19 where detained protesters were reported to have been tortured.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told CNA Sept. 1 that “at the present time, we are asking for prayer, not only for the Catholic Church, but for a peaceful solution for the situation in Belarus because I’m very much afraid of civil war. The situation is very, very difficult, very critical.”

Lukashenko visited Russian president Vladimir Putin Sept. 15, securing a $1.5 billion loan.

Protests have taken place across Belarus since the August election, and thousands of protesters have been detained. At least four people have died in the unrest.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the election “was not free and fair,” citing “severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations, intimidation tactics employed against opposition candidates, and the detentions of peaceful protesters and journalists.”

Electoral officials said that the opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, earned 10% of the vote. She was detained for several hours after complaining to the electoral committee, and has fled to Lithuania.

After the reciting the Angelus Sept. 13, Pope Francis appealed to governments around the world to respect the “just aspirations” of protesters.

While the pope did not mention any countries by name, Bishop Aliaksandr Yasheuski, an auxiliary bishop of Minsk-Mohilev, noted that the pope’s appeal was relevant to Belarus.

The pope said: “While I urge the demonstrators to present their demands peacefully, without giving in to the temptation of aggression and violence, I appeal to all those with public and governmental responsibilities to listen to the voice of their fellow citizens and to meet their just aspirations, ensuring full respect for human rights and civil liberties.”

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Rome, Italy, Jan 5, 2018 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In yet another “Mercy Friday” outing, Pope Francis this afternoon traveled to the outskirts of Rome to visit sick children receiving care at a campus of the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu hospital, offering comfort to patients and their parents.

According to a Jan. 5 Vatican communique, the Pope made the visit around 3 p.m., heading to the Palidoro campus of Bambino Gesu children’s hospital, which sits about 20 miles west of Rome.

Francis made his way through different wings of the hospital, greeting the children who are receiving care and their parents, who are helping their children through “these tiresome and painful trials.”

Bambino Gesù, colloquially known as the “Pope’s hospital,” is among most important pediatric hospitals in the world. Founded in 1869 by the Duchess Arabella Salviati, the hospital was donated to Pius XI in 1924, with the aim of giving it a more stable future.

The Palidoro campus was established in 1978 under Bl. Paul VI, who entrusted Bambino Gesu with the activities of the “Pontificia Opera di Assistenza” clinic in Palidoro, which specialized in care for polio patients and until that year had been separate from the hospital.

The campus is also currently home to a special exhibit titled “Caro Papa, ti regalo un disegno,” meaning, “Dear Pope, I’ll give you a drawing.”

Promoted by both Bambino Gesu and the Jesuit newspaper “La Civilta’ Cattolica,” the exhibit consists of a series of drawings given to the Pope by children throughout the world either through the mail, or in person during audiences or trips abroad.

The drawings were given to La Civilta’ Cattolica, which partnered with Bambino Gesu to launch a campaign using the images as a means of supporting and welcoming the children who come to hospital from all over the world.

Promoted largely through social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the campaign promises each person who makes a donation, no matter how much, a digital copy of the drawings given to Pope Francis by the children, and which has been certified by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Parolin inaugurated the exhibit featuring the original drawings at the Palidoro campus, which is managing campaign and fundraising efforts.

Pope Francis’ visit to the hospital is a continuation of his “Mercy Friday” custom which he began during the Jubilee of Mercy, in 2016.

Originally planned once per month for the duration of the jubilee, the Pope has continued these visits as a means of practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. He has met with refugees, children, women freed from sex trafficking, and the terminally ill, among others.

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