Vatican gradually to defund some mission territories

Vatican City, Jan 13, 2019 / 05:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At Mass in the Sistine Chapel Sunday, Pope Francis baptized 27 babies, reminding their parents that the first space in which children learn and witness the faith is at home.

“Yes, when they… […]

Vatican City, Jul 4, 2019 / 08:30 am (CNA).- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Pope Francis at the Vatican July 4 for a 55-minute private discussion.

“Thank you for the time you have devoted to me,” Putin said after his audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

It was Putin’s third meeting with Pope Francis and fifth visit to the Vatican. The Russian leader arrived nearly an hour late for his meeting with the pope, as he did for both of his prior meetings with Francis.

The day before Putin’s visit Pope Francis expressed his condolences and closeness to the families of the 14 Russian sailors who died when a deep-sea submarine caught fire in an Artic port July 2. Russian officials confirmed that the top-secret submarine was nuclear-powered less than one hour before the papal audience was scheduled.

“The Holy Father was informed of the Russian submarine tragedy. It expresses its condolences and its closeness to the victims’ families and those affected by this disaster,” Holy See press office interim director Alessandro Gisotti said July 3.

The Russian Ambassador to the Holy See Aleksandr Avdeev said ahead of the meeting that he expected Putin and the Roman pontiff to discuss “the instability of international relations, the crisis in the Middle East, the fate of Syria, the problem of nuclear disarmament, the situation in Iran.”

“The time has come when Catholics can no longer solve many problems and open challenges, without taking into account the political logic of Russia and the experience of our Orthodoxy,” Avdeev said in an interview with Ogonek, a Russian magazine.

Putin was also expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine after the Ukrainian Orhtodox Church split with the Russian Orthodox Church last year. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople formally recognized the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in January.

Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Svyatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev, along with other leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, are expected to meet with Pope Francis and Vatican officials later this week.

At Putin and Pope Francis’ previous meeting in June 2015, Pope Francis asked Putin for “sincere and comprehensive effort to achieve peace” in Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea one year prior. Their first meeting in November 2013 focused on the Syrian civil war.

After his visit to the Vatican, Putin will meet the Italian president and prime minister during his one-day trip to Rome.

Putin met with Pope John Paul II in 2000 and 2003 and had an audience with Pope Benedict in 2007. The Holy See and the Russian Federation re-established full diplomatic relations in 2009.

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Pope Francis waves to the crowd of sone 25,000 people gathered for his Regina Caeli address in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, May 22, 2022 / 08:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis praised a pro-life event in Rome and offered comments defending the dignity of life on Sunday. 

According to the website for the national Scegliamo la vita (Let’s Choose Life) event, the May 22 gathering intended to affirm the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. Videos and photos on the event’s Facebook page shows crowds marching and singing with signs and music. 

The pope greeted participants in the event after praying the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

“I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” he said. 

“Sadly,” the pope continued, “in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice.”

Pope Francis flatly rejected that view.

“Let us remember that life is a gift from God!” he said. “It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience.” 

Pope Francis’ pro-life comments came after he offered a reflection on Jesus’ words to the disciples at the Last Supper in Sunday’s Gospel reading from John, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” The Holy Father said that “no one can leave others peace if they do not have it within themselves, emphasizing that the peace that Jesus is referring to comes from the Holy Spirit and is a “gift of God.”

Pope Francis’ comments defending life come at a time when the highest court in the United States nears the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide. 

In early May, a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that showed the court was poised to overturn Roe was leaked by the news outlet Politico.

Shortly after the leak, pro-abortion advocates began protesting at the court, in front of justices’ homes, and even in Catholic churches around the country. Additional security measures have been taken to protect the justices and the court itself, as a fence has recently been built surrounding the court.

However, if Roe is overturned, abortion will not be outlawed nationwide. The Mississippi abortion case in consideration, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, would give states the exclusive right to legislate on abortion. 

Still, some states have “trigger laws” which automatically outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned. You can learn more about which states have those laws here. 

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