Pope Francis offers condolences after Spanish fishing boat sinks off Canada, leaving at least 10 dead

Vatican City, Mar 27, 2017 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a victim who suffered past clerical abuse resigned from the Vatican’s anti-abuse commission, the group is aiming for more effective ways to communicate with survivors and include them in its work.

According to a March 26 press release from the commission, members “unanimously agreed to find new ways to ensure its work is shaped and informed with and by victims/survivors.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) met March 24-26 at the Vatican for their eighth Plenary Assembly since being formed by Pope Francis in Dec. 2013.

The session came less than one month after clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins resigned from her position on the commission, citing pushback from certain Vatican dicasteries, specifically from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as one of the main reasons for stepping down.

In a March 1 communique announcing her decision, the commission praised Collins as someone who has “consistently and tirelessly championed for the voices of the victims/survivors to be heard, and for the healing of the victims/survivors to be a priority for the Church.”

In their latest meetings, commission members again voiced “strong support” for Collins and for “her continuing work to promote healing for victims of abuse and the prevention of all abuse of minors and vulnerable adults,” the press release stated.

Members also expressed gratitude that Collins has agreed to continue working with the commission in their educational programs for new bishops and with other offices of the Roman Curia.

With relation on how to best include survivors as they go forward, the commission’s statement said that they are carefully considering several ideas that have been successfully implemented in other places for recommendation to Pope Francis.

In addition, the commission discussed the response to communications from survivors/victims directly to their office and other offices of the Holy See, agreeing that “acknowledging correspondence and giving a timely and personal response is one part of furthering transparency and healing.”

They talked over the importance of responding “directly and compassionately,” while acknowledging that this is a major undertaking due to the volume of this type of correspondence the Holy See receives.

Each letter also requires a large amount of attention in order to give the specific resources and assistance necessary.

However, the commission agreed to send further recommendations on this matter to Pope Francis for consideration.

The latest plenary session of the PCPM immediately followed an educational seminar held March 23 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The event was co-hosted by the PCPM and the Gregorian University’s Center for Child Protection.

The day-long educational seminar focused on what the local church and institutions are doing to combat abuse of minors specifically in schools and the home, and was attended by at least half a dozen heads of Vatican departments, with every Vatican department represented in some way.

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Vatican City, Sep 10, 2017 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis is fine after a mishap on the popemobile in Colombia, when he slipped and hit himself trying to reach a child, prompting a wave of concern on social media.

“The Pope is fine,” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told members of the press corps traveling with Pope Francis in Colombia. He said Francis hit his cheek and eyebrow on the popemobile when it stopped abruptly as he was reaching for a child, and is using ice to lower the swelling.

In a tweet sent by Colombian radio station “Caracol Radio,” the Pope is seen with a black eye and bandage near his eyebrow, with a few spots of blood on his white cassock. In the video, when the journalist asks the Pope if he’s alright, Francis nods and then jests, saying “somebody punched me!”

???? #URGENTE “Me di una puñada, estoy bien” dice #ElPapaEnCaracol. https://t.co/SwKrpzSCb3 pic.twitter.com/mcG2JfAZIe

— Caracol Radio (@CaracolRadio) September 10, 2017

The incident happened in Cartagena on the last day of his Sept. 6-11 visit to Colombia, which also took him to the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Villavicencio.

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Vatican City, Mar 10, 2017 / 05:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending a week in Ariccia with members of the Curia for their annual Lenten spiritual exercises, Pope Francis returned to the Vatican Friday with words of gratitude and his own brief reflection.

Shortly before leaving the Casa Divin Maestro retreat house in Ariccia, the Pope voiced his gratitude to Franciscan priest Giulio Michelini, who led the meditations for the week, saying “I want to thank you for the good you have wished us to have and for the good you have done us.”

He thanked the friar first of all for his openness and for being “natural” during the preaching, sharing himself “without artifice.”

Francis also gave thanks for all of the work Michelini put into preparing the meditations. “It’s true, there is a mountain of things to meditate on,” he said, but noted that as St. Ignatius says in the Exercises, when one encounters feelings of consolation or desolation, you must “stop there” to meditate on it.

Surely everyone has found one or two things to deeply reflect on after hearing Fr. Michelini’s meditations this week, the Pope continued, saying the rest “will serve for another time.”

“Sometimes, the simplest words are the ones that help us, or the more complicated ones: to everyone, the Lord gives the right word,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, the Pope voiced his hope and prayer Fr. Michelini can “continue to work for the Church, in the Church, in teaching, in so many things that the Church entrusts to you. But above all, I wish you to be a good friar.”

Pope Francis returned to the Vatican Friday with members of the Roman Curia at the conclusion of their March 5-10 Lenten spiritual exercises. He began the tradition of leaving the Vatican for the retreat after his election, choosing instead to spend it in Ariccia, just a short ways outside of Rome.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PopeFrancis?src=hash”>#PopeFrancis</a> is back from Ariccia after a week of <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/prayer?src=hash”>#prayer</a> &amp; reflection for <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/lent?src=hash”>#lent</a> – welcome back <a href=”https://twitter.com/Pontifex”>@Pontifex</a>! <a href=”https://t.co/L4kkuTkcIN”>pic.twitter.com/L4kkuTkcIN</a></p>&mdash; Elise Harris (@eharris_it) <a href=”https://twitter.com/eharris_it/status/840157590554255360″>March 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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According to a Vatican communique, after offering the final March 10 Mass for Syria, the Pope and members of the Curia left, arriving back at the Vatican just before 11:30a.m.

At the conclusion of the Mass, Pope Francis sent 100,000 euro to the poor in Aleppo, thanks to a contribution from the Roman Curia.

For this year’s spiritual exercises, the Pope chose personally chose Fr. Michelini, a Franciscan of the Seraphic Province of the Friars Minor of Umbria, to do the preaching.

The meditations for each day were focused on the story of Christ’s Passion as recounted in the Gospel of Matthew. Each day included two meditations, each on a different part of the story.

For example, reflecting on Jesus’ silence in the face of his accusers, Fr. Michelini spoke about the different kinds of silence: the good kind, such as silence in prayer and the bad kind, which is remaining silent in the face of wrongdoing, because we are worried what others will think of us.

Reflecting on Christ’s passion, Fr. Michelini in one meditation said, “I wonder if I have the courage to go all the way to follow Jesus Christ, taking into account that this brings to bear the cross.” As Jesus said, “‘if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’”

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