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Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Sep 18, 2024 / 08:54 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday said the Catholic Church is “more alive” outside of Europe as he reflected back on his recent apostolic journey to Southeast Asia.

“A first reflection that comes spontaneously after this trip is that in thinking about the Church we are still too Eurocentric, or, as they say, ‘Western,’” the pope said in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 18.

“But in reality, the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe … and may I say much more alive in these countries,” he added.

In his first general audience since returning from the longest international trip of his pontificate, the pope expressed gratitude to God for his experiences in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore Sept. 2–13.

“I thank the Lord who allowed me to do as an elderly pope what I would have liked to do as a young Jesuit,” Francis said.

The pope, who turns 88 in December, expressed his enthusiasm for the “missionary, outgoing Church” he encountered on his visit to the four island nations in Asia and Oceania.

In Indonesia, where only 3% of the Muslim-majority country’s population is Catholic, Pope Francis said that he encountered “a lively, dynamic Church, capable of living and transmitting the Gospel.”

The pope recalled his visit to the grounds of the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, where he signed a joint declaration with Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar condemning religious-based violence and promoting religious harmony. 

“There, I saw that fraternity is the future, it is the answer to anti-civilization, to the diabolical plots of hatred, war, and also sectarianism,” he said.

Pope Francis commented that the missionaries and catechists were the “protagonists” of his visit to Papua New Guinea, where the pope was welcomed by the beating drums of some of the country’s Indigenous tribes who have accepted the Catholic faith.

“I rejoiced to be able to stay a while with the missionaries and catechists of today; and I was moved to listen to the young people’s songs and music: In them, I saw a new future, without tribal violence, without dependency, without economic or ideological colonialism; a future of fraternity and care for the wondrous natural environment,” Francis said.

The pope added that he has “a beautiful memory” from traveling to the remote coastal town of Vanimo, a jungle outpost where he said Argentine missionaries “go into the jungle in search of the most hidden tribes.”

Pope Francis said that he experienced the “air of springtime” in East Timor, a small Catholic country that gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002.

He praised the Catholic country for its many large families and many religious vocations.

“I will never forget the smiles of the children,” he said. “In East Timor, I saw the youthfulness of the Church: families, children, young people, many seminarians and aspirants to consecrated life.”

Frequently throughout his trip, Pope Francis commended the high birth rates found not only in East Timor but also in Indonesia, saying that such high fertility rates should be an example for other countries around the world. 

On his return flight to Rome, the pope praised East Timor’s “culture of life,” adding that wealthier countries, including Singapore, could learn from the small country that “children are the future.”

Looking back on his final stop in Singapore, the pope remarked that the modern city-state was very different from other countries he visited during his apostolic journey.

“Even in wealthy Singapore there are the ‘little ones,’ who follow the Gospel and become salt and light, witnesses to a hope greater than what economic gains can guarantee,” he added.

Pope Francis reflected on his journey to the four tropical islands on a cloudy fall morning in Rome. The pope was quite animated as he spoke about his travels, frequently making extra comments off the cuff to the crowd. 

He underlined to the crowd that an “apostolic journey” is much different than tourism because “it is a journey to bring the Word of God, to make the Lord known, and also to know the soul of the people.”

At the end of the audience, the pope offered a prayer for the victims of the recent severe flooding in Europe and encouraged the local Catholic communities who are working to provide relief to the flooding caused by Storm Boris.

“In these days, heavy torrential rains have hit Central and Eastern Europe causing victims, missing persons, and extensive damage in Austria, Romania, Czech Republic, and Poland, who have to cope with tragic inconveniences caused by the floods. I assure everyone of my closeness, praying for those who have lost their lives and their families,” he said.

Pope Francis commented that there were many newly married couples who came to the general audience to receive his blessing for their marriages, with the Holy Father giving a shoutout to two Vatican employees who will be married in Vatican City this weekend.

The pope asked the Virgin Mary’s intercession for the newlyweds to have the grace “to accept work and daily crosses as opportunities for growth and purification of your love.”

Francis also prayed for the sick, elderly, and disabled present at the general audience.

“May Our Lady of Sorrows, whom we recalled a few days ago in the liturgy, help you, dear sick and elderly people, to grasp in suffering and difficulties the call to make of your existence a mission for the salvation of your brothers and sisters,” he said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
Catholic bishops around the world are deeply divided on a Vatican declaration that permits nonliturgical blessings of homosexual couples:… […]

Pope Francis at a Mass for the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica, June 29, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Vatican City, Jun 29, 2022 / 10:17 am (CNA).

Pope Francis called Wednesday for Catholics not to retreat into their own groups, but to open the church doors and work together to care for the vulnerable in the world.

“What can we do together, as Church, to make the world in which we live more humane, just and solidarity, more open to God and to fraternity among men? Surely we must not retreat into our ecclesial circles and remain pinned to some of our fruitless debates,” he said at Mass on June 29 for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

“Together we can and must continue to care for human life, the protection of creation, the dignity of work, the problems of families, the treatment of the elderly and all those who are abandoned, rejected or treated with contempt,” he said. “In a word, we are called to be a Church that promotes the culture of care, tenderness and compassion towards the vulnerable.”

During the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis also blessed the pallia for the metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year. 

Pallia are white woolen vestments adorned with six black silk crosses given to metropolitan archbishops. They symbolize the metropolitan’s authority and unity with the Holy See.

The title of “metropolitan archbishop” refers to the archbishop of a metropolis, which is the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or region.

There were 32 metropolitan archbishops from 24 countries present in Rome to receive their blessed pallium from Pope Francis on June 29.

“In communion with Peter, [the metropolitan archbishops] are called to ‘get up quickly,’ not to sleep, and to serve as vigilant sentinels over the flock,” Francis said. “To get up and ‘fight the good fight,’ never alone, but together with all the holy and faithful people of God.”

Formerly, the new metropolitans would be invested with the pallia by the pope at the same June 29 Mass in which they were blessed, but in 2015 Francis changed this policy to have the bishops be invested with the pallia in their diocese by the local apostolic nuncio.

At the end of Mass on Wednesday, Pope Francis handed each archbishop his pallium in a small box tied with a brown ribbon.

Pope Francis presided over the opening rites of the Mass, with the blessing of the pallia and the Liturgy of the Word. He also delivered the homily and received the offertory gifts. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the second half of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

In his homily, Pope Francis spoke about the Catholic Church’s ongoing synodal path, which is leading up to the Synod on Synodality, which will take place in October 2023.

“The Synod that we are now celebrating calls us to become a Church that gets up, one that is not turned in on itself, but capable of pressing forward, leaving behind its own prisons and setting out to meet the world, with the courage to open doors,” he said. “Let us open the door. The Lord calls.”

The pope said sometimes the Church has open doors, but only to condemn people and send them away. 

“A Church that does not linger in its sacred precincts, but is driven by enthusiasm for the preaching of the Gospel and the desire to encounter and accept everyone. Let us not forget that word: everyone,” he said.

“Go to crossroads and bring everyone, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the sick, the righteous and the sinner: everyone,” he continued. “This word of the Lord should continue to echo in our hearts and minds: in the Church there is a place for everyone.”

Pope Francis condemned an attitude of laziness in the Church.

“Often we are like Peter in chains, imprisoned by our habits, fearful of change and bound to the chains of our routine. This leads quietly to spiritual mediocrity: we run the risk of ‘taking it easy’ and ‘getting by,’ also in our pastoral work,” he said.

“Our enthusiasm for mission wanes,” Francis added, “and instead of being a sign of vitality and creativity, ends up appearing tepid and listless.”

The pope referenced The Drama of Atheist Humanism by 20th century theologian Henri de Lubac.

“Then, the great current of newness and life that is the Gospel becomes in our hands — to use the words of Father de Lubac — a faith that ‘falls into formalism and habit…, a religion of ceremonies and devotions, of ornaments and vulgar consolations… a Christianity that is clerical, formalistic, anemic and callous,’” he said.

At the end of Mass, the Patriarchal Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir of Tbilisi, an Orthodox choir from the country of Georgia, chanted “Ave Maria” by Ilia II. 

The Tbilisi choir also gave a two-hour performance in the Sistine Chapel on June 26.

A delegation from the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople attended the Mass for Saints Peter and Paul.

Pope Francis and the delegation prayed together before the tomb of St. Peter after Mass.

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