‘You are not alone’: Pope Francis meets women who escaped the Mafia

Hannah Brockhaus   By Hannah Brockhaus for CNA

October 30, 2023 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

 

Pope Francis meets with a group of women who escaped criminal organizations in Italy on Oct. 30, 2023, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 30, 2023 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Monday encouraged a group of women who escaped criminal organizations in Italy to keep fighting despite fear and to know they are not alone.

“You, dear women, were born and raised in contexts corrupted by Mafia crime, and you have decided to come out of it. I bless this choice of yours, and I encourage you to move forward,” he said during an audience in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on the morning of Oct. 30.

“I imagine that there are moments of fear, of bewilderment; this is normal. In these moments think of the Lord Jesus who walks by your side,” he said. “You are not alone; keep fighting.”

The women were accompanied by Father Luigi Ciotti. The 78-year-old Italian priest is the founder of two associations: Gruppo Abele helps those with drug and other addictions and Libera combats the abuses of criminal organizations in Italy and around the world.

Pope Francis meets with Father Luigi Ciotti, who accompanied a group of women who escaped criminal organizations in Italy, on Oct. 30, 2023, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with Father Luigi Ciotti, who accompanied a group of women who escaped criminal organizations in Italy, on Oct. 30, 2023, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

In the audience, Pope Francis recalled that some of Jesus’ disciples were women.

“Those women — as well as the rest of the men — were not perfect people, they were not ‘angelic’: They were women tried by life, sometimes ‘infected’ by evil,” he said.

Francis said Jesus had compassion for those women and healed them from their sin. They were freed, he continued, “not by magic” but by walking with the Lord and sharing in his cross and resurrection.

“This gives us freedom!” he underlined.

Pope Francis recommended that the women keep a pocket-sized copy of the Gospels with them wherever they go and read a little bit every day.

“Every day read a passage from it, quietly, and imagine that you are with him, with the Lord, in the midst of the disciples,” he said, adding that he would ensure Ciotti provided a copy of the Gospels for each of them.

Jesus, the pope said, “walks with us every day on the road of life. His cross gives meaning to our crosses and his resurrection is a source of hope.”

“I accompany you with prayer for you and for your loved ones, especially for your children,” he concluded. “May the Lord bless you and may Our Lady protect you.”

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Small Irish community seeks help to save a saint’s iconic cross

December 6, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 6, 2018 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A unique Irish cross marking the 1,400-year-old grave of a Catholic saint is in danger of destruction due to erosion, and the local community is seeking help to restore the “icon of Ireland’s early Christian heritage.”

St Mura’s Cross is carved into a slab nearly seven feet tall that marks the grave of St. Mura, the first abbot of a sixth-century monastery in the far north of Ireland in what is now County Donegal. The monastery, one of Ireland’s earliest, was founded by St. Colmcille less than a century after the death of St. Patrick. It became a center of religion and scholarship and its surrounding settlements gave birth to the town of Fahan, where nearly 600 people live today.

A nearby gable wall must be repaired before preservation efforts on St. Mura’s Cross must begin.

“Cracks have appeared on the wall and if we don’t stabilize that it could fall. If it does, it will fall on the cross and it will be destroyed forever,” Colm Toland of the Fahan Heritage Group told The Irish News in November.

St. Mura, said to be a descendant of the Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages, died in 645 at the age of 94. He became the patron saint of the O’Neil Clan, whose leaders were among the High Kings of Ireland. His feast day is observed March 12.

Both a Catholic church and a Church of Ireland church in the Fahan area are named for the saint.

The cross is the only one of its kind to bear an inscription in Greek: “Glory and honor to the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit”. It is considered a unique inspiration of the Irish High Cross artistic tradition of massive and ornately carved stone crosses.

The saint’s cross was carved sometime from the sixth to the tenth century. The gable wall was built in 1608, using stones from the original monastery, the Irish state broadcaster RTE News reports. It is surrounded by a graveyard that includes St. Mura’s tomb.

The monastery and village were sacked by the Vikings twice in the middle ages, though the site’s current ruins date to the 17th century. Some monastery artifacts are now in museums in Dublin and London.

Fahan’s heritage group is seeking support to protect the cross and the nearby church gable ruins. The gable is one of the distinctive landmarks of the village and a favorite stop for tourists and wedding parties, Fahan Heritage Group said in its YouTube video “Save St. Mura’s Cross.”

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/vr-R-yP7Bto” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

The stone-carved cross was distinctive for centuries, but now it has faded due to severe erosion attributed to acid rain or other environmental factors. The carving and Greek inscription are almost illegible.

“One thing we might have to consider is moving the cross to an indoor location and replacing it with a replica outside,” Toland said. “That way we could protect if from whatever environmental or pollution influences which are eroding it.”

Backers of the restoration include individuals from local community heritage and church societies, including historians, archaeologists, and architects.

They have launched an online fundraiser seeking an additional 15,000 Euro, about $17,000, to add to a startup grant from the Heritage Council of Ireland and funds from other sources.

“If left unprotected we will have lost an icon of Ireland’s earliest Christian period,” said the backers of the “Save Saint Mura’s Cross” project on the group fundraiser site fundit.ie. The fundraiser will close in mid-January.

They and the wider community are “determined to conserve the local history and heritage of Saint Mura’s monastic settlement from which the village itself grew.”

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