Bishop-elect dies within days of his episcopal consecration 

Archbishop Stefan Heße of Hamburg. / Raimond Spekking (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons).

Hamburg, Germany, Sep 15, 2021 / 08:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has declined the resignation of a German archbishop, the apostolic nunciature in Berlin ann… […]

Madrid, Spain, Feb 2, 2017 / 12:06 am (CNA).- Most fathers like to share their hobbies with their sons. But for José Manuel this proved a challenge – given that his fourth child Pablo suffers from a severe form of cerebral palsy.

Despite this, however, José Manuel had idea.

“I don’t remember when we began to run together. I know that the first time was in the summer. I was getting ready to go out for a run, but neither my wife nor children could stay to take care of Pablo. So I decided I could take him with me,” José Manuel Roas Treviño told CNA.

Even though José Manuel said he did not know if Pablo would like the experience or not, he quickly  demonstrated that he did: “He sat up straight in the chair and when he does that it means ‘okay,’ because it takes a huge amount of effort to keep sitting up straight.”

“We were running down a nearby bicycle lane and he was totally into it, he was laughing, shrieking, lifting up his arms. I was singing to him and he was laughing more and more. And I realized that what we were experiencing was very special.”

Pablo is 18 years-old and is affected by acute cerebral palsy, which makes him completely dependent on his parents, José Manuel and Maite. He cannot speak or walk, nor he will be able to in the future. But for his parents, Pablo far from being a burden, is a gift.

“I thank God every day for Pablo and for this life story that God is having us experience. Because when he was born, a wall certainly was raised up with all the limitations that appeared, because you were presented with a terrible life.”

“But for me, I live it every day in the first person, this still is surprising. God has given us a complex life story to live but he also helps us to go forward with it and to do it with hope, with a sense of humor.”

“Because I too have looked the other way from those who had children in their cars like Pablo and my heart just recoiled.”

José Manuel recalled the time he was preparing to become a special ed teacher. One morning in November of 1988 I sat down to study and the subject was cerebral palsy. At that instant I was frightened and I remember I literally said, “My God, what am I doing? You’re not preparing me to have a child like that, are you?”

“And I was so scared that that same day I quit preparing for those exams, and I started another major.”

José Manuel does not deny that the sufferings are “enormous, more than I had ever imagined” but he stressed that “it is suffering that you get much more out of than what you lose. God is near the weak, and Pablo is certainly the weakest there is.”

“We find in him things you don’t find anywhere else such as love and forgiveness of the purest sort.”

This father also commented that “there are very hard days, like I never in my life thought of, but it’s true that afterwards you discover who you are and also who God is, which is that which makes these impossibilities possible.”

That is why he insists that despite the difficulties his faith in God is stronger, thanks to Pablo.

“Yes, it’s precisely because of Pablo that we believe in God, because we are living the impossible. We’re a normal family that gets into fights everyday, and we’ve got our things…but where Pablo is concerned, our differences end. This is what unites us the most, and so for us Pablo is a blessing, he’s what draws us together.”

In addition, José Manuel emphasized how encouraging it is to see during races and marathons everybody wants to high five him, how the people applaud him during the race course and he lifts up his hands and laughs”… and he insists “It’s a miracle that we’re living and much more so to be able to share it with him.”

So far they has run six marathons: three in Seville, two in Madrid and one in New York, and he assures there are more races left to share.

For José Manuel and his entire family, having Pablo is “a true privilege, I say it with all my heart.”

[…]

People raise the Ukrainian flag at Pope Francis’ Angelus address at the Vatican, March 6, 2022. / Vatican Media.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 8, 2022 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

A Catholic Ukrainian journalist documenting daily life in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country has miraculously escaped Kyiv, she said. 

“God gave the sign [to leave], and gave the strength to realize it,” she said in a March 5 message. “This is amazing.”

St. Rita Radio, an EWTN affiliate located in Norway, is translating and sharing the journalist’s messages in the form of a video and podcast series titled “Diary from Kyiv.” The 3- to 6-minute episodes (available on YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts) feature a voice-over from a translator as images or short video clips from Ukraine appear. 

After spending several days chronicling life in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, the unidentified journalist announced her decision to leave the city after speaking with an acquaintance.

“He said, ‘Please take your sick mother and brother and try to leave Kyiv. It would be better,’” she remembered.

Her friend’s advice prompted her to “ask Jesus what he meant.”

Speaking with another friend over the phone, she prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance. Then, she opened up her Bible. 

“[I] felt in my heart that this was the sign from God that I needed to make a decision,” she stressed. “In the Word, I found confirmation that I must go.”

She placed her trust in God to find a way to leave the city.

“Currently, departures from Kyiv are limited, and it is not so easy to find transport,” she explained. 

But after making one phone call, she found a way out. A car was leaving Kyiv for their destination in one hour — and happened to have enough space for her and her family.

The journey was long, due to the traffic and checkpoints, she described. But she spent the time contemplating the “improbability of God’s action.”

“I also reflected on the lives of the Holy Family who were forced to leave everything and flee to Egypt,” she added. 

She will stay in her new location, she said, for as long as God wants.

“I will expect from God the next sign of where to go and what to do,” she said. 

Even though the war continues, she emphasized, it “brings me closer to God and shows his incredible action.”

The next day, March 6, she revealed she was at a monastery 200 kilometers (roughly 124 miles) from Kyiv.

“The nuns here help many people who are trying to escape from Kyiv and eastern Ukraine,” she said. “They use their rooms as temporary shelters so that people can rest, eat, sleep, and be able to travel further west of Ukraine.”

“Now, it will be our home,” she added. 

She identified her favorite place at the monastery: the chapel.

“We can go to prayer at any time and there is a round-the-clock adoration of the Holy Sacrament,” she said. 

While her family experienced a quiet evening, she mourned for those in the suburbs of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and other cities in northern Ukraine.

“The Russians fired on civilians and residential neighborhoods, attacking humanitarian corridors and evacuating people,” she said. “The railway used for transportation was blown up.”

She herself is not completely safe. 

“Local nuns said they [the Russians] have tried to attack the city twice,” she admitted. “One time, a rocket fell on the field and, the second time, one hit the house but did not explode.”

She recognized Mary’s protection.

“In this city, there is a miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the Holy Scapular,” she explained. “Therefore people sincerely believe that they are under the protection of the Virgin.”

She felt safe too, she said, and ended her video in prayer.

“Jesus is stronger than evil in the world. He proved it. He is our hope,” she said. “Mother of God of the Holy Scapular, envelope us with your cloak.”

The journalist’s series began when Pål Johannes Nes, the 42-year-old founder and chief editor of St. Rita Radio, approached her with an idea. 

“I asked her if she would be willing to tell her story,” he previously told CNA. “The story about how to live a life of faith during the time of war.”

Since then, the series has been a huge success.

“The response has been almost too much, for a small Internet radio in Norway,” he said. “Every episode is shared 10-20,000 times.”

Nes confirmed that the journalist is currently safe after leaving Kyiv with her sick mother and brother. Her story, he added, is receiving a response worldwide.

“I get emails and, today, also some videos from all over the world with people saying that they are praying for her and Ukraine,” he revealed to CNA. “From the U.S., from Mexico, South Africa, Norway, Poland and so on. I even got a video today made by a girl telling how she is praying for peace.”

[…]