Month: June 2024

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Catholic Church in Turkey consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

June 10, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0
On Friday, June 7, 2024, the day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St. John’s Cathedral, Izmir. / Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann

ACI MENA, Jun 10, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

On Friday, June 7, the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St. John’s Cathedral, Izmir.

Monsignor Marek Solczyński, apostolic nuncio to Turkey, presided over the ceremony and was surrounded by almost all the bishops of the country’s four Catholic communities —  Latin, Armenian, Syriac, and Chaldean. Also present was Father James Buxton of Izmir’s Anglican Church.

On Friday, June 7, 2024, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St John's Cathedral, Izmir. Monsignor Marek Solczyński, apostolic nuncio to Turkey, presided over the ceremony and was surrounded by almost all the bishops of the country's four Catholic communities. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann
On Friday, June 7, 2024, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St John’s Cathedral, Izmir. Monsignor Marek Solczyński, apostolic nuncio to Turkey, presided over the ceremony and was surrounded by almost all the bishops of the country’s four Catholic communities. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann

Father Alessandro Amprino, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Izmir, had the idea for the consecration. He will be representing the Turkish Catholic Church in Quito, Ecuador, from Sept. 8–15 at the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, the theme of which will be: “Fraternity to Heal the World: You Are All Brothers and Sisters (Mt 23:8).”

Ecuador was the first country to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1874, 150 years ago.

Amprino explained that when he saw the enthusiasm and current spiritual fruits of this consecration in Ecuador, his heart was filled with the wish to offer the same opportunity to the Church in Turkey. He proposed it to the CET (Turkish Episcopal Conference) as an initiative for the national Eucharistic year of the Catholic Church in Turkey, organized this year in conjunction with the Quito Congress.

On Friday, June 7, 2024, the day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St. John's Cathedral, Izmir. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann
On Friday, June 7, 2024, the day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St. John’s Cathedral, Izmir. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann

Three events will take place at the national level, one for each diocese: a spiritual retreat for religious in Iskenderun, the consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Cathedral of St. John the Apostle in Izmir (which just took place), and the conclusion of the national Eucharistic year in Istanbul. 

As for the choice of the Izmir cathedral named after St. John, it was St. John the Apostle who laid his head against the heart of Jesus during the Last Supper.

The homily was given by Monsignor Martin Kmetec, archbishop of Izmir’s Roman Catholics, whose mandate as president of the CET was renewed the previous day.

The Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St John's Cathedral, Izmir on June 7, 2024. The homily was given by Monsignor Martin Kmetec, archbishop of Izmir’s Roman Catholics, whose mandate as president of the CET was renewed the previous day. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann
The Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St John’s Cathedral, Izmir on June 7, 2024. The homily was given by Monsignor Martin Kmetec, archbishop of Izmir’s Roman Catholics, whose mandate as president of the CET was renewed the previous day. Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann

After Communion, everyone knelt before the altar to adore the Eucharist, which was exposed there. The hymn “Pange Lingua” was sung, followed by silent adoration. Next, the litanies of the Sacred Heart were prayed.

Then, in unison with the whole assembly, the nuncio read the prayer of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the celebration ended with a Eucharistic blessing.

This story was first published by ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Essay

Call to Conversion and Holiness

June 9, 2024 Eduardo Echeverria 24

Note: Read Part 1 of this essay: “The Triumph of the Therapeutic Mentality” (June 6, 2024). Call to Conversion and Holiness Fr. James Martin calls all Christians to conversion. He says, “What I mean by conversion is […]

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Pope Francis: Money, power, pleasure can enslave us

June 9, 2024 Catholic News Agency 3
Pope Francis waves to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his Angelus address n Sunday, June 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2024 / 09:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis urged people to reflect on Sunday on whether they are sacrificing their serenity and freedom to be enslaved by money, power, and pleasure.

Speaking in his Angelus address on June 9, the pope asked people to contemplate the temptations that can imprison us and the freedom found in Christ

“If we let ourselves be conditioned by the quest for pleasure, power, money, or consensus, we become slaves to these things,” he said.

“If instead we allow God’s freely-given love to fill us and expand our heart, and if we let it overflow spontaneously by giving it back to others with our whole selves without fear, calculation, or conditioning, then we grow in freedom and spread its good fragrance around us in our homes, in our families, and in our communities.”

In his speech from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pope highlighted the many ways in which “Jesus was a free man.”

Jesus was not enslaved by wealth, but embraced “a poor life full of uncertainties, freely taking care of the sick and whoever came to ask him for help, without ever asking for anything in return.”

“He was free with regard to power,” Francis added. “Indeed, despite calling many to follow him, He never obliged anyone to do so, nor did he ever seek out the support of the powerful, but always took the side of the least, teaching his disciples to do likewise.”

The Lord was also free from the need “for fame and approval, and for this reason, he never gave up speaking the truth,” he said.

Pope Francis underlined that Jesus never gave up speaking the truth “even at the cost of not being understood or becoming unpopular — even to the point of dying on the cross.” The pope added that Jesus did not allow himself “to be intimidated, bought, or corrupted by anything or anyone.”

Pope Francis asked people to spend some time reflecting on “this freedom of Jesus,” and then to examine their consciences as to whether there are any areas in life where they are “imprisoned by the myths of money, power, and success.”

After leading the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Angelus prayer in Latin, the pope made a passionate appeal for peace in the Holy Land, asking people to pray for the ceasefire negotiations and urging the international community to ensure that humanitarian aid arrives for those who are most in need.

At his Angelus address June 9, Pope Francis asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and in Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags. Credit: Vatican Media
At his Angelus address June 9, Pope Francis asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and in Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis also asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags. 

“May the Virgin Mary help us live and love like Jesus taught us, in the freedom of the children of  God,” Pope Francis said.

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