PHOTOS: Pope Francis hangs out with Vatican summer camp kids

Hannah Brockhaus   By Hannah Brockhaus for CNA

July 18, 2024 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 1 Print

 

The kids and Pope Francis released biodegradable balloons into the sky together on July 18, 2024. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.” / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Pope Francis visited the kids participating in the Vatican’s annual summer camp on Thursday morning, answering their questions and releasing biodegradable balloons into the sky.

Pope Francis meets with kids ages 5–13, the children of Vatican employees, while they attend a summer camp in Vatican City on July 18, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with kids ages 5–13, the children of Vatican employees, while they attend a summer camp in Vatican City on July 18, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The day camp for children of Vatican employees is in its fourth year. It is taking place June 17–July 26 inside Vatican City in a newly-built area with sports facilities and a swimming pool dedicated to St. Joseph.

According to the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis met both the kids and counselors of “Youth Summer at the Vatican” on July 18.

The pope answered some of the questions and comments of the children and spoke about the importance of having good family relationships, including with grandparents, the Vatican said, adding that Francis also urged the kids to work for peace, because promoting peace “is the most beautiful thing in life.”

Pope Francis meets with kids ages 5–13, the children of Vatican employees, while they attend a summer camp in Vatican City on July 18, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with kids ages 5–13, the children of Vatican employees, while they attend a summer camp in Vatican City on July 18, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The pontiff and camp attendees then said a prayer together before launching colorful, biodegradable balloons into the air. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.”

The children of Vatican employees enjoy the newly-built sports facilities and swimming pool used for the summer day camp held inside Vatican City from June 17–July 26, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
The children of Vatican employees enjoy the newly-built sports facilities and swimming pool used for the summer day camp held inside Vatican City from June 17–July 26, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis had met the camp’s benefactors at his Santa Marta residence.

Earlier in the morning on July 18, 2024, Pope Francis met the Vatican summer camp’s benefactors at his Santa Marta residence. Credit: Vatican Media
Earlier in the morning on July 18, 2024, Pope Francis met the Vatican summer camp’s benefactors at his Santa Marta residence. Credit: Vatican Media

The camp is organized around the 2024 theme of “Knights Errant,” guided by an interpretation of the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza from the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

The camp’s activities include prayer, team sports, swimming and water games, dancing, and creative and educational workshops for ages 5–13.

Started in 2020, the camp is an initiative of the Vatican Governorate in response to the pope’s wish to welcome children to the Vatican in the style of St. John Bosco’s oratories.

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Pope accepts resignation of NY auxiliary under investigation for abuse

October 10, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2019 / 04:55 am (CNA).- Pope Francis accepted Thursday the resignation of Bishop John Jenik as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York and appointed two New York priests as auxiliaries of the archdiocese.

Jenik, 75, was removed from ministry last year after the archdiocese found credible an accusation of sexual abuse against him. Jenik, who has been an auxiliary of New York since 2014, maintains his innocence.

Neither the Vatican nor the Archdiocese of New York have announced the results of a preliminary investigation into the abuse allegations against Jenik.

Jenik’s alleged victim, Michael Meenan, 53, said last November that Jenik cultivated an inappropriate relationship with him during the 1980s that involved dozens of trips upstate to Jenik’s country house, where Jenik allegedly groped him in bed.

Meenan’s allegation was reviewed by the Lay Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York, which concluded “the evidence is sufficient to find the allegation credible and substantiated.”

Jenik, who has served as pastor at Our Lady of Refuge parish since 1985, wrote in an Oct. 29 letter to his parishioners that he continues “to steadfastly deny that I have ever abused anyone at any time.”

Jenik’s case is being reviewed by the Vatican, most likely at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sources says, before being passed to Pope Francis for judgment.

Pope Francis Oct. 10 also appointed two New York priests, Fr. Edmund J. Whalen and Fr. Gerardo J. Colacicco, to serve as auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese.

Whalen, 61, has been the vicar of clergy for New York since January. He was previously dean of Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island for eight years.

From Staten Island, Whalen studied at Cathedral College in Douglaston, New York and at the Pontifical North American College and Gregorian University in Rome. He later received a doctorate in moral theology from the Alfonsianum, a graduate school of theology in Rome. He was ordained a priest of New York in 1984.

Fr. Gerardo J. Colacicco, 64, is from Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers and has a license in canon law from Rome’s Angelicum university.

He was ordained a priest in 1982. In addition to serving in parishes, Colacicco has worked in the archdiocesan tribunal as a defender of the bond and a judge. Since 2015, he has been pastor of St. Joseph-Immaculate Conception Parish in Millbrook.

 

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1 Comment

  1. Creating platforms for friendships, togetherness and on-going-ness is a healthy initiative. Vatican’s annual summer camp is a fine example for leaders and captains in other dioceses in the Global North and in the Global South to take note of.

    Reply

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