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An estimated 200,000 people attended the pope’s rosary in Fatima, Portugal, on Aug. 5, 2023. / Vatican Media

Denver, Colo., Aug 7, 2023 / 14:39 pm (CNA).

Now that the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have left Lisbon, Portugal, and World Youth Day (WYD) has ended after days of inspiring and faith-filled events, we take a look back at some of the most moving moments of WYD.

1. A picture taking social media by storm is of a disabled young man being lifted by his wheelchair high above the sea of WYD attendees.

   A heart-touching picture from the World Youth Day in Lisbon.

   Proud to be a Catholic! pic.twitter.com/tRYgIOY6xl

   — Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) August 6, 2023

2. A video of Pope Francis meeting a child in a wheelchair captured the hearts of journalists in Lisbon. You can see the young boy giving the Holy Father a gift. At the end of the video, the two give one another a high-five.

   This tender encounter between Pope Francis and this little child melted several journalists’ hearts in Lisbon. pic.twitter.com/r1jIUvS6kd

   — EWTN News (@EWTNews) August 5, 2023

3. The EWTN News team in Lisbon found a pair of sisters from Toronto, Canada, who were attending WYD for the first time. Twenty-one-year-old Aurora and 23-year-old Gloria shared that they found out about WYD being in Portugal before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and, at that time, their mother encouraged them to attend. Their mother has since passed away and the sisters decided to attend the event in her honor. 

   Ladies Attend WYD in Honor of Late Mother: “We Wanted to Go for Her”

   Two sisters attending World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal this week told a beautiful story about why they journeyed to the event.

   21-year-old Aurora and 23-year-old Gloria from Toronto, Canada told EWTN this… pic.twitter.com/xvX9rj4PDA

   — ChurchPOP (@Church_POP) August 4, 2023

4. As part of the WYD celebrations, Pope Francis heard the confessions of three young people in Reconciliation Park on Aug. 4. He took about 10 minutes to hear the private confessions of the young people. One heartwarming photo from this experience was a young woman being embraced by the Holy Father after her confession.

5. On Aug. 4 at the nunciature in Lisbon, Pope Francis met with Maria da Conceição Brito Mendonça, a 106-year-old woman who was born on the day of the apparitions of Fátima, May 13, 1917.

6. ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news agency, shared the beautiful story of Carlos Wilson da Silva, 30, and Angélica Jesus Macedo, 35, who got engaged on Aug. 3 at the shrine of Fátima, Portugal. The engagement proposal was a surprise for the bride and for everyone who was there. “It’s very exciting, I didn’t imagine that he would ask me in front of the shrine. And I am so devoted to Our Lady of Fátima,” Angélica said. The couple is from Brazil, from Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Águas Claras. They attended WYD with a group of 99 people.

7. Pope Francis paid a heartfelt visit to Fátima on Aug. 5. While he was there, he prayed the rosary with young people with disabilities and placed a bouquet of roses and a golden rosary at the feet of the statue of Our Lady of Fátima. “Dear brothers and sisters, today let us feel the presence of Mother Mary, the mother who will always tell us, ‘Do whatever Jesus tells you.’ She points us to Jesus,” the pope said.

8. In front of an estimated 800,000 people, Pope Francis shared a powerful message to the youth during the Stations of the Cross on Aug. 4. He said: “We’ve all cried in life and continue to do so. Jesus is with us; he cries with us and accompanies us in the darkness that leads to tears. With tenderness, he wipes our tears.”

9. Pope Francis ended WYD at a Mass with an estimated 1.5 million people. However, before he left, he had a public address with the nearly 25,000 volunteers who kept the international event running from start to finish. One particular photo from the meeting stood out — a young volunteer gave the pope a warm embrace.

10. 10. Another moving moment from the closing Mass of WYD was Pope Francis saying farewell to Lisbon by praying at the feet of the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fátima, which was brought directly from the sanctuary to the closing Mass. Pope Francis told the youth: “Dear young people, I would like to look into the eyes of each one of you and tell you: Be not afraid, be not afraid.”

    📸 PHOTO OF THE DAY

    Pope Francis has said farewell to #WYD praying at the feet of the Pilgrim Statue of the Virgin of Fatima, brought directly from the sanctuary. For #Seoul2027, the Holy Father will be a youthful 90 years of age. Let us pray for him!

    Credit: Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/E5otLmMuxq

    — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) August 6, 2023

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Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A Georgia congressman’s office defended a claim made Wednesday that Jesus Christ was afforded more rights during the trial that led to his crucifixion than President Donald Trump has been given during impeachment proceedings.

“Before you take this historic vote, today, one week before Christmas, I want you to keep this in mind: When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) said on Wednesday on the House floor, amid House debate on a motion to impeach Trump.

“During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than the Democrats have afforded this president in this process,” he added before yielding his time.

“…When Jesus was falsely accused of Treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than Democrats have afforded this president in this process.” #ShamImpeachment pic.twitter.com/n8FZRe64eo

— Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) December 18, 2019

“Congressman Loudermilk was simply making a comparison about the process; that Pontius Pilate allowed Jesus face his accusers, but the Democrats refused to allow the president or Republicans to even know who the accuser was, much less the right to question him or her,” Brandon Cockerham, Loudermilk’s press secretary, said in an email to CNA.

The 23rd chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke recounts that Jewish religious leaders took Jesus, who had been arrested while praying in Jerusalem’s Garden of Gethsemane, to the home of Pontius Pilate, who was then governor of the Roman empire’s Judean province.

“We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Messiah, a king,” the crowd with Jesus told Pilate, according to St. Luke’s Gospel.

While Luke’s Gospel recounts that Pilate found “no guilt” after questioning Jesus and sent him to be questioned by Galilean tetrarch Herod Antipas. Pilate eventually acquiesced to repeated insistence that Jesus be executed.

Christ, subsequent to that execution, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Loudermilk’s Dec. 18 remarks also took issue with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who said in November that if Trump had proof of his innocence, “he should make that known.” The congressman claimed that Trump has repeatedly been denied his Constitutional rights throughout the impeachment process.

“The Constitution also guarantees that the accused can call witnesses to testify on their behalf,” said Loudermilk. “But the Republicans and the president were continually denied that right throughout this process.”

The congressman’s remarks refer to a “whistleblower,” who earlier this year accused the president of abusing the power of his office by apparently implying to Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid to the country would be withheld unless the president worked to assure an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The “whistleblower” and as such, Trump has not been able to question the party. This, said Loudermilk, is a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that people have a right to a fair trial and to face their accuser.

The impeachment process officially began on September 24, 2019, and concerns whether or not Trump abused his power. The two articles of impeachment filed against Trump accuse him of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” regarding the legislative body’s investigation of Ukraine.

The House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday evening to impeach Trump. There will be separate votes for each of the two articles of impeachment that were filed against the president. If the vote passes, the Senate will then hold a trial to decide whether or not to remove Trump from the presidency.

[…]

Las Cruces, N.M., Jul 17, 2018 / 01:15 pm (CNA).- A New Mexican diocese is investigating a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that some Catholics say has been “weeping” for more than a month.

Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Diocese of Las Cruces gave a public update July 15 about the diocesan investigation into an allegedly “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary. The cast bronze image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been drawing crowds to the church named in her honor in Hobbs, N.M. 

A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hobbs, N.M., appears to be weeping. Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Las Cruces.

Parishioners first reported seeing tears appearing to stream down the hollow statue in May.

Giving an update on the investigation launched that same month, Bishop Cantú said on Sunday that some had also reported a pleasant smell around the statue.

“Some of the witnesses claimed it smelled of roses, so something similar to the oil I bless and consecrate each year that we use for baptism, for confirmations and for ordination of the priests.” So far, the investigation seems to support these reports. As part of the efforts to determine the origin and nature of the tears, samples were sent for chemical analysis. The results determined that the tears were made of a scented olive oil.

The statue itself is also being examined.  “We examined the interior of the hollow statue,” Cantú told reporters. “There’s nothing on the interior that’s not supposed to be there, except for cobwebs. So we took pictures; we examined it.”

It was thought by investigators that the tears might have been the result of residual wax from the casting process, but this appears to have been ruled out. Cantú said that the manufacturers had assured them that the heat of the casting process made it impossible for there to be any moisture left in the statue. Addressing the possibility that the weeping statue could be an hoax, he noted that if it was he could not see how it was being accomplished.

On July 11, it was announced that Bishop Cantú was being transferred to  take up the post of bishop coadjutor in the diocese of San José, California. He is scheduled to take up that post at the end of September. Before he leaves, Cantú said he intends to visit the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe to see the statue for himself.

Before making any final decision on the miraculous nature of the weeping statue, the bishop said he would be seeking advice from a higher authority. “I’m checking best practices,” he told reporters. “Certainly, I have a final say, but I would defer to the wisdom of Pope Francis.”

In the meantime, the Hobbs church continues to see a steady stream of visitors. Even without formal recognition by church authorities, many are finding it a moving experience.

“I’ve read most of those written testimonies, and they are stories of tremendous faith, people who have been dealing with terrible suffering in their lives and have felt a tremendous spiritual consolation that Mary walks with us in our tears” Cantú said.

He noted that for many Catholics in the border diocese of Las Cruces, the image of Our Lady crying with them was deeply powerful. “I can’t help but think of my own shedding of tears for the poor people who come to our border, fleeing life-threatening situations. The tears of those children who are separated from their parents. There are many reasons we would shed tears, and God stands with us in those moments.”

The diocesan investigation continues.

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