Pope to Methodists: Reconciliation is more than talk – it needs action

Vatican City, Sep 26, 2017 / 01:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s Joseph Ratzinger Foundation unveiled a new prize called “Expanding Reason,” aimed at promoting dialogue between the sciences and philosophy and theology in scholarly work.

Four Americans – Darcia Narvaez from the University of Notre Dame and Michael Schuck, Nancy C. Tuchman, and Jesuit Fr. Michael J. Garanzini from Loyola University – are among this year’s winners.

“Expanding Reason,” the name of the prize, “is a central idea in the teaching and in the work of Joseph Ratzinger (who would become Pope Benedict XVI) because he’s a man of intelligence, he’s a man of reason, of the search for truth,” Fr. Federico Lombardi, former director of the Holy See Press Office, told EWTN Sept. 26.

President of the Ratzinger Foundation, Fr. Lombardi said the idea for the prize came about as a way to encourage work in the direction of dialogue between science and philosophy, and science and theology – “in research and also in the organization of courses in the university.”

“Confidence in human reason is the basis for a dialogue between the different fields of human knowledge. And this is necessary to find also the direction, the answer, to big questions of life, of death, of people and of the history of mankind,” he continued.

The prize has two categories: one for research-based books or works and another for professors working directly with students. The awards will be handed out at a ceremony at the Vatican Sept. 27.

Organized in collaboration with the University of Francisco de Vitoria of Madrid, the prize had more than 300 applicants, which Fr. Lombardi said is “much more than we expected,” but shows that there is space and a desire for this discussion.

Of these 300 applicants, four winners were chosen, two under each category. Two applicants were also given honorable mention.

Of the four winners, one was Darcia Narvaez, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame since 2000. Her work, “Neurobiology and the development of human morality: evolution, culture and wisdom,” investigates the foundation and origins of human morality in child development.

The other American prize recipients are Michael Schuck, Nancy C. Tuchman and Jesuit Fr. Michael J. Garanzini from Loyola University. They won as a group under the teaching category for their work “Healing Earth,” an online manual of environmental science, ethics, spirituality and action promoting awareness of environmental problems.

The other winners were Claudia Vanney and Juan F. Franck of Buenos Aires, Argentina for their scholarly work: “Determinism or indeterminism? Big questions from the sciences to philosophy” and Dominican Sr. Laura Baritz of Hungary for “the keteg Teaching Program and mission.”

Benedict XVI insists “on the need to have a broad and open view of reason and its exercise in seeking the truth and the answer to fundamental questions about humanity and its destiny,” Fr. Lombardi said in a press conference Sept. 26.

“This idea is fundamental to the dialogue between the Church and modern culture, between sciences and philosophy and theology, and hence also a fundamental idea for the way of thinking of the university and its function.”

The Ratzinger Foundation also announced that the seventh annual Ratzinger Prize will be awarded on Nov. 18 this year.

Also an award of the Ratzinger Foundation, the Ratzinger Prize was begun in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Benedict XVI.

The foundation’s international conference, also in its seventh year, will take place in Costa Rica from Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2017. Organized in collaboration with the Catholic University of Costa Rica, this year’s theme is “Laudato si: For the ‘care of the common home’ a necessary conversion to Human Ecology.”

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Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus address at St. Peter’s on Feb. 4, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 4, 2024 / 09:22 am (CNA).

Pope Francis reminded the faithful during the Sunday Angelus that Jesus’ example of being “on the move,” in his preaching and in performing miracles, is a reminder that God is never distant, but “always close to us.”

Reflecting on today’s Gospel reading from Mark 1:29-39, the pope observed in his exegesis that Jesus, “after teaching in the synagogue, comes out so that the Word he preached can reach, touch and heal people.” 

While acknowledging that the idea of a God that “is distant, cold, indifferent to our fate” is prevalent, the pope underscored that today’s reading dispels this notion, revealing to us instead that Jesus shows “to us that God is not a detached master who speaks to us from on high.” 

“On the contrary, he is a Father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit,” the pope said to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 4. 

Summarizing God’s attitude in three key words, “closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” the Holy Father reiterated that God is made known to us and comes “close to accompany us, tenderly, and to forgive us.”

The pope then called upon the faithful to undertake an interior reflection by asking the following questions: “Does faith instill in us the restlessness of journeying or is it an intimist consolation, that calms us? Do we pray just to feel at peace, or does the Word we listen to and preach make us go out, like Jesus, towards others, to spread God’s consolation?”

Though acknowledging that this literal and metaphorical walking of Jesus “challenges us,” it is our “spiritual task” to answer these questions, which, in turn, will lead us to “convert every day to the God Jesus presents to us in the Gospel, the Father of love and compassion.”

“When we discover the true face of the Father, our faith matures, we no longer remain ‘sacristy Christians, or ‘parlor Christians,’ but rather we feel called to become bearers of God’s hope and healing,” the pope added. 

Following the recitation of the papal blessing, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to all those in China, Southeast Asia, and around the world who are celebrating the Lunar New Year, observing that “this celebration be an opportunity to experience relationships of affection and gestures of attention, which contribute to creating a supportive and fraternal society, where every person is recognized and welcomed in their inalienable dignity.” 

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, is a celebration of the new year according to the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The holiday commences on the new moon that falls between the end of January and early February and concludes on the subsequent full moon. This year the celebration runs from Feb. 10 to Feb. 15 and ushers in the year of the Dragon. 

On Friday, Feb. 2 Pope Francis received a Delegation of the Italy-China National Federation in the Apostolic Palace, where the pontiff was greeted by a folkloric dance by the Chinese Martial Arts Academy of Vercelli. 

The pope congratulated the group for their work in spearheading “a number of initiatives aimed at fostering dialogue between Italy and China, and seeking to respond to the challenges posed by cultural integration, education and the promotion of shared social values.”

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Vatican City, Jul 16, 2017 / 05:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, Pope Francis said that in the parable of the seed and the sower Jesus invites us to reclaim the ‘soil’ of our hearts by bringing to him, in prayer and Confession, the stones and thorns in need of healing.

“Jesus invites us today to look inward: to give thanks for our good ground and to work on the ground not yet good,” he said July 16.

“Let us ask ourselves if our heart is open to welcome with faith the seed of the Word of God. Let us ask ourselves if the rocks of laziness are still large and numerous within us; we identify and we call by name the brambles of our vices.”

“We find the courage to make a beautiful reclamation of the land, bringing to the Lord in Confession and in prayer our stones and our stumps. In doing so, Jesus, a good sower, will be happy to do an extra work: to purify our hearts, removing the stones and thorns that stifle his Word.”

Pope Francis addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square before leading the Angelus Sunday, reflecting on the day’s Gospel of the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds.

When Jesus used parables, he noted, as in today’s Gospel, he uses simple language and imagery from everyday life to help explain the mystery of the Kingdom of God in terms that can “easily be understood by everyone.”

“That’s why they listened willingly and appreciated his message that came straight to their heart.”

In the parable, we know that Jesus is the sower, and in this image he doesn’t impose, but proposes, the Pope said. He throws the seed, attracting us not by conquering us, but by giving himself to us.

And this seed, “how can it bear fruit?” he asked. “If we welcome him.”

“Therefore the parable concerns above all us: it speaks, in fact, of the soil rather than of the sower. Jesus performs, so to speak, a ‘spiritual radiography’ of our heart, which is the ground upon which the seed of the Word falls.”

“Our heart, like soil, can be good and then the Word brings so much fruit, but it can also be hard, impermeable. This happens when we hear the Word, but it bounces off of us just like on a road: it does not enter,” he said.

He pointed out that between the good soil and the road of asphalt or ‘sanpietrini’ – the name of the rounded cobblestones that can be found in St. Peter’s Square and around Rome – there are two intermediate terrains: the stony and the thorny.

In the stony ground the seed germinates, but doesn’t put down deep roots, the Pope said.

“So is the superficial heart that welcomes the Lord, wants to pray, love and testify, but does not persevere, tends to wear and never “takes off”. It is a thick heart, where the rocks of laziness prevail over the good land, where love is inconsistent and passable.”

What do the thorns in the thorny ground represent? “‘The world’s concern and the seduction of wealth’, so Jesus says explicitly,” he said.

We all have these brambles in our hearts, such as making idols out of worldly wealth or power, or only living for ourselves. “You need to tear them away, otherwise the Word will not bear fruit, Francis emphasized.

July 16 is also the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Pope concluded his message by saying that the Blessed Virgin Mary is “unsurpassed in welcoming the Word of God and putting it into practice.”

May she help you “to purify your heart and preserve the presence of the Lord.”

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