Another pro-life clinic attacked, this one in Philadelphia

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Square for Easter 2022 / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 17, 2022 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday celebrated Easter Mass for around 50,000 people in St. Peter’s Square — the first Easter Mass with the public after two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

On a sunny and windy morning in Rome, Pope Francis also participated in the “Resurrexit,” an ancient rite honoring an icon of the Holy Savior.

The ritual sequence, sung in Latin, recalls how the apostle Peter, of whom the pope is the successor, was one of the first witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, after St. Mary Magdalene.

While the “Resurrexit” was sung, deacons opened the panels of the icon of the Holy Savior next to the altar.

Pope Francis then sprinkled holy water before proceeding with the rest of Mass.

For Easter 2022, the Vatican’s altar was decorated with flowers from the Netherlands, the continuation of a 37-year tradition.

Pope Francis concelebrated the Easter Sunday Mass with 280 priests, 25 bishops, and 23 cardinals. Students from the North American College Seminary in Rome were ministers at the pope’s Mass.

The Gospel reading, John 20:1-9, was proclaimed in Latin and Greek. The passage recounts the moment in which Mary Magdalene and the apostles Peter and John found the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.

Instead of giving a homily after the Gospel, following a custom of the last few years, Pope Francis kept a silence of several minutes for prayer and reflection.

After the Mass, he greeted the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and the street outside from the Popemobile, before going to the Hall of Blessings.

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Washington D.C., Mar 13, 2018 / 04:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As populists across the U.S. and Europe express discontent with the current state of democracy, George Weigel has pointed to the importance of family and civil society in encouraging and cultivating the virtuous citizenry necessary for democratic renewal.

“Democracy is not a machine that can run by itself,” said George Weigel in the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s 17th annual William E. Simon Lecture held March 6 in Washington, D.C.

“The vitality of the public moral culture is crucial to the democratic project because it takes a certain kind of people, living certain virtues, to make free politics and free economics work so that the net result is genuine human flourishing.”

“The ‘culture of Me’ is incapable of defending the claim that the democratic project, for all its discontents and flaws, is nonetheless morally superior to the various authoritarianisms on offer in the 21st-century world, because it is itself committed to the authoritarianism of the imperial autonomous Self,” warned Weigel, who cited the continued influence of the 1960’s “unbridled self-absorption” and rejection of traditional virtues on today’s public culture.

Two elements of modern American culture that hinder democracy are moral relativism, the idea that “your truth” can be different than “my truth,” and expressive individualism, a certain self-centered notion that “the good” is defined by what an individual wills or wants.

Weigel pointed out that “a truth-starved and morally anorexic culture is incapable of sustaining free politics and free economics because it cannot answer the questions, why be civil and tolerant and why accept the electoral choice of the majority?”

A self-absorbed “culture of Me” is also linked to consumerism, in which “human worth is measured by what a person has rather than who a person is,” said Weigel.

The foundation for rebuilding a virtuous moral culture are the family, religious communities, and civil associations, according to Weigel, who stressed, “the family is of immense importance, because stable families are the first schools of freedom rightly understood as freedom for excellence, freedom for nobility, and freedom for solidarity.”

“The deconstruction of the family by the sexual revolution is closely correlated to many phenomena that now threaten the democratic project, from crime and substance abuse to aggressive forms of identity politics that seek to shut down public debate,” continued Weigel, pointing to the research of Mary Eberstadt.

“Americans must once again affirm that there are self-evident truths that can be known by reason; that knowing these truths teaches us both our obligations and the limits of the legitimate role of the state in our lives; and that affirming these truths is what makes an ‘American’, irrespective of anyone’s grandparents’ country-of-origin,” he continued.

Weigel says he has hope for a renewal of virtue in America’s democracy, but “both conservatives and progressives in these United States need a thorough examination of conscience about their respective responsibilities for our current democratic discontents, which are no longer just a matter of frustration with Washington political dysfunction.”

“Statesmanship requires a firm commitment to certain built-in truths about human beings and their communities, and the skills taught by the virtue of prudence in making those truths live in our common life. So let us measure ourselves, and those who would lead us, by those truths and by that virtue.”

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Rain did not deter the hundreds of men gathered as part of the Men’s Rosary in Bogota, Colombia, Oct. 8, 2022, to pray the rosary for the victims of abortion. / Photo credit: Eduardo Berdejo/Twitter

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 12, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Hundreds of men gathered Oct. 8 in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bogotá, Colombia, to join the worldwide Men’s Rosary, reciting the Marian prayer under the rain that fell on the Colombian capital.

The Men’s Rosary was held Oct. 8 in dozens of countries, an initiative originating in Poland and Ireland in 2018 and that in a few years has spread to other nations on different dates.

The Oct. 8 Men’s Rosary was the first to be held worldwide. The goal was for the rosary to be recited 24 hours a day in some city on the planet.

In Colombia, the Men’s Rosary was prayed in Cali, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Bogotá, and other cities.

In Bogota, the men — who were accompanied by some women — gathered in the Plaza de Bolívar and on the esplanade of the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes.

A video shows that a few minutes after the prayer began, rain began falling on the assembled men, but it didn’t stop them from continuing to recite the prayer, with some even on their knees.

While some of the faithful covered themselves with umbrellas, others remained on their knees without any protection.

During the reflections for the mysteries, the faithful prayed for aborted children, their families, and for the authorities.

The prayer in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes was organized by the Rosario de San José group, joined by other lay organizations such as the Movement of Catholic Solidarity, Mission for the love of God throughout the world, Lazos de Amor Mariano (Bonds of Marian love), Regnum Christi, and others.

Why a Men’s Rosary?

On their website, the originators of the Men’s Rosary state that the objective is to fulfill the will of the Virgin Mary, which is the will of her Son, Jesus Christ.

They note that “the role of men in God’s plan is to protect for eternal life all those whom God has given us here on earth.”

“Just as St. Joseph was the earthly protector of the Holy Family, we also have the task of defending the sanctity of our families and loved ones. We want to do it together, in a community of men. In this unity, we strengthen our male identity and masculine virtues,” the promoters of the prayer movement explain.

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

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