Pope Francis names Bishop Frank Leo to lead Archdiocese of Toronto in Canada

Vatican City, Oct 3, 2019 / 01:37 pm (CNA).- U.S. diplomats asked the Holy See to join the multilateral International Religious Freedom Alliance Wednesday, underscoring the contributions of faith-based organizations to flourishing and free societies around the world.

Faith-based institutions unleash “spiritual capital into a society,” Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told CNA. He said these non-governmental organizations “bring the heart and hands,” helping the parts of society where governments or big institutions cannot reach.

“Governments are not real good about ‘Hey, let us help you get out of alcoholism,’ but churches are. That is just one quiet example,” Brownback said.

A symposium held at the Vatican Oct. 2 focused on the unique role that faith-based organizations play in providing humanitarian aid, combatting human trafficking, and advancing religious freedom in different parts of the world.

“Faith communities have been foundational, that is, fundamental to our work,” U.S. Ambassador-at-large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons John Cotton Richmond said at the symposium.

“Governments are limited by borders. They are limited by jurisdictions, election cycles, political will, and sometimes their self-imposed political struggles. But faith communities are not similarly bound,” Richmond said.

The ambassador said that faith-based organizations have the advantage of being able to “operate through networks that extend beyond any government or regime.”

“They do not last for just a cycle … They can build and plant for the long term,” he said.

“Faith-based communities with their contributions to philosophy have contributed to the foundation of the modern human rights movement. Faith-based groups have advanced the idea that all people have inherent value and intrinsic worth regardless,” Richmond said.

Representatives from Aid to the Church in Need, Caritas, Talitha Kum, the Community of Sant’Egidio, AVSI, Adyan Foundation, and the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development participated in the symposium, “Pathways to Achieving Human Dignity,” co-hosted by the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.

The U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich announced at the symposium that the embassy will be awarding financial grants to each of the faith-based organizations that participated in the event.

“There has never been a more critical time to work with and to support faith-based organizations,” Gingrich said in her opening address Oct. 3.

“Today, religious freedom is under attack in nearly every part of the world. Faith-based organizations, through their unique ability to build trust and encourage dialogue, can play a critical role in turning the tide,” Gingrich said.

“Faith-based organizations are advocates for the most vulnerable among us, including those enslaved by human trafficking. They are also providers of humanitarian assistance, helping governments deliver aid effectively and honestly to those most in need,” she said.

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Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in Iraq. / Credit: ACN

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 9, 2023 / 18:40 pm (CNA).
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda recently expressed his concern to the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the wa… […]

Vatican City, May 6, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The coronavirus crisis can be an opportunity to recenter work on the dignity of each person, Pope Francis said in an appeal at the end of his general audience broadcast on Wednesday. 

“On May 1, I received several messages about the world of work and its problems. I was particularly struck by that of the agricultural workers, among them many migrants, who work in the Italian countryside. Unfortunately, many are very harshly exploited,” Pope Francis said May 6.

“It is true that the current crisis affects everyone, but people’s dignity must always be respected. That is why I add my voice to the appeal of these workers and of all exploited workers. May the crisis give us the opportunity to make the dignity of the person and of work the center of our concern,” he said. 

Amid fears of a food shortage, the Italian government is currently discussing whether to legalize some undocumented migrant workers. These workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation with illegal contracts that can pay less than half of Italy’s minimum wage for the agricultural sector.

May 1 is recognized as Labor Day in Italy and many countries throughout Europe, however it is not an official holiday in the Vatican, which instead celebrates the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, established by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

On the feast day, the pope asked St. Joseph to help Catholics fight for dignified work. He prayed that “no one might be without work and all might be paid a just wage.”

Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience that prayer is “a cry that comes for the heart of those who believe and entrust themselves to God.” The pope began a new cycle of weekly catechesis on May 6 focused on prayer. 

“Not only do Christians pray, they share the cry of prayer with all men and women. But the horizon can still be widened. Paul says that the whole creation ‘groans and suffers the pains of childbirth,’” he said, quoting St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

“The Catechism states that ‘humility is the foundation of prayer,’” the pope said. “Prayer … comes from our precarious state, from our continuous thirst for God.”

Pope Francis focused his catechesis on the Gospel account of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar from Jericho.

Bartimaeus “uses the only weapon in his possession: his voice. He starts shouting: ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me,’” the pope explained.

“And Jesus listens to his cry. Bartimaeus’ prayer touches his heart, the heart of God, and the doors of salvation are opened for him,” he said. “He recognizes in that poor, helpless, despised man, all the power of his faith, which attracts the mercy and power of God.”

“Stronger than any argument, there is a voice in the human heart that calls out. We all have this voice inside. A voice that comes out spontaneously, without anyone commanding it, a voice that questions the meaning of our journey down here, especially when we are in the dark: ‘Jesus, have mercy on me! Jesus, have mercy on me!’ This is a beautiful prayer,” Pope Francis said.

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