Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square, June 15, 2022. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Jun 15, 2022 / 03:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that the elderly must accept their physical limitations, noting that he now ha… […]
Father Mark Lewis, S.J. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Jun 14, 2022 / 10:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has appointed Father Mark Lewis, a Florida-born Jesuit priest, to lead Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University as rector, it was announced on … […]
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. / L’Osservatore Romano.
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 10:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said this week that no Christian is exempt from aiding the poor.
In his message for the 2022 World Day of the Poor, published on June 14, the pope said that the worst thing that can happen to a Christian community is to be “dazzled by the idol of wealth, which ends up chaining us to an ephemeral and bankrupt vision of life.”
“Where the poor are concerned, it is not talk that matters; what matters is rolling up our sleeves and putting our faith into practice through a direct involvement, one that cannot be delegated,” Pope Francis said.
“No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. None of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice,” he added.
The pope underlined that it is not a question of approaching the poor with “a welfare mentality,” but of ensuring that no one lacks what is necessary.
He warned Catholics against laxity and inconsistent behavior with regard to the poor.
He said: “At times … a kind of laxity can creep in and lead to inconsistent behavior, including indifference about the poor. It also happens that some Christians, out of excessive attachment to money, remain mired in a poor use of their goods and wealth. These situations reveal a weak faith and feeble, myopic hope.”
Pope Francis established the World Day of the Poor in 2016 at the end of the Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy. The day is celebrated each year on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, a week before the feast of Christ the King.
The 6th World Day of the Poor will be celebrated on Nov. 13 with the theme “for your sakes Christ became poor,” inspired by 2 Corinthians 8:9.
In the message, signed on the June 13 feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, the pope made a distinction between poverty that humiliates, in which people live in squalor, and Christian poverty that sets people free and brings peace.
“Jesus’ words are clear: if we want life to triumph over death, and dignity to be redeemed from injustice, we need to follow Christ’s path of poverty, sharing our lives out of love, breaking the bread of our daily existence with our brothers and sisters, beginning with the least of them, those who lack the very essentials of life,” he said.
“This is the way to create equality, to free the poor from their misery and the rich from their vanity, and both from despair.”
At a press conference on June 14, Archbishop Rino Fisichella highlighted some Vatican initiatives to help aid the poor in coordination with the World Day of the Poor.
He said that 500 families received assistance with rent, insurance, gas, electricity, and water bills thanks in part to the Italian financial services company UnipolSai, and that tons of basic food supplies were distributed thanks to the generous collaboration of local supermarkets in the Diocese of Rome.
In his message for the World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis also raised the question of what more can be done to help the millions of people living in war-torn Ukraine and other conflict zones.
“What great poverty is produced by the senselessness of war,” he said.
“Millions of women, children, and elderly people are being forced to brave the danger of bombs just to find safety by seeking refuge as displaced persons in neighboring countries. How many others remain in the war zones, living each day with fear and the lack of food, water, medical care, and above all human affections?”
“How can we respond adequately to this situation, and to bring relief and peace to all these people in the grip of uncertainty and instability?” he asked.
Fra’ John T. Dunlap, Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. / Twitter @orderofmalta.
Rome Newsroom, Jun 14, 2022 / 09:45 am (CNA).
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Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, June 24, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 04:55 am (CNA).
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Pope Francis sat at the front of the congregation in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Solemnity of Pentecost on June 5, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 04:12 am (CNA).
There are many “restorers” in the United States who do not accept the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday.
Speaking to the editors of Jesuit journals, he criticized what he called “restorationism” in the Church, which he defined as the failure to accept Vatican II, the ecumenical council held from 1962 to 1965.
He said: “Restorationism has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ — for example, in the United States there are many — is significant.”
“An Argentine bishop told me that he had been asked to administer a diocese that had fallen into the hands of these ‘restorers.’ They had never accepted the Council. There are ideas, behaviors that arise from a restorationism that basically did not accept the Council.”
“The problem is precisely this: in some contexts, the Council has not yet been accepted. It is also true that it takes a century for a Council to take root. We still have 40 years to make it take root, then!”
Pope Francis cited opposition to Vatican II when he issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, limited celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass.
In a letter to the world’s bishops, he said he was saddened that the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass was “often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself.”
To doubt the Council, he said, is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”
The pope’s conversation with editors, which also touched on the war in Ukraine and the German “Synodal Way,” was published in La Civiltà Cattolica on June 14, but was conducted on May 19.
Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square, June 8, 2022. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 02:32 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has described Russia’s use of mercenaries in the Ukraine war as “monstrous” in an interview publi… […]
The Catholic Cathedral of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. / Mylius via Wikimedia (GFDL 1.2).
Limburg, Germany, Jun 13, 2022 / 11:30 am (CNA).
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St. Peter’s Basilica. / vvo/Shutterstock.
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2022 / 09:18 am (CNA).
The Vatican’s financial watchdog authority reported on Monday that it received 104 suspicious activity reports in 2021, an increase from the previous year.
In a 35-page annual report, released on June 13, the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF) said that it submitted 21 reports to the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice (prosecutor), the highest number in the past five years.
The watchdog authority is responsible for financial intelligence, as well as combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It supervises the Institute for the Works of Religion (the IOR or “Vatican bank”).
In its report, it said: “With regard to financial intelligence activities, in 2021 ASIF’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) received 104 reports of suspicious activity, 98 of which from the obliged entity [IOR], 5 from Vatican authorities, and 1 from a non-profit organization. No reports were received that were directly or indirectly linked to the financing of terrorism.”
“ASIF submitted 21 reports to the Office of the Promoter of Justice, the highest number recorded in the last five years; of these, 3 were first reports and 18 were supplemental reports.”
ASIF reported last year that it received 89 suspicious activity reports in 2020, 16 of which it forwarded to the Promoter of Justice for possible prosecution.
In 2019, it received 95 reports, compared to 83 in 2018, and 150 in 2017.
The 2021 report also disclosed that the ASIF sent 34 requests for information to foreign financial intelligence units, while receiving 19 such requests — fewer than in 2020.
ASIF president Carmelo Barbagallo described 2021 as a “year of consolidation” for the organization, which was established by Benedict XVI in 2010 and known as the Financial Information Authority (AIF) until it was renamed in December 2020.
He welcomed the “favorable outcome” of an eagerly awaited 2021 report by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog.
In an interview with Vatican News, Barbagallo noted that the Moneyval review “is of fundamental importance for the action and financial reputation of the jurisdictions that adhere to it.”
“An eventual negative review would have repercussions on the path of transparency undertaken long ago by the Holy See and also risk also complicating financial relationships of institutions like the IOR or APSA with their foreign counterparts,” he said.
“On the other hand, the great work done in previous years, and especially more recently, has prevented that from happening.”
“However, we cannot ‘let our guard down’ in terms of the effectiveness of prevention and enforcement action, because continuous refinement action is imperative that includes frequent instances of verification, also in accordance with international standards.”
René Brülhart and Tommaso Di Ruzza, respectively the former president and director of the AIF, are among 10 people currently facing trial at the Vatican over allegations of financial impropriety.
Brülhart is facing the charge of abuse of office, while Di Ruzza stands accused of abuse of office and violation of the secret of the office. Both men deny the charges.
Pope Francis meets participants in the general chapter of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, June 13, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2022 / 06:52 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said on Monday that… […]
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