Pope Francis traveled to Ostia, a seaside town not far from Rome, on July 31, 2024, to greet Sister Geneviève Jeanningros and the employees of the Summer Park Festival at Luna Park. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 31, 2024 / 16:32… […]
Pope Francis greets tens of thousands of altar servers packed in St. Peter’s Square for a special audience on July 30, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 30, 2024 / 17:48 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis celebrated a liturgy with tens of tho… […]
Pope Francis addresses pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, Sunday, July 28, 2024. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday noted three gestures from the Bible account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes which he argued are mirrored by Jesus at the Last Supper and by the faithful in each Mass.
The pope pointed out “offering, giving thanks, and sharing” as highlights of the miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, offering his reflection on the Sunday Gospel before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered under the scorching sun in St. Peter’s Square.
The temperature for the noonday prayer was already at 95 degrees as many in the crowds sheltered from the heat under colorful umbrellas.
“The Gospel tells us about a boy who has five loaves and two fish,” the pope noted, saying that the boy’s gesture of offering, as well as our own, is an acknowledgment that “we have something good to give, and we say our ‘yes,’ even if what we have is too little compared to what is needed.”
The pope left his text to insist that Catholics are invited to offer what we have and are, even if the offering seems too insignificant and poor.
This offering is lived out in each Mass, as the priest offers the bread and wine, “and each person offers himself, his own life,” he said. This offering becomes the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
“It is a gesture that may seem small, when we think of the immense needs of humanity,” the pope acknowledged, “…but God makes it the material for the greatest miracle there is: that in which He Himself — Himself! — makes Himself present among us, for the salvation of the world.”
“We can ask ourselves,” the pope suggested: “Do I truly believe that, by the grace of God, I have something unique to give to my brothers and sisters?”
Our offering is intimately linked to the next gesture, that of gratitude, the pope argued.
The pope suggested words we can pray to the Father: “All that I have is your gift, Lord, and to give thanks I can only give you back what you first gave me, together with your Son Jesus Christ, adding to it what I can.”
“Each of us can add a little something,” he insisted, inviting the faithful to reflect: “What can I give to the Lord? What can the little one give? Our poor love. Saying, ‘Lord, I love you.’ We poor people: Our love is so small! But we can give it to the Lord, the Lord welcomes it.”
Fruit of everyone’s gift
These gifts then lead to sharing, the pope explained.
“In the Mass is Communion, when together we approach the altar to receive the Body and Blood of Christ: the fruit of everyone’s gift transformed by the Lord into food for all. It is a beautiful moment, that of Communion, which teaches us to live every gesture of love as a gift of grace, both for the giver and the receiver,” he said.
The pope invited the faithful to receive Our Lady’s help to live each Mass with this attitude of faith, “to recognize and savor every day the ‘miracles’ of God’s grace.”
After praying the Angelus and giving his apostolic blessing, the pope assured his closeness to those who have suffered from landslides in Ethiopia.
Landslides hit the remote mountainous zone of Gofa in southern Ethiopia Sunday night into Monday morning, triggered by heavy rains in the region. Well over 200 people are already confirmed dead, with the United Nations projecting that the death toll could end up closer to 500.
The pope then spoke of the continuing problem of world hunger, calling the international community to take a stand against the “scandal” of “wasting resources to fuel wars large and small.”
“While there are so many people in the world suffering from disasters and hunger, we continue to build and sell weapons,” he lamented. He said this “contradicts the spirit of brotherhood of the Olympic Games that have just begun. Let us not forget, brothers and sisters: War is defeat!”
“I will not forsake you”
The pope also noted that today is the 4th World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, a celebration he initiated in 2020. This year’s theme is drawn from Psalm 71: “Do not cast me off in my old age.”
“Today’s day calls us to listen to the voice of the elderly who say, ‘Do not forsake me!’ and to respond, ‘I will not forsake you!’” the pope said.
“Let us say ‘no’ to the loneliness of the elderly! Our future depends greatly on how grandparents and grandchildren learn to live together. Let’s not forget the elderly!” he said, inviting the faithful to a round of applause for all the grandparents.
The pope concluded his weekly meeting with the faithful with his traditional good wishes for a nice lunch, and the request: “Please don’t forget to pray for me.”
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Queen Mathilde of Belgium meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace with her husband, King Philippe of the Belgians, on Sept. 14, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 10:06 am (CNA).
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Pope Francis’ brief remarks during the Angelus July 21, 2024, focused on the day’s Gospel passage from Mark, which demonstrates how rest and compassion for others go together. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).
Do not be consumed by “the anxiety of doing,” but spend time in rest and silent prayer to receive God’s grace, Pope Francis said on Sunday.
The pontiff told Catholics, especially those in ministry, to beware “the dictatorship of doing” during his weekly reflection and Angelus on July 21.
The Angelus is a Marian prayer traditionally recited at three different hours throughout the day: at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m.
“It is only possible to have a compassionate gaze, which knows how to respond to the needs of others, if our heart is not consumed by the anxiety of doing, if we know how to stop and how to receive the grace of God, in the silence of adoration,” Pope Francis said on a hot and humid day during the peak of summer in Rome.
Addressing the large crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said we are often “held prisoner by haste.” He called it an important warning, especially for those in engaged in ministry and pastoral service in the Church.
“Am I able to stop during my days? Am I capable of taking a moment to be with myself and with the Lord, or am I always in a hurry for things to do?” he said from a window of the Apostolic Palace.
He added that sometimes families are forced to live a frenetic pace; for example, when a father has to work from dawn until dusk to put food on the table. But this is a social injustice, he said, and we should help families in this situation.
The pope’s brief remarks focused on the day’s Gospel passage, which demonstrates how Jesus is able to combine both rest and compassion for others.
In the Gospel, Jesus invites his apostles to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” but when they get out of the boat, they find the crowd already waiting for them.
Jesus’ “heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things,” the Gospel of Mark, chapter six says.
“These may seem like two incompatible things — resting and being compassionate — but they actually go together,” Pope Francis underlined.
Jesus is concerned for his disciples’ tiredness, the pontiff said, because he is aware of the danger of our ministries and lives falling victim to an over concern with “things to do and with results.”
“We become agitated and lose sight of what is essential,” he emphasized.
Francis also explained that the rest proposed by Jesus is not “an escape from the world, a retreat into a merely personal well-being,” but a rest that helps us to have more compassion for others.
“Only if we learn how to rest can we have compassion,” he said.
After leading the Angelus, the pope spoke about the Summer Olympic Games, set to start in Paris on July 26, and the Paralympics, which will follow in August.
Sports, he said, have “a great social force, capable of peacefully uniting people of different cultures.”
“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, will be messengers of peace and good role models for young people,” he added.
Francis also recalled the tradition from Ancient Greece of the “Olympic Truce,” noting that such an initiative would be an opportunity to “demonstrate a sincere desire for peace.”
On the Readings for Sunday, July 22, 2018. […]
Some 6,000 grandparents and other older people attended the papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 23, 2023, for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. / Credit: Pablo Esparza/EWTN
Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).
The Vatican has granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits a sick, lonely, or disabled elderly person on the fourth annual World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly on July 28.
Those who are grandparents or elderly themselves can also receive a plenary indulgence, as well as anyone who participates in religious functions connected to the celebration, as long as the usual conditions are fulfilled.
The usual conditions to obtain a plenary indulgence are to be detached from all sin, to receive sacramental confession and holy Communion, and to pray for the pope’s intentions.
An indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. It applies to sins already forgiven and cleanses the soul as if just baptized.
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, sent a decree July 18 granting the plenary indulgences.
A person who cannot leave his or her home due to sickness, infirmity, or another serious reason can also obtain the plenary indulgence if they “unite themselves spiritually to the sacred functions” of the day, “offering to the merciful God the prayers, pains, or sufferings of their lives, especially during the various celebrations which will be broadcast through the media,” De Donatis decreed.
The major penitentiary also asked priests to make themselves available to hear confessions “in a ready and generous spirit” so that Catholics may more easily have “the opportunity to attain divine grace through the power of the keys of the Church.”
The World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021, is held on the fourth Sunday of July, which falls near the July 26 feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.
In 2024, the day will be celebrated on July 28 with the theme: “Do Not Cast Me Off in My Old Age” — taken from Psalm 71.
The Vatican announced the theme in February, saying it was Pope Francis’ desire “to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly people, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.”
In 2023, Pope Francis marked the day with an intergenerational Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, affirming in his homily that old age is a “blessed time.”
“How much we need a new bond between young and old,” the pope said on July 23 last year, “so that the sap of those who have a long experience of life behind them will nourish the shoots of hope of those who are growing. In this fruitful exchange we can learn the beauty of life, build a fraternal society, and in the Church, be enabled to encounter one another and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit.”
In order to obtain a plenary indulgence, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
1. Detachment from all sin, even venial.
2. Sacramental confession, holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope. These three conditions can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence, but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.
A single sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences, but frequent sacramental confession is encouraged in order to obtain the grace of deeper conversion and purity of heart.
For each plenary indulgence that is sought, however, a separate holy Communion and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.
The prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father is left up to the choice of the individual, but an Our Father and Hail Mary are suggested.
© Catholic World Report