Vatican City, Apr 23, 2020 / 08:00 am (CNA).- The Vatican announced Thursday that due to the health situation caused by the coronavirus, the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, to be held in Budapest in September, has been moved to the year 2021.
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Vatican City, Apr 23, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis asked people to pray on Thursday for families who are struggling to put food on the table during the coronavirus pandemic.
“In many places, one of the effects of this pandemic is that many families find themselves in need, and they are hungry,” Pope Francis said April 23 during the broadcast of his morning Mass.
“Let us pray for these families, for their dignity,” he added.
The pope said that the poor are suffering from “another pandemic”: the economic consequences of layoffs and furloughs. He said that the poor also suffer from the exploitation of unscrupulous money-lenders, and prayed for their conversion.
The coronavirus pandemic threatens food security in many parts of the world. David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), based in Rome, said April 21 that the world was already facing “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II” in 2020 before the pandemic.
“So today, with COVID-19, I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe,” he told the UN Security Council via videolink. “If we don’t prepare and act now — to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade — we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months.”
According to the WFP, 130 million people worldwide are on the edge of starvation during the pandemic.
In his homily in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, his Vatican residence, Pope Francis reflected on Christ as our intercessor before God.
“We are accustomed to praying to Jesus to give us this grace, that other, to help us, but we are not accustomed to contemplating Jesus who shows the Father the wounds, to Jesus, the intercessor, to Jesus who prays for us,” the pope said.
“Let us think about this a little … For each of us Jesus prays. Jesus is the intercessor. Jesus wanted to bring his wounds with him to show them to the Father. It is the price of our salvation,” he said.
Pope Francis recalled an event in chapter 22 of the Gospel of Luke when Jesus said to Peter at the Last Supper: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail.”
“This is Peter’s secret,” the pope said. “Jesus’ prayer. Jesus prays for Peter, so that his faith may not fail and he can – Jesus says – confirm his brothers in faith.”
“And Peter was able to go far, from coward to courageous, with the gift of the Holy Spirit thanks to the prayer of Jesus,” he added.
April 23 is the feast of St. George, Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s namesake. The Vatican celebrates the pope’s “name day” as an official state holiday.
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2020 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- The Vatican has released a free online prayer book to help Catholics seeking divine assistance amid the coronavirus crisis.
The 192-page book is available for download on the website of the Vatican’s… […]
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2020 / 11:10 am (CNA).- Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with members of the Roman curia on Wednesday to discuss the gradual reopening of Holy See offices as Italy prepares to end its national lockdown.
The heads of Vatican dicasteries decided to implement a “gradual reactivation of ordinary services” starting in May, while “safeguarding the health precautions to limit contagion,” according to a statement from the Holy See Press Office April 22.
Italy’s strict lockdown is scheduled to end May 4 after 55 days of mandatory quarantine for the entire country.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced April 21 that he will be releasing a plan to slowly lift the coronavirus restrictions and reopen businesses.
“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. … But such a decision would be irresponsible. It would bring up the contagion curve uncontrollably and it would frustrate all the efforts we’ve put in so far,” Conte wrote in a Facebook post published April 21.
After over a month of lockdown, more than 100,000 people are currently ill with COVID-19 in Italy after 183,957 total cases were documented by the Italian Ministry of Health.
When the Diocese of Rome announced the suspension of all public Masses one day before the national lockdown was declared, there had been a total of 87 coronavirus cases documented in Lazio, the region surrounding Rome. As of April 21, there are 4,402 active cases reported in the same region with an additional 1,130 people recovered and 363 deceased.
Vatican City itself has reported nine cases of COVID-19 among its employees. The most recent confirmed case was reported by the Holy See Press Office this week after the patient was hospitalized.
“Appropriate sanitisation and checks were carried out among those who had had contact with the interested party on the only day of his presence at the workplace in the two weeks prior to the response, all with negative results,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said April 20.
Bruni has repeatedly said that Vatican City is implementing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in coordination with the Italian authorities.
St. Peter’s Basilica and square, the Vatican Museums, and several other public offices in the Vatican City State have been closed for more than six weeks.
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2020 / 06:30 am (CNA).- Commenting on the celebration of Earth Day during his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis urged people to show solidarity with the weak and vulnerable and to protect humanity’s common home.
Acco… […]
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- The crucifix is not just a symbol or wall decoration, it is the entire expression of the love of God, who sent his Son to die for us and for our sins, Pope Francis said at Mass Wednesday.
“How … […]
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appointed Tuesday Fr. Robert W. Marshall as the next bishop of Alexandria, Louisiana.
“I have known Bishop-elect Marshall for a number of years and am very pleased to welcome him to episcopal ministry here in the Diocese of Alexandria,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans said April 21.
“Please join me in praying for him and for the diocese as we move through this transition,” he added.
Marshall, 60, is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a civil attorney before his ordination to the priesthood at the age of 40.
He will lead the Diocese of Alexandria in central Louisiana, which has been without a bishop since March 2019.
It is unclear when his ordination and installation Mass will be able to take place as public Masses throughout the diocese remain suspended under coronavirus pandemic regulations.
Born in Memphis in 1959, Marshall studied history at Christian Brothers University in Memphis before earning a law degree from the University of Memphis in 1983. He practiced law for 12 years before discerning a call to the priesthood.
Marshall studied at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Memphis, where he served as pastor at a number of parishes, including the Church of the Ascension and St. Francis of Assisi Parish.
Marshall served as pastor of Memphis’ Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception since 2017 and vicar general for the diocese since 2019.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans has served as apostolic administrator of Alexandria since April 2019. Archbishop Aymond tested positive for COVID-19 in March and has been in recovery from the coronavirus.
Aymond recently created a COVID-19 response team to address how the Diocese of Alexandria will restart ministries and public liturgies after Louisiana’s Stay at Home order lifts on April 30. As those plans are finalized, a date for Marshall’s installation will be announced.
“I am sorry I could not be here for this good news announcement,” Aymond said. “In light of Governor Edwards’ ‘stay-at-home’ order and my ongoing recovery, I am not able to greet you in person. Regardless, it is a privilege for me to join you in welcoming your new bishop.”
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2020 / 03:30 am (CNA).- The Holy Spirit can help Christians overcome the three temptations that destroy community life, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass Tuesday.
The pope noted April 21 that money, vanity and idle chatter have divided believers since the early days of Christianity.
“But the Spirit always comes with his strength to save us from this worldliness of money, vanity and idle chatter,” he said, “because the Spirit is not the world: he is against the world. He is capable of doing these miracles, these great things.”
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel (John 3:7-15), in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that he “must be born from above,” the pope said we are reborn through the Holy Spirit rather than by our own efforts.
“Our docility opens the door to the Holy Spirit: it is He who makes the change, the transformation, this rebirth from above,” he said. “It is Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is capable of doing wonders, things that we cannot even think about.”
Speaking from the chapel of his Vatican residence, Casa Santa Marta, the pope turned to the day’s first reading (Acts 4:32-37), which describes the harmony among the first Christians. This description was no fantasy, he said, but rather a model for today’s Church.
“It is true that immediately after this problems will begin,” he observed, “but the Lord shows us how far we can go if we are open to the Holy Spirit, if we are docile. In this community there is harmony.”
Pope Francis said that many things divided parishes, dioceses, communities of priests, and men and women religious. He identified three major temptations: money, vanity and idle chatter.
“Money divides the community,” he said. “For this reason, poverty is the mother of the community. Poverty is the wall that guards the community. Money divides … Even in families: how many families ended up divided by an inheritance?”
He continued: “Another thing that divides a community is vanity, that desire to feel better than others. ‘Thank you, Lord, that I am not like the others:’ the Pharisee’s prayer.”
Vanity could be seen at the celebration of sacraments, the pope said, with people vying to wear the best clothes.
“Vanity enters there too. And vanity divides. Because vanity leads you to be a peacock and where there is a peacock, there is division, always,” he said.
“A third thing that divides a community is idle chatter: it’s not the first time I’ve said it, but it’s reality … That thing that the devil puts in us, like a need to talk about others. ‘What a good person that is…’ — ‘Yes, yes, but…’ Immediately the ‘but:’ that’s a stone to disqualify the other.”
Yet with the Holy Spirit we are able to resist all three temptations, he said, concluding: “Let us ask the Lord this docility to the Spirit so that He may transform us and transform our communities, our parish, diocesan, religious communities: transform them, so that we may always move forward in the harmony that Jesus wants for the Christian community.”
After Mass, the pope presided at adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
He led those watching via livestream in an act of spiritual communion, praying: “My Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as being already there and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you.”
Finally, those present sang the Easter Marian antiphon “Regina caeli.”
At the start of Mass, Pope Francis noted that amid the coronavirus lockdown towns and cities had fallen silent.
“In this time there is so much silence,” he said. “One can also feel the silence. May this silence, which is a little new in our habits, teach us to listen, make us grow in our ability to listen. Let us pray for this.”
Vatican City, Apr 20, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has decided to postpone by one year World Youth Day and the World Meeting of Families, according to the Vatican. The events were expected to take place during the summers of 2022 and 2021.
World Youth Day, programmed for Lisbon, Portugal in August 2022, will now take place in August 2023, according to an April 20 statement from Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director.
The World Meeting of Families, previously scheduled to be held in Rome in June 2021, will now happen in June 2022.
Both events usually include the presence of the pope and gather at least tens of thousands of people.
Bruni said Pope Francis’ decision to move the dates of the global gatherings was “due to the current health situation and its consequences on the movement and aggregation of young people and families.”
The pope made the decision together with the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, which is responsible for organizing the events.
World Youth Day, which is typically held every three years, last took place in Panama in January 2019, drawing an estimated 700,000 young Catholics. The youth gathering was started by St. Pope John Paul II in 1985. At some past World Youth Days attendance has reached into the millions.
The theme of World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023 is “Mary arose and went with haste.”
The bishops’ local organizing committee for World Youth Day in Portugal put out a statement April 20 saying it welcomes the pope’s decision to postpone the event.
The committee said it shares “with the Holy Father the call that, in the current context and in the coming time, the focus of everyone’s attention is on caring for the most vulnerable, families, and all who, for very different reasons, suffer from the effects of the pandemic caused by COVID-19.”
In 1994, St. Pope John Paul II established the World Meeting of Families, which also takes place every three years in a different country. The most recent meeting was held in Dublin, Ireland in 2018.
The event, now moved to June 2022, has the theme: “Family Love: a vocation and a path to holiness.”
Vatican City, Apr 20, 2020 / 03:40 am (CNA).- Freedom is found in the Holy Spirit who provides the strength to fulfill God’s will, Pope Francis said in his Monday morning Mass homily.
“Prayer is what opens the door to the Holy Spirit and gives us this freedom, this boldness, this courage of the Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis said in his homily April 20.
“May the Lord help us to always be open to the Holy Spirit because it will carry us forward in our life of service to the Lord,” the pope said.
Speaking from the chapel in his Vatican City residence, Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis explained that the early Christians were guided by the Holy Spirit, who provided them strength to pray with courage and boldness.
“Being a Christian is not just fulfilling the Commandments. They must be done, this is true, but if you stop there, you are not a good Christian. To be a good Christian is to let the Holy Spirit enter into you and take you, take you where he wants,” Pope Francis said according to a transcript by Vatican News.
The pope pointed to the Gospel account of an encounter between Nicodemus, a pharisee, and Jesus in which the pharisee asked: “How can a man once grown old be born again?”
To which Jesus replies in chapter three of the Gospel of John: “You must be born from above. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Pope Francis said: “The definition of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives here is interesting … unconstrained. A person who gets carried from both sides by the Holy Spirit: this is the freedom of the Spirit. And a person who does this is docile, and here we talk about docility to the Holy Spirit.”
“In our Christian life many times we stop like Nicodemus … we do not know what step to take, we do not know how to do it or we do not have faith in God to take this step and let the Spirit enter,” he said. “To be born again is to let the Spirit enter us.”
“With this freedom of the Holy Spirit you will never know where you will end up,” Francis said.
At the beginning of his morning Mass, Pope Francis prayed for men and women with a political calling who must make decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. He prayed that political parties in different countries may “seek together the good of the country and not the good of their party.”
“Politics is a high form of charity,” Pope Francis said.
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