Vatican

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 10:57 am (CNA).-  
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.

CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.

Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 9 session:

The first session on October 9 was dedicated to thirteen reports collected in individual language groups. The novelty was that a Portuguese language group was included. The reports contained over 300 corrections.

“Every report has a different spirit since it reflects the character of the continent. The issues discussed in the reports concern the Instrumentum laboris. In the reports, a more positive look at youth is postulated, treating young people not as a group remaining next to the Church, but as a group belonging to the Church. The youth do not look at the Church, but are part of the great family that is the Church. Hence the desire that often appeared in today’s reports was that the Church would be presented as a great family, as well as a mother and teacher,” said Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań.

Some reports were in the form of narratives, others in the form of remarks. “They primarily concerned postulates so that the Church would be more empathic today, forming, but at the same time supporting, various movements and liturgies,” noted Archbishop Gądecki.

The President of the Polish episcopate noted that the salvific mission, for which the Church was established and in which young people participate, was also emphasized. “Not only the baptized and confirmed young people, who are in the Church, but the young all over the world, of different cultures and beliefs. In this context, attention was paid to the formation of pastors who would have better contact with young people through a better pastoral strategy. At the same time, there was emphasized the need to educate young people, leading to a personal encounter with Christ in faith, grace, being a witness of Christ, and an active participation in building a world open to spiritual and evangelical realities,” said Archbishop Gądecki.

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Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 06:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- From his perspective inside the Vatican’s youth synod, Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, told CNA that participating bishops have real opportunities – through the unique … […]

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA).-  
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.

CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.

Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 8 session:

A compass for the Instrumentum Laboris, the irreplaceable role of both father and mother in the family, tasks of Catholic schools, and the importance of memory – these are some of the issues raised in language groups during the synod on Monday.

October 8 was entirely devoted to working in language groups.

“We tried to center our attention on the first part of the Instrumentum Laboris. We have found that this text needs a compass, that is, an orientation, that would give meaning to the whole. This compass could be the passage in the Gospel of John about the young man who brings five loaves and two fishes (Jn 6:9–13). The little that he has with him is distributed by Jesus and nourishes many people. This would indicate that every young person has something to offer not only to the Church but also to the world, simply because he or she exists and has gifts to share,” said Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań, President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.

Another topic was the attention to the fact that both the father and the mother are responsible for the family and share the duty of education in the family. “Not mother or father separately, but mother and father together, thus avoiding the phenomenons of paternalism or matriarchy, linked to the different situations on different continents. In the African context, it is the mother who bears the main responsible for the family’s life, whereas in other places in the world the father alone makes the decisions,” noted Archbishop Gądecki.

The third issue that the bishops talked about, and which was missing in the working document, is the ‘memory’, that Pope Francis often speaks about. “You have to give value to the memory. Young people tend to run towards the future, to diminish the value of the present, so they should be taught to appreciate memory,” emphasized Archbishop Gądecki.

The bishops also drew attention to the question of the Catholic schools, emphasizing the common good they create. “Catholic schools do not work for themselves, they are not only for Catholics, but they serve the common good. In this sense, they are worthy of state support, because they fill gaps that the state cannot fill,” said Archbishop Gądecki.

On Tuesday, October 9, the results of the group discussions will be presented in the Synod Aula.

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Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 08:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta said that while the youth synod is not ignoring the sexual abuse crisis, Catholics looking for thorough answers should wait for a February 2019 meeting of bi… […]

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 03:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The president of the U.S.’ bishops’ conference said Sunday he welcomes the Vatican’s announcement of a further investigation into files on Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, praising … […]

Vatican City, Oct 7, 2018 / 05:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A married couple striving to faithfully live out their life-long commitment to each other, need both God’s grace and love that is anchored in self-gift, Pope Francis said Sunday.

“What allows married couples to remain united in marriage is a love of mutual self-giving sustained by the grace of Christ,” the pope said Oct. 7.

“If, on the other hand, individual interest and satisfaction prevail in the spouses, then their union cannot endure.”

He explained that if divorce or separation should happen, however, the Church does not condemn, but “on the contrary, faced with so many painful marital failures, she feels called to live her presence of love, of charity, of mercy, to bring back the wounded and lost hearts to God.”

The same mercy God shows to all his people when they fail through sin, “teaches us that wounded love can be healed by God through mercy and forgiveness,” Francis stated.

In his meditation before the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel, when Jesus defends the permanency of marriage in the face of questioning by the Pharisees. Jesus explained that Moses allowed divorce, because of “the hardness of your hearts,” but that this does not correspond “to the original intention of the Creator.”

Jesus invokes a passage from the Book of Genesis, where it says, “God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

The pope noted Jesus’ words that “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

“This teaching of Jesus is very clear and defends the dignity of marriage, as a union of love that entails fidelity,” he said. In this Gospel passage, Jesus confirms God’s plan for marriage, not allowing for any exceptions to the permanent commitment of marriage.

“He does this to confirm the plan of God, in which the strength and beauty of human relationships stand out,” he said.

“The Church, on the one hand does not tire of confirming the beauty of the family as given to us by Scripture and Tradition; at the same time, she strives to make his maternal closeness felt concretely to those who live the experience of broken relationships or carry on in a painful and tiring way.”

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Vatican City, Oct 6, 2018 / 02:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At the end of the first week of the youth synod Saturday, Pope Francis and over 250 bishops spent the evening listening to testimonies from young people at an event inside the Vatican.

Speaking of… […]

Vatican City, Oct 6, 2018 / 10:10 am (CNA).- The Church’s youngest cardinal said Saturday that the Word of God must be the central point of the Church’s message to young people.

“In the midst of crises and difficulties we need to ref… […]

Vatican City, Oct 5, 2018 / 11:01 am (CNA).-  
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.

CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.

Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 5 session:

Preparation for life in marriage, the father’s role in the family, young immigrants, and the testimony of the life of young people are the topics on the synod’s second day, during which representatives of different countries and continents spoke, exchanging their experiences.

Some of the young people evoked life in broken families. “Therefore, attention was paid to preparing for marriage, for example, pre-marital catecheses that exist in Poland. These catecheses should take into consideration the cultural context because the number of marriages of people from different cultures and religions is increasing,” said Auxiliary Bishop Marian Florczyk of Kielce.

“During the discussion, the opinion was also expressed that the man’s role has been lost. In the past, a man grew to be a father, to fulfill his tasks. The father’s example most strongly draws children to the faith, observed one of the speakers,” Bishop Florczyk emphasized.

Another topic was the issue of immigrants, in a broad sense. “If the Church herself in Europe is struggling with problems, what help should be given to the newcomers?” Attention was paid to the condition of immigrants and of those who receive them. “The religious condition of the latter is unfortunately poor,” said Bishop Florczyk.

Attention was also paid to young people evangelizing their peers through the example of their lives. “The point is for young believers to lead other young people to Jesus Christ because He is the one who shapes their life. The Church is, indeed, a community that characterizes itself by faith in Jesus Christ, that lives by this faith,” highlighted Bishop Florczyk.

“The issues raised show, on the one hand, all the wealth and opportunities, such as good liturgy, but also threats, such as sects that exist in some countries,” said Auxiliary Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Warszawa-Praga.

The discussions also focused on the impact of social media on the lives of young people.

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