Catholic News
- 'Giving and forgiveness are the essence of the glory of God,' Pope tells pilgrims (Vatican Press Office)
Reflecting on John 12:20-33, the Gospel reading of the day, Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the Fifth Sunday of Lent that “from the Cross, the ‘cathedra of God,’ the Lord teaches us that true glory, that which never fades and makes us happy, is made up of giving and forgiveness.” “Giving and forgiveness are the essence of the glory of God,” the Pope emphasized in his Sunday Angelus address, which he read aloud—unlike the previous day, when an aide read the Pope’s remarks on his behalf. “May the Virgin Mary, who followed Jesus faithfully at the hour of His Passion, help us be living reflections of the love of Jesus,” Pope Francis concluded. - Giving, care, and community: papal remarks for 100th anniversary of Bambino Gesù Hospital (Vatican Press Office)
In a speech read aloud by an aide, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of “giving, care, and community” as Bambino Gesù Hospital, a pediatric hospital under Vatican jurisdiction, celebrated its 100th anniversary. “Dear brothers and sisters, I confess that when I come to Bambino Gesù I feel two opposing sentiments: I feel sorrow for the suffering of the sick children and their parents, but at the same time I feel great hope, seeing everything that is done there to treat them,” the Pope said. “Thank you! Thank you for all of this. Keep going forward in this blessed work.” An estimated 3,000 people attended the audience, which took place in Paul VI Audience Hall. - 'Working among the last,' 'working together': papal encouragement for Italian charity (Vatican Press Office)
In a March 16 audience, Pope Francis encouraged members of the Camillo Faresin Foundation, an Italian charitable organization, in their work, as the charity celebrated its 20th anniversary. Bishop Camillo Faresin (1914-2003), after whom the foundation is named, was a Salesian missionary who ministered as a bishop in Brazil. “Looking at your effort, I would like to emphasize and encourage two important lines of action: working among the last and working together,” the Pope said. The Pope added that Bishop Faresin “left us a great example to imitate: to stay with the last, always! But how? By choosing and favoring, in your projects, the poorest and most neglected situations as special places to stay in.” “Working together is already in itself a proclamation of the lived Gospel; and for you, as well as being an intelligent way of optimizing resources, it is a way of formation in charity and communion,” the Pope continued. “Working together, finally, is also an expression of faith in Divine Providence ... And the most important resources for the works of the Lord are not things, but rather ourselves, wisely placed close to one another so that we share what we are: our passion, our creativity, our skills and experience, and also our weaknesses and frailties.” - Pontifical Academy for Life on abortion in France: 'There can be no right to suppress a human life' (Pontifical Academy for Life)
Reacting to France’s approval of a constitutional right to abortion, the Pontifical Academy for Life said that “precisely in the age of universal human rights, there can be no ‘right’ to suppress a human life.” The Pontifical Academy for Life urged “all governments and all religious traditions to give their best so that at this stage of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority ... The specific life situations and difficult and dramatic contexts of our time must be addressed with the tools of a legal civilization that looks first to the protection of the weakest and most vulnerable.” “The protection of human life is the first goal of humanity and can only develop in a world free of conflict and divisions, with science, technology, and industry serving the human person and fraternity,” the pontifical academy added. The pontifical academy’s statement against a constitutional right to abortion in France comes nearly a year and a half after the Pope’s surprise appointment of supporters of legalized abortion to the academy. According to the Pontifical Academy for Life’s statutes, promulgated by Pope Francis in 2016, members are appointed on the basis of their “faithful service in the defense and promotion of the right to life of every human person,” among other qualifications. Nonetheless, in 2022, the Pope appointed Mariana Mazzucato and Roberto Dell’Oro, two supporters of legalized abortion, to the academy—and both the academy and the Pope himself defended Mazzucato’s appointment. - Papal tribute to Patriarch Neophyte, late head of Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Vatican Press Office)
In a message of condolence to the temporary leader of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria (CNEWA profile), Pope Francis paid tribute to Patriarch Neophyte, who died on March 13 at the age of 78, 11 years after his election as Patriarch. “His Holiness Neophyte gave valued service to the Gospel and to dialogue, and despite his many sufferings remained a man of humility and joy, an example of a life consecrated to the Lord and his Church,” the Pope wrote. During his 2019 apostolic journey to Bulgaria, Pope Francis delivered an address to the Patriarch and Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria. The following year, Pope Francis gave relics of Pope St. Clement I and St. Potitus to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. - New officials named to pontifical abuse commission (CNS)
Pope Francis has named Auxiliary Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera of Bogota, Colombia, as the new secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The prelate succeeds Father Andrew Small, OMI, who was appointed in 2021. Last year, the Pope criticized “alleged corruption” in the Church’s missionary work amid a Vatican investigation into the transfer of $17 million from the Pontifical Mission Societies in the US, previously led by Father Small, to a nonprofit investment fund. Cardinal Seán O’Malley, president of the commission, lauded Father Small’s “vision and tenacity,” as well as his “energy and ingenuity,” and said that “many people will benefit from his efforts for years to come.” The Pope also appointed Teresa Kettelkamp as the pontifical commission’s adjunct secretary. The former Illinois State Police colonel served as executive director of the US bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection from 2005 to 2011. Cardinal O’Malley said that Bishop Herrera and Kettelkamp “share a common passion for the well-being of children and vulnerable people, with lifetimes of service to the Church in this important area. They bring both stability to the commission’s agenda and a high degree of professionalism to their new roles.” - Pope remembers late German cardinal's care for the poor (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has written a telegram of condolence to the nephews of Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, who died on March 15 at the age of 89. “I remember with affection this brother who served the Lord and the Church faithfully and generously, attentive to the demands of the world of the young and the needs of fragile people, to whom he communicated Christ’s love and tenderness,” Pope Francis wrote. “He spared no energy in bearing witness to the Pope’s paternal care for the poorest.” - Vatican newspaper recalls anniversary of Syrian civil war (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
The Vatican newspaper devoted prominent front-page coverage in its March 15 edition to the 13th anniversary of the beginning of the Syrian civil war. L’Osservatore Romano noted that “there are over 507,000 victims, of whom 164,000 are civilians, including 25,000 minors. The humanitarian situation is disastrous: over 16 million people require assistance, while internally and externally displaced people exceed 13 million, and 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.” “Against this ‘desert of death,’ as Pope Francis defined it, may prayer and commitment to peace remain constant everywhere,” the unsigned article concluded. - Pope defends same-sex blessings, civil unions (Vatican News)
Pope Francis defends Fiducia Supplicans, and gives his endorsement to civil unions, in his forthcoming autobiography. In excerpts from Life: My Story Through History, posted on the Vatican News site, the Pontiff defended the “blessings for irregular couples” suggested in the controversial Vatican directive. He added: “And if some brother bishops decide not to follow this path, it does not mean that this is the antechamber of a schism, because the doctrine of the Church is not questioned.” Regarding civil unions, the Pope said that while homosexual relationships cannot be seen as marriages, “it is right that these people who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.” In other passages cited by Vatican News, the Pope said: that the military dictatorship in his native Argentina has been responsible for “a generational suicide.” that his difficult tenure as a Jesuit provincial in Argentina had been caused by “my authoritarian attitude, to the extent of being accused of being ultraconservative.” that the presence of the late Pope Benedict in the role of “Pope Emeritus” had been “instrumentalized, with ideological political purposes by unscrupulous people,” to focus criticism on the current pontificate. - Theme of 4th Lenten sermon to the Curia: 'I am the resurrection and the life' (Cantalamessa.org (Italian))
Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the preacher of the papal household since 1980, preached on Christ’s words, “I am the resurrection and the life,” on March 15, in his fourth Lenten sermon to Pope Francis and the Roman Curia, delivered in Paul VI Audience Hall. The overarching theme of Cardinal Cantalamessa’s 2024 Lenten sermons is “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). In each Friday sermon, the prelate has preached on a different “I am” statement made by Christ. His first sermon was devoted to “I am the bread of life”; his second sermon to “I am the light of the world”; and his third sermon, to “I am the Good Shepherd.” At the beginning of his second sermon, Cardinal Cantalamessa made the claim that the “I am” statements of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel, while true in one sense, are “not of the historical Jesus.” Thus, the prelate professed his conviction that Christ really is “the way, the truth, and the life,” even as he questioned whether “the sentence was in fact historically pronounced by the earthly Jesus.” (In contrast, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation taught that the four Gospels “faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught.”) Cardinal Cantalamessa customarily preaches sermons to the Pope and members of the Roman Curia on Fridays during Advent and Lent, as well as the Good Friday homily in St. Peter’s Basilica. An exception was made for the first Lenten sermon of 2020, when Father Marko Ivan Rupnik took Cantalamessa’s place—despite Rupnik’s canonical conviction, two months earlier, of the offense of absolving an accomplice in a sexual sin. - Vatican publishing house highlights Catholics who opposed Hitler (Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican publishing house, has published La Lama e la Croce [The Blade and the Cross], a work by journalist and pacifist Francesco Comina that offers profiles of Catholics who opposed the Nazi regime. Among the Catholics discussed by Comina was Father Max Josef Metzger (1887-1944), who was officially recognized as a martyr by Pope Francis on March 14. - Pope, in autobiography, says no plans to resign (AP)
Pope Francis says that his health is good, and he has no plans to resign, in a forthcoming autobiography due for publication next week. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera published excerpts from the papal autobiography on March 14. The book, entitled Life: My Story Through History, written in collaboration with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, will be released on March 19, the 11th anniversary of the Pope’s installation. In the book the Pope says that his critics are motivated by a desire to halt reforms in the Church. “Needless to say, there are always some who wish to put the brakes on reform,” he says. In speaking about the possibility of resignation, Pope Francis said that is it “a distant possibility, because I truly do not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning.” While he disclosed that he has prepared a letter of resignation, in case he becomes incapacitated, he believes that he has “many projects to bring to fruition, God willing.” - Russian embassy praises Pope Francis for his 'truly strategic viewpoint on world problems' (@emb_rus)
The Russian Embassy to the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta paid tribute to Pope Francis on March 13, the 11th anniversary of his election. “Pope Francis is a true and sincere advocat[e] of humanism, peace and traditional values,” the embassy tweeted, as it described the Pontiff as “one of the few political leaders with a truly strategic viewpoint on world problems.” The Russian embassy’s praise of Pope Francis’s “truly strategic viewpoint” came days after the airing of an interview in which the Pope called on Ukraine to “raise the white flag” and negotiate—leading to an anguished statement from the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. - Synod announces 'permanent forum' on synodality (Pillar)
The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops has announced that it will “activate a ‘permanent forum’ to deepen the theological, canonical, pastoral, spiritual and communicative aspects of the Church’s synodality.” “In carrying out this task, it will be assisted by the International Theological Commission and by a canonical Commission established at the service of the Synod in agreement with the Dicastery for Legislative Texts,” stated the Secretariat, led by Cardinal Mario Grech. The announcement came in “How to be a synodal Church on mission?”—one of three texts related to the Synod released on March 14. This document is subtitled “Five perspectives for theological exploration in view of the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.” Two other texts related to the Synod were released on March 14: a letter of Pope Francis, dated February 22, to Cardinal Grech on synodal study groups (CWN overview); and an accompanying document of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, entitled “Study Groups for questions raised in the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be explored in collaboration with the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.” - Vatican message to Muslims: 'No war is holy' (Vatican Press Office)
In an annual message to the world’s Muslims, the Dicastery for Inter-religious Dialogue called for a rejection of all violence. Reflecting on a “truly alarming” increase in violent conflict around the world, the Vatican statement said that “the condemnation and rejection of war should be unambiguous.” Without alluding to the Islamic practice of jihad, the statement cited the words of Pope Francis: “No war is holy; only peace is holy.” The statement did not directly criticize Islamic militants, but said that “a major cause [of warfare] is surely the continuing production and commerce in arms.” - VP Harris visits abortion clinic (AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris visited an abortion clinic in Minnesota on March 14, highlighting the Biden administration’s support for abortion. Harris insisted that “when we talk about a clinic such as this it is absolutely about health care and reproductive health care.” She charged that former President Trump, by his failure to support abortion, had become the “architect of a health-care crisis.” - Pope sees 'spirituality of mercy' as key to evangelization (Vatican Press Office)
In a March 15 address to members of the Dicastery for Evangelization, which was meeting in plenary session, Pope Francis said that a “spirituality of mercy” is essential for bringing the faith to a secularized world. The Pope said that a “loss of the sense of belonging to the Christian community” was responsible for secularization in many societies. He said that effective catechesis and the message of mercy could counteract that problem. The Pope also urged prayerful preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, and thanked the members of the dicastery for their work in preparing for that Jubilee. The Pope’s address was read by an aide, in keeping with the practice that the Pontiff has adopted for the past few weeks, as he continues to battle a respiratory ailment. - Cardinal Becciu's brother to face Italian prosecution (Pillar)
Antonio Becciu, the brother of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, is facing criminal charges in Sardinia for alleged misuse of church funds. Prosecutors will charge that Becciu and others diverted funds from the Italian bishops’ conference to use them for private investments. The charges are linked to complaints raised against Cardinal Becciu in the Vatican’s financial-misconduct trial, saying that he had used church funds to build his brother’s business. Cardinal Becciu, who was found guilty by a Vatican tribunal, has appealed the decision. Antonio Becciu had been summoned as a witness by the Vatican tribunal, but refused to testify. - Joint Christian-Taoist statement calls for awakening of 'spiritual energy' to foster harmonious society (Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue)
At the conclusion of the 3rd Christian-Taoist Colloquium, organized by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, participants agreed to a brief joint statement whose themes are “encounter” and “awaken.” “Our dialogue helped us to encounter the sacred mystery of each other through our knowledge about our respective religious writings, rituals, ethics, saints, and sages,” according to the statement, issued at the conclusion of a three-day meeting in Hong Kong. “Both of our religions, in their own ways, seek to allay the restlessness of the human heart. Therefore, before the inexpressible divine mystery, we need to be open-minded and humble by expanding our minds and hearts.” “Our respective religious patrimonies can prove meaningful if we awaken the spiritual energy in our followers to cultivate a harmonious society,” the statement continued. “For that to happen, we must recover compassion, justice, simplicity, solidarity, and generosity.” - Vatican spokesman: Pope provokes the 'same scandalized reactions' as Jesus did (Vatican News)
In “With Peter, always”—an editorial for the 11th anniversary of the Pope’s election—Vatican spokesman Andrea Tornielli wrote that “at the origin of welcome, closeness, tenderness, and accompaniment, at the origin of a Christian community capable of embracing and listening, there is the echo of mercy that has been experienced and that one seeks—despite a thousand limitations and failures—to return.” “If we read with these eyes the Pope’s gestures, even those that have provoked in some the same scandalized reactions that Jesus’ gestures provoked two thousand years ago, one discovers their profound evangelizing and missionary force,” added Tornielli, the editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication. Tornielli’s comments followed a brief period in which the largest Orthodox church, the second-largest Oriental Orthodox church, and the largest Eastern Catholic church expressed opposition to, or anguish at, the Pope’s actions. Tornielli made his remarks at the conclusion of his editorial; earlier, he paid tribute to the Pope’s emphasis on peace and mercy. - More...