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Pope Francis on Wednesday greeted a youth orchestra from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, called the “Hombres nuevos,” during his General Audience.

The orchestra come from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, and the ambassador of

Bolivia to the Holy See, Julio Cesar Caballero Montero, said “they have not been conditioned by the poverty in which they live.”

The group specializes in sacred music, especially from the Renaissance and Baroque period, and the Ambassador said their artistry is a “great demonstration of faith and hope.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has offered his prayers for those killed and otherwise affected by a series of wildfires in central Chile.

The Holy Father’s condolences were conveyed in a telegram sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Cardinal Parolin said Pope Francis has offered his prayers for the eternal repose of those who died, while at the same time expressed his “spiritual closeness to those hurt and otherwise suffering the consequences of this catastrophe.”

The Pope wished his condolences conveyed to the families of victims, and also expressed his hope that the tragedy “inspire a sense of solidarity,” and that people “collaborate effectively, generously, and with charity, to alleviate the suffering and overcome adversity.”

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(Vatican Radio) Authentic reconciliation between Christians will only be achieved when we can acknowledge each other’s gifts and learn from one another with humility. That was Pope Francis’ message to representatives of all the different Christian Churches gathered in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls on Wednesday afternoon. The Pope was leading Vespers for the solemnity of the Conversion of St Paul and the close of the annual week of prayer for Christian unity.

Philippa Hitchen reports:

In his homily Pope Francis reflected on the theme for this year’s week of prayer, which is ‘Reconciliation: the love of Christ compels us’. Reconciliation, he said, is a gift from Christ. Prior to any human effort by believers who strive to overcome their divisions, he said, reconciliation is God’s gift given freely to each one of us.

“How do we proclaim this Gospel of reconciliation today after centuries of division?”, the Pope asked. St Paul himself makes clear that reconciliation requires sacrifice and a revolution of our way of living, he said. Just as Jesus laid down his life for us, so we are called to lay down our lives, by living no longer for ourselves and our own interests, but living instead for Christ and in Christ.

Leave behind isolation and self-absorption

For Christians of every confession, the Pope said, this is an invitation not to be caught up with programmes and plans, not to be obsessed with contemporary fashions, but to be focused on the Cross where we can “discover our programme of life”. The Cross invites us to leave behind all isolation and self-absorption which prevents us from seeing how the Holy Spirit is at work outside our familiar surroundings.

Joint Reformation commemorations "a remarkable achievement"

While looking back can be helpful and necessary to purify our memory, the Pope said, being fixated on the past and the memory of wrongs done can paralyze us and prevent us from living in the present. Pope Francis recalled in particular the fact that Catholics and Lutherans are today joining in commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, something he described as “a remarkable achievement”.

Pray, proclaim and serve together

Greeting especially Metropolitan Gennadios, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Archbishop David Moxon, representing the Anglican Communion, Pope Francis urged all those present to take advantage of every occasion to pray together, to proclaim together and to love and serve together, especially those who are the poorest and most neglected in our midst.

Please find below the full English text of Pope Francis’ homily at Vespers for the Conversion of St Paul

Encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus radically transformed the life of Saint Paul. Henceforth, for him, the meaning of life would no longer consist in trusting in his own ability to observe the Law strictly, but rather in cleaving with his whole being to the gracious and unmerited love of God: to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Paul experienced the inbreaking of a new life, life in the Spirit. By the power of the risen Lord, he came to know forgiveness, confidence and consolation. Nor could Paul keep this newness to himself. He was compelled by grace to proclaim the good news of the love and reconciliation that God offers fully in Christ to all humanity.

For the Apostle of the Gentiles, reconciliation with God, whose ambassador he became (cf. 2 Cor 5:20), is a gift from Christ. This is evident in the text of the Second Letter to the Corinthians which inspired the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: “Reconciliation – The Love of Christ Compels Us” (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-20). “The love of Christ”: this is not our love for Christ, but rather Christ’s love for us. Nor is the reconciliation to which we are compelled simply our own initiative. Before all else it is the reconciliation that God offers us in Christ. Prior to any human effort on the part of believers who strive to overcome their divisions, it is God’s free gift. As a result of this gift, each person, forgiven and loved, is called in turn to proclaim the Gospel of reconciliation in word and deed, to live and bear witness to a reconciled life.

Today, in the light of this, we can ask: How do we proclaim this Gospel of reconciliation after centuries of division? Paul himself helps us to find the way. He makes clear that reconciliation in Christ requires sacrifice. Jesus gave his life by dying for all. Similarly, ambassadors of reconciliation are called, in his name, to lay down their lives, to live no more for themselves but for Christ who died and was raised for them (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-15). As Jesus teaches, it is only when we lose our lives for love of him that we truly save them (cf. Lk 9:24). This was the revolution experienced by Paul, but it is, and always has been, the Christian revolution. We live no longer for ourselves, for our own interests and “image”, but in the image of Christ, for him and following him, with his love and in his love.

For the Church, for every Christian confession, this is an invitation not to be caught up with programmes, plans and advantages, not to look to the prospects and fashions of the moment, but rather to find the way by constantly looking to the Lord’s cross. For there we discover our programme of life. It is an invitation to leave behind every form of isolation, to overcome all those temptations to self-absorption that prevent us from perceiving how the Holy Spirit is at work outside our familiar surroundings. Authentic reconciliation between Christians will only be achieved when we can acknowledge each other’s gifts and learn from one another, with humility and docility, without waiting for the others to learn first.

If we experience this dying to ourselves for Jesus’ sake, our old way of life will be a thing of the past and, like Saint Paul, we will pass over to a new form of life and fellowship. With Paul, we will be able to say: “the old has passed away” (2 Cor 5:17).

To look back is helpful, and indeed necessary, to purify our memory, but to be fixated on the past, lingering over the memory of wrongs done and endured, and judging in merely human terms, can paralyze us and prevent us from living in the present. The word of God encourages us to draw strength from memory and to recall the good things the Lord has given us. But it also asks us to leave the past behind in order to follow Jesus today and to live a new life in him. Let us allow him, who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5), to unveil before our eyes a new future, open to the hope that does not disappoint, a future in which divisions can be overcome and believers, renewed in love, will be fully and visibly one.

This year, in our journey on the road to unity, we recall in a special way the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation. The fact that Catholics and Lutherans can nowadays join in commemorating an event that divided Christians, and can do so with hope, placing the emphasis on Jesus and his work of atonement, is a remarkable achievement, thanks to God and prayer, and the result of fifty years of growing mutual knowledge and ecumenical dialogue.

As we implore from God the gift of reconciliation with him and with one another, I extend cordial and fraternal greetings to His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to His Grace David Moxon, the personal representative in Rome of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to all the representatives of the various Churches and Ecclesial Communities gathered here. I am especially pleased to greet the members of the joint Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and to offer my good wishes for the fruitfulness of the plenary session taking place in these days. I also greet the students of the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, who are visiting Rome to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic Church, and the Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox young people studying in Rome thanks to the scholarships provided by the Committee for Cultural Collaboration with Orthodox Churches, based in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. To the superiors and staff of this Dicastery I express my esteem and gratitude.

Dear brothers and sisters, our prayer for Christian unity is a sharing in Jesus’ own prayer to the Father, on the eve of his passion, “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). May we never tire of asking God for this gift. With patient and trusting hope that the Father will grant all Christians the gift of full visible communion, let us press forward in our journey of reconciliation and dialogue, encouraged by the heroic witness of our many brothers and sisters, past and present, who were one in suffering for the name of Jesus. May we take advantage of every occasion that Providence offers us to pray together, to proclaim together, and together to love and serve, especially those who are the most poor and neglected in our midst.

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Vatican City, Jan 25, 2017 / 06:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said having total faith and trust in God means recognizing that he always knows and wants what is best for us, even if it’s hard to accept because it doesn’t align with our own plans.

Wednesday, Pope Francis talked about what it means to have total faith and trust in God, acknowledging that he knows what is best, and always wants what is best for us, even if it is often difficult to accept.

“Trusting in God means to enter into his designs without demanding anything, even accepting that his salvation and his help should come to us in a different way from our expectations,” he said Jan. 25.

The Pope’s catechesis for the general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall centered on the story of Judith in the Old Testament, a woman who was “a great heroine,” he said, and an excellent example of the virtues of faith, hope and trust.

In the story, Nebuchadnezzar's army, under the leadership of General Holofernes, is laying siege to a city in Judea, cutting off the water supply and thus “sapping the resistance of the population,” the Pope said.

“The situation is dramatic,” to the point that the people in the town are giving up, wanting to surrender to the enemy, he said. Faced with such despair, a leader of the people suggests that they wait only five more days. If God has not saved them by then, they will surrender.

But then Judith comes onto the scene, “a woman of great beauty and wisdom, she speaks to the people with the language of faith,” Francis said.

“You want to test the Lord Almighty,” the Pope said, quoting the words of Judith, who cautioned the people not to “provoke the wrath of the Lord, our God.” The Lord, she said, “has full power to defend us in the days he wants or even to destroy us by our enemies.”

Referencing the passage, Pope Francis told pilgrims that “we never put conditions on God and give up...instead hope conquers our fears.”

“He is a Father, he can save us,” he said. In this way, “a woman full of faith and courage gives new strength to his people in mortal danger and leads them on the path of hope, revealing this also to us.”

Judith shows us the path to trust, to “wait in peace, prayer and obedience,” Francis said, noting that this sort of resignation is not easy. We must do everything in our power, but “always remaining in the furrow of the Lord’s will.”

In off-the-cuff comments, the Pope said Judith was brave to trust in God as she did, adding that “this is my opinion: women are more courageous than men.”

We can and should ask the Lord for life, health, happiness, he said, but always “in the awareness that God is able to bring life even from death” and that we can experience “peace even in disease, serenity even in solitude, (and) bliss even in tears.”

“We are not the ones who can teach God what to do, what we need,” he said. “He knows better than we do, and we have to trust, because his ways and his thoughts are different from ours.”

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Vatican City, Jan 25, 2017 / 07:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Vatican announced the appointment of two priests from Milwaukee – Fr. Jeffrey R. Haines and Fr. James T. Schuerman – to serve as auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese.

The priests have been appointed titular bishops of Tagamuta and of Girba, according to a Jan. 25 Vatican communique.

With their appointment, the bishop-elects will serve under Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, who oversees the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and will replace Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Sklba, who retired in 2010 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

In a press release on the appointments, Archbishop Listecki said it is a “proud moment for the Church in southeastern Wisconsin. By choosing two of our own priests as our new auxiliary bishops, the Holy Father has paid a high compliment to all the priests from this archdiocese.”

“In these two humble parish priests, Pope Francis has chosen men with a pastoral heart who have deep spirituality, and men who have the confidence of the priests and people of the archdiocese,” he said.

Bishop-elect Haines, 58, has served as rector and pastor of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee since 2011. Born in the same city Oct. 6, 1958, he was ordained a priest May 17, 1985.

He then served at various parishes throughout the archdiocese and was elected moderator of the Archdiocesan Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee three times. He is also currently a member of the College of Consultors.

“I am profoundly humbled by this calling, and keenly aware of my shortcomings,” Haines said in the press release.

He said he finds “strength and inspiration in the powerful presence and vitality of the Holy Spirit emerging in the implementation of our recent Archdiocesan Synod. I look forward to assisting Archbishop Listecki in fulfilling the pastoral priorities of this mission.”

Bishop-elect Schuerman, 58, is Pastor at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Geneva, and a Supervising Priest of Holy Cross Parish in Bristol. He was born in Burlington April 5, 1958, and ordained a priest May 17, 1986.

He received a Master’s of Theology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, after which he was selected for missionary service at the Archdiocesan sister parish, La Sagrada Familia, in the Dominican Republic. He served at the parish from 1992-1996, before returning to the U.S. to earn a doctorate in ministry, with a specialization in spirituality.

Schuerman then served as a spiritual director and faculty member at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary from 1997-2009, and continues to serve as an adjunct spiritual director for the seminary.

In addition to his native English, the bishop-elect also speaks German and is highly fluent in Spanish.

“I am deeply humbled by the Holy Father’s invitation to serve the faithful of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as Auxiliary Bishop,” he said in the press release, and asked for prayers “as I commit myself to this role of leadership and service.”

In the statement, Bishop Emeritus Sklba joined Archbishop Listecki and all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee “in our expression of great joy as we learn of the Holy Father’s recent appointment.”

“They are both excellent pastors whose new ministry will be for us a great blessing for many years to come. My prayers are with them both.”

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The humble counsel of courageous women should never be disregarded but rather embraced as advice full of God's divine wisdom, Pope Francis said.

Women like the biblical heroine Judith are an example of trusting God amid sufferings and difficulties when it is easy to give up hope and fall into despair, the pope said Jan. 25 during his weekly general audience.

"This is my opinion, but women are more courageous than men," the pope said to applause.

As the pope arrived for the audience, the sounds of classical music echoed throughout the Paul VI audience hall as a youth orchestra from Bolivia played for the pope.

The Anglican choir of London's Westminster Abbey and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also were present and greeted the pope at the end of the audience.

Pope Francis focused his audience talk on Judith, "a woman of great beauty and wisdom," who reproached the people of Israel for their lack of trust in God to deliver them from foreign invaders.

"They were at the point of saying, 'God has sold us,'" the pope said. "How many times have we come to situations that test our limits where we are not even able to trust in the Lord? It is an ugly temptation."

Facing a situation full of despair, the pope continued, the people gave God five days to intervene. However, even in prayer they doubted that the Lord would help them.

"Five days are given to God to intervene -- this is the sin! Five days of waiting but already expecting the end. In reality, no one among the people is capable of hoping," he said.

Pope Francis said that in the moment of despair, Judith confronts the people's doubts with the "courageous language" of faith and hope.

Her courage, he explained, is a reminder for Christians "to knock on the door of God's heart; he is a father, he can save us. This widow risks (everything), even of making herself look like a fool in front of the others. But she is courageous, she goes forward."

Christians must "never put conditions on God," the pope said. Instead, they should allow "hope to conquer our fears."

"To trust God means entering into his plans without assuming anything" and to believe that "he knows better than us," the pope said.

The story of Judith exemplifies the importance of the "courageous counsel" of humble women, Pope Francis said. Their words, he added, contain "the wisdom of God" and should never be "dismissed as ignorant."

"The words of grandmothers -- how many times do grandmothers know the right word to say," the pope said. "They give words of hope because they have the experience of life, they have suffered so much, they trusted in God and the Lord gave them this gift of giving us hopeful advice."

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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

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By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After weeks of very public tensions with the Vatican, the head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta accepted Pope Francis' request that he submit his resignation.

The order's communications office confirmed Jan. 25 that Fra Matthew Festing, the 67-year-old grand master, met with Pope Francis the day before and agreed to resign.

The Vatican said Jan. 25 that Pope Francis intends to appoint a pontifical delegate to govern the order.

Festing, who has led the world's largest chivalric order since 2008, will submit his resignation Jan. 28 to the order's governing council, according to the order's communications office.

A short Vatican statement said Festing offered to resign Jan. 24 and Pope Francis accepted his offer the next day while "expressing to Fra Festing appreciation and recognition of his sentiments of loyalty and devotion to the successor of Peter and his openness to humbly serving the good of the order and the church."

The Order of Malta is made up of more than 13,500 knights and dames; about 50 of them are professed religious, having taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The grand master is elected for life from among the professed knights.

Festing's offer to resign came after Pope Francis set up a commission to investigate Festing's removal of the order's grand chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

A member of the commission told Catholic News Service Jan. 25 that Pope Francis received the commission report before meeting with Festing and asking for his resignation.

In a statement in December, the order said Boeselager was removed "due to severe problems which occurred during Boeselager's tenure as grand hospitaller of the Order of Malta and his subsequent concealment of these problems from the Grand Magistry." It was widely reported the problems had to do with the distribution of contraceptives to prevent HIV/AIDS in health clinics run by or funded by Malteser International, the order's humanitarian relief agency.

Festing insisted the removal of Boeselager was an internal matter and, in letters leaked to the press, urged members not to cooperate with the Vatican commission.

In response, the Vatican published a statement Jan. 17 praising "the commendable work that members and volunteers" with the Order of Malta carry out around the world and it urged members to cooperate with the commission for the good of the order and the church.

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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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