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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe, and the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

The liturgy began with the Holy Father closing the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, through which pilgrims passed during the course of the Jubilee as a sign of penance and devotion.

In his homily, Pope Francis said, “[E]ven if the Holy Door closes, the true door of mercy which is the heart of Christ always remains open wide for us.”

The kingship of Christ in its cosmic, social, and personal dimensions was the main focus of the Holy Father’s remarks to the faithful.

“[T]he grandeur of [Christ’s] kingdom is not power as defined by this world, but the love of God, a love capable of encountering and healing all things,” said Pope Francis. “Christ lowered himself to us out of this love, he lived our human misery, he suffered the lowest point of our human condition: injustice, betrayal, abandonment; he experienced death, the tomb, hell.”

“And so,” the Pope went on to say, “our King went to the ends of the universe in order to embrace and save every living being.  He did not condemn us, nor did he conquer us, and he never disregarded our freedom, but he paved the way with a humble love that forgives all things, hopes all things, sustains all things (cf. 1 Cor 13:7).”

“This love alone,” Pope Francis said, “overcame and continues to overcome our worst enemies: sin, death, fear.”

Following the conclusion of the Mass, the Holy Father signed the Apostolic Letter Misecordia et misera, addressed to the whole Church, which is to be published Monday as a concluding reflection on the Year of Mercy.

A note from the Press Office of the Holy See explains that a small group of individuals representing the whole people of God in every state of life within the Church, received the letter from the hands of Pope Francis directly: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila; Archbishop Leo Cushley of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh; two priests from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil respectively, who served as Missionaries of Mercy; a permanent deacon of the diocese of Rome, together with his family; two religious sisters, respectively coming from Mexico and South Korea; three generations of a family from the United States of America; a young couple engaged to be married; two mothers who serve as catechists of a parish in Rome; a disabled person and a sick person.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, following a Mass to mark the Solemnity of Christ the King, and the official close of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

In remarks to pilgrims and tourists gathered for the occasion, Pope Francis thanked the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and especially the Council’s President, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, for their organization of the year-long initiative.

The Holy Father also had words of gratitude for the police and other forces dedicated to security and order, for volunteers, for everyone near and far who made a pilgrimage, for everyone who had come from far-away places to mark the closing of the year, and for all who prayed and made other spiritual contributions to the success of the venture, especially cloistered women religious, who on Monday are to mark Pro orantibus day – the World Day of Cloistered Life.

“May the Virgin Mary help us to conserve the spiritual gifts of the Jubilee of Mercy in our hearts and help them grow and bear fruit.”

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Vatican City, Nov 20, 2016 / 09:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis still remembers his meeting with a former prostitute who had suffered much.

In a new interview, the Pope recalled the time he met with a young pregnant woman from Africa who was “beautiful, young (and) exploited.”

In telling her story, the woman said she was forced to work until she was nine months pregnant. She ended up giving birth “in the winter on the street. Alone. By myself,” Francis recalled her saying.

Her newborn daughter, exposed to the cold, died.

This added to the woman’s suffering.

“They made her work until that day, because if she didn’t bring the exploiters much, she was beaten, even tortured,” the Pope said. He recalled that another woman he met in the community had her ear cut off because she didn’t bring enough money back for her traffickers.

Pope Francis said that when he heard these stories, he didn’t just think of the exploiters, but also the clients. “Do they not know that with that money, to take off for sexual satisfaction, they helped the exploiters?” he asked.

His meeting with the ex-prostitutes happened in an Aug. 12 visit to women rescued from forced prostitution and under the care of the Pope John XXIII Community in Rome.

The Pope recounted the meeting in an interview with TV2000 published Sunday, Nov. 20 to coincide with the end of the Catholic Church’s Year of Mercy.

During the Year of Mercy, the pontiff had made a habit of “Mercy Friday” encounters with others. He told interviewers his meeting with rescued ex-prostitutes had a particular impact on him.

For the Pope, another particularly striking encounter was the day he went to visit people at the beginning and at the end of life, when he traveled to a residence for the terminally ill, as well as to a neonatal unit of Rome’s San Giovanni hospital.

When he arrived at the maternity ward of the hospital, the Pope recalled seeing a mother “who cried and cried and cried in front of her two twins.” She originally had three babies, but one of them had died.

“She cried for her dead son, while caressing the other two,” the Pope said, explaining that his mind immediately turned to the attitude of some who “send away” their children before birth.

This is a “horrible crime,” he said, recounting false justifications for abortion: “they send them away because ‘it’s better like this,’ because you are more comfortable, it’s ‘a big responsibility’.” He again stressed that this is “a serious sin.”

Despite still having her other two children, the woman “cried for the one who died, unable to be consoled,” he said.

He added that these visits stayed on his mind.

Pope Francis' 40-minute video interview with journalists Paolo Ruffini and Lucio Brunelli of TV2000 touched on a variety of topics, including the fruits of the Jubilee of Mercy, papal temptations, the importance of having a good sense of humor and how he deals with stress.

He said the Year of Mercy’s celebration in every diocese of the world universalized it.

“It was the entire Church who lived this Jubilee, it was like a Jubilee atmosphere,” he said, noting how he heard news from dioceses around the world telling stories of people drawing closer to the Church and strengthening their personal encounter with Jesus.

The Jubilee, he said, was “a blessing from the Lord” and “a great step forward.” He credited his predecessors Bl. Paul VI, who began the Jubilee Year tradition, and St. John Paul II, “who put a very strong accent on mercy.”

“It planted a lot of seeds,” he said, crediting spiritual growth to God.

“I think that the Lord will grow good things, simple, daily, in the lives of people,” rather than through spectacles, he said.

When asked about a comment he had made saying “the human attitude closest to divine grace is humor,” Francis said having a good sense of humor is a grace that he asks for every day.

He said he prays the same prayer of St. Thomas More: “Give me, Lord, a sense of humor,” so that he “knows how to laugh ahead of a fight.” A good sense of humor “lifts you,” he said, and allows you to see things with a renewed perspective.

The Pope also cautioned against having an attitude of rigidity, as well as an attitude of hypocrisy. Pointing to the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospels, Francis noted that it ends with Jesus saying “be merciful like the Father,” which was the theme of the Jubilee.

God’s justice and mercy were intertwined, he explained.

“It doesn’t say: be just like the Father,” he noted, but stressed that “it’s the same! The justice and mercy of God are one thing. Mercy is justice and justice is mercy. And they cannot be separated.”

 Another interview topic was the temptations a Pope faces. Francis said they are “the temptations of any person, of any man,” according to the weakness of their own personality.

The devil always uses these weaknesses to enter, he said, naming impatience, egoism and “a bit of laziness” as examples. The saints were also tempted, but went to Jesus and placed their trust in him for help.

Pope Francis was also asked what bothered him most: the insults of his critics versus the false admiration of flatterers.

His immediate response was “the second. I am allergic to flatterers. I have an allergy.” This allergy “comes to me naturally,” he said, because “to flatter another is to use the person for a purpose...to get something for oneself.”

On the topic of stress, the Pope said that even though he frequently feels tired, he has a way to keep his stress level down: “I pray: that helps me a lot.” Celebrating Mass, praying the rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours as well as simply speaking freely with the Lord are all things the Pope said help him to stay calm and balanced.

The Pope has another way to relive stress. “I sleep well,” he said, deeming this “a grace from the Lord.”

“I sleep like a log,” he said.

Francis confessed that he has his aches and pains like everyone else, such as his sciatica, but sleeping well helps with his health.

The interview then turned to various conflicts throughout the world. The Pope considered how the virtue of mercy could be lived better at the political level among States.

In response, Francis again spoke against the arms trade and drug trafficking. He repeated his previous references to a piecemeal “Third World War” underway throughout the world. He said the world needs a heightened sense of tenderness capable of “caressing the flesh of the suffering Christ” to overcome this violence.

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Balancing a cup in one hand and a small sandwich over the plastic plate on her lap while a grandchild played on the floor next to her wheelchair, Marie Terese Tobin beamed with joy for all the gifts God has given her.

"Now I know why I lasted this long," said the nonagenarian, to see the eldest of her 13 children be made a cardinal. "It's the frosting on the cake," she said, smiling.

Her son, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, was one of 17 men from 14 countries to be inducted into the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis during a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica Nov. 19.

"Have you got all day?" she laughed when asked what makes Cardinal Tobin special. "I can't tell you how much he loves his family," keeping in touch with siblings and their children, knowing what each and every one of them is up to.

This is what makes him a real pastor -- that "ability to have a really intimate relationship with everyone," she told Catholic News Service at a reception for the three new U.S. cardinals at the Pontifical North American College.

The cardinal's humility also means "he doesn't realize the impact he has on people," said the "baby" of the family, his sister, Sara Broderick, who lives near her mother in Stoney Pointe, Ontario.

Becoming a cardinal "won't go to his head. Joe will still be Joe. He will still care about what the kids are doing in sports," she said.

Family, friends and supporters, including government officials, attended the solemn ceremony in St. Peter's as well as the receptions that followed.

Hundreds of people from around the world, many of them coping with jet lag from long flights, stood patiently in line waiting for their turn to greet, get a picture with or receive a blessing from their new cardinal in the Vatican's Paul VI audience hall.

With restoration work underway, none of the receptions were held this year in the ornate frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace. In the audience hall, the mood was happy but very subdued compared to other years when groups would sometime break the din with loud singing or dancing.

Cardinals added some personal touches to the "station" where they received guests. Some chose their nation's flag, but Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago had the Chicago Cubs Win banner -- a giant blue W -- to mark his city's recent World Series victory.

Chicago's fire commissioner, Jose Santiago, and police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, traveled to Rome as part of a government delegation that included Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The public officials said they came because of the fruitful working relationship Cardinal Cupich has built up with them.

Seeing the city's archbishop elevated to cardinal "gives the city hope to be better," inspiring people to recognize and take "the path of success," Johnson said.

He said Cardinal Cupich "jumped in with both feet to help" each time they met to discuss the many challenges law enforcement faces. "He's been very supportive in our efforts to get into neighborhoods" and reduce violence.

"It's important to come together as a city to support him because if he succeeds, we succeed," Johnson said.

Catholic leaders are critical in bringing peace and unity to their communities, particularly when the pope honors them with a red cardinal's hat, said a number of pilgrims from Papua New Guinea.

The nation's islands are home to hundreds of ethnic groups, who have been experiencing conflict, said a priest who gave his name only as Father Japhet.

Many of the 45 people who traveled 23 hours from the South Pacific to see the archbishop of Port Moresby become Cardinal John Ribat belong to different ethnic groups, he said.

"Every parish built a small Holy Door, and people came and agreed to promise to reconcile, to heal and come together" to promote a message of mercy, the 53-year-old priest said.

Jean Betrand Goumba, who lives in Rome but is from Central African Republic, said he hopes the new cardinals and all Catholics "take a lesson from Pope Francis, who is doing so much for the whole world. He's giving a big example" of what love is, "something that is missing in the world."

The historic gesture the pope made in Bangui, the nation's capital, by opening the Year of Mercy there was highlighted by many women who made colorful dresses depicting the pope's face and commemorating his visit.

Many people attending the consistory also were planning to attend the closing of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica Nov. 20, including a number of U.S. parish choirs invited to sing with the Sistine Chapel choir at both events.

Karen and Gary McLand, who traveled with the choir of Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Plymouth, Michigan, said the Year of Mercy has brought them closer to the faith as a result of joining a parish study group.

Being with others "who want to deepen their faith inspires you" to do so, too, Gary said.

"I wouldn't ever have come here to Rome on a pilgrimage," Karen said, if it hadn't been for the faith formation group.

Rebecca Padley, who was with the choir of St. John Cantius in Chicago, said the Year of Mercy has helped her see people differently.

"We always ask for things, but then we are tested," which, she said, pushes her to try to be even more understanding.

As a doctor, "I take care of patients every day, but now I try to do it (be merciful) even more."  

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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.

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IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Visiting young women rescued from forced prostitution and meeting with a mother inconsolable over the loss of one of her newborn triplets are images from the Year of Mercy that Pope Francis said remain impressed on his heart.

Reviewing the Holy Year in a 40-minute interview aired Nov. 20 on TV2000, a television station owned by the Italian bishops' conference, Pope Francis also spoke about handling stress, his upcoming 80th birthday and a sense of humor, among other topics.

Asked about the Mercy Friday visits he made once a month during the Holy Year, the pope said the visit with women rescued from human trafficking and his visit to the neonatal ward of a Rome hospital were the visits that stand out.

Visiting Rome's San Giovanni Hospital in September, he said, "there was a woman who cried and cried and cried standing by her two infants -- tiny, but beautiful. The third had died."

"She cried for that dead child while she caressed the other two," the pope said. "It's the gift of life."

"And I thought of the practice of getting rid of babies before they are born -- this horrible crime. They get rid of them because 'it's better that way,' because it is easier, 'it is a big responsibility.' That is a serious sin," the pope said. "This woman had three children and wept for the one who died; she was unable to console herself with the two remaining."

The other Mercy Friday event that was powerful, he said, was visiting a community of 15 young women who had been rescued from the traffickers who had forced them into prostitution.

One from Africa, "very beautiful, very young," was pregnant. And she told the pope that her traffickers had beat and tortured her, even when she was pregnant. In a previous pregnancy, they made her work the streets the whole time.

"She told me, 'Father, I gave birth on the street in winter. Alone. All alone. My daughter died,'" the pope said, clutching his heart.

Each of the young women told horror stories, he said, and he kept thinking not only about the traffickers, but about the men who went to the young women. "Don't they know that with the money they paid for sexual satisfaction they were helping the traffickers?"

Pope Francis said he believes God used the Year of Mercy to plant seeds and "I believe the Lord will make grow good, simple, daily things in the life of the people -- nothing spectacular."

The pope has told interviewers before that he prays a prayer of St. Thomas More that includes the request, "Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others."

The TV2000 interviewers said that sounded strange coming from a pope and asked him why.

"A sense of humor gives you relief, it helps you see what is temporary in life and take things with the spirit of a soul who has been redeemed," the pope said. "It's a human attitude, but it is very close to the grace of God."

Having a sense of humor, he said, helps one be like a child before God and "to praise the Lord with a smile, but also a joke well told."

The interviewers began a question, "Holy Father, in a month you will be 80 ..." but he cut them off, "Who me?"

Insisting, they asked the pope how he manages to do all he does. The pope joked that he has "magic tea," but then said what helps most is prayer. "That helps me a lot. I pray. Prayer is a help; it is being with the Lord. I celebrate Mass, pray the breviary, speak to the Lord, pray the rosary."

Another thing, he said, is "I sleep well, which is a gift from the Lord. I sleep like a log" six hours each night.

Is it easier to put up with "detractors" or with "the false admiration" of sycophants, he was asked. "The second!" he responded.

"I'm allergic to flatterers," the pope said.

In Argentina, he said, they would be referred to as "sock-lickers" -- like bootlickers -- "which is a really good name."

As for critics, the pope said that he knows he deserves criticism because he is a sinner, so even if a specific critique is not fair, he still deserves it.

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Copyright © 2016 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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