Catholic News 2
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's president slammed the United States on Friday, claiming it was not standing firmly against a failed military coup and accused it of harboring the plot's alleged mastermind, as a government crackdown in the coup's aftermath strained Turkey's ties with key allies....
MIAMI (AP) -- Mosquitoes have apparently begun spreading the Zika virus on the U.S. mainland for the first time, health officials said Friday, a long-feared turn in the epidemic that is sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump pulled off the upset - at least in television popularity....
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Fresh off a spirited convention, Hillary Clinton told prospective voters Friday they face a "stark choice" in November and pressed ahead with the scalding rhetoric against her Republican rival that marked many of the speeches in Philadelphia. Another distraction arose, however, as her aides acknowledged that a hacking attack that exposed Democratic Party emails also reached into a computer system used by her own campaign....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A computer service used by the campaign of Hillary Clinton was hacked as part of a broader breach of the Democratic National Committee, an intrusion for which the Russian government is the leading suspect, the campaign said Friday....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told young people that the world needs those who do not live to live their lives “halfway” and who like Christ are ready to spend their lives serving the poorest and most vulnerable. He said the Way of the Cross is Jesus’ style and is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude. The Pope was speaking at the conclusion of a Way of the Cross event attended by young people taking part in the World Youth Day gathering in the Polish city of Krakow. During his address to the young people, the Pope had affectionate words of greeting for “our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war.” The Syrian refugees were among a group of about 20 young people helping to carry the Cross during the first station. The others included a Polish couple who until recently lived on the streets and young people from Italy, Argentina, Ukraine and Pakistan. Please find below a translation into English of the Po...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told young people that the world needs those who do not live to live their lives “halfway” and who like Christ are ready to spend their lives serving the poorest and most vulnerable. He said the Way of the Cross is Jesus’ style and is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude. The Pope was speaking at the conclusion of a Way of the Cross event attended by young people taking part in the World Youth Day gathering in the Polish city of Krakow. During his address to the young people, the Pope had affectionate words of greeting for “our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war.” The Syrian refugees were among a group of about 20 young people helping to carry the Cross during the first station. The others included a Polish couple who until recently lived on the streets and young people from Italy, Argentina, Ukraine and Pakistan.
Please find below a translation into English of the Pope’s prepared remarks at the Way of the Cross event:
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me (Mt 25:35-36).
These words of Jesus answer the question that arises so often in our minds and hearts: “Where is God?” Where is God, if evil is present in our world, if there are men and women who are hungry and thirsty, homeless, exiles and refugees? Where is God, when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war? Where is God, when cruel diseases break the bonds of life and affection? Or when children are exploited and demeaned, and they too suffer from grave illness? Where is God, amid the anguish of those who doubt and are troubled in spirit? These are questions that humanly speaking have no answer. We can only look to Jesus and ask him. And Jesus’ answer is this: “God is in them”. Jesus is in them; he suffers in them and deeply identifies with each of them. He is so closely united to them as to form with them, as it were, “one body”.
Jesus himself chose to identify with these our brothers and sisters enduring pain and anguish by agreeing to tread the “way of sorrows” that led to Calvary. By dying on the cross, he surrendered himself into to the hands of the Father, taking upon himself and in himself, with self-sacrificing love, the physical, moral and spiritual wounds of all humanity. By embracing the wood of the cross, Jesus embraced the nakedness, the hunger and thirst, the loneliness, pain and death of men and women of all times. Tonight Jesus, and we with him, embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war. We greet them and we welcome them with fraternal affection and friendship.
By following Jesus along the Way of the Cross, we have once again realized the importance of imitating him through the fourteen works of mercy. These help us to be open to God’s mercy, to implore the grace to appreciate that without mercy we can do nothing; without mercy, neither I nor you nor any of us can do a thing. Let us first consider the seven corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and those in prison, and burying the dead. Freely we have received, so freely let us give. We are called to serve the crucified Jesus in all those who are marginalized, to touch his sacred flesh in those who are disadvantaged, in those who hunger and thirst, in the naked and imprisoned, the sick and unemployed, in those who are persecuted, refugees and migrants. There we find our God; there we touch the Lord. Jesus himself told us this when he explained the criterion on which we will be judged: whenever we do these things to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do them to him (cf. Mt 25:31-46).
After the corporal works of mercy come the spiritual works: counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, consoling the afflicted, pardoning offences, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead. In welcoming the outcasts who suffer physically and welcoming sinners who suffer spiritually, our credibility as Christians is at stake.
Humanity today needs men and women, and especially young people like yourselves, who do not wish to live their lives “halfway”, young people ready to spend their lives freely in service to those of their brothers and sisters who are poorest and most vulnerable, in imitation of Christ who gave himself completely for our salvation. In the face of evil, suffering and sin, the only response possible for a disciple of Jesus is the gift of self, even of one’s own life, in imitation of Christ; it is the attitude of service. Unless those who call themselves Christians live to serve, their lives serve no good purpose. By their lives, they deny Jesus Christ.
This evening, dear friends, the Lord once more asks you to be in the forefront of serving others. He wants to make of you a concrete response to the needs and sufferings of humanity. He wants you to be signs of his merciful love for our time! To enable you to carry out this mission, he shows you the way of personal commitment and self-sacrifice. It is the Way of the Cross. The Way of the Cross is the way of fidelity in following Jesus to the end, in the often dramatic situations of everyday life. It is a way that fears no lack of success, ostracism or solitude, because it fills ours hearts with the fullness of Jesus. The Way of the Cross is the way of God’s own life, his “style”, which Jesus brings even to the pathways of a society at times divided, unjust and corrupt.
The Way of the Cross alone defeats sin, evil and death, for it leads to the radiant light of Christ’s resurrection and opens the horizons of a new and fuller life. It is the way of hope, the way of the future. Those who take up this way with generosity and faith give hope and a future to humanity.
Dear young people, on that Good Friday many disciples went back crestfallen to their homes. Others chose to go out to the country to forget the cross. I ask you: How do you want to go back this evening to your own homes, to the places where you are staying? How do you want to go back this evening to be alone with your thoughts? Each of you has to answer the challenge that this question sets before you.
(Vatican Radio) The new incoming just inaugurated President of Peru must make some practical political concessions, if he`s to boost the economy and get things done. Freedom of action might well follow another form of freedom as James Blears reports.Listen: At seventy seven ex Wall Street afficinado Pedro Pablo Kuczynski who`s no spring chicken, insists he`s still got it up top. But to stay on top, he`s going to need a little help for more than just his friends. His Center-right Peruvians for Change Party holds just 18 seats in Congress. He only defeated Keiko Fujimori, the Candidate of the Popular Force Party, by a quarter of a percentage point. But more to the point, her Party holds 73 seats. The price will almost inevitably involve 78 year old former President Alberto Fujimori being released from prison, where he`s serving a 25 year term for human rights abuses. Outgoing President Ollanta Humala ...
(Vatican Radio) The new incoming just inaugurated President of Peru must make some practical political concessions, if he`s to boost the economy and get things done.
Freedom of action might well follow another form of freedom as James Blears reports.
Listen:
At seventy seven ex Wall Street afficinado Pedro Pablo Kuczynski who`s no spring chicken, insists he`s still got it up top. But to stay on top, he`s going to need a little help for more than just his friends.
His Center-right Peruvians for Change Party holds just 18 seats in Congress.
He only defeated Keiko Fujimori, the Candidate of the Popular Force Party, by a quarter of a percentage point. But more to the point, her Party holds 73 seats.
The price will almost inevitably involve 78 year old former President Alberto Fujimori being released from prison, where he`s serving a 25 year term for human rights abuses.
Outgoing President Ollanta Humala twice refused a pardon for Fujimori SR. Now PPK, as he`s known, will have to decide PDQ, what he`s prepared to do with a man who`s a year older than himself. He`s suggested that although he isn`t prepared to grant an official pardon,
Alberto Fujimori might be allowed to go home and be under a form of house arrest, due to his advancing age.
(Vatican Radio) It was a day dedicated to showing the Christian response to pain and suffering. Coming midway through his five day visit to Poland, Pope Francis began the day on Friday with a visit to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and ended it with a Way of the Cross led by young people in Krakow’s Blonia Park.In between those two events he visited a children’s hospital where some of the most severely ill children from all over the country are treated. Philippa Hitchen reports:Listen: It was a particularly poignant meeting as the Pope and the Polish Prime Minister were welcomed by rows of sick children, many of them in wheelchairs, alongside family members and staff from the Prokocim Pediatric hospital.Originally built by money from the Polish American community and later by grants from the U.S. government, the hospital treats thousands of children each year, in particular those suffering from the most advanced tumours, severely premature babies and c...
(Vatican Radio) It was a day dedicated to showing the Christian response to pain and suffering. Coming midway through his five day visit to Poland, Pope Francis began the day on Friday with a visit to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and ended it with a Way of the Cross led by young people in Krakow’s Blonia Park.
In between those two events he visited a children’s hospital where some of the most severely ill children from all over the country are treated. Philippa Hitchen reports:
Listen:
It was a particularly poignant meeting as the Pope and the Polish Prime Minister were welcomed by rows of sick children, many of them in wheelchairs, alongside family members and staff from the Prokocim Pediatric hospital.
Originally built by money from the Polish American community and later by grants from the U.S. government, the hospital treats thousands of children each year, in particular those suffering from the most advanced tumours, severely premature babies and conjoined twins requiring surgery to separate them.
As he always does on these occasions, Pope Francis took time to hold hands, to caress cheeks and to bless, one by one, the young patients, telling them he would like to draw near and embrace all children who are sick and suffering.
Speaking through a translator, he told them that Jesus was always attentive to the sick, looking at them in the same compassionate way that a mother looks at her sick child.
“How I wish that we Christians could be as close to the sick as Jesus was”, he told them, but sadly, he said, our society is tainted by the culture of waste which is the opposite of the culture of acceptance.
The victims of that culture of waste, the Pope said, are the weakest and most frail but instead, he added, it’s beautiful to see in this hospital how the smallest and most needy are welcomed and cared for. He called on Christians to multiply the culture of acceptance, saying that to serve the needy with love and tenderness makes all of us grow in humanity.
Finally the Pope thanked and encouraged all those who have responded to the Gospel call to ‘visit the sick’, doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, chaplains, volunteers and religious sisters who serve in hospitals in countries across the globe.
Before leaving the hospital, the Pope had a chance to meet privately with some of the sickest patients and to spend a few moments of silent prayer in the chapel. The questions about why children suffer, he had noted earlier, have “no easy answers”. We are called to simply be still and pray, just as he had done in the death camp earlier in the day, and just as the young people would do as they watched the re-enactment of Christ’s passion later in the day.
Please find below the English translation of Pope Francis' words at the Prokocim Children's Hospital in Krakow
Dear brothers and sisters,
A special part of my visit to Krakow is this meeting with the little patients of this hospital. I greet all of you and I thank the Prime Minister for his kind words. I would like to draw near to all children who are sick, to stand at their bedside, and embrace them. I would like to listen to everyone here, even if for only a moment, and to be still before questions that have no easy answers. And to pray.
The Gospel often shows us the Lord Jesus meeting the sick, embracing them and seeking them out. Jesus is always attentive to them. He looks at them in the same way that a mother looks at her sick child, and he is moved by compassion for them.
How I would wish that we Christians could be as close to the sick as Jesus was, in silence, with a caress, with prayer. Sadly, our society is tainted by the culture of waste, which is the opposite of the culture of acceptance. And the victims of the culture of waste are those who are weakest and most frail; and this is indeed cruel. How beautiful it is instead to see that in this hospital the smallest and most needy are welcomed and cared for. Thank you for this sign of love that you offer us! This is the sign of true civility, human and Christian: to make those who are most disadvantaged the centre of social and political concern.
Sometimes families feel alone in providing this care. What can be done? From this place, so full of concrete signs of love, I would like to say: Let us multiply the works of the culture of acceptance, works inspired by Christian love, love for Jesus crucified, for the flesh of Christ. To serve with love and tenderness persons who need our help makes all of us grow in humanity. It opens before us the way to eternal life. Those who engage in works of mercy have no fear of death.
I encourage all those who have made the Gospel call to “visit the sick” a personal life decision: physicians, nurses, healthcare workers, chaplains and volunteers. May the Lord help you to do your work well, here as in every other hospital in the world. I cannot fail to mention, here, the work of so many sisters who offer their lives in hospitals. May the Lord reward you by giving you inner peace and a heart always capable of tenderness.
Thank you for this encounter! I carry you with me in affection and prayer. And please, do not forget to pray for me.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ third day in Poland was a day of sombre reflection as he visited the infamous Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, he spent time with young patients at a Childrenìs Hospital in Krakow, and he joined young people in a Way of the Cross Procession.Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane is in Poland reporting on Pope Francis’ 15th Apostolic Journey abroad and speaks about her impressions of the day…Listen:
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ third day in Poland was a day of sombre reflection as he visited the infamous Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, he spent time with young patients at a Childrenìs Hospital in Krakow, and he joined young people in a Way of the Cross Procession.
Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane is in Poland reporting on Pope Francis’ 15th Apostolic Journey abroad and speaks about her impressions of the day…
Listen:
(Vatican Radio)The theme of this Way of the Cross for World Youth Day was the path of mercy and this solemn event opened in Blonia Park in Krakow to the anthem of the Jubilee Year performed by a talented youth orchestra and choir with Pope Francis looking on.In a prelude to the mediations for this evening, a girl in Marian like clothes took to the stage creating a design drawn in sand which revealed the face of Christ.All through the Via Crucis the World Youth Day cross was brought to each station by a different group of young people which included a group of refugees from Syria, a former homeless couple from Poland and nuns from the missionaries of charity; all symbolising the works of mercy.Many of the stops on the way to Calvary were artistically re-enacted through the medium of dance and at the 10th station an acrobat took to the sky where the cloth wound around him fell away to symbolise Jesus being stripped of his garments.At the 12 station and to the strains of Samuel Barbe...
(Vatican Radio)The theme of this Way of the Cross for World Youth Day was the path of mercy and this solemn event opened in Blonia Park in Krakow to the anthem of the Jubilee Year performed by a talented youth orchestra and choir with Pope Francis looking on.
In a prelude to the mediations for this evening, a girl in Marian like clothes took to the stage creating a design drawn in sand which revealed the face of Christ.
All through the Via Crucis the World Youth Day cross was brought to each station by a different group of young people which included a group of refugees from Syria, a former homeless couple from Poland and nuns from the missionaries of charity; all symbolising the works of mercy.
Many of the stops on the way to Calvary were artistically re-enacted through the medium of dance and at the 10th station an acrobat took to the sky where the cloth wound around him fell away to symbolise Jesus being stripped of his garments.
At the 12 station and to the strains of Samuel Barber’s, “Adagio for Strings”, Jesus on the Cross at Blonia Park took his last breath and the worlds’ youth here fell silent
In his words, following this intense and moving event, the Holy Father posed the question; where is God, if evil is present in our world, if there are men and women who are hungry and thirsty, homeless, exiles and refugees? Where is God, when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war? “We can only look to Jesus and ask him”, the Pope said, “and Jesus’ answer is this: “God is in them”. Jesus is in them; he suffers in them and deeply identifies with each of them.”
The Pope also had words for the group of Syrian refugees present here on Friday evening, saying, “tonight Jesus, and we with him, embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war. We greet them and we welcome them with fraternal affection and friendship.”
As Pope Francis departed from Blonia Park, he left the hundreds of thousands of young people present with this message of hope.
“The Way of the Cross alone defeats sin, evil and death, for it leads to the radiant light of Christ’s resurrection and opens the horizons of a new and fuller life.”
With Pope Francis in Krakow, I'm Lydia O'Kane
