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(Vatican Radio) On Wednesday, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, during which he said prayer is the “way out” when we become closed in on ourselves.

Pope Francis centred his June 29 homily on the day’s Gospel reading, and reflected on the themes of being opened and closed, as demonstrated by the lives of Saints Peter and Paul.

Drawing from examples from the life of Peter, such as when he was imprisoned, the Holy Father said “prayer appears as the main way out. It is a way out for the community, which risks closing in on itself out of persecution and fear.”

“Prayer, as humble entrustment to God and his holy will, is always the way out of our becoming 'closed', as individuals and as a community.”

Likewise, this theme of going out in service of the Gospel is seen in the writings of St Paul.

“Paul’s life was utterly projected forward, in bringing Christ to those who did not know him, and then in rushing, as it were, into Christ’s arms, to be “saved for his heavenly kingdom,” the Pope said.

Turning back to Peter, Pope Francis reflected on how he was set free by Christ’s “compassionate gaze” which “pierces the heart and brings tears of repentance.”

The Pope referenced the scene in the Gospels in which Peter encounters Jesus after having denied him three times.  

“At that moment, Simon Peter was set free from the prison of his selfish pride and fear, and overcame the temptation of closing his heart to Jesus’s call to follow him along the way of the cross.”

Pope Francis also spoke of the “constant temptation for the Church” of “closing in on herself in the face of danger.” 

“Prayer enable grace to open a way out from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from sadness to joy.  And we can add: from division to unity.”

During the Mass, the Pope conferred the Pallium to twenty-five prelates from eleven countries who were named metropolitan archbishops over the past year. Included among them were US Archbishop Bernard Anthony Hebda of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MN, Archbishop Adam Szal of Przemysl, Poland, and Archbishop Basilio Athaei of Taunggyi, Myanmar.

The pallium is a woolen vestment conferred on a new archbishop by the Pope, traditionally on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

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Vatican City, Jun 29, 2016 / 03:15 am (CNA/Europa Press).- On Wednesday Pope Francis gave 25 new archbishops the pallium, encouraging them to remain strong in prayer, which he said helps in staying open to God’s surprises, rather than closing in on oneself.

“Prayer enables grace to open a way out from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from sadness to joy. And we can add: from division to unity,” Pope Francis said June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

He pointed to the “clear contrast” between opening and closing in the day’s readings, beginning with three examples of “closing” found in the first reading from Acts.

The first appears when Peter is locked in prison, then the community gathers behind “closed doors,” and finally Peter knocks at the “closed door” of a woman named Mary, the mother of John called Mark, after being set free.

In each of these moments, “prayer appears as the main way out,” the Pope said, explaining that it’s “a way out for the community, which risks closing in on itself out of persecution and fear.”

It’s also a way out for Peter, “who at the very beginning of the mission given him by the Lord, is cast into prison by Herod and risks execution,” Francis said, noting how the Christian community had prayed for Peter while he was in prison. As a result, the Lord sends an angel to free him.

Prayer, “as humble entrustment to God and his holy will, is always the way out of our becoming ‘closed’ as individuals and as a community,” he said.

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered inside St. Peter’s Basilica for his Mass celebrating the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the city of Rome. During the ceremony, he blessed the pallium to be bestowed on the 25 new metropolitan archbishops who were present, all appointed throughout the previous year.

The pallium is a white wool vestment, adorned with six black silk crosses. Dating back to at least the fifth century, the wearing of the pallium by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops symbolizes authority as well as unity with the Holy See.

The title of “metropolitan bishop” refers to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis, namely, the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or regional capital.

Traditionally the Pope bestows the stole to the new archbishops June 29 each year. The rite is a sign of communion with the See of Peter. It also serves as a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese as well as the other particular dioceses within his ecclesiastical province.

However, as a sign of “synodality” with local Churches, Pope Francis decided in 2015 that new metropolitan archbishops will officially be imposed with the pallium in their home diocese, rather than the Vatican.

So while the new archbishops still journey to Rome to receive the pallium during the liturgy with the Pope, the official imposition ceremony is in their home diocese, allowing more faithful and bishops in dioceses under the archbishop’s jurisdiction to attend the event.

In his homily, Pope Francis also pointed St. Paul and his experience of liberation in finding “a way out of his own impending execution.” In addition to praising God for giving him the strength to evangelize, Paul speaks of “a much greater opening” to eternal life, “which awaits him at the end of his earthly race.”

By contemplating this passage, “we can see the whole life of the Apostle in terms of ‘going out’ in service to the Gospel,” he said.

Francis then turned to Peter’s confession of faith and the mission entrusted to him by Jesus. Jesus, he said, “shows us that the life of Simon, the fishermen of Galilee – like the life of each of us – opens, opens up fully, when it receives from God the Father the grace of faith.”

By responding to Jesus’ call, Simon Peter sets out on “a long and difficult journey,” but one “that will lead him to go out of himself, leaving all his human supports behind, especially his pride tinged with courage and generous selflessness.”

Francis noted how Jesus had prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail, and how he looked on Peter with compassion after the apostle had denied him.

At that moment, “Simon Peter was set free from the prison of his selfish pride and fear, and overcame the temptation of closing his heart to Jesus’s call to follow him along the way of the cross,” he said.

The Pope then turned to the scene in Acts when Peter, after having been set free, knocks on the door of Mary. The servant Rhoda, although joyful in recognizing Peter’s voice, doesn’t let him in, but instead runs to tell her mistress.

Pope Francis said that the account, “which can seem comical, makes us perceive the climate of fear that led the Christian community to stay behind closed doors, but also closed to God’s surprises.”

“This detail speaks to us of a constant temptation for the Church, that of closing in on herself in the face of danger,” he said, but noted that “the small openings through which God can work” are also visible, and can be seen by how many in the house “had gathered and were praying.”

Before concluding his homily, Pope Francis offered a special greeting the delegation sent by “the beloved” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, led by His Eminence Methodios, Metropolitan of Boston.

Among the 25 new metropolitan archbishops to receive the pallium from Pope Francis was one American, Archbishop Bernard Anthony Hebda, who oversees the diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

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Vatican City, Jun 29, 2016 / 04:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of Tuesday’s deadly attack on an Istanbul airport, asking that God would convert the hearts of those who choose violence.

“Dear brothers and sister, yesterday in Istanbul there was a heinous terror attack, which has killed and wounded many people. Let us pray for the victims, for their families and for the dear Turkish people,” the Pope said June 29.

Late Tuesday night three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the entrance terminal of Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, killing 36 people and wounding more than 140 others, the BBC reports.

Ataturk airport is Europe’s third largest in passenger traffic behind London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle. According to reports, the three men, dressed in black, drove into the entrance terminal by car and opened fire, blowing themselves up only after police began to fire back.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that early signs indicated that the Islamic State was responsible for the attack, but so far no one has claimed responsibility.

Pope Francis offered prayers that the Lord would “convert the hearts of the violent and sustain our steps on the path to peace.”

In his speech before leading pilgrims in praying the traditional Marian prayer, the Pope noted how the day marked the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, who are the patrons of the city of Rome.

Francis noted that in the Gospel, Jesus had sent the disciples out two by two. In a sense, Peter and Paul were also sent out from the Holy Land to preach the Gospel in Rome.

Even though the two men were “very different from one another: Peter a humble fishermen, Paul a teacher and doctor,” they were still able to succeed in preaching the Gospel throughout the city, he said.

“If here in Rome we know Jesus, and if the Christian faith is a living and fundamental part of spiritual and cultural patrimony of this land, it is due to the apostolic courage of these two sons of the Near East,” the Pope said.

Regardless of the difficulties and risks of the long trip and the mistrust they surely encountered, the apostles left their homeland out of love for Christ and went to Rome, he said, calling them “heralds and witnesses of the Gospel” who “sealed with martyrdom their mission of faith and charity.”

Peter and Paul have returned to the city and are knocking on the doors of our houses, seeking to once again bring Jesus, his consolation and his peace to our hearts, Francis said.

“Let us welcome their message! Let us treasure their witness!” he said, and prayed that “the firm and forthright faith of Peter, the great and universal heart of Paul, help us to be joyful Christians, faithful to the Gospel and open to meeting all.”

Pope Francis then noted how he had blessed the pallium of the new metropolitan archbishops appointed in the course of the previous year, and offered special greetings and prayers for them and their families.

“I encourage them to continue with joy their mission and service to the Gospel, in communion with the entire Church and especially with the See of Peter, as the sign of the pallium expresses.”

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(Vatican Radio) The promotion of human rights for everyone in the context of sports and the Olympic ideal was the theme of Tuesday’s statement by the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic delivered the statement to the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council, in which he addressed the role of sports and the Olympics in promoting a “better international environment” that is “more inclusive and open to everyone.”

The archbishop also stressed the role of sports in promoting human rights among the international community.

In this context, he said the Holy See will be hosting a “Conference On Faith and Sport” later this year.

The Rio de Janeiro summer Olympics will run from 5-21 August.

Read the full statement below:

Statement by His Excellency Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic

Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva

at the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council

Panel on the Use of Sport and the Olympic Ideal to Promote Human Rights for All

28th June 2016

Mr. President,

The Holy See acknowledges the unique role of sport and the Olympic ideal as instruments to facilitate the building of a better international environment, more inclusive and open to everyone. In fact, this year, with the Olympic Games that will be held in Rio, we have an opportunity to appreciate better the part that sports should play in building a more “Human Rights” respectful international community. As a clear sign of the unceasing commitment of the Holy See in this matter, we are expected to host the “Conference On Faith and Sport” this October in the Vatican, which intends to put the phenomenon of sports in the broadest cultural and religious context of mankind.

In particular, my Delegation recognizes the importance of the value of the Olympic Charter as an instrument to fostering and implementing better Human Rights. As Pope Francis said: “[...]the Olympic Charter,…among its main principles, poses the centrality of the person, the harmonious development of humankind, the defense of human dignity, and also that of contributing ‘to building a peaceful and better world, without war or tension, by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind... with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play’(International Olympic Committee, Olympic Charter, n. 6).”

Today more than ever, we strongly believe that our world needs this “spirit of friendship and solidarity”, and that it must remain at the core of the Olympic expression with the aim of promoting “universality, characterized by fraternity and friendship among peoples, understanding and peace among nations, out of respect, tolerance and harmony of differences.”

In this context, it is important to stress the educational value of sport, in particular among the young and children. Every sporting event, and the Olympic Games above all, can serve as a powerful tool to show how fundamental it is to always improve ourselves. In sport as well as in everyday life, we aim to achieve success, avoiding being satisfied with mediocre results. On the other hand, good sportsmanship in moments of failure is a good training for the eventual challenges and failures in life. Therefore, the social and ethical value of sport, together with a healthy competition, should always be put at the center of every sport event.

Mr. President,

Unfortunately, nowadays, sport is too often associated with its economic aspect, excessive competitiveness, violence and the exclusion of those who are “not just the best.” To tackle this issue we should be “united and determined in challenging every distorted aspect that can intrude, recognizing it as a phenomenon opposed to the full development of the individual and to his enjoyment of life.” A full support to the values of the “Olympic Ideal” in every competition is the first commitment that every Member State has to take to maintain and strengthen the ethical principles of sports and, through them, foster respect for Human Rights.

To fortify the message of inclusiveness and non-discrimination spread by the Olympic ideal, as Resolution 31/23 recalls, it is of great importance to “implement new or strengthen existing programs that provide more opportunities and facilitate barrier-free access to sport for all, in particular for children and youth, persons with disabilities, and women and girls.”

In this respect, the Paralympic Games are an example of inclusiveness and a demonstration of how sport, also for persons with disabilities, is an opportunity to express oneself, each according to their talent sand their limitations.

Mr. President,

In conclusion, the Holy See welcomes the use of sport as a tool to create a more enabling environment for Human Rights and encourages the Member States, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, to continue their efforts to promote the Olympic ideal all over the world and in every sport. Moreover, the Holy See encourages the practice of sports to build bridges between peoples, nations and continents as well as in the society and, as long as it is practiced with respect for human dignity, it is a strong tool to create a more inclusive global society. 

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