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Denver, Colo., Jun 15, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square and around their television sets to pray for Pope John Paul II as he passed away on April 2, 2005. They remembered the more than 26 years he served as the Holy Father; the courage he had in fighting communism; his immense love; and his adventurous spirit.

But that was eleven years ago.

The generations of young people who grew up during the papacies of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis might only know St. John Paul II for his canonization, which took place April 27, 2014.

The new documentary Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism hopes to educate these younger generations on the heroic life of the Roman Pontiff – telling the stories they cannot find in their textbooks.

“One of the reasons we set out to make this film is to kind of cement the legacy of Pope John Paul II,” David Naglieri, the film’s writer and director, told CNA.

“There’s a generation now that’s graduating college, entering the workforce, that didn’t necessarily live through all these events with the fall of Communism. Perhaps they didn’t … have the chance to see Pope John Paul II in person.”

Like a real life super-hero movie, the 90-minute film focuses on the saint’s role as an integral part in the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe – except St. John Paul II did not use destructive weapons to take down some of the world’s toughest leaders.

Rather, he used prayer and solidarity to encourage those oppressed by communism in Poland to keep their hope and will alive.

According to Naglieri, this documentary is unlike any other John Paul II film.

“What helps separate our film from past works is that we looked at the entire span of central and eastern Europe and how his message not just impacted Poland, but other countries as well,” he said.

“And then we tried to connect it to the modern day and to see how John Paul’s legacy continues to impact those who are striving for freedom in Europe.”

The film reveals the events in St. John Paul II's life through a timeline, which helps show how God’s providence guided the saint his entire life.

The late Pope grew up in Krakow, and became its archbishop in 1964. The documentary explains how he returned to the city for nine days in 1979, the year after his election as Bishop of Rome, instead of his intended two.

An interview in the documentary with Dr. Norman Davies, a historian of Poland, explains how the government’s distribution of antennas during the 1980 Olympic games led to the spreading of St. John Paul II’s message behind the Iron Curtain.

The film even tells the story of how President Reagan and the Pope met six days before the president’s famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech in 1987.

Filled with striking stories and interviews such as these, the documentary shows who truly held the power during this difficult time in the world’s history.

Naglieri said the film was an 18-month project from beginning to end, and that “we traveled to Poland and other central European countries several times during the making of it. ”

The documentary features interviews with Reagan’s National Security Advisor from 1981-82, the Prime Minister of Poland, the Archbishop of Lviv, a former Director of the Holy See Press Office, as well as journalists, historians, authors, and professors.

Narrating the documentary is Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Christ in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Joe Kraemer, known for his work on multiple ‘Mission Impossible’ movies, composed the documentary’s original music.

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Vatican City, Jun 15, 2016 / 04:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Wednesday that we must listen to the cries of the poor and needy, resisting the temptation to close our hearts because we are “bothered” by their constant pleas for help.

Reflecting on the miracle in Chapter 18 of Luke’s Gospel in which Jesus heals a blind man who cries out to him on the side of the road, Francis noted how the man had “a strong voice,” but the people around “rebuke him to keep quiet, as if he didn’t have the right to speak.”

“They don’t have compassion on him, but rather, they are bothered by his cries,” the Pope said, asking “how many times do we, when we see so many people in the street, needy people, sick and with nothing to eat, feel bothered?”

“How many times do we, when we find ourselves before so many refugees and migrants, feel bothered?” he asked, sayings this is a temptation everyone has, “even me, all of us.”

Francis said the Word of God can serve as a good teacher in this sense, because the hostility and indifference of the crowd “render one blind and deaf” to their brother, unable to recognize the face of God in him.

This indifference and hostility can also become aggression, even to the point of throwing out insults, he said.

When we hear people talk about poor people and migrants saying “throw them out, put them in another place,” this, Francis noted, “is aggression. This is what the people did to the blind man when he cried out.”

Pope Francis spoke to the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his June 15 general audience. He continued his catechesis on mercy, looking to Jesus’ miracles as a source of his merciful love.

In his speech, the Pope said the blind man in the parable represents the many who are marginalized today due to a physical disability or a variety of other reasons.

Although many crowds pass by, the man is alone, he noted, explaining that the image of the outcast “is sad,” especially since he is in Jericho, the “lush oasis” where the Israelites gathered after the exodus from Egypt.

Francis recalled Moses’ words to the people on that occasion: “If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.”

Moses’ instruction is a “stark contrast” from the attitude described in the Gospel, the Pope observed. However, the blind man wasn’t intimidated by the crowd, but instead cried out louder, recognizing Jesus as the “Son of David,” and the awaited Messiah.

“Contrary to the crowd, this blind man sees with the eyes of faith. Thanks to this his plea has a powerful effect,” Pope Francis said, noting how Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him.

In doing so, Jesus takes the man from the margins and puts him at the center of attention of those around, the Pope said, and encouraged pilgrims to think about how, in a moment of sin or a bad situation, “it was Jesus who took us by the hand and brought us from the margin to the path of salvation.”

When the Lord passes by the man, it's “an encounter of mercy,” he said, explaining that “Jesus also passes in our lives,” and when he does, “it’s an invitation to draw near to him, to be better, to be a better Christian, to follow Jesus.”

Jesus, in asking the man “what do you want me to do for you?” becomes the “humble servant” of a sinful man, the Pope said, noting how after receiving both healing and salvation from the Lord, the man becomes Jesus’ disciples and follows him.

“From a beggar to following Jesus. This is also our path,” he said, because “we are all beggars, all of us. We are always in need of salvation, and every day each of us must take this step.”

Pope Francis closed his speech by noting that after the healing of the blind man, “a second miracle” takes place, because what happened allows the people around him to see in a new way.

“The same light illuminates everyone” who had gathered to give praise to God, he said, adding that “Jesus pours out his mercy on everyone he meets: he calls them, draws them to himself, gathers them, heals them and enlightens them, creating a new people who celebrate the marvels of his merciful love.”

Francis said we must allow the same thing to happen to us: “we must allow ourselves to be called by Jesus, to be healed by Jesus, forgiven by Jesus and to follow behind him.”

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(Vatican Radio) The First Secretary of the Holy See Mission to the UN in Geneva gave an intervention Tuesday in which he renewed the Holy See’s call for the international community to responsibly and adequately address the ongoing migrant crisis.

The 15 June statement delivered in English by Mons Richard Gyhra to the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva was that of the Vatican’s representative to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic.

Listen to the intervention delivered by Mons Gyhra, courtesy of UN correspondent Christian Peschken:

“These movements are often  the consequence of social and economic inequalities, violent conflicts, natural disasters and  also religious persecutions,” the statement said.

“While  understanding  the  need  for  national  policies  to  address  large  flows  of  migrants  and  refugees,  my  Delegation  wishes  to  note  the repeated  appeals  addressed  by  Pope Francis to world leaders on behalf of so many brothers and sisters who are  forced to  flee in search of a safe and decent life.”

The statement went on to stress that migrants “should not be treated solely as a threat  to national stability and thus left to the exploitation of  unscrupulous  people  or treated as  mere commodities or products, without any real concern for their rights and aspirations.”

“It  is  important  to  overcome  the  negative  ‘push’  factors  of  migration  and  to  implement  an execute  policies  and  projects  which  aim  to  limit  the  adverse  impacts  of  migration and to give special protection to the most vulnerable categories: children, women  and  elderly  persons.”

Click here find below the full statement by Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva.

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Vatican City, Jun 15, 2016 / 12:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has officially recognized 115 Catholics who were killed during the Spanish Civil War out of hatred of the faith.

The newest martyrs are Servants of God José Álvarez Benavides y de la Torre, Spanish dean of the Cathedral Chapter of Almería, and his 114 companions. They were killed between 1936 and 1938 during Spain’s brutal civil war.

The June 14 recognition means that they are considered “Blesseds” in the eyes of the Church, one grade below saints. The decree came from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In addition, Pope Francis also recognized the heroic virtues of seven Catholics who will now be known by the title “Venerable.”

These are Anton Cyril Stojan (1851-1923), the Archbishop of Olomuc in what is now the Czech Republic; Vicente Garrido Pastor (1896-1975), the Spanish diocesan priest who founded the Secular Institute of Workers of the Cross; Mexican priest Pablo María Guzmán Figuero (1897-1967), a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit and founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of the Holy Trinity; Luigi Lo Verde (1910-1932), an Italian professed cleric of the Friars Minor Conventual; Bernardo of the Annunciation (1902-1932), a Portuguese professed cleric of the Order of St. Benedict; María Elisea Oliver Molina (1869-1931), the Spanish founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Virgin of Mount Carmel; and Mary of the Merciful Love of Jesus (1899-1973), the Mexican founder of the Guadalupan Handmaids of Christ the Priest.

Thousands of Catholics were killed during Spain’s civil war, and hundreds have been recognized as martyrs.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI beatified nearly 500 victims of religious persecution who were killed before and during Spain’s civil war. These included two bishops, 24 priests, 462 members of religious orders, a deacon, a sub-deacon, a seminarian, and seven lay Catholics. Collectively their ages ranged from 16 to 71. It was one of the largest mass beatifications in history.

In April 2011, Pope Benedict approved the beatifications of 22 martyrs from the period. In October 2013, another 522 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War era were beatified.

 

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