Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Partisan disputes over health care and President Donald Trump's border wall threw must-pass spending legislation into jeopardy Monday days ahead of a government shutdown deadline....
(Vatican Radio) Centrist Emmanuel Macron has gone through to the second round of the French presidential elections, where he will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen. With the votes counted, Macron stood at about 24 percent, followed by Le Pen with just over be on 21 percent.Listen to Stefan Bos' report: Official results showed that for the first time in six decades neither of France's main left-wing or right-wing parties will have a candidate in the upcoming run-off vote on May 7.And if everything goes according to his plan, Centrist Emmanuel Macron, a former banker and seen as a political outsider, is replacing outgoing French President Francois Hollande.At 39, Macron could now become the youngest president France has ever had.Both Macron and Le Pen seemed to quarrel over who is the best patriot to move the economically troubled nation forward. In a victory speech to supporters, Macron used language favoured by his main rival to describe himself as the true p...
(Vatican Radio) Centrist Emmanuel Macron has gone through to the second round of the French presidential elections, where he will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen. With the votes counted, Macron stood at about 24 percent, followed by Le Pen with just over be on 21 percent.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
Official results showed that for the first time in six decades neither of France's main left-wing or right-wing parties will have a candidate in the upcoming run-off vote on May 7.
And if everything goes according to his plan, Centrist Emmanuel Macron, a former banker and seen as a political outsider, is replacing outgoing French President Francois Hollande.
At 39, Macron could now become the youngest president France has ever had.
Both Macron and Le Pen seemed to quarrel over who is the best patriot to move the economically troubled nation forward. In a victory speech to supporters, Macron used language favoured by his main rival to describe himself as the true patriot for France. "I hope in 15 days to become your president," prompting an enthusiastic response of applauding fans.
"I want to become the president of all the people of France -the president of the patriots in the face of the threat from the nationalists. I hope to become your president," he added.
'SINCERE PATRIOTS'
While he is favored to win the ballot, 48-year-old Le Pen says she is still counting on all patriots to support her. "I am calling sincere patriots wherever they come from, whatever their origin, whatever their journey has been of who they voted for in the first round. I invite them all to join us and to abandon ancient quarrels because it is in the interest of the country," she said.
Their nearest challengers, centre-right François Fillon and hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, will now look on as they fell behind, with just over 19 percent of the vote each in the first round.
Commentators described this as France's most important president election in more than half a century as it could determine the future of the European Union.
Le Pen's campaign for the Front National party centred on France leaving the 28-nation block, a move known as 'Frexit', as well as cracking down on immigration and free-trade.
Macron, who was current President Hollande's economy minister but quit to create his own party, En Marche, favors liberal, pro-EU policies.
(Vatican Radio) Never forget that our faith is concrete, and rejects compromises and idealizations. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.Among those present at the Mass were the Cardinal counselors of the C-9, who are meeting with the Holy Father on Monday. The Pope reflected on the liberty the Holy Spirit gives us, which brings about the proclamation of the Gospel without compromises or rigidity.Listen to our report: Following the Easter break, Pope Francis on Monday resumed his regular morning Masses, focusing his homily on the Gospel account of Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus. The Holy Father said that Jesus, with love and patience, explained to Nicodemus that he must be “born from above… born of the Holy Spirit.”To understand this better, the Pope said, one can consider the first Reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Peter and John have healed a crippled man, and the doctors of the Law don’t...
(Vatican Radio) Never forget that our faith is concrete, and rejects compromises and idealizations. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.
Among those present at the Mass were the Cardinal counselors of the C-9, who are meeting with the Holy Father on Monday. The Pope reflected on the liberty the Holy Spirit gives us, which brings about the proclamation of the Gospel without compromises or rigidity.
Listen to our report:
Following the Easter break, Pope Francis on Monday resumed his regular morning Masses, focusing his homily on the Gospel account of Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus. The Holy Father said that Jesus, with love and patience, explained to Nicodemus that he must be “born from above… born of the Holy Spirit.”
To understand this better, the Pope said, one can consider the first Reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Peter and John have healed a crippled man, and the doctors of the Law don’t know what to do, how “to hide” what happened, “because the event was public.” When they were questioned, Peter and John “answered with simplicity”; and when they were ordered not to speak about what happened, Peter responded, “No! We cannot remain silent about what we have seen and heard. And we will continue to do as we have been doing.”
The Word became flesh; our faith is concrete
See, then, the Pope said, “the concreteness of a fact, the concreteness of the faith” in contrast to the position of the doctors of the law who “wanted to enter into negotiations, to come to a compromise”: Peter and John “have courage, they have frankness, the frankness of the Spirit,” “which means speaking the truth openly, with courage, without compromises.” This is “the point,” “the concreteness of the faith”:
“At times we forget that our faith is concrete: the Word was made flesh; it is not made an idea. And when we recite the Creed, everything we say is concrete: ‘I believe in God the Father, Who made heaven and earth; I believe in Jesus Christ Who was born, Who died…’ These are all concrete things. Our Creed does not say, ‘I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do something else, or that some things are for these ends.’ No! They are concrete things. [This is] the concreteness of the faith that leads to frankness, to bearing witness even to the point of martyrdom, which is against compromises or the idealization of the faith.”
At times, even the Church has fallen into “a theology of ‘yes you can,’ ‘no you can’t”
For these doctors of the law, he continued, the Word “was not made flesh: it was made law: and you must do this up to this point, and no further”; “you must do this, and nothing else”:
“And so they were imprisoned in this rationalistic mentality, which did not end with them. Because in the history of the Church – although often the Church Herself has condemned rationalism, illuminism – later it often happened that it fell into a theology of ‘yes, you can, no you can’t; up to this point, thus far.’ And it forgot the strength, the liberty of the Spirit, this rebirth of the Spirit that gives you liberty, the frankness of preaching, the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
The Lord gives us the Spirit in order to proclaim the Gospel without rigidity
“Let us ask the Lord,” the Pope said, for “this experience of the Spirit Who comes and goes and bears us onward; of the Spirit Who gives us the anointing of the faith, the anointing of the concreteness of the faith”:
“The wind blows where it will and you hear the voice, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. So it is for anyone who is born of the Spirit: He hears the voice, he follows the voice, he follows the voice of the Spirit without knowing where it will end. Because he has made an option for the concreteness of the faith and the rebirth of the Spirit. May the Lord grand to all of us this paschal Spirit, of going forward along the path of the Spirit without compromises, without rigidity, with the liberty of proclaiming Jesus Christ as He Who has come: in the flesh.”
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will make a private visit to the northern Italian towns of Bozzolo and Barbiana on 20 June 2017 to pray at the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani.Bozzolo is in the Diocese of Cremona and Barbiana is in the Diocese of Florence.A communique from the Holy See Press Office says the visit "will take place in a private rather than an official form".The Holy Father recently dedicated a video message to Don Lorenzo Milani. Please find below the full programme of the Pope's visit:Tuesday, 20 June7.30 Departure by helicopter from the Vatican heliport9.00 Arrival at the sports field of Bozzolo, MantuaThe Holy Father is welcomed by:His Excellency Msgr. Antonio Napolioni, bishop of Cremona and the Mayor of BozzoloParish of San Pietro: prayer at the tomb of Don Primo Mazzolari (1890-1959)The Holy Father will give a commemorative address to the faithful present in the Church10.30 Departure from t...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will make a private visit to the northern Italian towns of Bozzolo and Barbiana on 20 June 2017 to pray at the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani.
Bozzolo is in the Diocese of Cremona and Barbiana is in the Diocese of Florence.
A communique from the Holy See Press Office says the visit "will take place in a private rather than an official form".
The Holy Father recently dedicated a video message to Don Lorenzo Milani.
Please find below the full programme of the Pope's visit:
Tuesday, 20 June
7.30 Departure by helicopter from the Vatican heliport
9.00 Arrival at the sports field of Bozzolo, Mantua
The Holy Father is welcomed by:
His Excellency Msgr. Antonio Napolioni, bishop of Cremona and the Mayor of Bozzolo
Parish of San Pietro: prayer at the tomb of Don Primo Mazzolari (1890-1959)
The Holy Father will give a commemorative address to the faithful present in the Church
10.30 Departure from the sports field of Bozzolo
11.15 Arrival at the forecourt in front of the Church of Barbiana
The Holy Father is welcomed by:
His Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, archbishop of Florence and the Mayor of Vicchio, Florence
Private visit to the cemetery, and prayer at the tomb of Don Lorenzo Milani (1923-1967), on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death
In the Church: encounter with the living disciples of Don Milani and brief visit to the vicarage in the adjacent garden: the Holy Father gives a commemorative address, in the presence of the disciples, to a group of priests from the diocese and some young people housed in family residences (a total of around 200 people)
12.30 Departure from Barbiana
13.15 Return to the Vatican
(Vatican Radio) Preparations are in full swing for Pope Francis’ upcoming apostolic visit to Egypt.The Pope is scheduled to fly to Cairo on Friday 28th for a 2-day pastoral journey during which he will celebrate Mass, participate in a Conference for peace, meet with clergy, encourage the small Egyptian Christian community in their faith and of course promote and deepen inter-religious dialogue in the predominantly Muslim nation.One of the highlights of the visit is his meeting with the Orthodox Coptic Patriarch, Tawadros II.The Pope’s presence in Egypt is seen as particularly poignant in the wake of the Palm Sunday attacks on the Orthodox Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria.Vatican Radio’s Stefano Leszjinsky spoke to missionary Sister Angela Colombi, Provincial of the Comboni Order in Egypt about her expectations for the Pope’s visit:Listen: Sister Angela Colombi says all Egyptians are awaiting the Pope – not only the Christians!“The C...
(Vatican Radio) Preparations are in full swing for Pope Francis’ upcoming apostolic visit to Egypt.
The Pope is scheduled to fly to Cairo on Friday 28th for a 2-day pastoral journey during which he will celebrate Mass, participate in a Conference for peace, meet with clergy, encourage the small Egyptian Christian community in their faith and of course promote and deepen inter-religious dialogue in the predominantly Muslim nation.
One of the highlights of the visit is his meeting with the Orthodox Coptic Patriarch, Tawadros II.
The Pope’s presence in Egypt is seen as particularly poignant in the wake of the Palm Sunday attacks on the Orthodox Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria.
Vatican Radio’s Stefano Leszjinsky spoke to missionary Sister Angela Colombi, Provincial of the Comboni Order in Egypt about her expectations for the Pope’s visit:
Listen:
Sister Angela Colombi says all Egyptians are awaiting the Pope – not only the Christians!
“The Christians of course see in him not only a religious leader, but also a man of peace; the logo of the journey in fact says ‘The Pope of peace for Egypt – Egypt for peace’ – people see in him a person who is trying to tell the world we are children of the same God so why not live in peace?” she said.
Many of Sister Angela’s students will be present for the welcome ceremony for Pope Francis together with other school children and students from across Cairo.
She says they have been asked to wear their school uniforms and bring posters with the name of the school as well as Egyptian and Vatican flags.
“For me, she says, this will also teach the children to welcome – not only the Pope – but to have an attitude of welcome and to create an atmosphere of tolerance and welcome”.
IMAGE: CNS/ReutersBy Cindy WoodenROME (CNS) -- The Christian church today needs believers whowitness each day to the power of God's love, but it also needs the heroicwitness of those who stand up to hatred even when it means giving up theirlives, Pope Francis said.At Rome's Basilica of St. Bartholomew, a shrine to modernmartyrs, Pope Francis presided over an evening prayer service April 22,honoring Christians killed under Nazism, communism, dictatorships andterrorism."These teach us that with the force of love and withmeekness one can fight arrogance, violence and war, and that with patience peaceis possible," the pope said in his homily in the small basilica on Rome'sTiber Island.Departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis said hewanted to add to the martyrs remembered at St. Bartholomew by including "awoman -- I don't know her name -- but she watches from heaven."The pope said he'd met the woman's husband, a Muslim, inLesbos, Greece, when he visited a refugee camp there in 201...
IMAGE: CNS/Reuters
By Cindy Wooden
ROME (CNS) -- The Christian church today needs believers who witness each day to the power of God's love, but it also needs the heroic witness of those who stand up to hatred even when it means giving up their lives, Pope Francis said.
At Rome's Basilica of St. Bartholomew, a shrine to modern martyrs, Pope Francis presided over an evening prayer service April 22, honoring Christians killed under Nazism, communism, dictatorships and terrorism.
"These teach us that with the force of love and with meekness one can fight arrogance, violence and war, and that with patience peace is possible," the pope said in his homily in the small basilica on Rome's Tiber Island.
Departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis said he wanted to add to the martyrs remembered at St. Bartholomew by including "a woman -- I don't know her name -- but she watches from heaven."
The pope said he'd met the woman's husband, a Muslim, in Lesbos, Greece, when he visited a refugee camp there in 2016. The man told the pope that one day, terrorists came to their home. They saw his wife's crucifix and ordered her to throw it on the ground. She refused and they slit her throat.
"I don't know if that man is still at Lesbos or if he has been able to leave that 'concentration camp,'" the pope said, explaining that despite the good will of local communities many refugee camps are overcrowded and are little more than prisons "because it seems international agreements are more important than human rights."
But, getting back to the story of the Muslim man who watched his wife be murdered, the pope said, "Now it's that man, a Muslim, who carries this cross of pain."
"So many Christian communities are the object of
persecution today! Why? Because of the hatred of the spirit of this
world," the pope said. Jesus has
"rescued us from the power of this world, from the power of the
devil," who hates Jesus' saving power and "creates the persecution,
which from the time of Jesus and the early church continues up to our
day."
"What does the church need today?" the pope asked. "Martyrs and witnesses, those everyday saints, those saints of an ordinary life lived with coherence. But it also needs those who have the courage to accept the grace of being witnesses to the end, to the point of death. All of those are the living blood of the church," those who "witness that Jesus is risen, that Jesus lives."
Under a large icon depicting modern martyrs of the gulag and concentration camp, Pope Francis prayed: "O Lord, make us worthy witnesses of your Gospel and your love; pour out your mercy on humanity; renew your church; protect persecuted Christians; and quickly grant the whole world peace."
During the prayer service, Pope Francis wore a stole that had belonged to Chaldean Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, who was murdered in Mosul, Iraq, in 2007.
Father Ganni's stole along with dozens of other items that belonged to men and women martyred in the 20th and 21st centuries are on display on the side altars at the basilica, which is cared for by the lay Sant'Egidio Community.
During the prayer service, at which Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox clergy were involved, people who had been close to those honored as
martyrs at the shrine spoke.
Karl A. Schneider's father, the Rev. Paul Schneider, was the first Protestant pastor martyred by the Nazis for opposing their hate-filled doctrine. He was married and the father of six children.
"My father was assassinated in 1939 in the Buchenwald concentration camp because he believed the objectives of National Socialism were irreconcilable with the words of the Bible," Schneider told the congregation. "All of us, still today, make too many compromises, but my father remained faithful only to the Lord and to the faith."
The next to speak was Roselyne Hamel, the sister of French Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered as he celebrated Mass July 26, 2016. The Archdiocese of Rouen has begun his sainthood cause with Pope Francis' approval. Father Hamel's breviary is preserved at St. Bartholomew's.
"Jacques was 85 years old when two young men, radicalized by hate speech, thought they could become heroes by engaging in homicidal violence," his sister told the pope. "At his age, Jacques was fragile, but he also was strong -- strong in his faith in Christ, strong in his love for the Gospel and for people."
His witness to Gospel values continues, she said, in the reaction of Christians who did not call for revenge after his death, but for love and forgiveness. And, she said, the family and local church have experienced "the solidarity of Muslims who wanted to visit our Sunday assemblies after his death."
"For his family, there certainly is pain and a void, but it is a great comfort to see how many new encounters, how much solidarity and love were generated by Jacques' witness," she said.
- - -
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.
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, ReutersBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Mercy is a true form of knowledge thatallows men and women to understand the mystery of God's love for humanity, PopeFrancis said. Havingexperienced forgiveness, Christians have a duty to forgive others, giving a "visiblesign" of God's mercy,which "carries within it the peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord," thepope said April 23 before praying the "Regina Coeli" with visitorsgathered in St. Peter's Square."Mercy helps us understand that violence, resentmentand revenge do not have any meaning and thatthe first victim is theone who lives with these feelings, because he is deprived of his owndignity," he said. Commemorating Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis said St. JohnPaul II's establishment of the feast in 2000 was a "beautifulintuition" inspired by the Holy Spirit.God's mercy, he said, not only "opens the door of themind," it also opens the door of the heart and paves the...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Mercy is a true form of knowledge that allows men and women to understand the mystery of God's love for humanity, Pope Francis said.
Having experienced forgiveness, Christians have a duty to forgive others, giving a "visible sign" of God's mercy, which "carries within it the peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord," the pope said April 23 before praying the "Regina Coeli" with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.
"Mercy helps us understand that violence, resentment and revenge do not have any meaning and that the first victim is the one who lives with these feelings, because he is deprived of his own dignity," he said.
Commemorating Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis said St. John Paul II's establishment of the feast in 2000 was a "beautiful intuition" inspired by the Holy Spirit.
God's mercy, he said, not only "opens the door of the mind," it also opens the door of the heart and paves the way for compassion toward those who are "alone or marginalized because it makes them feel they are brothers and sisters and children of one father."
"Mercy, in short, commits us all to being instruments of justice, of reconciliation and peace. Let us never forget that mercy is the keystone in the life of faith, and the concrete form by which we give visibility to Jesus' resurrection," Pope Francis said.
- - -
Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
- - -
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.
IMAGE: CNS photo/EPABy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite the ongoing risk ofterrorism, Pope Francis planned to travel to Egypt as a sign of being close tothe people there, said Greg Burke, Vatican spokesman.Heightened security is part of the "new normal"in many countries, but even in the wake of the Palm Sunday attacks in Egypt, itis the pope's desire "to go ahead, to also be a sign of hiscloseness" to those affected by violence and all the people of Egypt,Burke told journalists April 24.At a Vatican briefing outlining some details of thepope's trip to Cairo April 28-29, a reporter asked if there were any worries orconcerns about the pope's security.Burke, speaking in Italian, said he wouldn't use the word"worries" or concerns, but would say that "we live in a worldwhere it is now something that is part of life." He added, "However,we move ahead with serenity." The pope has requested that a "normal car" --not an armored vehicle -- be used when he is driven from one venue to ...
IMAGE: CNS photo/EPA
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite the ongoing risk of terrorism, Pope Francis planned to travel to Egypt as a sign of being close to the people there, said Greg Burke, Vatican spokesman.
Heightened security is part of the "new normal" in many countries, but even in the wake of the Palm Sunday attacks in Egypt, it is the pope's desire "to go ahead, to also be a sign of his closeness" to those affected by violence and all the people of Egypt, Burke told journalists April 24.
At a Vatican briefing outlining some details of the pope's trip to Cairo April 28-29, a reporter asked if there were any worries or concerns about the pope's security.
Burke, speaking in Italian, said he wouldn't use the word "worries" or concerns, but would say that "we live in a world where it is now something that is part of life." He added, "However, we move ahead with serenity."
The pope has requested that a "normal car" -- not an armored vehicle -- be used when he is driven from one venue to another, Burke said. It will not be an open-topped vehicle, he added.
The pope will use a "golf cart," however, rather than the open-air popemobile when he makes the rounds through the crowds at the air defense stadium, where Mass will be celebrated April 29.
He also will use the golf cart for circulating among the more than 1,000 seminarians, religious and clergy expected to attend an outdoor prayer service at the Coptic Catholic Church's St. Leo's Patriarchal Seminary in the Cairo suburb of Maadi April 28.
Burke said that after Pope Francis' private meeting with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, at the patriarch's residence April 28, the two leaders will go together to the nearby church of Sts. Peter and Paul, which had been bombed during a Sunday Mass in December 2016, killing 24 people and injuring at least 45 others.
They will pray "for all the victims from these past years and months, pray for Christians killed," Burke said.
The two will leave flowers outside the church, light a candle and then have a moment of prayer for the victims from the December attack, the Vatican spokesman said.
Soon afterward, the pope will go to the apostolic nunciature, where he will be staying, and will greet a group of children who attend a Comboni-run school in Cairo and later will greet more than 300 young people who made a pilgrimage to Cairo to see the pope, he added.
- - -
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.
CORYDON, Ind. (AP) -- Authorities say former "Happy Days" star Erin Moran likely died from cancer at her southern Indiana home....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Does the summer movie season still exist?...
