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Vatican City, Apr 5, 2017 / 11:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met Wednesday with a delegation of Muslim leaders from Great Britain along with Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster to promote dialogue and collaboration following the deadly attack in London last month.

During the private meeting at the Vatican's Paul VI Hall April 5, Pope Francis said the most important job everyone has in this moment is to listen to each other.

“I like to think that the most important work that we must do among us today, in humanity, is the work ‘of the ear:’ to listen to each other,” he stated. “To listen to each other, without rushing to answer.”

Following the audience with Francis, the group also met with Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

The meetings at the Vatican were organized following an attack on London’s Palace of Westminster March 22.

According to the Guardian, four people were killed in the attack, including the police officer who was stabbed and one man believed to be the assailant. About 20 others were reported injured, some severely.

Wednesday’s delegation consisted of Muhammad Shahid Raza, chairman of the British Muslim Forum; Ali Raza Rizvi, president of Majilis e Uluma Europe; Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi, director of the General Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society; and Ibrahim Mogra, co-chair of the Christian Muslim Forum.

“The ability to listen, this is so important,” the Pope said during the meeting. “It's interesting: when people have this capacity to listen, they speak in a low tone, calmly... Instead, when they do not have this, they speak loudly and shout as well.”

“Between brothers, all of us need to talk, to listen to each other and speak slowly, calmly, to search for the way together. And when you listen and speak, you are already on the way,” he said.

According to a statement from the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Nichols said they were all “deeply moved” to meet with the Pope.

“We draw great inspiration from his leadership and his encouragement to walk together on the road of profound spiritual dialogue.”

“I also hope that this moment will help the voice of authentic Islam to be heard clearly. We look forward to our continuing promotion of collaboration at a local level at the service of all in society,” he continued.

Moulana Muhammad Shahid Raza called the meeting “a historic moment,” bringing together Christians and Muslims in “unity and solidarity for peace.”

“I could see the sincerity and love in his eyes as he offered words of encouragement to all of us as we came together in unity,” said Moulana Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi. “This is an important meeting offering hope for everyone, regardless of religion.”

“There is a common humanity to all of us. Some seek to divide people, religions, east versus west, but there is no east or west; there is just our common humanity as we seek a peaceful future for all based on justice and compassion.”

Pope Francis sent a letter the day following the London attack expressing his sorrow and solidarity for the victims and their families, and entrusting them and the nation to God’s mercy.

“Deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and of the injuries caused by the attack in central London, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his prayerful solidarity with all those affected by this tragedy,” a March 23 letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read.

The Pope commended the souls of those who died “to the loving mercy of Almighty God,” and prayed for “divine strength and peace upon their grieving families,” while assuring of his prayer for the entire nation.

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Medjugorje, Bosnia, Apr 5, 2017 / 12:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ envoy to Medjugorje said Wednesday that the site seems to be bearing numerous expressions of faith and vocations. However, he added, the final determination of the apparition’s authenticity remains to be seen.

Archbishop Henryk Hoser was sent by the Pope to evaluate the pastoral situation for residents and pilgrims in Medjugorje. He clarified that he was not tasked with anything beyond this scope.

“The same as you, I expect a final decision from the commission, and of course the Holy Father Pope Francis,” Archbishop Hoser said at an April 5 press conference in Medjugorje. “I do not know what the Holy Father thinks, he never told me,” he said. “The Holy Father also needs to see what are the conclusions of the commission.”

The apparitions are under investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is to submit its final document to the Pope for a final decision.

The apparitions allegedly started on June 24, 1981, when six children in Medjugorje, a town in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, have claimed to have witnessed apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to the alleged visionaries, the apparitions conveyed a message of peace for the world, a call to conversion, prayer and fasting, as well as certain secrets surrounding events to be fulfilled in the future.  

These apparitions are said to have continued almost daily since their first occurrence, with three of the original six visionaries claiming to have received apparitions every afternoon because not all of the “secrets” intended for them have been revealed.

Since their beginning, the alleged apparitions have been a source of both controversy and conversion. More than 2.5 million go on pilgrimage to Medjugorje each year. Some claim to have experienced miracles at the site, while many others claim the visions are non-credible.

Skeptics of the apparitions include Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, whose diocese includes Medjugorje. In a Feb. 26 statement, he said “these are not true apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

“The female figure who supposedly appeared in Medjugorje behaves in a manner completely different from the real Virgin Mother of God in the apparitions currently recognized as authentic by the Church: usually she does not speak first, she laughs in a strange way, before some questions she disappears and appears again, she obeys the 'visionaries' and the local pastor who make her come down from the hill into the church even against her will. She doesn't know with certainty how many more times she will appear, she allows some of those present to step on her veil extended on the ground, and to touch her dress and her body. This is not the Virgin of the Gospels.”

Bishop Peric also pointed to a sense of nervousness rather than peace among the seers.

As for the papal envoy, Archbishop Hoser, he said Wednesday that he had contact with the reputed visionaries of Medjugorje. This contact was “completely normal,” but not in-depth.

“Let us remember they are no longer boys and girls,” he said. “Some of them are already grandmothers.”

“We should note that they are immersed in the normal regular, everyday life of the family. They need to work and support their families. They have a similar life to many of us,” he said.

He repeated that his role was not to speak about the apparitions and said the Church has not made the relevant statements yet. Nonetheless, questions at the press conference raised the issue.

Archbishop Hoser compared and contrasted the apparitions with the Marian apparitions at Kibeho in Rwanda, which began in October 1981. An apparition of the Virgin Mary had warned about a coming genocide, years before the mass killings of 1994.

The archbishop had served on a medical commission evaluating that apparition.

“The message was similar to the message that was said here in Medjugorje,” the archbishop said. “it was a calling to conversion ...it is a calling to peace, an invitation to peace”

Unlike Medjugorje, the Rwanda apparitions have already received Church approval for having nothing that contradicts the faith.

“In the beginning there were doubts whether those visionaries were authentic,” he said of the Rwanda apparitions. “That is why I ask you for your patience. The more complex a phenomenon is, it takes more time to achieve valid conclusions.”

He noted some differences between the Medjugorje apparitions and other Marian apparitions. Some have counted 47,000 claims of individual apparitions related to Medjugorje, while other Marian apparitions are much fewer in number.

In other Marian apparitions, the Virgin Mary appears only in one place. At Lourdes, she always appeared in the cave that later became the famous grotto. In Fatima, she always appeared above the oak tree.

“Here, according to what visionaries are saying, the apparitions follow the person, where the person goes,” Archbishop Hoser said. “This could be at home, when they are traveling, in the church.”

“These are all specifics that make the work of a final decision more difficult,” he explained.

Archbishop Hoser, who holds the title of archbishop as a personal recognition from Pope John Paul II, heads the Polish Diocese of Warszawa-Praga.

When the archbishop’s appointment as papal envoy was announced in February, Holy See press officer Greg Burke stressed that his mission was pastoral, not doctrinal, and would not consider the substance of the Marian apparitions there. That topic is under the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Archbishop Hoser praised various expressions of faith he found in Medjugorje: the centrality of the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, devotion to the Word of God, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to the rosary, and meditation on the mysteries of the faith and the Way of the Cross. He also praised the frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“From the religious perspective Medjugorje is very fertile grounds for religious vocations,” he said. About 610 priests have cited Medjugorje as a motivating force in their vocation, with the greatest number of these vocations coming from Italy, the U.S. and Germany.

For the archbishop, this is a significant contribution given the crisis of vocations in some countries.

Medjugorje is only about 36 years old, he observed, but it attracts an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims each year. By comparison, Lourdes, France attracts 6 million people per year, 150 years after the apparition.

Archbishop Hoser noted the need to consider parish life for those who live there and the effects of the many pilgrims.

The number of pilgrims poses “a huge challenge” for the priests who serve in Medjugorje, with expansions to the church infrastructure needed to accommodate them. The number of pilgrims has also caused an increase in the number of hotels, restaurants and other facilities to accommodate them.

Some people have come from elsewhere to settle in Medjugorje.

The archbishop noted the various humanitarian groups and activities in Medjugorje, some of which have roots in the town. There is the Franciscans’ Domus Maria, Mary’s House, which serves orphans, young people in difficulty, persons struggling with drug and alcohol addictions, the disabled and handicapped. The retreat house Domus Pacis provides spiritual exercises, serving over 42,000 participants in 1,200 groups each year.

There are also various seminars dedicated to priestly formation, married couples, doctors and medical professionals, people with disabilities, and a new pro-life seminar.

All of this activity could be applied in other parts of the world, the papal envoy said.

“People perceive there things that they don’t have at home,” Archbishop Hoser said of Medjugorje. “In many old Christian countries, individual confessions do not exist anymore. In many countries, there is no Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. In many countries, there is no Way of the Cross anymore. There’s no rosary anymore. In Britain, in France, they told me the last time they prayed the Way of the Cross was 30 years ago. And such dryness of sacred space obviously leads towards a crisis of the faith.”

He praised the emphasis in Medjugorje on the Virgin Mary’s title “Queen of Peace,” especially during the period which Pope Francis has called a “piecemeal Third World War.”

He cited the Balkans’ suffering of a civil war in the 1990s with the breakup of Yugoslavia. In addition, he cited his own experience in Rwanda, and the destruction in Syria, which hosts the oldest Christian presence in the world.

“To invoke the Queen of Peace, the Mother of God: this is the specific role of Medjugorje. It is most important.”

“My friends, you should be carriers of joyful news,” he told the press conference. “And you can say to the whole world that in Medjugorje, there is a light... we need these spots of light in today’s world that is going down into darkness.”

 

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Vatican City, Apr 5, 2017 / 01:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Young people are the subject of Pope Francis’ universal prayer intention for April, and in his prayer video presenting the petition, the pontiff challenges them to “be the protagonists of change.”

Released April 4, the video opens with Pope Francis saying, “I know that you, young people, don’t want to be duped by a false freedom, always at the beck and call of momentary fashions and fads.”

“I know that you aim high. Is that true, or am I wrong?” he asks.

As the video continues, a young woman is shown packing a backpack and heading out into the world. “Don’t leave it to others to be the protagonists of change,” Francis says.

“You, young people, are the ones who hold the future. I ask you to be builders of the world, to work for a better world.”

“It is a challenge, yes it is, do you accept it?” he asks, as the video shows the young woman working with others to safely help refugees, wearing orange life vests and packed tightly in a life boat, safely onto a larger boat.

“Pray with me that young people may respond generously to their own vocation and mobilize for the great causes of the world,” the Pope concludes.

The Pope’s intention for April corresponds with the diocesan-level “World Youth Day,” which takes place on April 9 this year.

World Youth Days are held internationally every two or three years, and take place at the diocesan level during all other years. The last international World Youth Day was in Krakow, Poland in 2016. The next will take place in Panama in January 2019.

Pope Francis also released a video March 21 in anticipation of this year’s World Youth Day, telling youth that like the Virgin Mary, they are needed, and they should not be afraid to leave their mark on the world.

“Like the young woman of Nazareth, you can improve the world and leave an imprint that makes a mark on history, your history and that of many others,” he said in the message.

“The Church and society need you,” he emphasized.

The Apostleship of Prayer, which produces the monthly videos on the Pope’s intentions, was founded by Jesuit seminarians in France in 1884 to encourage Christians to serve God and others through prayer, particularly for the needs of the Church.

Since the late 1800s, the Jesuit-run global prayer network has received a monthly, “universal” intention from the Pope. In 1929, an additional missionary intention was added by the Holy Father, aimed at the faithful in particular.

Starting in January, rather than including a missionary intention, Pope Francis has elected to have only one prepared prayer intention – the universal intention featured in the prayer video – and will add a second intention focused on an urgent or immediate need if one arises.

The Pope’s prayer videos are filmed in collaboration with the Vatican Television Center.

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A special one-time national collection will be taken at U.S. parishes at Masses on Mother's Day, May 14, to support the mosaic ornamentation of the Trinity Dome, the "crowning jewel" of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The mosaic will depict the Trinity, Mary and 13 saints associated with the United States or the national shrine, the four evangelists and words from the Nicene Creed.

The finished dome also will mark the completion of the national shrine, according to the original architectural plans for the church set to mark its centennial in 2020 -- the 100th anniversary of the placement of its foundational stone.

The U.S. Catholic bishops approved the special collection in November 2015 during their annual fall general assembly. The last time a national collection was done for the shrine was in 1953.

Last October during the blessing of the workspace where the new mosaic will be installed, Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl said the work of art "will be a wonder to behold." It is expected to be completed at the end of 2017.

The mosaic work is being done at the Travisanutto Giovanni mosaic company in Spilimbergo, Italy, and is being shipped to the national shrine in 30,000 sections weighing 24 tons and composed of more than 14 million pieces of glass.

Builders, church leaders, choir members and journalists gathered atop eight floors of scaffolding -- 159 feet high -- in the national shrine for the blessing.

Cardinal Wuerl, who is chairman of the shrine's board of trustees, offered prayers during the blessing for the success of the project and the safety of the workers involved. He said the shrine puts into "image form" the message of the Gospel and does so "in a way that everyone can bask in its beauty."

He said the finished dome, with its particular emphasis on American saints, will remind people of the "face of who we are and the face of God." He also said it will reflect "living images of God and living images of everything we are capable of being."

In introductory remarks, Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the national shrine, stressed the parallels between the mosaic design on the dome and the very character of the shrine itself -- often described as America's Catholic church -- representing a mosaic of Catholic parishioners from every corner of the globe.

Both Cardinal Wuerl and Msgr. Rossi noted that the scaffolding itself, allowing the workers to complete the work on the dome, was an engineering feat. Work on the scaffolding began early in 2016.

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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.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Chicago Catholic

By Joyce Duriga

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich April 4 announced a new initiative to increase the work of current anti-violence programs in parishes and schools and those run by Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, Catholic Charities and Kolbe House, the archdiocese's jail ministry.

The Chicago Archdiocese also will seek out partnerships to increase programs that will help break the cycle of violence.

The cardinal announced the initiatives on the 49th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

With a $250,000 personal donation, Cardinal Cupich said the archdiocese will create the Instruments of Peace Venture Philanthropy Fund that will provide funds for both new and existing neighborhood-based anti-violence programs. The money comes from donations he's received to aid his personal charitable efforts.

In 2018, the archdiocese also will hold the first U.S. meeting of Scholas Occurrentes, a program active in 100 countries that brings young people together to meet and problem-solve. The gathering will involve young people from Cook and Lake counties.

The announcements came during a news conference at the Peace Corner Youth Center, which serves young people in Chicago's violence-prone Austin neighborhood. As of April 5, 773 people were shot in Chicago in 2017 and there were 151 homicides, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Cardinal Cupich also invited people to join him on a Walk for Peace through the city's Englewood neighborhood on Good Friday, April 14. Like Austin, Englewood is a neighborhood that sees frequent shootings and crime. During the walk, participants will take part in the Stations of the Cross and pause along the way to remember those who died by violence. Along the route, participants will read the names of those killed in Chicago since January.

The cardinal said he shared these plans with Pope Francis when he met him in Rome recently. Pope Francis was moved by the news and drafted a letter to the people of Chicago, which the cardinal read at the news conference.

"I assure you of my support for the commitment you and many other local leaders are making to promote nonviolence as a way of life and a path to people in Chicago," the letter stated.

The pope said he will be praying for those who will participate in the Good Friday walk.

"As I make my own Way of the Cross in Rome that day, I will accompany you in prayer, as well as all those who walk with you and who have suffered violence in the city," the letter said.

Cardinal Cupich's announcement of new initiatives follows a yearlong process he initiated to learn about the scope of anti-violence programs already going on in the archdiocese.

While no program will completely eradicate violence from the city, the cardinal said, "just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we shouldn't do something. It's going to take one person at a time."

During his process of learning about the efforts in the archdiocese, Cardinal Cupich said he heard of many ways parishes and groups want to respond but lack the funding to do more. The Instruments of Peace Venture Philanthropy Fund is for them.

"I see this as seed money for these local initiatives," he said. "There really is no niche fund to support their efforts."

He stressed the need for partnerships in these efforts.

"I can't do it alone. I need the help of others," Cardinal Cupich said.

Father Scott Donahue, executive director of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, also addressed reporters at the news conference and announced another new initiative. For 130 years, Mercy Home has cared for abused and neglected children.

Mercy Home uses the Becoming A Man and Working on Womanhood programs run by Chicago's Youth Guidance that help at-risk youth overcome obstacles and succeed in school and life. Donahue announced that the archdiocese will work with Youth Guidance to develop similar parish-based programs for youth.

"The only way to break this cycle of violence is by reaching out and saving one life at a time," Father Donahue said. "They (the youth) cannot reject violence if that is the only thing they know."

Cardinal Cupich agreed.

"These kids are not born bad," he said. "They are kids who didn't see another path forward."

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Duriga is editor of the Chicago Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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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.

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