Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there's no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and that the actions of the Kremlin will be addressed after the investigations are completed....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wondering when Supreme Court nominations became so politically contentious? Only about 222 years ago - when the Senate voted down George Washington's choice for chief justice....
CAIRO (AP) -- Making his first official visit to Washington, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's meeting this week with U.S. President Donald Trump would be a significant step in the international rehabilitation of the general-turned-politician who was kept out of the Obama White House....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed deep pain for the tragedy that has struck the city of Mocoa in Columbia where a gigantic landslide has killed over 250 people and left scores missing.Colombia's security forces are searching for over 200 missing people after heavy mudslides reportedly left at least 254 dead, and injured more than 400.Torrential rain flooded the city of Mocoa in the country's south-west with mud and rocks, burying whole neighbourhoods and forcing residents to flee their homes.Speaking after the Angelus prayer which he recited during his visit to the northern Italian town of Carpi, the Pope said he is praying for the victims and he assured his closeness to those who are grieving the loss of their loved ones.He also thanked all those who are working to assist the victims and provide rescue efforts. Pope Francis then turned his thoughts to the situation of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region where, he said, bl...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed deep pain for the tragedy that has struck the city of Mocoa in Columbia where a gigantic landslide has killed over 250 people and left scores missing.
Colombia's security forces are searching for over 200 missing people after heavy mudslides reportedly left at least 254 dead, and injured more than 400.
Torrential rain flooded the city of Mocoa in the country's south-west with mud and rocks, burying whole neighbourhoods and forcing residents to flee their homes.
Speaking after the Angelus prayer which he recited during his visit to the northern Italian town of Carpi, the Pope said he is praying for the victims and he assured his closeness to those who are grieving the loss of their loved ones.
He also thanked all those who are working to assist the victims and provide rescue efforts.
Pope Francis then turned his thoughts to the situation of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region where, he said, bloody armed clashes are killing and displacing people.
He appealed for prayers for peace in the nation, exhorting believers to pray so that “the hearts of those who are behind such crimes be freed from the slavery of hatred and violence, because hatred and violence are always destructive”.
The Pope noted that the violence in DRC is also affecting Church members, Churches and Church-run institutes like hospitals and schools.
Francis finally focused attention on the crises that are creating socio-political turmoil in Venezuela and in Paraguay.
“I pray for those populations who are very dear to me, he said, and invite all to tirelessly persevere in their search for political solutions, avoiding every kind of violence”.
Vatican City, Apr 2, 2017 / 04:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sunday, Pope Francis said that each of us carries some kind of tomb inside our heart, whether from sin or suffering, and we can either stay bogged down in misery, focusing only on ourselves, or we can allow Jesus to come into that place and heal it. “In front of the big ‘why’ of life we have two paths,” the Pope said April 2, “to stay to watch gloomily the tombs of yesterday and of today, or to bring Jesus to our tombs.”“Yes, because each of us has a small tomb, some area that is a little bit dead inside the heart: a wound, an injury suffered or done (to us), a bitterness that does not let up, remorse that returns, a sin that you cannot overcome.”“We identify these today, our little tombs we have inside and invite Jesus there,” he said.Francis presided over Mass Sunday in the northern Italian town of Carpi, where he was making a day trip.Often, the Pope said, we ca...
Vatican City, Apr 2, 2017 / 04:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sunday, Pope Francis said that each of us carries some kind of tomb inside our heart, whether from sin or suffering, and we can either stay bogged down in misery, focusing only on ourselves, or we can allow Jesus to come into that place and heal it.
“In front of the big ‘why’ of life we have two paths,” the Pope said April 2, “to stay to watch gloomily the tombs of yesterday and of today, or to bring Jesus to our tombs.”
“Yes, because each of us has a small tomb, some area that is a little bit dead inside the heart: a wound, an injury suffered or done (to us), a bitterness that does not let up, remorse that returns, a sin that you cannot overcome.”
“We identify these today, our little tombs we have inside and invite Jesus there,” he said.
Francis presided over Mass Sunday in the northern Italian town of Carpi, where he was making a day trip.
Often, the Pope said, we can be tempted to hide our weaknesses and sins from God, dwelling on them. “It's strange, but often we prefer to be alone in the dark caves that we have inside,” he said.
“Instead, invite Jesus; we are tempted to always look to ourselves, brooding and sinking in anguish, licking our wounds, rather than going to him, who says, ‘Come to me you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’”
Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel which tells the story of Lazarus’ death, the sorrow of Jesus, and the miracle of Lazarus’ raising.
“Even Jesus is shaken by the dramatic mystery of the loss of a loved one,” he said. But in the midst of this suffering, he also shows us how to act. “Despite suffering himself, Jesus was not carried away by anxiety.”
Jesus didn’t try to escape the suffering, but he also didn’t get bogged down in pessimism or gloom, Francis said. Instead, he brings hope, proclaiming: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in me, though he die, shall live.”
“So he says: ‘Take away the stone’ and to Lazarus shouts loudly: ‘Come out!’” This is what Jesus also says to us: “Get up, get up!” the Pope said.
“In following Jesus we learn not to tie our lives close to the problems that tangle: there will always be problems always, and, when we solve one, promptly another one arrives,” he pointed out.
What we can do, however, is tie ourselves to the one thing that is stable and unchanging – Jesus, he continued. “With him joy dwells in the heart, hope is reborn, pain is transformed into peace, fear into confidence, proof of the gift of love.”
We have to decide which path to take, he said: “the side of the tomb or the side of Jesus.” It doesn’t matter how heavy our past sins, shame or hurt may be, with Christ’s grace, we can roll away the stone that is keeping him from our hearts.
“This is a favorable time to remove our sin, our attachment to worldly vanity, the pride that stops us the soul,” he said.
“Visited and freed by Jesus, we ask for the grace to be witnesses of life in this world that is thirsty, witnesses that arouse and raise the hope of God in hearts weary and weighed down by sadness.”
He concluded: “Our announcement is the joy of the living Lord, who still says, as in Ezekiel: 'Behold, I will open your graves, I will make you get up out of your graves, O my people.’”
Immediately following Mass, Pope Francis led pilgrims in the Angelus, praying for people in the region of Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he said there continue to be reports of deadly armed clashes.
The violence has also caused displacement and affected people and property, he said, including causing damage to schools, hospitals and churches.
“I assure you of my closeness to this nation and urge you all to pray for peace so that the hearts of the architects of such crimes do not remain slaves of hatred and violence, which always…destroys.”
The Pope also said he is following what is happening in the countries of Venezuela and Paraguay. “I pray for those people, so dear to me, and I urge everyone to persevere tirelessly, avoiding any violence and in the search for political solutions.”
Francis concluded by thanking everyone for being there at Mass, especially the sick and the suffering who were present, as well as those who helped with the Mass. He also blessed four stones which will be used to form cornerstones of four new diocesan buildings being erected.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top adviser to President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the defeat of a Michigan congressman and member of a conservative group of U.S. House lawmakers who derailed the White House on legislation to repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law....
Vatican City, Apr 2, 2017 / 01:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis moved the responsibility for Catholic shrines to be under the Congregation for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, stating that shrines, as sacred places, are especially suitable to conversion and the strengthening of faith.April 1 the Pope issued the edict – called a motu proprio – formally moving the competency of shrines from the Congregation for Clergy to the Vatican department on the New Evangelization.“The large influx of pilgrims, the humble and simple prayer of God's people alternating in the liturgical celebrations, the fulfillment of so many graces that many believers certify that they have received and the natural beauty of these places allow you to see how the shrines…express an irreplaceable opportunity for evangelization in our time,” Francis states in the letter.According to the document, titled “Ecclesia in Sanctuarium,” the tasks of th...
Vatican City, Apr 2, 2017 / 01:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis moved the responsibility for Catholic shrines to be under the Congregation for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, stating that shrines, as sacred places, are especially suitable to conversion and the strengthening of faith.
April 1 the Pope issued the edict – called a motu proprio – formally moving the competency of shrines from the Congregation for Clergy to the Vatican department on the New Evangelization.
“The large influx of pilgrims, the humble and simple prayer of God's people alternating in the liturgical celebrations, the fulfillment of so many graces that many believers certify that they have received and the natural beauty of these places allow you to see how the shrines…express an irreplaceable opportunity for evangelization in our time,” Francis states in the letter.
According to the document, titled “Ecclesia in Sanctuarium,” the tasks of the congregation will include: the establishment of new national and international shrines, studying and implementing measures for promoting their role in evangelization, and promoting systematic pastoral care of the shrines and specific training for those who operate them.
They will also be in charge of the promotion of national and international meetings to promote communal pastoral renewal and pilgrimages to various shrines, spiritual guidance for pilgrims, and “cultural and artistic enhancement of the Shrines according to the via pulchritudinis (way of beauty) as a particular mode of evangelization of the Church,” Pope Francis said.
Shrines and other places of pilgrimage “despite the crisis of faith that invests the contemporary world, are still perceived as sacred spaces to which pilgrims go to find a moment of rest, silence and contemplation in the often hectic life of today,” the letter continues.
“A hidden desire creates for many a nostalgia for God; and shrines can be a real refuge to rediscover themselves and regain the necessary strength for their conversion.”
People have made pilgrimages to holy sites since the first century, the Pope said, and even today, in every part of the world, they remain “a distinctive sign of the simple and humble faith of believers.”
The shrine is a “sacred place,” where the celebration of the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist, as well as the witness of charity, “express the great commitment of the Church for evangelization; and therefore it stands as a genuine place of evangelization…” he stated.
The proclamation, which was signed by Pope Francis on Feb. 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, goes into effect 15 days from its publication.
Also April 1, the Vatican announced the Pope’s appointment of 11 new members to the Congregation for Clergy, including Fr. Hans Zollner SJ, who heads the Center for Child Protection (CCP) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is also a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Francis’ appointment of Fr. Zollner to the Congregation for Clergy reinforces his strong commitment to fight abuse, especially at the level of priestly formation.
The other nominations to the department include seven priests, one archbishop and two lay professors.
Their names are: Archbishop Erio Castellucci, Arcchbishop of Modena-Nonantola; Fr. Maurice Monier, Pro-Dean of the Roman Rota; Msgr. Vito Angelo Todisco, Prelate Auditor of the Roman Rota; Fr. Bruno Esposito, O.P., professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas; Fr. George Augustin, S.A.C., dogmatic theologian; Fr. Ennio Apeciti, Rector of the Pontifical Lombard Seminary; Fr. Janusz Kowal, S.I., professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, S.I., consultor of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization; Professor Luigi Janiri, specializing in psychiatry and psychopathology at the University of the Sacred Heart; Professor Paolo Papanti-Pelletier, judge of the Court of Vatican City State.
