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Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrates the special "pro eligendo summo pontifice" (to elect Supreme Pontiff) Mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City on April 18, 2005. / Credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis said he was "used" in the 2005 conclave in an effort to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, though he supported the candidacy of the man who soon became Pope Benedict XVI. "He was my candidate," Francis said of his predecessor in excerpts from the forthcoming book "The Successor," published by the Spanish newspaper ABC on Easter Sunday. In the book, Pope Francis told Spanish journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal that his name, then-Cardinal Jose Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, was put forward as part of a "complete maneuver" by an unnamed group of cardinals to manipulate the conclave's outcome. "The idea was to block the election of [Ratzinger]," he explained. "They ...
Psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson speaks to EWTN News In Depth's Colm Flynn as Peterson's wife, Tammy, joins the Catholic Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in DepthCNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson spoke about Easter as the "core story of humanity" in an interview with "EWTN News In Depth" hours before his wife, Tammy, joined the Catholic Church this Easter at Holy Rosary Church in Toronto.Tammy Peterson's faith was formed through praying the rosary while she struggled against a rare form of cancer. Peterson is known for his biblical lectures on Genesis and Exodus in particular, which often appeal to both Christian and secular listeners. When asked by EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn about what he thought about the Christian Easter message, Peterson said that it's "the core story of humanity." "I'll speak psychologically about it and speak in terms of its literary echoes," he said. "It's a v...
Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection. / Credit: Alexander IvanovACI Prensa Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).On Easter Monday, the Catholic Church celebrates what's called "Monday of the Angel." In many countries in Europe and South America, this day, also known as "Little Easter," is a national holiday.In a Vatican Radio recording in 1994, Pope John Paul II gave an explanation for Monday of the Angel:"Why is it called that?" the pope asked, highlighting the need for an angel to call out from the depths of the grave: "He is risen."These words "were very difficult to proclaim, to express, for a person," John Paul II said. "Also, the women that were at the tomb encountered it empty but couldn't tell 'he had risen'; they only affirmed that the tomb was empty. The angel said more: 'He is not here, he has risen.'"The Gospel of St. Matthew puts it this way: "Then the angel said to the women in reply, 'Do not be afraid! I know that you are seek...
null / Credit: ShutterstockVancouver, Canada, Apr 1, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Cemeteries are the front line of defense against society's increasing secularism and fear of death and suffering, said Peter Nobes, director of Catholic Cemeteries in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. "In every age, Christ shows us the way to our heavenly home," he told The B.C. Catholic. "But modern Western culture historically represses the experience of death and dialogue on its meaning."As a culture's religious awareness decreases and secularization increases, humanity becomes more and more afraid of discussing death, he said. Great effort then needs to be made to encourage people to speak about death and plan for the inevitable.The emphasis on death as a medical event needs to be re-presented with the Christian truth that death is the passage to eternal life, Nobes added. "Fear of death is an existential issue," he said. "Jesus Christ is our model and the key to exis...
Pope Francis presides over Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square on March 31, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Mar 31, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday 2024 before giving the traditional urbi et orbi blessing in the presence of approximately 60,000 people.On a warm and windy Easter Sunday at the Vatican, Pope Francis proclaimed: "Jesus Christ is risen! He alone has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life. He, the living One, is himself that path. He is the Way."An icon of Christ was blown over by strong winds during Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. Vatican Media"Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world," the pope added.Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in his urbi et orbi blessing, Pope Francis said that "today throughout the world there resounds the message proclaimed 2,000 years ago fro...
Pope Francis gives his urbi et orbi message and blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on March 31, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Mar 31, 2024 / 08:45 am (CNA).In his Easter Sunday blessing, Pope Francis asked the risen Lord to open paths of peace in the Holy Land, Ukraine, and all regions of the world suffering from war and violence.Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on March 31, Pope Francis called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. He appealed for humanitarian access for the people of Gaza and called for the prompt release of the hostages seized by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023."Jesus alone opens up before us the doors of life, those doors that continually we shut with the wars spreading throughout the world," Pope Francis said."Today we want, first and foremost, to turn our eyes to the Holy City of Jerusalem, that witnessed the mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and to all the Christian c...
Pope Francis gives his urbi et orbi Easter blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on March 31, 2024. / Credit: Pablo Esparza/CNAVatican City, Mar 31, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).On the morning of Easter Sunday 2024, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter's Square before delivering his urbi et orbi message and blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica in the presence of an estimated 60,000 people."Urbi et orbi" means "To the city [of Rome] and to the world." It is a special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.Here is the full text of the pope's blessing:Dear brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!Today throughout the world there resounds the message proclaimed 2,000 years ago from Jerusalem: "Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised!" (Mk 16:6).The Church relives the amazement of the women who went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. The tomb of Jesus had ...
With the incense burned from the newly blessed fire, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, incenses the "Stone of Anointing," located at the entrance of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, where, according to tradition, the body of Jesus was anointed and prepared with aromatic oils for burial. March 30, 2024. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 31, 2024 / 09:45 am (CNA).In the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, the church of the Lord's Resurrection, due to reasons related to the Status Quo, the Easter Vigil is held on Saturday morning instead of at night. For this reason, it is also considered "the mother of all holy vigils."The solemn celebration was presided over by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, in front of the edicule of the Holy Sepulcher, which encloses the tomb of Jesus.One of the masters of ceremonies lights the lamps in front of the edicule of the Holy Sepulcher during the Easter Vigil, whi...
null / Credit: udra11/ShutterstockNational Catholic Register, Mar 31, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Easter Sunday begins the Easter season. The 50-day Eastertide, running to Pentecost, is the longest season on the Church calendar (not counting Ordinary Time). Everything starts with the joyous celebrations of Easter Sunday and the Easter Octave to Divine Mercy Sunday. This week is the perfect time to get acquainted with some Easter traditions and customs still carried on, along with those downplayed or forgotten and perhaps in need of revival.Fine clothes and festive walksWhile wearing new clothes for Easter Sunday is occasionally observed today, it was the model and rule until recent decades. Over the centuries people forgot why it was customary. Father X. Weiser enlightens the faithful about this tradition in his "Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs."In the early centuries, newly baptized Christians wore new white garments. This led to the tradition of all the faithful coming to ...
Pope Francis speaks at the Vatican's Easter Vigil, March 30, 2024 / Daniel Ibanez/CNARome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The following is the text of Pope Francis' homily delivered at the Vatican's 2024 Easter Vigil. The women go to the tomb at daybreak, yet they still feel the darkness of night. They continue to walk, yet their hearts remain at the foot of the cross. The tears of Good Friday are not yet dried; they are grief-stricken, overwhelmed by the sense that all has been said and done. A stone has sealed the fate of Jesus. They are concerned about that stone, for they wonder: "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" (Mk 16:3). Yet once they arrive, they are taken aback when they see the amazing power of the Easter event: "When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back" (Mk 16:4).Let us stop and reflect on these two moments, which bring us to the unexpected joy of Easter. The woman...
