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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...
Pope Francis presides at the Vatican's Easter Vigil, Saturday, March 30, 2024 / Daniel Ibanez/CNARome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2024 / 17:22 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Saturday evening presided over the Easter Vigil Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica, reflecting on the gravity of Easter as a symbol of God's reborn hope and the ultimate testament of life over death.There were some concerns on Friday night about the pope's wellbeing after the Holy Father canceled his attendance at Rome's Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at the last minute. The Holy See Press Office said the pope made the decision "to conserve his health" for the lengthy Easter Vigil liturgy."This is the Pasch of Christ, the revelation of God's power: The victory of life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, the rebirth of hope amid the ruins of failure. It is the Lord, the God of the impossible, who rolled away the stone forever," the pope said on Saturday in front of nearly 6,000 faithful gathered in Saint Peter's...
null / Credit: ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Mar 30, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).The term "transhumanism" has been gaining prominence in recent times, sparking debates about the future of humanity and the ethical implications of new technologies designed to modify the human body.In a recent interview with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, Argentine philosopher Mariano Asla, who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Navarra, offered a critical analysis of this controversial topic.Transhumanism, Asla explains, is a scientific and cultural movement that proposes the "modification of human biology through the convergence of new technologies" such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, computer technology, and cognitive science. This convergence aims to "create a new species" in which the boundaries between the biological and the artificial "are completely blurred." According to the philosopher, the aim is to make people "healthier, more intelligent, more empathetic, an...
Tens of thousands gather outside of the Colosseum in Rome for the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 29, 2024 / 19:00 pm (CNA).In an apparent last-minute decision, Pope Francis skipped the Way of the Cross ceremony held at Rome's Colosseum on Friday to safeguard his health ahead of the upcoming liturgies on Saturday and Easter Sunday. "To conserve his health in view of tomorrow's Vigil and the Holy Mass on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will follow the Via Crucis at the Colosseum this evening from Casa Santa Marta," a statement from the Holy See Press stated. The news arrived just as the event was scheduled to begin, where two men were seen carrying away the papal chair, where Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtierei was seen standing in the background. Earlier in the day, Pope Francis presided over the Good Friday Liturgy in Saint Peter's Basilica. Two men were seen carrying away the papa...
Pope Francis celebrates the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. March 29, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 29, 2024 / 15:20 pm (CNA).During the Good Friday liturgy at the Vatican, presided over by Pope Francis, the papal preacher reflected on the triumph of the cross, noting that it is an event that changed the universal perception of God's omnipotence, revealing his humility. "The true omnipotence of God is the total powerlessness of Calvary," Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., said during his homily.Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. March 29, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAAt approximately 5 p.m. Rome time, Pope Francis made his way into Saint Peter's Basilica, in a wheelchair, vested in a red chasuble. Cast against the backdrop of complete and palpable silence, the Holy Father paused in meditation before the Papal Altar underneath Bernini's Baldacchino (cov...
Pope Francis presides over Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome on Feb. 14, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Mar 29, 2024 / 10:10 am (CNA).For the first time in his 11-year pontificate, Pope Francis has written his own spiritual meditations for Friday's Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) in Rome.The reflections are based on the theme "In Prayer with Jesus on the Way of the Cross" and center on "what Jesus experienced in that moment" at each station, the Holy See Press Office said earlier this week when announcing that the pope would offer his own meditations. Here is the full text of the Via Crucis meditations for Good Friday, March 29, 2024:STATIONS OF THE CROSS 2024 In Prayer with Jesus on the Way of the Cross Introduction: Lord Jesus, as we contemplate your cross, we realize that you sacrificed yourself completely for our sake. We now take this time to be with you. We want to spend it in closeness to you. On the way ...
A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...
