(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is in Sweden for a joint commemoration of the Reformation, together with leaders of the Lutheran World Federation. On Tuesday he will also celebrate a Mass for All Saints Day with the small Catholic community in Sweden and other Nordic nations.On this visit, Francis follows in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II who, in 1989, became the first pontiff to visit the region since the Reformation.Among those helping to coordinate that visit of the Polish pope was Bishop William Kenney who was then serving as vicar general of the Stockholm diocese. Today he is auxiliary of Birmingham in the UK and co-chair of the international Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue.Philippa Hitchen spoke to him to find out more about the Catholic community in Sweden and what he is expecting from this second papal visit to the country…..Listen: Bishop Kenney say the Church there is unusual in that the majority of its members are not Swedish, but rather are immigrants fr...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is in Sweden for a joint commemoration of the Reformation, together with leaders of the Lutheran World Federation. On Tuesday he will also celebrate a Mass for All Saints Day with the small Catholic community in Sweden and other Nordic nations.
On this visit, Francis follows in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II who, in 1989, became the first pontiff to visit the region since the Reformation.
Among those helping to coordinate that visit of the Polish pope was Bishop William Kenney who was then serving as vicar general of the Stockholm diocese. Today he is auxiliary of Birmingham in the UK and co-chair of the international Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue.
Philippa Hitchen spoke to him to find out more about the Catholic community in Sweden and what he is expecting from this second papal visit to the country…..
Listen:
Bishop Kenney say the Church there is unusual in that the majority of its members are not Swedish, but rather are immigrants from various generations who’ve come to Sweden as workers or as refugees. During his time there, he says, about 70% of Catholics were born in another country, with many more coming from the Middle East today, not least from Iraq.
Bishop Kenney says he hopes the visit will give “a renewed emphasis to ecumenism” since the Catholic Church there has been largely “overwhelmed” by “immediate pastoral concerns” of providing Mass, sacraments and catechesis.
Asked about tensions between Lutherans and Catholic, he says that some of the difficulties today may come not from the Reformation period, but from much more modern matters such as the ordination of women or human sexuality.
As co-chair of international Catholic-Lutheran dialogue group, Bishop Kenney says progress is being made on issues around Baptism, with a document expected in the next two years. The 1999 Joint Document on the Doctrine of Justification, he said, was like ‘the bomb of the Holy Spirit” which helped us realize that the issues which we thought divided us, don’t any longer and we’re now trying to work out what is the effect of this is. The problem in all countries and in all churches, he adds, is people have become “satisfied with themselves” with “no sense of a crisis of unity”.
Speaking of John Paul II’s visit to Sweden, Bishop Kenney says there were fewer difficulties than in Denmark as the situation differs from country to country in the region. He notes that people there are very receptive to social teaching of the Church, while many are looking for meaning in their lives so “the Churches have an opportunity there”.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...