(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given an interview to the Catholic Italian daily, Avvenire to mark the end of the Holy Year of Mercy, saying that the Jubilee and Ecumenism are the fruits of the Second Vatican Council.Listen: In the lengthy interview to Avvenire the Holy Father gives his assessment of the Jubilee of Mercy and touches on the complex journey towards Christian Unity and the legacy of the Second Vatican Council.Speaking from the Casa Santa Marta the Pope talks about the Church's path of living and witnessing to the Gospel as a way of mercy and not as an ideology.Pope Francis explains that, he did not have a plan for the Jubilee. “I simply let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit”, he says.Stressing the importance of forgiveness, the Pope comments, that he likes to think that God has a bad memory. “He forgives and forgets”.Turning his attention to the issue of Christian Unity, the Pope underlines the significant steps taken during this ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given an interview to the Catholic Italian daily, Avvenire to mark the end of the Holy Year of Mercy, saying that the Jubilee and Ecumenism are the fruits of the Second Vatican Council.
Listen:
In the lengthy interview to Avvenire the Holy Father gives his assessment of the Jubilee of Mercy and touches on the complex journey towards Christian Unity and the legacy of the Second Vatican Council.
Speaking from the Casa Santa Marta the Pope talks about the Church's path of living and witnessing to the Gospel as a way of mercy and not as an ideology.
Pope Francis explains that, he did not have a plan for the Jubilee. “I simply let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit”, he says.
Stressing the importance of forgiveness, the Pope comments, that he likes to think that God has a bad memory. “He forgives and forgets”.
Turning his attention to the issue of Christian Unity, the Pope underlines the significant steps taken during this Extraordinary Year on the path of reconciliation between Christians, adding that this work goes back to the Vatican II.
Unity, Pope Francis says, has three roads: to walk together doing charitable works, to pray together, and then to recognize the common confession as expressed in the common martyrdom, the ecumenism of blood.
With ecumenism, the Holy Father stresses, it is crucial to serve with the poor, who are "the flesh of Christ".
Pope Francis will conclude the Extraordinary Year of Mercy on Sunday, the feast of Christ the King.
Landscape view of Sacrofano, Italy, north of Rome. / Credit: Dmitry Taranets/ShutterstockRome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The World Meeting of Parish Priests for the Synod opened on Monday to discuss "how to be a synodal local Church in mission," allowing priests from around the world to discuss questions raised during the ongoing synod and share their personal pastoral experiences. The four-day meeting, which is taking place from April 29 to May 2 at the Fraterna Domus retreat house in Sacrofano, Italy, just north of Rome, is attended by about 300 priests from around the globe and is divided into several sessions, taking cues from different themes and questions raised in the synod's synthesis report. "The parish priest is a man of the people and for the people. Like Jesus, he is open to the crowd, constantly open to the crowd, to help each and every one understand that they are a letter from Christ," said Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Gen...
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