Pope recalls 'Mercy Fridays', Jubilee in TV2000 interview
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis granted an interview to TV2000 and Radio InBlu (both official media outlets of the Italian Bishops’ Conference), which aired on Sunday evening.During the interview, Pope Francis responds to various questions regarding the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which he officially brought to a close on Sunday morning with Mass in St. Peter’s Square.A few of the highlights from the broad-ranging conversation was a powerful reiteration of the Church’s constant teaching on abortion, calling the practice a “horrendous crime” and a “very grave sin”.The Pope also spoke of his own opposition to the death penalty, saying, “There can’t be a true punishment that comes without hope.” He also said, “If a penalty doesn’t have hope, it’s not a Christian penalty, it’s not human.”This shaded perceptibly into an expression of his unease with life imprisonment, which he called a &ldqu...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis granted an interview to TV2000 and Radio InBlu (both official media outlets of the Italian Bishops’ Conference), which aired on Sunday evening.
During the interview, Pope Francis responds to various questions regarding the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which he officially brought to a close on Sunday morning with Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
A few of the highlights from the broad-ranging conversation was a powerful reiteration of the Church’s constant teaching on abortion, calling the practice a “horrendous crime” and a “very grave sin”.
The Pope also spoke of his own opposition to the death penalty, saying, “There can’t be a true punishment that comes without hope.” He also said, “If a penalty doesn’t have hope, it’s not a Christian penalty, it’s not human.”
This shaded perceptibly into an expression of his unease with life imprisonment, which he called a “sort of hidden death penalty,” since it denies prisoners the hope of being someday restored to free participation in social life.
Pope Francis’ remarks on abortion came in response to a question regarding his own most striking experiences during the Year of Mercy, which included a call on the neonatal ward at a Roman hospital and a visit with rescued victims of human trafficking, both of which were a part of his “Mercy Friday” outings – monthly visits to people on the existential margins of society and to some of the organisations that assist the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
The Pope also renewed his call for “a poor Church” that is “for the poor” in keeping with the Gospel, and in this context, his repeated warnings against the temptation of riches. “[T]he greatest enemy of God is money,” he said. “The devil always enters through the pockets, always.”
Pope Francis also expressed his discomfort with praise, saying he has “an allergy” to adulation – and that those who praise emptily are really attempting by their praise to practice on the person they are praising. “To adulate someone is also to use them for your own purposes – whether hidden or visible – but to obtain something for yourself,” said Pope Francis.
Watch the full interview of Pope Francis (in Italian):
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Facade of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons / EEJCCACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).One year after the Spanish newspaper El País published the report "Diary of a Pedophile Priest," which recounted the sexual abuse of minors committed in Bolivia by the deceased Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, went to the South American country to look into the political implications of the case, how the scandal has affected the Church's image in Bolivia, and the response of the civil justice system.Pedrajas, better known as "Padre Pica," arrived in South America in the early 1960s as part of his formation process with the Jesuits. For 10 years he lived in Peru and Ecuador, where he allegedly committed his first abuses while still a seminarian, and in 1971 he settled permanently in Bolivia.There the Society of Jesus appointed him assistant principal of the John XXIII Insti...
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Gia Chacón (right), founder of March for the Martyrs, said the plight of the tens of thousands of Christian Armenians pushed out of their homes in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region hash been "completely overlooked by the mainstream media." / Credit: EWTN News Nightly / ScreenshotCNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).Marchers are setting out in the nation's capital on Saturday to call attention to the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.Gia Chacón, founder of For the Martyrs and the March for the Martyrs, said the event aims to highlight often "overlooked" victims of persecution. This year's march will focus on the persecution suffered by Armenian Christians as well as those in Nigeria and Iran.In an interview with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Tracy Sabol, Chacón said she started the initiative to both increase awareness and provide aid for persecuted Christian communities throughout the world.Chacón explained that the decades-long conflict ...