Christmas is just a couple of days away – this Sunday. And in view of the festivities ahead, we thought of hearing from Bangladesh’s new Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, the Archbishop of Dhaka. He is one of the 17 new cardinals that Pope Francis created during a ceremony in the Vatican on Nov. 19. The selection s well as creation of Archbishop D’Rozario as cardinal by Pope Francis is indeed historic. The 73-year old Holy Cross prelate is not only Bangladesh’s first cardinal but he is also the first cardinal from among the Bengali-speaking people on either side of the divided Bengal, inhabiting Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state.Card. D’Rozario earlier served as Bishop of Rajshahi from 1990 to ’95, and then Bishop of Chittagong from 1995 to 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Dhaka. He became the Archbishop of Dhaka the following year. We called Card. D’Rozario on his...
Christmas is just a couple of days away – this Sunday. And in view of the festivities ahead, we thought of hearing from Bangladesh’s new Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, the Archbishop of Dhaka. He is one of the 17 new cardinals that Pope Francis created during a ceremony in the Vatican on Nov. 19. The selection s well as creation of Archbishop D’Rozario as cardinal by Pope Francis is indeed historic. The 73-year old Holy Cross prelate is not only Bangladesh’s first cardinal but he is also the first cardinal from among the Bengali-speaking people on either side of the divided Bengal, inhabiting Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state.
Card. D’Rozario earlier served as Bishop of Rajshahi from 1990 to ’95, and then Bishop of Chittagong from 1995 to 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Dhaka. He became the Archbishop of Dhaka the following year.
We called Card. D’Rozario on his mobile phone in Dhaka to know about his new status and also to give us message for Christmas. We first asked him about how he regards his cardinalate.
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...
