(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Thursday with participants in a Conference organized by the national Office for Pastoral Care for Vocations of the Italian Episcopal Conference.The theme of the conference is “Arise, go forth, and fear not. Vocations and sanctity: I am on a mission.”Listen to Devin Watkins’ report: During the encounter, Pope Francis set aside his prepared remarks and spoke off-the-cuff to the 800 seminarians and religious men and women present.Recalling the conference’s theme, the Holy Father asked himself aloud, “How many young people, boys and girls, today hear in their heart that ‘Arise’, and how many – priests, consecrated men and women – close the door? And they wind up frustrated.”To remedy this situation, the Pope offered several thoughts on ways to increase vocations to religious life and the priesthood.“The doors are opened through prayer, though good will, through risk,” he said. &...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Thursday with participants in a Conference organized by the national Office for Pastoral Care for Vocations of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
The theme of the conference is “Arise, go forth, and fear not. Vocations and sanctity: I am on a mission.”
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
During the encounter, Pope Francis set aside his prepared remarks and spoke off-the-cuff to the 800 seminarians and religious men and women present.
Recalling the conference’s theme, the Holy Father asked himself aloud, “How many young people, boys and girls, today hear in their heart that ‘Arise’, and how many – priests, consecrated men and women – close the door? And they wind up frustrated.”
To remedy this situation, the Pope offered several thoughts on ways to increase vocations to religious life and the priesthood.
“The doors are opened through prayer, though good will, through risk,” he said. “Jesus told us that the first way to have vocations is prayer, but not all are convinced of this.”
Rather, he went on, “Pray with the heart, with your life, with everything.”
Speaking about the role of bishops in vocations, the Holy Father said their “first task is prayer; the second is to proclaim the Gospel”.
The third recommendation he offered was to “Open the doors so that [young people] may enter our churches.”
“To receive vocations, hospitality is key”, the Pope continued, it is necessary to be particularly devoted to listening, to be able to “waste time” in order to hear and understand the questions and desires of young people and to practice the “apostolate of the ear”.
The fourth and final recommendation Pope Francis made regarded the witness of the messenger. “May they see you live what you preach, that which brought you to become priests, sisters, and lay people who work with strength in the House of the Lord.”
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...