(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ papacy has in many ways been “one long Ignatian retreat by a Jesuit spiritual master for the entire Church”, a seasoned Vatican watcher has said.David Gibson, a Catholic reporter and prize-winning author, also pointed to Francis’ promotion of “synodality” as a key change under his papacy. He was interviewed by Susy Hodges.Listen to a report on the anniversary of Pope Francis' election that begins with sound clips from that evening, followed by the interview with David Gibson, a U.S. Catholic reporter and author: Speaking in an interview marking the 4th anniversary of Francis’ election on March 13th, 2013, Gibson said the Pope’s legacy will be “to recover those practices of discernment, of really examining one’s conscience.”Gibson, who works for the US-based Religion News Service, said he believed the prominence of “synodality” was the most significant change ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ papacy has in many ways been “one long Ignatian retreat by a Jesuit spiritual master for the entire Church”, a seasoned Vatican watcher has said.
David Gibson, a Catholic reporter and prize-winning author, also pointed to Francis’ promotion of “synodality” as a key change under his papacy. He was interviewed by Susy Hodges.
Listen to a report on the anniversary of Pope Francis' election that begins with sound clips from that evening, followed by the interview with David Gibson, a U.S. Catholic reporter and author:
Speaking in an interview marking the 4th anniversary of Francis’ election on March 13th, 2013, Gibson said the Pope’s legacy will be “to recover those practices of discernment, of really examining one’s conscience.”
Gibson, who works for the US-based Religion News Service, said he believed the prominence of “synodality” was the most significant change introduced by the Argentinian pontiff.
“He’s trying to reset the entire way of being the Church, to really pick something up from Vatican II, as he sees it, that has sort of been lost over the years and over the decades. Those synods and meetings in the Vatican to discuss various issues every couple of years had become, pro forma, almost rubber stamp events.”
Instead, bishops, priests and the people of God wanted to have “real input”. With the Pope saying “this is the style of Church we need” he is “fundamentally re-orienting the management of the Church,” Gibson added.
Asked about Pope Francis’ popularity, Gibson said recent surveys show it has increased to “almost 90 per cent” in the United States during the last few months.
Catholics familiar with Jesuit priests, “see in him a kind of pastor in a parish that so many of us have known. There is something, at once, so unremarkable about it and yet, at the same time, the fact that he’s Pope makes him so remarkable.”
Commenting on where he sees the Church going forward under Pope Francis, Gibson said: “I think he wants to continue to have the Church to discern where she is at this moment in history and then act on that.”
Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, celebrates a Divine Liturgy on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the Byzantine chapel at Wyoming Catholic College, on the occasion of the installation and blessing of the new shrine. / Credit: Julian Kwasniewski/Wyoming Catholic CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan, May 14, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, dedicated a shrine and an icon on Saturday, May 11, at Wyoming Catholic College directed to prayer specifically for persecuted Christians. In a response to CNA, Pipta wrote of the event: "To be reminded that the Theotokos continues her motherly care for persecuted Christians throughout the world is of great value to the Catholic faithful in our communities." Pipta celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine chapel at the college and was accompanied by its chaplain, Father David Anderson; Father Benedict Kiely; students; and faculty. Bishop Robert Pipta bl...
Pope Francis meets with members of the Syro-Malabar Church on May 13, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2024 / 16:53 pm (CNA).In a meeting with Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis urged unity and obedience amid a long-simmering liturgical conflict that continues to rock the Eastern church.As some fear an imminent schism in the ancient Eastern-rite church, the pope stressed the importance of unity, saying: "Apart from Peter, apart from the major archbishop, there is no Church." He urged the faithful present at the Vatican's Consistory Hall to "press forward" in obedience to the Church, saying: "You are obedient, and where obedience is present, there is the Church. Where there is disobedience, there is schism."What is going on in the Syro-Malabar Church?The Syro-Malabar Church is an Eastern Catholic rite in full communion with the Roman Cath...
Father Timothy Furlow speaks from the ambo at St. Patrick's Church in Portland, Oregon. / Credit: St. Patrick's Church in Portland, OregonCNA Staff, May 13, 2024 / 11:16 am (CNA).A pastor in Portland, Oregon, recently urged his parish to pray for a vandal who defaced the church building with vulgar graffiti, arguing that the controversy gets to the "core message" of the Gospel itself. A vandal tagged St. Patrick's Church in Portland with several graffiti in April that read "[expletive] you, my body my choice," a popular slogan for the pro-abortion movement. In his homily the morning the graffiti was discovered, the parish's pastor, Father Timothy Furlow, told parishioners that he deliberately left the vulgar message visible for the faithful to see on their way to Mass. "I wanted you to see it," he said. "Somebody said, 'Oh, we got to cover this up.' And then I'm like, nope. I want them to see that." "And the reason is because it fits kind of perfectly with w...