(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday received the Italian League for the Fight against Tumors, stressing the importance of accompanying families and those on the margins on the path of prevention and cure.Listen to this report: Thanking those gathered for their commitment, Pope Francis told them that their work was a very useful tool of awareness and training, adding that there was a real need to promote a culture of life, based on attitudes and behaviors.The League’s commitment to the fight against cancerous tumours is based mainly on three fronts: primary prevention in the form of lifestyle, promotion of a culture of early diagnosis and rehabilitation and social reintegration with attention to the family unit.In particular the Pope noted, that families need to be accompanied on a path of prevention; A path he said, that involves the various generations.But he also said, that equally valuable was the collaboration of volunteers from the league who provid...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday received the Italian League for the Fight against Tumors, stressing the importance of accompanying families and those on the margins on the path of prevention and cure.
Listen to this report:
Thanking those gathered for their commitment, Pope Francis told them that their work was a very useful tool of awareness and training, adding that there was a real need to promote a culture of life, based on attitudes and behaviors.
The League’s commitment to the fight against cancerous tumours is based mainly on three fronts: primary prevention in the form of lifestyle, promotion of a culture of early diagnosis and rehabilitation and social reintegration with attention to the family unit.
In particular the Pope noted, that families need to be accompanied on a path of prevention; A path he said, that involves the various generations.
But he also said, that equally valuable was the collaboration of volunteers from the league who provide assistance to families, so that they can continue their everyday lives.
Another aspect the Holy Father touched on was the pastoral help of the ecclesial community who are called by vocation and mission, he observed to be at the service of those who suffer.
During his discourse the Pope stressed the importance of helping those on the peripheries of society who have to deal with a disease like cancer, saying that every Christian filled with a desire to do good, “is a conscious instrument of grace.”
In conclusion, Pope Francis said that "Taking care", of the sick was an invaluable wealth for society and was a reminder to the entire civil and ecclesial community of the importance of offering support, comfort and tenderness.
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...