Pope leads prayers for victims of 'perverse plague' of trafficking
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=169651&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
IMAGE: CNS photo/Marcel van Dorst - MaRicMedia, EPABy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Human trafficking is "brutal,savage and criminal," Pope Francis said, but often it seems like peoplesee it as a sad, but normal fact of life."I want to call everyone to make a commitment to seeingthat this perverse plague, a modern form of slavery, is effectivelycountered," the pope said July30, the U.N.'s WorldDay Against Trafficking in Persons.After reciting the Angelus with thousands of people gatheredin St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis asked them to join him in praying a"Hail Mary" so that Jesus' mother would "support the victims oftrafficking and convert the hearts of traffickers."In his main Angelus address, Pope Francis focused on theparables from the day's Gospel reading: the treasure hidden in the field andthe pearl of great price.Both parables involve "searching and sacrifice,"the pope said. Neither the person who found the treasure in the field nor themerchant who found the pearl woul...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Marcel van Dorst - MaRicMedia, EPA
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Human trafficking is "brutal,
savage and criminal," Pope Francis said, but often it seems like people
see it as a sad, but normal fact of life.
"I want to call everyone to make a commitment to seeing
that this perverse plague, a modern form of slavery, is effectively
countered," the pope said July
30, the U.N.'s World
Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
After reciting the Angelus with thousands of people gathered
in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis asked them to join him in praying a
"Hail Mary" so that Jesus' mother would "support the victims of
trafficking and convert the hearts of traffickers."
In his main Angelus address, Pope Francis focused on the
parables from the day's Gospel reading: the treasure hidden in the field and
the pearl of great price.
Both parables involve "searching and sacrifice,"
the pope said. Neither the person who found the treasure in the field nor the
merchant who found the pearl would have made their discoveries if they were not
looking for something, and both of them sell all they have to purchase
their treasure.
The point of the parables, he said, is that "the
kingdom of God is offered to all -- it is a gift, a grace -- but it is not
given on a silver platter. It requires dynamism; it involves seeking, walking,
getting busy."
Jesus is the hidden treasure, the pope said, and once people
discover him they are called to put following him before all else.
"It's not a matter of despising all else, but of
subordinating it to Jesus, giving him first place," the pope said. "A
disciple of Christ is not one who is deprived of something essential, but one
who has found much more, has found the full joy that only the Lord can
give."
- - -
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
Full Article
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275670&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito. / Credit; Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is scheduled to give the commencement address on May 11 to the record-breaking 896 students in the class of 2024 at Franciscan University of Steubenville.On the occasion, Alito will also receive an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics "for his decades of exemplary public service and tireless efforts to protect and uphold justice and the rule of law," according to Franciscan's May 6 press release. Alito is known for his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the 2022 decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and determined that the Constitution could not confer a right to abortion. Alito is also known for backing religious liberty and gun rights. Prior to the graduation ceremony, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is set to preside at the baccalaureate Mass and give...
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275669&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Argentinian prelate Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. / Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty ImagesRome Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 09:02 am (CNA).The Vatican's doctrine office will publish a new document next week on discerning Marian apparitions and other supernatural events.The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), will unveil new norms for discernment regarding "apparitions and other supernatural phenomena" on Friday, May 17.In an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, last month, Fernandez said that the document will provide "clear guidelines and norms" for discernment.The new norms will be the first time that the Vatican's doctrinal office has issued a general document on apparitions in four decades. Pope Paul VI approved norms on "the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations" in 1978.Fernandez will speak at a livestreamed Va...
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275664&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Father Mike Depcik offer Mass at the Seton Shrine Basilica in Emmitsburg, Maryland, during a recent retreat at the shrine. / Credit: Courtesy of the Seton ShrineCNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).One of the few Deaf Catholic priests in the United States is working to renew the Church's ministry to the Deaf in Maryland and beyond through signed Masses, retreats, and an upcoming Eucharistic congress for the Deaf. Father Michael Depcik, who last year became the chaplain for the Deaf Ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was born deaf and grew up in a Deaf Catholic family in Chicago. According to Depcik, being "culturally Deaf" (a culture signified by the uppercase Deaf) is vastly different than losing hearing later in life. The distinction is important, Depcik explained, because the Deaf community is its own culture, with its own language. "We're proud to be Deaf, and we identify as Deaf people, and we use American Sign Language as the primary language," Depcik ...
