Pope Francis

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/06/_pope_francis_meets_azerbaijans_president_aliyev/1127507

Pope Francis meets Azerbaijan's President Aliyev
06/03/2015 14:32



(Vatican Radio) The importance of inter-religious dialogue and of negotiation in conflict resolution were among the key topics discussed when Pope Francis received in audience on Friday, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his wife.

Please find below a translation into English of a communique issued by the Holy See’s Press Office for more details.
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/06/pope_francis_addresses_members_of_the_neocatechumenal_way_/1127462

Pope Francis addresses members of the Neocatechumenal Way
06/03/2015 13:05



(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received in audience on Friday (March 6th) members of the Catholic missionary movement, the Neocatechumenal Way, and thanked them for the great benefit they bring to the Church.

Please find below a translation into English of the Pope’s address to the Neocatechumenal members:

Dear brothers and sisters,

Peter's task is to confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith. So you too have wanted with this gesture to ask the Successor of Peter to confirm your call, to support your mission, to bless your charism. And I want to confirm your call, support your mission and bless your charism.  I’m doing that not because I’ve been paid to: No!  (laughs) I’m doing it because I want to.  You will go forth in the name of Christ into the world to bring His Gospel: Christ will precede, Christ will accompany and Christ will fulfill the salvation of which you are bearers!
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/06/pope_francis_sends_condolences_on_death_of_us_cardinal_egan/1127423

Pope Francis sends condolences on death of US Cardinal Egan
06/03/2015 11:50



(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has sent a telegram expressing his sadness for the death of Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York, who died of cardiac arrest on Thursday at the age of 82.

Please find below the full text of the Pope’s telegram addressed to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and underneath a brief biography of the late Cardinal Egan:
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/03/pope_francis_in_the_footsteps_of_blessed_paul_vi_50_years_on/1126721

Pope Francis in the footsteps of Blessed Paul VI fifty years on
03/03/2015 13:05



(Vatican Radio) On Saturday March 7th, Pope Francis travels across Rome to mark fifty years since an historic event for the Catholic Church took place in the Roman Church of 'Ognissanti'.

It was the morning of the 7th of March 1965, the first Sunday in Lent of that year when in this very same Church Blessed Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass for the first time in the vernacular rather than in Latin, as was the custom at the time.
 
"As you witnessed this morning", he said on this occasion, “the spoken language has officially entered the liturgy in all parishes and churches. Across the world this date marks the first time a new way of praying, of celebrating Holy Mass has been inaugurated. It’s a great event, one that will be remembered as a new commitment in the great dialogue between God and man".

This event came as the direct result of the discussions of the Council Fathers during the Second Vatican Council. One which had been called for by Saint John XXIII on January 25th 1959 and was to meet for about ten weeks from 1962 to 1965 in the autumn of each year.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-church-calls-us-to-authentic-liturgic

Pope Francis: Church calls us to authentic liturgical life
2015-03-07 Vatican Radio



(Vatican Radio) On Saturday evening, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the Roman church of “Ognissanti” – All Saints’ – in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first Mass offered in Italian.

It was in the church of Ognissanti, fifty years ago, on the First Sunday of Lent, 1965, that Pope Paul VI offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass predominantly using the vernacular – the language of the people. Describing the event, Pope Paul said, “Across the world this date marks the first time a new way of praying, of celebrating Holy Mass has been inaugurated.”

In his homily on Saturday, Pope Francis recalled the Gospel account of the cleansing of the temple, and Jesus’ famous remark, “Do not make My Father’s house a marketplace!” This expression, the Pope said, did not just refer to those doing business in the temple; it refers to a certain type of religiosity. Jesus’ gesture is one of “cleansing, of purification.” God is not pleased with material offerings based on personal interests. Rather, Jesus is calling us to “authentic worship, to the correspondence between liturgy and life – a call that is true for every age, and also for us today.”
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAQOlG7Nr4
Visit to the Roman Parish of "Ognissanti" - 2015.03.07
Streamed live on Mar 7, 2015
Starts at 5.50 pm. Pope Francis visits the Roman Parish of "Ognissanti" where he presides the Holy Eucharist.

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An interesting, informative article imo.

http://saltandlighttv.org/blog/fr-thomas-rosica/50-years-ago-today-mass-in-the-vernacular

50 Years Ago Today: Mass in the Vernacular
March 6, 2015 by Fr. Thomas Rosica

On Saturday March 7, Pope Francis will visit the church of “Ognissanti’ (All Saints) in Rome to commemorate fifty years to the day that Blessed Paul VI celebrated the Eucharist for the first time in the vernacular rather than in the customary Latin language. It was the first time a new way of celebrating mass was inaugurated after Vatican II’s Decree on the Liturgy SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM was promulgated on December 4, 1963. This important document, the first of Vatican II, was approved at the end of the second year of the Council.

When Paul VI celebrated mass 50 years ago today, he said that it was a great liturgical reform that would bring about an authentic spiritual renewal in the Church. This weekend is a good opportunity to recall some important points about the great changes that have taken place in the liturgy over the past half a century. The practices associated with the “New Mass” after the Council had their beginnings decades earlier. The reform of the liturgy did not simply begin with Vatican II. The practices introduced in 1964 had been suggested much earlier. Since the middle of the 19th century there had been an interest in various aspects of the liturgy, its history, ceremonies and music. Fr. Lambert Beauduin, a Belgian responsible for the liturgical movement in France held that the liturgy creates Christian community; it is the source and center of all Christian life – an idea that later made its way into the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy. The theological basis of the entire liturgical movement was the body of Christ. This idea “body of Christ” gained momentum and finally received papal approval in Pope Pius XII’s encyclical, Mystici Corporis Christi.
 

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http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/39545/

03/ 7/2015
Francis to CL movement: Be hands, feet and heart of a Church that goes forth

“Centered in Christ and the Gospel, you can be the arms, hands, feet, mind and heart of a Church that ‘goes forth’.” Francis said this as he received the embrace of 80,000 members of the Communion and Liberation movement gathered in St. Peter’s Square. They came from 47 countries around the world on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the death of the movement’s founder Mgr. Luigi Giussani and the 60th anniversary of the movement’s founding. Peter’s Square was so packed that people spilt into Via della Conciliazione and as the Pope arrived in the open-top jeep, he greeted them too.

In his introductory speech, the President of the CL fraternity, Julián Carrón, who succeeded Giussani as leader, recalled that the founder “injected” unity with the Successor of Peter into the blood of the movement’s members.” We want to live more every day, renewing that first love, so that it may renew in us that openness of heart we had at the start,” he said.

Francis thanked Fr. Carrón for “that beautiful letter he wrote” to CL members inviting them to come to Rome. He said he was grateful to Mgr. Giussani “for a number of reasons. The first and more personal reason is the good this man has done for me and my priestly life since reading his books and articles. The other reason is that his reflections are profoundly human and touch even the most intimate human yearning.” The Pope then recalled how important “the experience of encounter” was for Mgr. Giussani “not an encounter with an idea but with a Person, with Jesus Christ. Thus he taught freedom, guiding people toward an encounter with Christ, because Christ gives us true freedom.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-let-us-allow-jesus-to-cleanse-our-hea

Pope Francis: Let us allow Jesus to cleanse our hearts
2015-03-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday based his Angelus address on the Gospel account of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Jesus’ prophetic words and actions, the Pope said, which refer to His death and resurrection, “are fully understood in the light of His Pasch.” Jesus Christ Himself, in His Resurrection, becomes the meeting place between God and man.

During Lent, the Pope continued, we prepare for Easter, when we will renew our baptismal promises. The Holy Father called on each of us to follow Jesus, so that people might encounter God in us and in our witness. But this leads us to ask ourselves if we allow the Lord “to ‘cleanse’ our hearts and to drive out the idols, those attitudes of cupidity, jealousy, worldliness, envy, hatred, those habits of gossiping and tearing down others.” Jesus, the Pope said, cleanses our hearts not with a whip, as He cleansed the Temple, but with tenderness, mercy, and love.

“Every Eucharist that we celebrate with faith makes us grow as a living temple of the Lord,” the Pope said, “thanks to the communion with His crucified and risen Body… Let us allow Him to enter into our lives, into our families, into our hearts.”

Below, please find the complete text of the Pope’s Angelus address for Sunday, 8 March 2015:
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-greets-women-on-international-womens-day

Pope greets women on International Women's Day
2015-03-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) In his remarks following the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis had a special greeting for “all the women throughout the world who are seeking, every day, to build a more human and welcoming society.” Pope Francis continued with a “a fraternal ‘thank you’ for all those women who, in a thousand ways, bear witness to the Gospel and work in the Church.”

March 8th, celebrated around the world as International Women’s Day, is an occasion, he said, “to repeat the importance of women, and the necessity of their presence in life.” Pope Francis said, “A world where women are marginalized is a sterile world, because women don’t just bear life but transmit to us the ability to see otherwise, they see things differently. They transmit to us the ability to understand the world with different eyes, to understand things with hearts that are more creative, more patient, more tender.”   

http://www.news.va/en/news/voices-of-faith-brings-women-to-vatican-on-interna
Voices of Faith brings women to Vatican on International Women’s Day
2015-03-08 Vatican Radio

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/08/pope_francis_open_your_hearts_to_jesus_mercy/1127972

Pope Francis: Open your hearts to Jesus' mercy
08/03/2015 19:02

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening celebrated Mass at the parish of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore in the Roman suburb of Tor Bella Monaca.

In his homily, the Holy Father said we cannot fool Jesus, acting like saints when we’re around the church, but living our daily lives like pagans. Jesus knows what is in the heart of man. “We all know the name Jesus gives to those who show a ‘double face’: hypocrites!” The Pope said we would do well “to enter into our hearts and to look upon Jesus.”  The Lord, he said, knows that we are sinners – but if we acknowledge that we are sinners, we have no need to be afraid.

Pope Francis also considered Jesus’ action in cleansing the Temple. When we look into our own hearts, he said, we find so many sins: sins of selfishness, pride, envy jealousy. We must open our hearts to Jesus, and ask Him to cleanse our hearts. Jesus, though, does not cleanse our hearts with a whip, as He cleansed the Temple; rather, He purifies our hearts with the “whip” of mercy.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vfdc4W3buo
Visit to the Parish of St. Mary Mother of the Redeemer - 2015.03.08
Streamed live on Mar 8, 2015
Starts at 5.30 pm. Pope Francis makes a pastoral visit to the Roman Parish of St. Mary Mother of the Redeemer at Tor Bella Monaca

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-gods-style-is-humility-simplicity

Pope Francis: God's style is humility, simplicity
2015-03-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) God acts in humility and in silence; “spectacle” is not His style. That was Pope Francis’ message at Mass on Monday in the Casa Santa Marta.

Jesus rebukes people of Nazareth for their lack of faith

In the Gospel of the day, Jesus rebukes the inhabitants of Nazareth for their lack of faith: at first, the Pope said, they listened with admiration, but later they exploded “with anger, with outrage”:

“In that moment, this people, who had heard with pleasure what Jesus had said, but did not like what He had said to one, two, or three of them; and perhaps some gossip had stood up and said, ‘But who is this who’s come to talk to us? Where has he studied in order to say these things to us? Let’s see his degree! This is the son of the carpenter, we know him.’ Fury erupted, and even violence. ‘And they drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill’… they wanted to throw Him down!”

Humility is God’s style

The first Reading speaks about Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, who was a leper. The prophet Elisha tells him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan to be healed, and yet Naaman was indignant because he expected a grand gesture. But then he listened to the advice of the servants, and did what the prophet said, and he was cleansed of leprosy. The inhabitants of Nazareth were like Naaman, the Pope said. “They wanted a spectacle,” but “the style of the good God is not to produce a spectacle: God acts in humility, in silence, in the little things.” This begins with Creation, the Pope said, where the Lord does not use a “magic wand,” but creates man “with mud.” It is a style that runs through “the whole of salvation history”:
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-meets-with-belgiums-king-and-queen

Pope Francis meets with Belgium's King and Queen
2015-03-09 Vatican Radio



(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday met with His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians, and Queen Mathilde, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.

A statement by the Holy See Press Office said the talks were “cordial”, and the good bilateral relations between Belgium and the Holy See were confirmed.

The parties also discussed other matters of mutual interest, such as social cohesion, the education of the young, the phenomenon of migration, and the importance of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/cardinal-tauran-takes-oath-as-camerlengo

Cardinal Tauran takes oath as Camerlengo
2015-03-09 Vatican Radio



(Vatican Radio) On Monday morning, in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, took the oath as Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. He was appointed on 20th December 2014.
 
In the event of the death or resignation of the pope, the Camerlengo is one of only two officials who retains their positions in the Vatican administration.

His role is to administer the temporal goods of the church until the election of a new pope.

The Camerlengo also verifies the pontiff's death and then destroying his ring.

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http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/popefrancis/story/449601/pope-francis-names-cardinal-tagle-to-top-catholic-biblical-federation-post

Pope Francis names Cardinal Tagle to top Catholic Biblical Federation post
March 10, 2015 4:08am

Pope Francis has tapped Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to head yet another key Catholic Church position - as president of the Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF).

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said on its news site Monday that the Pope announced this at the Vatican last March 5.

Tagle will assume the post at the 9th CBF Plenary Assembly on June 18 to 23 in Nemi, Italy. He will serve at this post until 2021.

Last October, Tagle was elected to head the Catholic fellowship of international and local organizations committed to the Biblical-pastoral ministry, the CBCP said.

Tagle, 57, who reportedly enjoys good ties with the Pope, will succeed Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who served as CBF president since September 2002.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-to-receive-pardon-we-must-give-pardon

Pope Francis, to receive pardon, we must give pardon
2015-03-10 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) In order to ask forgiveness from God, we must follow the teaching of the “Our Father”: we must repent sincerely for our sins, knowing that God always forgives, and just as willingly forgive others. This was the centerpiece of Pope Francis’ remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

Focusing primarily on the reading from the Gospel according to St Matthew (18:21-35), in which the Lord counsels His disciples to forgive “seventy times seven” times, i.e. always and without stint, the Holy Father addressed the close connection between God’s forgiveness of our sins and our forgiveness of others.

Drawing on the Old Testament reading from the prophet Daniel, which tells of Azariah’s appeal to God for clemency, which he makes on behalf of the people, acknowledged as sinful and in need of pardon for having abandoned the way of the Lord. Azariah does not ask God simply to excuse, or to overlook, the sinfulness of the people, but to forgive them:

“Asking forgiveness is another thing: it’s not the same as simply saying, ‘excuse me.’ Did I make a mistake? ‘Sorry, I made a mistake. But, ‘I have sinned!’ – that is different: the one has nothing to do with the other. Sin is not a simple mistake. Sin is idolatry: it is to worship the idol, the idol of pride, vanity, money, ‘my self’, my own ‘well-being’. So many idols do we have: and for this, Azariah does not apologize: he asks forgiveness.”
 

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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-talks-isis-jokes-about-being-a-coward-when-it-comes-to-pain-41300/

Pope Francis talks ISIS, jokes about being a 'coward' when it comes to physical pain

Rome, Italy, Mar 10, 2015 / 07:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis gave a recent interview with an Argentinian shanty town's community paper, where he touched on how he feels about ISIS threats and jested about his lack of tolerance for physical pain.

“Look, life is in God's hands. I told the Lord: 'you are taking care of me. But if your will is that I die or that they do something to me, I ask you only one favor: that it doesn't hurt. Because I'm a big coward when it comes to physical pain,'” the Pope told La Carcova News in an interview published in this month's edition of their paper.

Pope Francis made his comments as one answer to a series of questions posed to him by young people. La Carcova is edited by the shanty town community of “Gran Buenos Aires.”

Among the topics Francis addressed were drug trafficking, faith, hope for derailed lives, virtual realities and politics. He also touched on the possibility of a trip to his native Argentina in 2016.

Please see below for the full English translation of the Pope's interview:
 

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http://www.cruxnow.com/life/2015/03/10/cardinal-gives-an-early-look-at-francis-encyclical-on-the-environment/

Cardinal previews Francis' encyclical on the environment
March 10, 2015

A Vatican official who helped write a first draft of Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on climate change acknowledged disagreement over the causes of global warming, but said “what is not contested is that our planet is getting warmer,” and that Christians have a duty rooted in “ancient biblical teaching” to address the problem.

In a speech last week in Ireland, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said Francis isn’t making a political call to arms or an attempt at “greening the Church.” The pope instead is emphasizing Roman Catholic social teaching that links protecting life with fighting global inequality and preserving the environment, Turkson said.

“For the Christian, to care for God’s ongoing work of creation is a duty, irrespective of the causes of climate change,” Turkson said, in his address last Thursday at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland. “To care for creation, to develop and live an integral ecology as the basis for development and peace in the world, is a fundamental Christian duty.”

The highly anticipated encyclical is due to be released this June or July, and only the pope will determine what the final document will include. Still, Turkson’s central role in drafting the statement is prompting many Vatican observers to consider the speech a preview of the encyclical.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-the-prayers-of-the-elderly-are-a-gift-to-the

Pope: the prayers of the elderly are a gift to the Church and to society
2015-03-11 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged the Church to challenge the current throwaway culture by fostering a joyful embrace and a fruitful dialogue between the young and the old.

Speaking to the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued in his catechesis on the family, focusing for the second week in a row, on grandparents.

I too – Francis said – belong to this age group, and I speak putting myself into their shoes. It is important to highlight – he said – that although society tends to discard us, the Lord certainly does not.

In fact – he continued – He calls us to follow Him in every moment of our lives including old-age which contains a special grace and mission.

It is not a time - he said - "to give up" and be marginalized.

The Gospel, Pope Francis pointed out, offers us the image of Simeon and Anna, two older persons who hope in the Lord’s promises, and at the end of their lives see them fulfilled.

Simeon and Anna, the Pope said, are models of spirituality for the elderly, they point to the centrality of prayer.

And Pope Francis reiterated that the prayer of grandparents is a great grace and a great gift for families and for the Church.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/rome-prison-chaplain-super-happy-pope-to-visit

Rome prison chaplain "super-happy" Pope to visit
2015-03-11 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio)  On Holy Thursday 2 April, Pope Francis will visit Rome’s Casa Circondariale New Prison Complex Rebibbia to meet detainees and staff. He will celebrate the "in Cena Domini" or Lord’s Supper Mass in the church, "Padre Nostro" at 5:30 pm Rome time. During the rite, he will wash the feet of a group of detainees and female inmates from the nearby women’s penitentiary. Vatican Radio’s Sergio Centofanti spoke to Rebibbia chaplain, Don Sandro Spriano:

A. - We are super happy, because the Pope has accepted the invitation I gave him when we met at a Mass in the Santa Marta guesthouse in September.  He told us that if possible, he would come on Holy Thursday. The fact that he kept this promise makes us very, very happy: it is a beautiful thing. We will repeat the experience of three years ago, with Pope Ratzinger, but in a different context and with a different person.
 

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http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/03/11/u-s-government-takes-charge-of-security-for-pope-francis-visit-to-philadelphia/

U.S. Government Takes Charge of Security for Pope Francis’ Visit to Philadelphia
March 11, 2015 10:46 AM

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Organizers of the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit to Philadelphia this September disclosed today that the US Department of Homeland Security is taking the lead in all security arrangements for the events, which are expected to draw up to two million people to the city.

Bob Ciaruffoli, president of the World Meeting of Families Philadelphia organization (at lectern in photo below), says the federal government has declared the visit by Pope Francis and activities leading up to his arrival a “national security special event.”
 
The designation puts the Secret Service in charge of all security. The FBI is tasked with intelligence gathering and investigation of any terrorism threats, any incidents of terrorism, or other major criminal activities.

Ciaruffoli says the designation brings lots of resources to Philadelphia, including materials and manpower for the World Meeting congress and the pope’s visit, set for the last weekend of September.