Pope Francis

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/07/pope_francis_invokes_st_teresa_of_calcutta/1256522

Pope Francis invokes St Teresa of Calcutta
07/09/2016 17:10

Scene on the steps of St Peter's Basilica a day after the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis invoked St. Teresa of Calcutta on Wednesday, in his final words to pilgrims and tourists before imposing his Apostolic Blessing at the end of the weekly General Audience.
 
“Dear young people,” he continued, “become like her: artisans of mercy.”

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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-dont-use-god-to-defend-your-own-interests-28392/

Pope Francis: Don't use God to defend your own interests

Vatican City, Sep 7, 2016 / 08:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday, Pope Francis warned against making Jesus into the person we want him to be, and thus creating obstacles to a true relationship with Christ and his mercy.

“The admonition of Jesus is always present: even today man constructs images of God that prevent him from enjoying his real presence,” the Pope said during the general audience Sept. 7.

“Some carve out a 'do it yourself' faith that reduces God in the limited space of their own desires and their own beliefs. But this faith is not conversion to the Lord that is revealed, in fact, it prevents him from arousing our life and our conscience.”

In his catechesis, Pope Francis named several different ways in which people create false images of God, such as those who invoke his name in defense of their own interests, or in the interest of hatred and violence, or those who deny Christ's divinity, considering him just a good ethical teacher and leader.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-greets-german-pilgrims-with-invocatio

Pope Francis greets German pilgrims with invocation of Our Lady of Altötting
2016-09-07 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis surprised German-speaking pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, when he greeted them at the end of the weekly General Audience with a few improvised words in their native tongue.

“I am pleased to welcome the pilgrims from German-speaking countries and the Netherlands,” began the Holy Father, adding, “I greet in particular the faithful of the Diocese of Passau.” At that point, the Holy Father departed from his prepared remarks to invoke Our Lady, who has a famous shrine in Passau, which is a suffragan diocese of Munich and Friesing.

“You call to mind the Virgin of Altötting,” he said.
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/07/anglicans_look_to_pope_as_role_model_of_christian_leadership/1256533

Anglicans look to Pope as role model of Christian leadership
07/09/2016 17:02

Pope Francis greets New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon, director of Rome's Anglican Centre, and Zambian Bishop William Mchombo of the Central African province at the end of his Wednesday general audience in St Peter's Square

(Vatican Radio) Among the thousands of pilgrims and visitors present in St Peter’s Square for the Pope’s general audience on Wednesday was a group of Anglicans from all over the world who are taking part in a week long study course on Christian leadership.

Organised by the Anglican Centre in Rome, the course is based on Biblical scholarship, case studies of exemplary leaders, past and present, and field work in Rome and Assisi.
 
The Anglican leader said it was significant for course participants to see and hear the Pope in action at the audience. “It’s very important for them to see how he communicates, how he inspires, how he cares. He is one of the best role models of effective leadership for all Christians today”, Archbishop David said.

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https://zenit.org/articles/popes-fall-schedule/

Pope’s Fall Schedule 
Conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy nears; 10 a.m. Mass on Nov. 20 will draw holy year to a close
September 6, 2016

The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside from September to November:

 SEPTEMBER
 Sunday 25, 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and Jubilee of Catechists.
 Friday 30 to Sunday 2 October: Apostolic trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan.

 OCTOBER
 Saturday 8: At 5.30 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Marian vigil.
 Sunday 9, 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and Marian Jubilee.
 Sunday 16: 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.15 in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and canonisation of Blesseds Salomone Leclercq, José Sanchez del Rio, Manuel González García, Lodovico Pavoni, Alfonso Maria Fusco, José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, and Elisabeth of the Holy Trinity.
 Monday 31 to Tuesday 1 November: Apostolic trip to Sweden to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
 
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/09/07/pope-close-holy-year-events-prisoners-homeless/
Pope to close Holy Year with events for prisoners, the homeless
Inés San Martín  September 7, 2016

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-conferences-wont-achieve-peace-if-the-heart-i

Pope: Conferences won't achieve peace if the heart is at war
2016-09-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Resuming the daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta after the summer break, Pope Francis, in his homily, spoke about the importance of working for peace in small, daily actions – because, he said, it is in small daily gestures that peace on a global scale is born.

It is not so much great international meetings that produce peace, he said. Rather, peace is a gift from God which is born in small places: in the heart, for instance; or in a dream, as happened to St Joseph when the angel told him not to fear to take Mary as his wife, because she would give the world “Emmanuel”, that is, “God with us.” And “God with us”, the Pope said, “is peace.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-welcomes-first-female-resident-australian-amb

Pope welcomes first female resident Australian ambassador
2016-09-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Thursday with the new Australian ambassador to the Holy See, Melissa Hitchman, who presented her credentials.

The newest member of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps is an experienced career officer with Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade.  She has previously served overseas as first secretary at the Australian High Commission in London.

Diplomatic relations between Canberra and the Holy See were formally established in 1973 but Hitchman is both the first career diplomat and the first woman to hold the post of resident ambassador
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-to-american-interreligious-symposium

Pope Francis to American interreligious symposium: world is watching
2016-09-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in an international interreligious congress on Thursday in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace. Organized by the Instituto del Diálogo Interreligioso – the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue of Argentina, in partnership with the Organization for American States and with the collaboration of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the symposium opened Wednesday, September 7th, at the Pontifical Augustinianum Institute to explore the theme: América en diálogo – Nuestra casa común – “America in Dialogue: our common home”.

The two-day gathering is the first of its kind for the organizations involved, and its working sessions focused on the Holy Father’s encyclical letter, Laudato si’.

In remarks prepared for the occasion, Pope Francis said, “The world looks constantly to us, believers, to see what our attitude is towards the common house and to human rights.” The Holy Father went on to say, “The world also asks us to cooperate among ourselves and with men and women of good will who profess no religion, in order to give effective answers to the many scourges of our world,” including the scourges of war and hunger, abject poverty, ecological crises, violence, corruption and moral degradation, the crisis of the family, the economy, “and above all,” he said “the lack of hope.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-to-benedictines-monasteries-are-oases

Pope Francis to Benedictines: Monasteries are oases of God’s mercy
2016-09-08 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says today’s society “is increasingly showing its need of mercy” and described Benedictine monasteries “as oases of spirituality” where people can obtain that mercy. The Pope’s comments came on Thursday during an address to participants of the International Congress of Benedictine Abbots and Abesses taking place in Rome.

Pope Francis said when we talk of our world needing more mercy, this is not "a slogan or a recipe" but instead something that comes from the very heart of Christian life making that person "more attentive to the needy and showing solidarity with them." This, he declared, is the concrete quality of the love that shows “the authenticity and credibility” of the Church’s message.

In a Church that is called to concentrate increasingly on the essentials, the Pope said monks and nuns have a vocation of nurturing their special gift and responsibility: namely “to keep alive the oases of the spirit, where clergy and the lay faithful can dip into the springs of divine mercy.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-at-daily-mass-evangelizing-not-a-rote

Pope Francis at daily Mass: evangelizing not a rote task
2016-09-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day, the Holy Father focused on the nature of the work of Evangelization: it is an art and a discipline – never a vaunt and never a task to be done by rote – and the work of evangelization is never, never, “a walk in the park”.

Drawing on the Readings of the Day for Friday, the liturgical memorial of the great priest and missionary to African slaves in the New World, St. Peter Claver, SJ, the Holy Father explained that the essence of evangelization is witness to Christ with one’s whole life.

Evangelizing is neither a vaunt, nor a rote task
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-to-bishops-gossip-and-wealth-destroy-the-chur

Pope to bishops: 'gossip and wealth destroy the Church'
2016-09-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday told bishops that division, gossip and money are weapons in the hands of the devil.

Speaking to a group of recently appointed bishops of mission countries at the end of a formation course organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pope said each bishop is called to give testimony of God’s love, care and mercy with their own lives and example.

Pointing out that bishops of mission countries come from places that are “different and distant”, each of you – Pope Francis said – has “the great privilege and responsibility of being on the front lines of evangelization”.

Inviting them never to forget that one of their foremost duties is to respond immediately to the requests and needs of their priests, the Pope warned them against the evils that can wreak damage and destroy their mission to evangelize.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-holds-private-encounter-with-pentecostal-past

Pope holds private encounter with Pentecostal pastors
2016-09-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has met with a group of Italian Pentecostal pastors, telling them that unity is achieved by walking patiently together.

The seven Pentecostal pastors, led by the Pope’s friend Giovanni Traettino from the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation, had a private audience in the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday afternoon to continue the dialogue begun by the pontiff’s visit to their community in Caserta two years ago.

During the informal encounter Pastor Traettino thanked the Pope for his role “as a brother and an ally” in accelerating the dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals.
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/09/fr_lombardi_on_pope_emeritus_benedict_xvis_new_book_/1256892

Fr Lombardi: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's new book precious and urgent
09/09/2016 10:47

Cover of Pope Benedict''s most recent book, entitled ''The Last Conversations'' by Peter Seewald

(Vatican Radio) A new book of interviews by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI hit bookshelves Friday in the Italian language. The book entitled "The Last Conversations", by German journalist Peter Seewald covers a number of themes including his decision to resign.

Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi is President of the Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI ) Foundation.

For Fr Lombardi there are two very important aspects of this book. The first he says, is the witness Pope Emeritus Benedict gives as he lives this last phase of his life. “The last time of his life is preparation to (for) the encounter with God. This is a very important witness, profound, spiritual; a witness of faith.”

Fr Lombardi goes on to say that this theme “justifies this book”, because his explanation of “how he experiences now the presence of God in his life is something that is precious and urgent…”

Theme of resignation

Another key theme says the Ratzinger Foundation President, is “how he says again clearly and I think in a definitive way the reasons of his renunciation (resignation), eliminating every rumour, every false interpretation as consequence of the scandals of the difficulties, “no”, he says no, “it was a time I (the Pope Emeritus) had already overcome the difficulties and then there was the good time to take a decision before God in total responsibility and this I have done and I am happy of (with) this decision and I have not changed my mind.”"

Recalling other interesting themes and points in the book, Fr Lombardi mentions Pope Benedict’s reflections on his participation at the second Vatican Council, and his collaboration with St John Paul II.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-deliver-us-from-indifference-selfishn

Pope Francis: Deliver us from indifference, selfishness and self-sufficiency
2016-09-10 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis warned against a “false freedom” which has created “many new forms of slavery” during his Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.

The Holy Father’s catechesis focused on the word ‘redemption,’ which he said is “little used, but it is important because it points to the most radical liberation God is able to perform for us, for all humanity, and for the entirety of creation.”

“It appears that the people of today no longer love to think of being liberated and saved by the intervention of God; in fact, people today are under the illusion that their liberty is a force with which to obtain all things. They even boast of this,” – Pope Francis said – “But in reality, it is not like this. How many illusions are being sold under the pretext of freedom, and how many new forms of slavery are being created in our time in the name of a false freedom!”

“There are so many slaves: ‘I do this because I want to do it, I take drugs because I like it, I'm free, I will do something else.’  They are slaves!” – the Holy Father continued – “They become slaves in the name of freedom. We have all seen such people eventually end up in the ground. We need God to deliver us from all forms of indifference, selfishness and self-sufficiency.”
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lBW0b-k0go
Pope Francis' Jubilee Audience 2016.09.10 
Streamed live 17 hours ago
Pope Francis' Jubilee Audience 10.09.2016 - St. Peter's Square

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http://www.news.va/en/news/czech-pilgrims-give-statue-of-st-agnes-to-pope-fra

Czech pilgrims give statue of St. Agnes to Pope Francis
2016-09-10 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday received a statue of St. Agnes of Bohemia from members of the National Jubilee Pilgrimage of the Czech Republic, which was led by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, the Archbishop emeritus of Prague.

“As Patroness of the Czech Republic,  St. Agnes of Bohemia is for me not only a symbol of Czech statehood, but also a symbol of mercy,” said Daniel Herman, the Minister of Culture for the Czech Republic, who is a member of the pilgrimage group. Although long venerated by the Czech people, St. Agnes was only canonized in 1989, by Pope St. John Paul II.

The statue stands 1.6 metres tall, and weighs nearly 300 kilograms. It was made by students in the small town of Hořice.

During the Jubilee Audience, Pope Francis thanked them for the gift of the statue.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-confirms-sick-boy-before-jubilee-audience

Pope confirms sick boy before Jubilee audience
2016-09-10 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on a seriously ill young man before his Saturday Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square.

16-year-old Giuseppe Chiolo, a patient of the oncological department of the Meyer Hospital in Florence, travelled to the Vatican on Saturday morning aboard an ambulance.

The Pope embraced Giuseppe before confirming him, and gifted him with a rosary as he asked the boy not to forget to pray for him.

Giuseppe had recently written a letter to Pope Francis in which he revealed his strong desire to meet with the Pope;  he was immediately invited to come to the Vatican.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-angelus-jesus-show-us-that-god-is-merciful-to

Pope Angelus: Jesus shows us that God is merciful to sinners
2016-09-11 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Speaking before the Marian Prayer in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis recalled Sunday’s Gospel from Luke, considered to be the chapter of Mercy.

In these parables of the lost sheep, the coin, and the prodigal son the Pope explained that "Jesus wants to make us understand that God the Father is the first to have a welcoming and merciful attitude toward sinners."

The Pope added that all these parables express joy and rejoicing, not sadness and sorrow.
 
http://www.news.va/en/news/angelus-pope-francis-prays-for-peace-in-gabon
Angelus: Pope Francis prays for peace in Gabon
2016-09-11 Vatican Radio

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/10/pope_francis_prayer_at_ground_zero/1257076

Pope Francis: prayer at Ground Zero
10/09/2016 16:00

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited the Ground Zero memorial at the World Trade Center in New York on September 25th, 2015 – nearly a year ago to the day from this fifteenth anniversary of the attacks. During the course of his visit to the memorial site, the Holy Father offered a prayer of remembrance for the nearly 3 thousand victims of the atrocity committed by terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda terror network.

Below, please find the text of the prayer Pope Francis composed for the occasion of his visit
********************************************
O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths
and religious traditions,
who gather today on this hallowed ground,
the scene of unspeakable violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here:
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and
Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-the-devil-seeks-to-divide-the-church-at-the-r

Pope: The devil seeks to divide the Church at the root of unity
2016-09-12 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Divisions destroy the Church, and the devil seeks to attack the root of unity: the celebration of the Eucharist. That was the message of Pope Francis on Monday morning at the daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, on the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Commenting on the reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians — where St Paul rebuked the Corinthians for their contentiousness — Pope Francis said, “The devil has two very powerful weapons to destroy the Church: divisions and money.” And this has happened from the beginning: “ideological, theological divisions that lacerate the Church. The devil sows jealousy, ambitions, ideas, but to divide! Or greed.” And, as happens after a war, “everything is destroyed. And the devil is pleased. And we, naïve as we are, are his game.” “It is a dirty war, that of divisions,” he repeated. “It’s like terrorism,” the war of gossiping in the community, that of language that kills”:

“And the divisions in the Church do not allow the Kingdom to grow; they do not allow the Lord to be seen as He is. Divisions make you see this part, this one against the other. Always against! There is no oil of unity, the balsam of unity. But the devil goes elsewhere, not only in the Christian community, he goes right to the root of Christian unity. And this happens here, in the city of Corinth, to the Corinthians. Paul rebukes them precisely because divisions arise, right at the heart of unity, that is, in the Eucharistic celebration.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pontifical-commission-for-the-protection-of-mino-4

Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors holds plenary
2016-09-12 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) met in Plenary Assembly last week, September 8-11 focusing their attention on the three key areas of education, a Day of Prayer and the Holy Father's MOTU PROPRIO “As a Loving Mother”, on the accountability of Church leadership. The Plenary also recognised the importance of digital technology and have announced the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors will be going live with its own website.

The Working Group meetings focused on the updates for current projects, and developing draft proposals for  Pope Francis.
 
Please find below the full press statement from the Commission:

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors [PCPM] works throughout the year and came together in Rome from September 5 through 11 for a week of Working Group meetings, [Guidelines, Healing and Care, Education, Formation, Theology and Spirituality, Canonical and Civil Norms] and for its Plenary Assembly.

The Working Group meetings focused on the updates for current projects, and developing draft proposals for the Holy Father, Pope Francis.   For example, the Commission has developed a template for guidelines in the safeguarding and protection of children, adolescents and vulnerable adults, which we will shortly present to the Holy Father for his consideration.