Pope Francis

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-children-treno-bambini.html

Pope urges children to remember their first teachers and school
09 June 2018, 16:29

Pope Francis met the children of the "Treno dei Bambini" programme on June 9, 2018 in the Vatican. 
More than 500 school children from the peripheries of Milan and Rome, came in the “Treno dei Bambini” (Children’s Train) initiative to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican on June 9.

"Never forget the first teachers, never forget the school, because they are the roots of your culture. And remembering your teachers and your schools will help you not to be uprooted, and help you bear flowers and fruits.”

Pope Francis made the exhortation on Saturday to more than 500 children of various faiths from the peripheries of the Italian cities of Rome and Milan, who came to meet him in an initiative called, “Treno dei Bambini”, the Italian for “Children’s Train”. 

“Treno dei Bambini”

Part of the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” programme of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture in collaboration with the Italian state railways, the “Treno dei Bambini” initiative includes children who are not only Catholics but also Muslims, Buddhists, Orthodox, atheists and others.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-decrees-canonization-beatification.html

Pope clears seven candidates for sainthood and beatification
09 June 2018, 12:01

Pope Francis on June 8 authorized the promulgation of four decrees concerning 7 candidates for beatification and canonization.

Pope Francis on Friday cleared an Italian layman for sainthood and another three from Mexico, Spain and a group martyred in Argentina were cleared for beatification.

Pope Francis on June 8 received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorized the Congregation to promulgate four decrees.

A decree recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Italian layman, Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio.  He was born in Pescosansonesco (Italy) on 13 April 1817 and died in Naples (Italy) on 5 May 1836.  Blessed Sulprizio is now cleared for canonization, the date for which will be fixed later in a consistory of cardinals with the Pope.

Three other decrees were regarding beatification, which is a step away from final sainthood or canonization.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-angelus-envy.html

Pope Francis at Angelus: “Envy leads to false accusations”
10 June 2018, 12:29

Pope Francis prays the Sunday Angelus  (Vatican Media)
In his address at the Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Francis said envy for the goodness of another person can lead to false accusations meant to destroy their good reputation.
By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis at the Sunday Angelus address told pilgrims and tourists that envy and jealousy for someone else’s goodness and good works can lead to false accusations.

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel, the Holy Father explored two types of misunderstanding that Jesus had to face, which came from the learned scribes and from his own family members.

Scribes’ unforgivable sin

The Pope said the scribes of Jesus’ day were well instructed in the Sacred Scriptures, and their job was to explain them to people.

Jesus’ fame was beginning to spread, he said, so some scribes were sent to Galilee to discredit him. “These scribes arrive with a precise and terrible accusation: ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul and by the prince of demons he drives out demons.’ (Mk 3:22)

Pope Francis said they wanted to make people think Jesus got his healing powers from the Evil One and not from God. He called this a “sin against the Holy Spirit” because they denied and blasphemed “against the Love of God that is present and at work in Jesus.”

The only unforgivable sin – blasphemy against the Holy Spirit – he said, “starts from a heart closed to the mercy of God, who acts in Jesus.”
 
https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-jesus-addresses-the-misunderstandings-of-the-scribes-and-of-his-relatives-full-text/
Angelus Address: Jesus Addresses the Misunderstandings of the Scribes and of His Relatives (Full Text) 
June 10, 2018 14:39

Video at the link below--
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-singapore-north-korea-usa.html#.Wx0HBn10NGY.twitter

Pope appeals for US-North Korea summit in Singapore
10 June 2018, 12:50

Pope Francis prays for Korean peninsula at Angelus  (AFP or licensors)
Ahead of Tuesday’s summit in Singapore between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, Pope Francis prays for a future of peace on the Korean peninsula and throughout the world.
By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis on Sunday renewed his prayers for the “beloved Korean people”.

He prayed that the upcoming summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea “may contribute to the development of a positive path to assure a future of peace on the Korean peninsula and throughout the world.”

The Pope was referring to a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 12th, in Singapore between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pope Francis invited all people around the world to pray for the first meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president.

“Let us together invoke Our Lady, Queen of Korea. May she guide these talks,” he said.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-06/pope-homily-santa-marta-barnabas-evangelization.html

Pope Francis: ‘the Holy Spirit – protagonist of evangelization’
11 June 2018, 11:27

Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the Memorial of St Barnabas at Casa Santa Marta  (Vatican Media)
On Monday, the Memorial of St Barnabas, Pope Francis reflects on three aspects of evangelization present in the readings of the liturgy: proclamation, service and gratuitousness.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

In his homily on Monday in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis explained that evangelization has three fundamental dimensions: proclamation, service and gratuitousness.

Proclamation

The readings for the Memorial of St Barnabas (Acts 11:21-26; 12: 1-3 and Matthew 10:7-13) demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is the “protagonist” of the Gospel proclamation, Pope Francis said. That proclamation is unlike other types of communication. Due to the action of the Holy Spirit, it has the power “to change hearts”. There have been pastoral plans that seem to be perfect, Pope Francis said. “They were incapable of changing hearts” because they were ends in themselves. “They were not instruments of evangelization”, the Pope said.

It is not with an entrepreneurial attitude that Jesus sends us…. No, it is with the Holy Spirit. This is courage. The true courage behind evangelization is not human stubbornness. No, it is the Spirit who gives us courage and who carries you forward.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-message-anniversary-neocatechumenal-way-berlin.html

Pope Francis' message to the Neocatechumenal Way in Berlin: Never forget the Shoah
11 June 2018, 16:12

Through the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Pope Francis sends a message to the participants of the 40th Anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way in Berlin.

The Neocatechumenal Way celebrated its 40th anniversary on June 9 and 10 in Berlin. Among the events marking this anniversary were: A Eucharist celebrated in thanksgiving, the presentation of the book entitles Annotations by Kiko Argüello, and a Symphonic-Catechetical celebration entitled “The Suffering of the Innocents”, composed by Kiko Argüello held at the Berlin Philharmonic. In the symphony, victims of the Shoah are commemorated. Following the performance, Pope Francis’ message on the occasion of the symphony sent through the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro-Parolin to Archbishop Heiner Koch, Archbishop of Berlin was read.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-resignation-bishop-chile.html

Pope Francis accepts the resignations of 3 Chilean Bishops
11 June 2018, 12:15

Pope Francis meets with the Bishops of Chile on his Apostolic Visit to Chile, January 16, 2018
The Holy See's Press Office announces that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of three Chilean Bishops--two for reasons of having reached the age limit.

Diocese of Osorno, Chile

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese of Osorno, Chile, presented by His Excellency Msgr. Juan Barros Madrid.

The Holy Father has appointed as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the same diocese of Osorno, Chile, His Excellency Msgr Jorge Enrique Concha Cayuqueo, O.F.M., Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago de Chile, Chile.
 
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-accepts-resignation-of-bishop-at-heart-chilean-abuse-scandal-69841
Pope accepts resignation of Juan Barros, bishop at the center of Chilean abuse scandal

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-ireland-world-meeting-families-schedule.html

Pope Francis' programme for Apostolic Visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families
11 June 2018, 15:15

Logo for the IX World Meeting of Families
The Holy See's Press Office announces Pope Francis' schedule for his upcoming Apostolic Visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families, August 25-26.

Pope Francis' Apostolic Visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families begins on Saturday morning, 25 August, when he departs from Rome and arrives in Dublin at 10:30.
 

Schedule at the link below--
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/9225/pope-francis-to-visit-shrine-of-knock-when-in-ireland
11 June 2018 | by Sarah Mac Donald   
Pope Francis to visit shrine of Knock when in Ireland

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-06/pope-mass-christian-witness-salt-light.html

Pope at Mass: ‘Christian witness is being salt, light’
12 June 2018, 10:58

Pope Francis preaches at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta  (Vatican Media)
In his homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday, Pope Francis invites Christians to be salt and light in our witness to Jesus, not drawing attention to our own merits.

Pope Francis at Mass on Tuesday morning said Christian witness is meant to edify others and not to serve as path to self-promotion.

The Holy Father said Christians are called to provide “simple, habitual witness” to Jesus, calling it “everyday holiness.”

Christian witness, he said, can mean giving one’s life in martyrdom, after Jesus’ example. But he said, another path is to point to Christ in our everyday actions, when we wake, work, and go to bed.

“It seems like such a small thing,” he said, “but miracles are done through small things.”
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-world-day-child-labour-ilo-un.html

Pope warns those who force children into slavery
12 June 2018, 13:25

Child labour in Afghanistan.  (AFP or licensors)
On World Day Against Child Labour, June 12, Pope Francis tweeted against those who rob children of the joys of childhood, forcing them into hazardous jobs.
By Robin Gomes

As the world marked the United Nation’s World Day Against Child Labour on Tuesday, Pope Francis came out strongly against the scourge, denouncing those who shatter the hopes of the little ones.

“Children must be able to play, study and grow in a peaceful environment. Woe to anyone who stifles their joyful impulse to hope!” the Pope warned in a post on his Twitter account @Pontifex.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-general-audience-no-to-half-hearted-christians.html#.WyEBXptnVDY.twitter

Pope: Christians must pursue the path of true life, true love, true wealth
13 June 2018, 13:02

Pope Francis at the General audience  (ANSA)
Young people should be hungry for an authentic Christian life and adults should set an example. This message was at the heart of Pope Francis’ catechesis on Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Square.
By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis began a new series of catecheses on Wednesday focussing on the Ten Commandments.

Addressing those present in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience, the Pope reflected on the Gospel passage of the day in which a young man asked Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“That question, he explained, contains the challenge of every existence: we all wish for a full and eternal life. But what path must we walk to achieve one?”
 

Video at the link below--
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-general-audience-fifa-world-championship.html#.WyEC93tE99g.twitter

Pope hopes FIFA World Cup will be an occasion of dialogue and encounter
13 June 2018, 11:08

The 2018 FIFA World Cup logo on a building in Moscow  (AFP or licensors)
Pope Francis looked ahead to a month of top class football during his General Audience expressing his hope the FIFA World Cup Russia will favour solidarity and peace among nations.
By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis has expressed his hope that the about-to-begin Football World Championship will prove to be an occasion for “encounter, dialogue and brotherhood between different cultures and religions, and that it will favour solidarity and peace among nations”.

Speaking at the end of the weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope mentioned that tomorrow, Thursday 14 June, the Championship kicks off in Russia.

“I wish to send my cordial greetings to the athletes and organizers, as well as to all those who will be following the event through the media,” an event, he said, that overcomes every barrier.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/in-osorno-popes-investigators-offer-legal-advice-on-responding-to-abuse-57332

In Osorno, Pope's investigators offer legal advice on responding to abuse
By Elise Harris

Osorno, Chile, Jun 12, 2018 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The archbishop tasked with investigating the Chilean clerical abuse crisis said the main objective of his visit to the diocese of Osorno is not only to express Pope Francis' closeness to the local Church, but to help provide the legal structures needed to handle abuse accusations.

“In respect to our pastoral mission, we wish in first place to be a sign of the closeness of the pope to the people and Church of Chile,” Archbishop Charles Scicluna said in a June 12 statement read aloud to the press in Santiago.

Another goal of the visit, he said, is “to provide concrete technical and legal assistance to the diocesan curias of Chile, so that they can give adequate responses to each case of sexual abuse of minors committed by priests or religious.”

The archbishop stressed Francis' particular closeness to the Diocese of Osorno, saying the visit will be carried out in a spirit “of service and of communion, in a context of prayer, of liturgical celebration and of mutual listening and cordiality.”
 

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https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/06/13/first-draft-of-new-constitution-for-vatican-bureaucracy-given-to-pope/

First draft of new ‘constitution’ for Vatican bureaucracy given to pope
Claire Giangravè   Jun 13, 2018

In this file photo, Pope Francis's advisers, the C9, are shown. (Credit: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, handout.)
ROME - Five years after its creation, the council of nine cardinals, or C9, tasked with advising Pope Francis and shaping the reform of the Roman Curia, has released a first draft of a constitution outlining the pontiff’s vision for the Vatican.

The proposed document is an Apostolic Constitution, one of the highest forms of papal decrees which usually promulgates significant Church legislation.

For the time being, it is Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), and was announced on June 13. It will now be submitted to Francis for review and is therefore subject to change.

“The pope will do what he wants,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke in a meeting with the press on Wednesday, and he will apply “all the opportune or necessary changes.”

The draft offers a guideline to “understand the spirit (of the document) and what is behind the writing,” Burke said, and it lists the “guiding principles” that Francis has offered to inspire the new constitution.

There is no set date as to when to expect the final document, which Burke said still requires “a lot of work,” but it will eventually replace Pastor Bonus, St. John Paul II’s 1998 constitution for the Roman Curia.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-06/pope-francis-homily-mass-santa-marta-reconciliation.html#.WyI4pmZd2f0.twitter

Pope Francis at Mass: ‘Jesus desires reconciliation'
14 June 2018, 11:20

Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Casa Santa Marta  (Vatican Media)
On Thursday morning during his homily at Mass in Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis says that Jesus invites us to 'radical reconciliation'.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

Pope Francis used the Gospel of the day (Matthew 5:20-26) as the point of departure for his homily on Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. He said that Jesus desires “radical” reconciliation.

Human wisdom

The Pope said that Jesus uses human wisdom in reasoning with the disciples. In order to drive home his teaching regarding loving relationships, the Lord uses an “every-day example…the problem of insults”.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-message-world-day-poor.html#.WyKLJ6d8NIc.twitter

Pope releases Message for World Day of the Poor
14 June 2018, 14:40

Pope Francis shares a meal with poor people at a soup kitchen   (@L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Francis says Christians are urgently called to manifest their faith by giving “a sign of neighbourliness and relief in the face of the many forms of poverty” that afflict our world, and at the same time honour them “who are the real presence of Jesus in our midst”.
By Linda Bordoni

In a message released on Thursday for the 2nd World Day of the Poor, celebrated this year on 18 November, Pope Francis said we live in a world “which praises, follows and imitates those who have power and riches, while at the same time marginalizing the poor and considering them an object of shame.”

The cry of the poor

The theme chosen for this year’s message is “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him”. It comes on the heels of the 1st World Day of the Poor which was established by Pope Francis at the conclusion of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and fixed for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.
 

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https://cruxnow.com/cns/2018/06/14/u-s-officials-return-stolen-columbus-letter-back-to-vatican-library/

U.S. officials return stolen Columbus letter back to Vatican Library
Carol Glatz   Jun 14, 2018

Callista Gingrich, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, and Archbishop Jean-Luis Brugues, librarian of the Vatican Library, pose in front of a copy of a letter written by Christopher Columbus during a ceremony at the Vatican June 14. The United States tracked down and returned a stolen copy of the Columbus letter, an account of the explorer's discovery of America written in 1493. (Credit: Tony Gentile/pool via CNS.)
ROME - With the help of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a 15th-century copy of a letter Christopher Columbus sent to his royal patrons describing the riches of the New World has been returned to its rightful owner - the Vatican.

The rare four-page document, estimated to be worth $1.2 million, had been secretly replaced with a forgery, while the true document eventually ended up in the hands of a U.S. collector from Atlanta.

The late Robert Parsons had purchased the piece for $875,000 in the United States in 2004 “in good faith,” unaware it had been stolen.

Callista Gingrich, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, and representatives of the Department of Homeland Security and its investigations division presented the original copy during a ceremony June 14 at the Vatican Library. Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, head of the Vatican Library and Vatican Secret Archives, and Msgr. Cesare Pasini, the library’s prefect, also attended the ceremony.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-06/pope-santa-marta-mass-women-exploitation.html#.WyOgoGisUaQ.twitter

Pope at Mass: exploiting women is a sin against God
15 June 2018, 12:43

In his homily at Mass in the Santa Marta residence, Pope Francis reflects on the exploitation of women today who are treated like objects, recalling that without women men cannot be the image and likeness of God.
By Susy Hodges

Taking his inspiration from the gospel reading from Matthew where Christ said that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery, Pope Francis’ homily was a reflection on the many different ways in which women are exploited in today’s society. He lamented how so many females are used and cast aside and spoke of the young women who are forced to sell their own dignity in order to earn a living.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-italy-meritorious-workers-hope-ethical.html#.WyPUL8w2c5A.twitter

Pope: Work brings hope in life and renews society
15 June 2018, 14:22

Pope Francis meeting representatives of the Federation of Meritorious Workers of Italy on June 15, 2018.  (ANSA)
Pope Francis on Friday met some 600 representatives of the Federation of Meritorious Workers of Italy and spoke to them about the dignity and hope that work brings and about the need to maintain ethical principles at the workplace.
By Robin Gomes

Italy’s Meritorious Workers are those over 50 who have been honoured by the state for their outstanding expertise, diligence, and moral conduct at the workplace.

Meeting them on the occasion of their national conference, the Pope said that work brings one the hope for a better future, and one cannot be happy without the possibility of contributing to the common good. 
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-06/pope-francis-theatine-sisters-gospel-community-life.html

Pope urges Theatine sisters to witness to the Gospel and fraternal community life
16 June 2018, 15:57

Pope Francis on June 16 met the Theatine Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and urged them to be attentive to the “existential peripheries” and care for community life.
By Robin Gomes

“If you are open to the action of the Spirit, He will guide you to respond creatively to the cry of the poor and of the many who hunger and thirst for God.”  This was one of the exhortations of Pope Francis to 100 Theatine Sisters who met him on Saturday in the Vatican.  The sisters are marking the 4th death centenary of their Italian foundress, Venerable Orsola Benincasa, this year.