Pope Francis

[grace-land]

Video at the link

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1304166.htm

Pope, cardinal advisers looking at major overhaul of Roman Curia
(UPDATED) Oct-3-2013

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals are laying out plans to completely overhaul the Roman Curia, underlining its role of "service to the universal church and the local churches," the Vatican spokesman said.

As the pope and the eight cardinals he named to advise him were about to begin the final session of their Oct. 1-3 meeting, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the spokesman, said the role and responsibilities of the Vatican secretary of state, the revamping of the world Synod of Bishops, and the Vatican's attention to the role and responsibility of laity also were major themes of discussion.

Father Lombardi said the group's agenda was partially dictated by the pope's own timetable. Pope Francis has named Archbishop Pietro Parolin to be his secretary of state and has given him an Oct. 15 start date, so it made sense to discuss how the pope and cardinals see his role in a renewed curia.

Under the terms of Blessed John Paul II's constitution "Pastor Bonus," a 1988 reform of the curia, the Secretariat of State includes two sections: One section deals with foreign relations and the other deals with internal church matters. "Pastor Bonus" said the secretariat was to "foster relations" with other Curia offices and "coordinate their work."

Father Lombardi said the pope and the cardinals emphasized the role of the Secretariat of State as "the secretariat of the pope," and said the discussions included "the hypothesis of a new figure -- the 'moderator of the curia'" to ensure greater communication and cooperation among the Curia offices.
 
At the end of their meeting, council members announced they would hold their second meeting with the pope Dec. 3-5, and they planned to meet again at the Vatican in February "so that the work of the council, especially in this initial phase, can proceed quickly," Father Lombardi said.

The eight members, who represent six continents, are: Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean P. O'Malley of Boston; George Pell of Sydney; Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; and Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/04/papal_mass_draws_thousands_in_assisi/en1-734297

2013-10-04 12:41:56
Papal Mass draws thousands in Assisi



(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called for an end to armed conflict and clarified the notion of Franciscan peace during the Mass he presided for the feast of St. Francis on Friday in Assisi.

A few thousand people gathered for the late morning celebration in St. Francis Square, situated before the world-famous shrine dedicated to the patron saint of the poor.

The Pope celebrated at a simple altar, behind which stood a giant two-bar wooden cross and on which hung a representation of the San Damiano Cross. St. Francis was praying before the San Damiano Cross when Jesus commissioned him to rebuild the Church.

Preaching his homily (full homily below) from the ambo, the Pope underlined the relevant witness St. Francis continues to offer.

“His first and most essential witness is this: that being a Christian means having a living relationship with the person of Jesus; it means putting on Christ, being conformed to him,” he said.

“Where did Francis’ journey to Christ begin? It began with the gaze of the crucified Jesus,” he said. “With letting Jesus look at us at the very moment that he gives his life for us and draws us to himself. …When we let the crucified Jesus gaze upon us, we are re-created, we become ‘a new creation’.”

NOT A PANTHEISTIC PEACE
St. Francis also teaches “that everyone who follows Christ receives true peace”, which only Christ can give and the world cannot.

Many people associate St. Francis with peace, however their understanding of this peace is not profound. “Franciscan peace is not something saccharine,” he said emphatically.

“Hardly! That is not the real St. Francis! Nor is it a kind of pantheistic harmony with forces of the cosmos… That is not Franciscan either,” he continued to applause. “It is a notion some people have invented!

“The peace of St. Francis is the peace of Christ, and it is found by those who ‘take up’ their ‘yoke’, namely, Christ’s commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. This yoke cannot be borne with arrogance, presumption or pride, but only with meekness and humbleness of heart,” he said.

RESPECT FOR LIFE
Finally, he said, St. Francis “bears witness to the need to respect all that God has created, and that men and women are called to safeguard and protect, but above all he bears witness to respect and love for every human being.”

“From this City of Peace, I repeat with all the strength and the meekness of love: Let us respect creation, let us not be instruments of destruction! Let us respect each human being,” he said.

He called for an end to armed conflict and for care for those who are suffering and dying because of violence, terrorism or war in the Holy Land, in Syria, throughout the Middle East and worldwide.

He concluded by petitioning St. Francis to obtain the gift of God’s harmony and peace for the world.

Before the final blessing, a special votive lamp, dedicated to St. Francis and filled with oil from the local region, was lit. The Pope then prayed a special prayer for Italy, of whom St. Francis is the patron.

Report by Laura Ieraci

Below we publish the Pope's prepared English text of his Homily:
 

[grace-land]

Video and various articles covering the pope's trip to Assisi today, October 4, 2013.

http://www.news.va/en

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/05/pope_concludes_historic_trip_to_assisi_/en1-734533

2013-10-05 08:54:31
Pope concludes historic trip to Assisi

(Vatican Radio) In a scene reminiscent of World Youth Day, Pope Francis ended his pastoral visit to Assisi with an enthusiastic gathering of young people in the square in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

The atmosphere was electric as the square was filled with flag-waving and cheering crowds in an evening filled with music. Pope Francis seemed to pick up on the excitement of the crowd, waving to the people and, as usual, stopping to greet people along the way.

It was a fitting end to a busy day in Assisi, marked by encounters with the sick and disabled, the poor, women and men religious – especially with members of the Franciscan family – with priests and seminarians, pilgrims from around the world and ordinary men and women. At each step of his journey, the Pope also made time for quiet moments of prayer and reflection, following in the footsteps of the “Little Poor Man” of Assisi.
 

[grace-land]

 

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2623/vatican_confirms_scalfari_interview_was_an_afterthefact_reconstruction.aspx#.UlC9Q74o7IU

Vatican confirms Scalfari interview was “an after-the-fact reconstruction”
October 05, 2013 03:22 EST

After days of speculation about the trustworthiness of the interview between Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari published in La Repubblica earlier this week, the Vatican has confirmed that Scalfari “did not tape his interview with Pope Francis, nor did he take notes, so the text was an after-the-fact reconstruction.”

The day after the interview’s publication, Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli questioned some of its details, in particular an anecdote reportedly told by Pope Francis about a mystical experience after his election as pontiff but before his acceptance of the office. Scalfari quotes the Holy Father as saying, “Before I accepted I asked if I could spend a few minutes in the room next to the one with the balcony overlooking the square.” Tornielli reports that not only is there no such room off the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, but that several cardinal electors told him that Francis did not retire before his acceptance. Tornielli concluded that the interview was “not an exact word-for-word reconstruction of dialogue with Scalfari.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told the National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen that Cardinal Bergoglio “never left the Sistine Chapel before accepting.”

Allen reports that Vatican spokesman Father Thomas Rosica issued a statement via email today in which he states that the Scalfari interview risked “either missing some key details or conflating various moments or events recounted during the oral interview,” as Scalfari “did not tape his interview with Pope Francis, nor did he take notes, so the text was an after-the-fact reconstruction.”
 
 
 

[grace-land]

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/dolan-confirms-error-scalfari-interview

Dolan confirms error in Scalfari interview
by John L. Allen Jr.     |  Oct. 5, 2013

(NOTE: An update to this story appears below.)
 
Rome – While stressing the basic “trustworthiness” of a recent blockbuster interview with Pope Francis by Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari, Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, left room on Oct. 2 for the possibility of small imprecisions.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who was among the cardinals who elected Francis, today confirmed one such error – a point of fact, as it happens, with important implications for understanding the immediate reaction of Pope Francis to his election.

Dolan told NCR that in contrast to the scene described by Scalfari, there was no moment when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina left the Sistine Chapel after his election but before accepting the papacy.

Instead, Dolan said, Francis accepted immediately and then left the Sistine Chapel, as is customary, to vest in the "room of tears" before returning to greet the cardinals.

“He never left the Sistine Chapel before accepting,” Dolan said. “All that came later.”

Dolan spoke to NCR at the North American College in Rome.

The Scalfari interview was published by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Oct. 1, setting off shock waves due to the pope’s candor on multiple fronts – calling the trappings of a royal court in the Vatican “leprosy,” complaining that too many church officials are “Vatican-centric,” and so on.

Pressed by reporters on the reliability of the direct quotations, Lombardi said during an Oct. 2 briefing that the text accurately captured the “sense” of what the pope had said, and that if Francis felt his thought had been “gravely misrepresented,” he would have said so.

Nonetheless, Lombardi stopped short of saying that every line was literally as pronounced by the pope, suggesting instead that it represents a new genre of papal speech that’s deliberately informal and not concerned with precision.

Respected French Vatican writer Jean-Marie Guénois confirmed with Scalfari that he didn’t tape the interview, nor did he take notes, so the text was an after-the-fact reconstruction. Scalfari said he showed the text to Francis for his approval, but it’s not clear how closely the pope read it.
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/06/pope_angelus:_faith_through_prayer,_remembering_lampedusa_victims/en1-734894

2013-10-06 13:31:43
Pope Angelus: Faith through prayer, remembering Lampedusa victims

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis took a moment of silent prayer on Sunday during his Angelus address for the victims of the tragic shipwreck off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.

More than a hundred people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing after a ship carrying African migrants sank on Thursday.
Speaking to the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s square, the Holy Father began his address by acknowledging what a gift it was to make his first visit to Assisi on the feast of Saint Francis on October 4, and gave thanks for the warm welcome he received there.

Reflecting on the Gospel reading for the day, the Pope spoke on the power of faith, inviting the crowds in the square to repeat several times after him: “Lord, increase our faith!” He spoke of those who are simple and humble, or who are experiencing difficulties in their lives, who nonetheless are able to do great things, and maintain a certain serenity, because of their faith.

Pope Francis recalled how the month of October is dedicated in a particular way to missionaries, especially those who proclaim the Gospel despite great obstacles. He said, however, that each and every one of us, “in our own lives, every day, can give witness to Christ, with the strength of God, the strength of faith.”

This strength is attained through prayer. “Prayer is the breath of faith,” the Pope said. In a relationship where there is trust and love, he continued, there needs to be dialogue. “Prayer is the dialogue of the soul with God.”

The Holy Father said the month of October is also the month of the Rosary, noting how it is the tradition on the first Sunday of this month to pray to the Madonna of Pompeii, the blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Rosary. Pope Francis said that the Rosary is “a school of prayer,” and “a school of faith!”
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/04/pacem_in_terris_is_magna_carta_for_pax_christi_international/en1-734397

2013-10-06 11:03:58
'Pacem in Terris' is Magna Carta for Pax Christi International

(Vatican Radio) Pope John XXIII’s Cold War era Encyclical Pacem in Terris or “Peace on Earth,” remains “extremely contemporary” and can act as a guide to peace-building in today’s world. That’s what Pope Francis told participants at a three day Vatican conference this week celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Encyclical Letter.

Experts from Catholic universities and institutions, and from the UN, the Council of Europe, the African Union, and the Organization of American States gathered in Rome at the request of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to discuss the relevance of Pacem in Terris to their peace building efforts in today’s world.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/10/cardinal-friend-to-pope-francis-youre-not-the-same-guy/

Cardinal friend to Pope Francis: “You’re not the same guy”
October 6, 2013 By Deacon Greg Kandra

John Allen has some fascinating details about the papal election and the “mystical experience” of the night he was elected, in NCR:


I published a column Oct. 4 in which I quoted a cardinal on background (not an American) who recently had a private session with Francis. This cardinal said he’s been struck by the more free-wheeling and spontaneous style Francis has demonstrated as pope, in comparison to the fairly restrained and shy manner he exhibited in public in Argentina, and told me that he had said to the pope point-blank, “You’re not the same guy.”

According to the cardinal, the pope’s reply was more or less the following: “When I was elected, a great sense of inner peace and freedom came over me, and it’s never left me.”

We got additional details from an interview Rosica recently conducted with Monsignor Dario Viganò, director of the Vatican Television Center, for Salt and Light. (It can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUS3TSUM2kc)

Viganò was inside the Vatican in the moments immediately after Francis’ election, and before the new pope stepped out to greet the world. He says that when Francis left the Sistine Chapel to walk toward the balcony, he had his eyes down, he wasn’t smiling, he didn’t say anything to the cardinals, and was as if he were carrying “an enormous burden.”

Then, however, Francis stepped into the Pauline Chapel, where a throne had been set up for him to use for prayer. Instead, Francis asked the two cardinals walking with him, Jean-Louis Tauran (who made the Habemus Papam announcement) and Agostino Vallini (the vicar of Rome) to sit with him in the chapel’s back pew.

The pope had a few moments of silent prayer, and, according to Viganò, describing what he saw, “he stands up, turns around, and at that moment he’s a different person.”

“It’s as if God had said to him personally, ‘Don’t worry, I’m here with you’,” Viganò said.

Those moments were filmed, Viganò said, though they haven’t yet been broadcast.
 
--------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUS3TSUM2kc

Monsignor Dario Viganò - Witness
Published on Oct 4, 2013 

A 51-year-old Italian priest, Dario Edoardo Viganò, born in Rio de Janeiro, began his new job at the Vatican on January 22, 2013, only weeks before the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Viganò's main mission as director of the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) is to provide global TV and Internet feeds of what unfolds in the Vatican's inner sanctums, to which CTV has exclusive access. Within a few weeks of beginning his new job, his first major assignment was to tell the world the story of the resignation of a pope, the Sede Vacante, the Conclave and election of a new Bishop of Rome. Under Viganò's artistic eye, magnificent images of those events went around the entire world. Join host Fr. Thomas Rosica in this exclusive WITNESS interview as he speaks with the head of Vatican TV about Viganò's mission to keep an age-old institution firmly in the 21st century.

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/07/pope_francis:_“listen_to_what_god_is_telling_you”/en1-735101

2013-10-07 13:51:19
Pope Francis: “Listen to what God is telling you”

(Vatican Radio) “Open up your heart and listen to what God is saying to you. Allow your life to “written” by God”. Just as the Good Samaritan did when he stopped to help the stranger, we must all listen to God’s voice and sometimes put our own projects on hold to do his will.

Speaking to those present for morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Monday, Pope Francis pointed out that it can happen that Christians, Catholics, priests. Bishops and even the Pope sometimes turn away from God!
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/08/pope_francis:_prayer_opens_the_door_for_god/en1-735369

2013-10-08 12:50:29
Pope Francis: Prayer opens the door for God

(Vatican Radio) In his homily at daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis explained that a Christian is a person who has a heart that knows how to pray and knows how to forgive. The Gospel of the day was dedicated to the story of Saint Martha, the titular saint of his residence. The Pope took the Gospel story as the starting point, reminding us that “prayer works miracles” as long as it is not a purely mechanical act.
 
“And we ourselves, when we don’t pray, what we’re doing is closing the door to the Lord. And not praying is this: closing the door to the Lord, so that He can do nothing. On the other hand, prayer, in the face of a problem, a difficult situation, a calamity, is opening the door to the Lord so that He will come. So that He builds things, He knows to arrange things, to reorganize things. This is what praying is: opening the door to the Lord, so that he can do something. But if we close the door, God can do nothing! Let us think on this Mary who has chosen the better part, and makes us see the way, as the door is opened to the Lord.”

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/08/pope_announces_extraordinary_general_assembly/en1-735390

2013-10-08 14:54:25
Pope announces Extraordinary General Assembly

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has announced the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will held at the Vatican from October 5 to October 19, 2014.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1304231.htm

Oct-8-2013
Pope calls synod to discuss families, divorce and remarriage
By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The predicament of divorced and remarried Catholics will be a major topic of discussion when bishops from around the world meet at the Vatican in October 2014.

The Vatican announced Oct. 8 that an extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops will meet Oct. 5-19, 2014, to discuss the "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization."

The pope had told reporters accompanying him on his plane back from Rio de Janeiro in July that the next synod would explore a "somewhat deeper pastoral care of marriage," including the question of the eligibility of divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.
 
This will be only the third extraordinary synod since Pope Paul VI reinstituted synods in 1965, to hold periodic meetings to advise him on specific subjects.

A 1969 extraordinary session was dedicated to improving cooperation between the Holy See and national bishops' conferences; and a 1985 extraordinary session, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council, recommended the compilation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was published seven years later.

Pope Francis, who replaced the synod's secretary-general Sept. 21, has suggested that he wants to make it into a permanent advisory body. On Oct. 1, Pope Francis and the new Council of Cardinals advising him on church governance spent much of their first day together discussing synod reform. On Oct. 7-8, the pope attended meetings of the synod's governing council. Instead of summoning the council officers, according to the usual protocol, the pope visited them at their office a few blocks from Vatican City.

[grace-land]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/08/us-vatican-divorce-germany-idUSBRE9970T420131008

Vatican tells bishops not to reform faster than Francis
Tue Oct 8, 2013 1:57pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Vatican warned bishops on Tuesday not to reform faster than Pope Francis, after a German diocese said that some divorced and remarried Catholics would now be allowed to receive communion and other sacraments.

Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi, announcing the pope would hold a special synod of bishops in October 2014 to discuss issues facing the family, said local churches that come up with their own reforms in the meantime could create confusion.

Pope Francis has indicated he could consider exceptions to a Church law that bars remarried Catholics from the sacraments because Rome considers marriage to be inviolable. Many bishops have mentioned this as a growing problem in their dioceses.

The archdiocese of Freiburg in Germany issued a guidebook on Monday for priests ministering to remarried Catholics that spelled out a way for them to express remorse for their failed first marriage and receive communion and other sacraments.

Speaking at the Vatican, Lombardi did not mention the Freiburg guidebook but stressed that Francis was working with his bishops on a reform of family issues.

"In this context, offering special pastoral solutions by individuals or local offices can risk causing confusion," he said in a statement, stressing the importance of "conducting a journey in full communion with the Church community."
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/09/pope_audience:_the_catholicity_of_the_church/en1-735635

2013-10-09 10:52:24
Pope Audience: The Catholicity of the Church

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday. The Holy Father continued his catechetical reflections , focusing on the catholicity of the Church. In greetings to pilgrims, the Pope called on the faithful to pray for peace in the Middle East and remembered those who lost their lives in the Lampedusa boat tragedy.

The Pope also greeted pilgrims from several countries, including England, Ireland, Australia, Nigeria and the United States. Below, please find the full text of the official English-language summary of Pope Francis’ catechesis, as well as his words of greeting to English-speaking pilgrims and visitors. Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report RealAudioMP3

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the Creed, we profess that the Church is “catholic”; in other words, she is universal. We can understand this catholicity in three ways. First, the Church is catholic because she proclaims the apostolic faith in its entirety; she is the place where we meet Christ in his sacraments and receive the spiritual gifts needed to grow in holiness together with our brothers and sisters. The Church is also catholic because her communion embraces the whole human race, and she is sent to bring to the entire world the joy of salvation and the truth of the Gospel. Finally, the Church is catholic because she reconciles the wonderful diversity of God’s gifts to build up his People in unity and harmony.   

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/09/cardinal_dolan_on_meeting_with_pope_francis,_u.s._reaction_to_new_pope/en1-735643

2013-10-09 11:21:42
Cardinal Dolan on meeting with Pope Francis, U.S. reaction to new Pope



(Vatican Radio) New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says last week’s shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa in which hundreds of African migrants died, continues to bring tears to the eyes of Pope Francis. The Pope has repeatedly spoken of the tragedy with obvious pain since it happened last Thursday.
Listen to Tracey McClure's brief conversation with Cardinal Dolan: RealAudioMP3

President of the United States Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal Dolan and Vice President Archbishop Joseph Kurtz led a small delegation of the USCCB leadership to Rome this week as part of their annual visits to the Vatican to exchange information with the Prefects of different Pontifical Congregations about developments in the U.S. Church and other churches around the world. Cardinal Dolan described their meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican Monday as the “highlight” of their visit.
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/10/pope_francis:_we_receive_god_himself_when_we_pray_courageously/en1-735969

2013-10-10 11:37:40
Pope Francis: we receive God Himself when we pray courageously

In prayer we must be courageous and discover the true grace that is given us: God Himself. That was the Pope’s message at Thursday’s morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta.

At the heart of the homily was Jesus’ insistence, in the day’s Gospel, that we pray with trusting insistence. The parable of the importunate friend, the friend who obtains what he desires thanks to his insistence, gave Pope Francis the opportunity to reflect on the quality of our prayer:

“This makes us think, in our prayer: how do we pray? Do we pray like this, out of habit, piously but unbothered, or do we put ourselves forward with courage before the Lord to ask for the grace, to ask for what we’re praying for? Courage in prayer: a prayer that is not courageous is not a real prayer. The courage to trust that the Lord listens to us, the courage to knock on the door . . . The Lord says: ‘For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.’ But you have to ask, seek, and knock.”

“Do we get ourselves involved in prayer,” the Pope asked. “Do we know to knock at the heart of God?” In the Gospel Jesus says, “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” This, the Pope said, “is a great thing”:
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/10/pope_to_knights_of_columbus:_seek_new_ways_of_being_a_leaven_in/en1-736036

2013-10-10 13:17:21
Pope to Knights of Columbus: Seek new ways of being a leaven in society

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met today with the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and later addressed the organization’s Board of Directors.

In his remarks, Pope Francis recalled the vision of the founder of the Knights of Columbus, Venerable Father Michael McGivney. He called on the Knights to “continue to seek new ways of being a leaven of the Gospel and a force for the spiritual renewal of society.”

The Pope expressed his gratitude “for the unfailing support which your Order has always given to the works of the Holy See.” In particular, he drew attention to the Knights’ Vicarius Christi Fund, which provides aid for the Pope’s personal charities. The Holy Father described the Fund as “an eloquent sign of your solidarity with the Successor of Peter in his concern for the universal Church” . . . a solidarity that “also seen in the daily prayers, sacrifices and Apostolic works” of the Knights of Columbus throughout the world.

“As the present Year of Faith draws to its close,” Pope Francis concluded, “I commend all of you in a special way to the intercession of Saint Joseph, the protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who is an admirable model of those manly virtues of quiet strength, integrity and fidelity which the Knights of Columbus are committed to preserving, cultivating and passing on to future generations of Catholic men.”
 

[grace-land]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/10/10/pontifical_council_for_laity:_women’s_seminar_examines/en1-736031

2013-10-10 14:52:58
Pontifical Council for Laity: Women’s seminar examines relevancy/implementation of Mulieris Dignitatem

(Vatican Radio) The Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity began a study seminar at their headquarters in Rome Thursday October 10th on the theme “God entrusts the human being to the Woman” drawn from Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem (MD). The two day seminar was planned to coincide with the 25th anniversary of this document which highlights the central role and the dignity and vocation of women in the Church and society. Over these two days, dozens of experts working in academia and in practical projects in the field will be re-examining the impact and the relevancy of the document 25 years on.

Ana Cristina Villa Betancourt, a bubbly young lay woman from Colombia, is the head of the Council’s Women’s Section. She says she wants the seminar “to become a melting pot of ideas to help us make an analysis of what has happened and what needs to be done: What are the new challenges and the new themes that should be (studied further) in this area?” “People are not here to learn but to share.”
 

[grace-land]

Ooops...
A close-up of the coin is shown at the link.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/10/this-is-why-god-made-spellcheck/

This is why God made spellcheck: papal medal misspells “Jesus”
October 10, 2013 By Deacon Greg Kandra



An official medal to commemorate the first year of  Pope Francis’s reign has gone on sale with a spelling mistake in Jesus’s name.

The medal, commissioned by the Vatican, spells the son of God’s name ‘Lesus’.

Created by the Italian State Mint, the coin features the Pope’s motto as seen on his coat of arms.

In Latin, it says: ‘Vidit ergo Jesus publicanum et quia miserando antque eligendo vidit, ait illi sequere me’.

This means: ‘Jesus therefore sees the tax collector, and since he sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him, follow me’.

The words come from the passage that moved the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio to follow God.

The Vatican have recalled the medallions from sale after the spelling error was pointed out.

The official press office said that only four had been sold, which they claimed will probably be of value in the future because of their rarity.