Pope Francis

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Video, with English text, at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-prayer-intention-january-2020.html

Pope's January prayer intention: Promotion of world peace
02 January 2020, 16:30

Pope Francis on Thursday released a video message accompanying his prayer intention for January 2020, which this month is "Promotion of World Peace".

In his prayer intention for the month of January, Pope Francis calls us to pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of goodwill may promote together peace and justice in the world.

It has become the custom of Pope Francis to release a video message detailing his prayer intention for each month.

The full text of his intention is below:
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-world-day-sick-message-2020.html

Pope’s message for World Day of the Sick
03 January 2020, 12:50

“Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened” is the theme of the World Day of the Sick, to be marked on 11 February. In caring for the sick, Pope Francis is encouraging in healthcare workers the human warmth and personalized approach of Christ, the Good Samaritan.
By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis is urging the human warmth and personalized approach of Christ, the Good Samaritan, in healthcare professionals, workers and volunteers.

He makes the call in his message for the 28th World Day of the Sick, which the Vatican released on Friday.

The Catholic Church marks the annual day on 11 February, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.  The theme of this year’s observance is “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest,” taken from Matthew’s Gospel (11:28).
 
https://zenit.org/articles/popes-message-for-28th-world-day-of-the-sick/
Pope’s Message for 28th World Day of the Sick
January 03, 2020 13:33

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-united-states-iran-solemaini-crisis-holy-see.html

USA-Iran Crisis: Nunzio says the Pope is following the situation and is concerned
03 January 2020, 19:07

Speaking by telephone from Teheran, Archbishop Leo Boccardi, the Papal Nuncio to Iran, describes the tense situation and consequent protests caused by the killing of General Solemaini by an US raid, saying that the arms of negotiation and justice need to be used.
Amedeo Lomonaco – Vatican City

The escalation of the dispute between Washington and Tehran following the death of one of the key figures of the Iranian establishment, General Qassem Soleimani, victim of a US air attack, has raised apprehension in the Holy See. Pope Francis is said to be following the evolution of the situation and is praying for peace. The Apostolic Nuncio to Iran, Archbishop Leo Boccardi, spoke with us by telephone about the situation.

The Archbishop said that the Pope has been apprised of the entire situation after the killing of General Solemaini. All this, he said, creates concern and demonstrates how difficult it is to build and believe in peace. Constructive politics, he said, is at the service of peace to which the entire international community must be committed, not only in the Middle East, but in the whole world as well.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-angelus-christmas-incarnation-holiness.html

Pope at Angelus: Christmas means accepting the gift of holiness
05 January 2020, 13:04

At the Angelus prayer on the first Sunday of the year, Pope Francis continued his reflections on Christmas, saying Jesus’ birth urges us to become saints in love.
By Devin Watkins

In his address ahead of the traditional Marian prayer on the second Sunday of the Christmas season, the Pope reflected on the meaning of Jesus’ birth.

Though the Church in some countries celebrates Epiphany on Sunday, 5 January – including in the United States – the Vatican and Italy mark the holy day on its traditional date, 6 January.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-appeal-against-war-iran-usa.html
Pope appeals for self-control amid heightened threat of war
05 January 2020, 12:38

https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-the-meaning-of-jesus-birth-full-text-2/
Angelus Address: On the Meaning of Jesus’ Birth (Full Text)
“The Overwhelming Novelty Is that the Eternal Word Became Flesh”
January 05, 2020 13:57

Video, with English commentary, at the link below--
Pope's Angelus of 5 January 2020
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/angelus/2020-01/video-angelus-pope-francis-5-january-2020.html
or
Pope Francis - Angelus prayer 2020-01-05
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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Video, with English commentary, at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-at-epiphany-church-must-grow-in-adoration.html
Pope at Epiphany: Church must grow in adoration
06 January 2020, 13:38

During the Mass for the Solemnity of Epiphany, Pope Francis reflects on the meaning of adoration.
By Christopher Wells

Worship – adoration – “is the end and goal” of the journey of the Magi, the focus of the Solemnity of Epiphany. “Once we lose the sense of worship,” Pope Francis said in his homily, “we lose our direction in Christian life, which is a journey towards the Lord, not towards ourselves”.

The risk of being unable to worship

The Gospel, he said, warns about the risks for those who are incapable of worship. From Herod, “who used the word ‘worship’, but only to deceive”, we learn that “when we do not worship God, we end up worshipping ourselves”. The chief priests and scribes, likewise, are incapable of worship. Although they know the prophecies, “and can quote them exactly”, they are unable to go there themselves. “In the Christian life”, the Pope said, “it is not enough to be knowledgeable, unless we step out of ourselves, unless we encounter others, and worship, we cannot know God”.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-presides-over-mass-for-epiphany.html
Pope presides over Mass for Epiphany
06 January 2020, 11:15

Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the feast of the Epiphany on Monday in St Peter's Basilica, telling the faithful that "through worship we discover that the Christian life is a love story with God".

Please find the full text of the Pope's Homily below:
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-at-angelus-just-like-magi-our-lives-our-changed-by-encount.html
Pope at Angelus: Just like Magi our lives are changed by encountering Jesus
06 January 2020, 12:34

Pope Francis during the Angelus speaks of the Magi whose lives were changed after encountering the baby Jesus. He also greets the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, many of whom celebrate the Lord's Christmas on the 7th January.
By Vatican News

Following Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, Pope Francis during his Angelus, addressed a special thought “to the brethren of the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, many of whom celebrate the Lord's Christmas tomorrow (7th).”

We wish them and their communities, he said, “the light and peace of Christ the Saviour.”

During his Angelus address, the Pope drawing from the Gospel of the day dwelt on the three wise men.
 
https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-on-the-feast-of-the-epiphany-full-text/
ANGELUS: On the Feast of the Epiphany (Full Text)
January 06, 2020 18:05  Virginia Forrester

Video, with English commentary, at the link below--
Pope's Angelus of 6 January 2020
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/angelus/2020-01/pope-s-angelus-of-6-january-2020.html
or
Pope Francis - Angelus prayer 2020-01-06
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-at-santa-marta-no-to-the-spirit-of-the-world-that-leads-us.html

Pope at Santa Marta: No to the spirit of the world that leads us to corruption
07 January 2020, 12:03

Pope Francis resumes the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and recalls, that the Holy Spirit "is the guarantee that God remains in us", and that we do not lend faith to the spirit of the world, which makes us unconscious, to the point of not distinguishing good from evil.
Alessandro Di Bussolo - Vatican City

The Christian life is to remain in God, following the Holy Spirit and not the spirit of the world, which leads to corruption, and does not distinguish good from evil. Pope Francis resumed the morning celebration of Holy Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and in his homily commented on the passage from the first letter of St. John the Apostle, the first reading in the liturgy of the day, in which the evangelist takes up the advice of Jesus to his disciples: "Remain in God".

For many Christians today the Holy Spirit is only a dove

One can "be in the most sinful cities, in the most atheistic societies, but if one's heart remains in God," stressed the Pope, this man and this woman bring salvation. He then recalled the episode narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, who arrive in a city and meet Christians baptized by John. They ask them: "Have you received the Holy Spirit?", but they didn't even know he was there. How many Christians, commented Pope Francis, even today identify the Holy Spirit only with a dove and do not know that "what makes you remain in the Lord is the guarantee, the strength to remain in the Lord".
 

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https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2020/01/popes-early-2020-likely-to-be-dominated-by-documents-rather-than-deeds/

Pope’s early 2020 likely to be dominated by documents rather than deeds
John L. Allen Jr.  Jan 7, 2020
News Analysis

ROME - Normally when one looks ahead at a pope’s new year, it’s either things the pope is expected to do over the coming 12 months that loom largest - foreign trips, for instance, and bishops’ appointments - or things he’s likely to say, such as milestone speeches or sensational media interviews.

There will be all of that for Pope Francis in 2020, but at least for the early part of the year, it seems more likely the biggest papal bombshells will instead come in things the pope is expected to publish, especially two keenly awaited texts: Francis’s conclusions to last October’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, and the Vatican’s report on the case of former cardinal and former priest Theodore McCarrick.

Also on that list probably should be Praedicate Evangelium, Francis’s long-awaited overhaul of the Roman Curia, though it’s probably not destined to be the thunderclap the other two texts will represent. Many of its main conclusions have already been made public, including the pope’s plan to make evangelization and mission the engine driving the Vatican’s train.

Both the synod conclusions and the McCarrick report could be out within the first third of the year, and both are likely to fuel debate and controversy for some time to come.

In a statement at the end of the Amazon synod, the officers of REPAM, the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network, one of the driving forces behind the gathering, appealed for patience awaiting Francis’s conclusions from the monthlong affair, suggesting they could come in a document in March.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-at-audience-live-trials-by-clinging-to-christ.html

Pope at Audience: Live trials by clinging to Christ
08 January 2020, 11:13

Pope Francis resumes his weekly General Audience on Wednesday following the Christmas break, continuing his catechesis on the Acts of the Apostles.
By Lydia O’Kane

A New Year but a continuing catechesis on the Acts of the Apostles. Pilgrims and tourists joined Pope Francis in the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday to hear him deliver another installment of this book, which sees St Paul continue his journey not only by land but by sea.

The Pope recalled how Paul, now a prisoner, is taken by ship to Rome into the heart of the Empire, so that the word of the Risen One may be realized: "You will be witnesses to me ... to the ends of the earth".

The Pontiff described how on leaving Crete, the journey becomes dangerous and they are shipwrecked; but St Paul encourages all on board not to be afraid.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-i-am-close-to-the-australian-people.html
Pope Francis: I am close to the Australian people
08 January 2020, 12:00

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-sends-condolences-following-iran-air-crash.html
Pope sends condolences following Iran air crash
08 January 2020, 12:15

https://zenit.org/articles/pope-continues-journey-through-acts-of-apostles-general-audience-full-text/
Pope’s General Audience (FULL TEXT): On Acts of the Apostles 27: 15, 21-24
January 08, 2020 13:00  Virginia Forrester

https://zenit.org/articles/pope-jokes-with-nun-dont-bite/
Pope Jokes with Nun: ‘Don’t Bite!’
January 08, 2020 16:29 Jim Fair and Deborah Castellano Lubov

Everyone wants to be close to Pope Francis.  A hug, a kiss, a handshake, a shared greeting.

At the beginning of the Holy Father’s January 8, 2020,  General Audience in Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis experienced a humorous interacti0n with a nun, reported ANSA. While he walked in the middle lane of the Nervi Hall to greet the faithful, shaking hands and smiling and blessing, the Pontiff paused in front of an African nun who was shouting animatedly “Viva il Papa!” and he said to her,  “You bite! I’ll give you a kiss but you stay calm…. Don’t bite!” Then he kissed her and continued on his way, according to ANSA.
 
Video at the link below--
Pope Francis - General Audience 2020-01-08
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/01/pope-will-celebrate-mass-with-bishops-from-19-mediterranean-countries/

Pope will celebrate Mass with bishops from 19 Mediterranean countries
Catholic News Service  Jan 8, 2020

ROME - Pope Francis will travel to the southern Italian seaport city of Bari in late February to close a meeting of bishops from countries bordering the Mediterranean, the Vatican confirmed.

Publishing a list of the pope’s liturgies in January and February, the Vatican said he would celebrate Mass in Bari Feb. 23 at the end of the “encounter for reflection and spirituality, ‘Mediterranean, Frontier of Peace.”

Sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference, the encounter Feb. 19-23 is expected to bring together more than 50 bishops from 19 Mediterranean nations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
 
Other events on the pope’s liturgical calendar, released Jan. 7, included:

- Mass and the baptism of infants in the Sistine Chapel Jan. 12, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
- An ecumenical evening prayer service Jan. 25 at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls for the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
- Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 26, the first celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God.
- Mass with members of women’s and men’s religious orders Feb. 1, the vigil of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2020-01/pope-francis-mass-santa-marta-love-war-peace-heart.html

Pope at Mass: many fires of war today - true peace is sown in the heart
09 January 2020, 14:01

Celebrating Mass on Thursday, Pope Francis points the way to peace saying, one must “remain in the Lord” by loving in “little things”. Peace in the world, he says, begins with peace in the heart.
Vatican News

According to Pope Francis, we cannot “be Christians” if we are “sowers of war” in our family, in the neighbourhood and the workplace. “May the Lord give us the Holy Spirit to remain in Him and teach us to love, simply, without making war on others,” the Pope urged in his homily at Mass, Thursday morning, in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta. 

He was reflecting on the Second Letter of St. John, who urges Christians on the path to peace by remaining in the Lord with the love that is seen in little things.

Speaking about peace, the Pope said that we immediately think of wars and that there be secure peace in the world, in another country or another situation. He noted that even today, with many fires of war lit, our minds immediately evoke peace, imploring it from the Lord for the world and for everyone.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-on-iran-usa-crisis-dialogue-and-respect-for-international.html

Pope on Iran-USA crisis: dialogue and respect for international law
09 January 2020, 10:25

In his annual address to members of the diplomatic corps at the beginning of the new year, Pope Francis says the heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States “risks… compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict”.
By Christopher Wells

Latest... (updated at 11:32)

Pope Francis focused on the virtue of ‘hope’ in his annual greetings to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Hope, he said, “is an essential virtue for Christians, to inspire our way of approaching the times that lie ahead”.

Noting that “peace and integral human development are… the principal aim of the Holy See in its involvement in the field of diplomacy”, the Pope’s speech focused heavily on calls for dialogue and for concerted international action on various issues facing the world today.
 
https://zenit.org/articles/pope-francis-addresses-diplomatic-corps-full-text/
Pope Francis Addresses Diplomatic Corps (Full Text)
January 09, 2020 12:58
 
Video at the link below--
Pope Francis- Audience to the members of the Diplomatic Corps 2020-01-09
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2020-01/pope-santa-marta-mass.html

Pope at Mass: ‘he who says he loves God but does not love his brother is a liar'
10 January 2020, 13:18

Pope Francis celebrates Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and reflects on how love is expressed through concrete actions.
By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis reflected on the liturgical reading of the day, taken from the First Letter of St. John the Apostle, which focusses on the topic of love.

The apostle, the Pope said, understood what love is, experienced it, and as he entered into the heart of Jesus, he understood how it manifested itself. In his Letter, he continued, he tells us how we love and how we have been loved.

God loved us first

First of all, the Pope explained, is the fact that “We love God because He loved us first.”

Love, he continued, stems from Him: “I begin to love, or I can begin to love because I know that He loved me first". And, he added, “If He had not loved us we certainly could not love.”

“If a newborn child could speak, he would certainly express the fact that he feels loved by his parents.  Parents love their child just as God loves us…He loved us first. And this gives birth to and increases our capacity to love,” he said.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-sends-condolences-following-iran-air-crash.html

Pope sends condolences following Iran air crash
08 January 2020, 12:15

The Pope expresses sadness and condolences after a passenger plane crashes in Iran with 176 people on board.

Pope Francis has sent a message of condolence to all those who lost loved ones following an air crash in Tehran, Iran.

The Ukrainian International Airlines passenger plane went down on Wednesday morning after taking off from Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran en ruote to Kyiv. The plane was carrying 176 passengers, mostly from Iran and Canada.

In the message, signed by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis “commends the souls of the deceased to the merciful love of the Almighty, and he sends condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives”.
 

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https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cdl-burke-dismisses-new-catechism-edition-1990s-catechism-will-remain-authoritative

Cdl Burke dismisses new catechism edition: 1990s catechism will remain ‘authoritative’
The faithful cardinal emphasized that references to a new Pope Francis magisterium are 'simply preposterous — this is not the magisterium! Priests and the lay faithful must understand this.'
Fri Jan 10, 2020 - 7:21 pm EST
By Dorothy Cummings McLean

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin, January 10, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― An American cardinal has stated that a new edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will not have the same authority as the original promulgated by St. Pope John Paul II.

In a December interview with The Wanderer, published in two parts this week, Cardinal Raymond Burke responded to questions regarding a “soon-to-be-published volume entitled Catechism of the Catholic Church with Theological Commentary.” Of particular interest to the cardinal’s interviewer, Don Fier, was the authority of the new text.

“This new issue of the Catechism will not have the authority of the text that was approved for promulgation in 1994, which will continue to be the authoritative text,” Burke declared.

“Whatever commentary (editor) Archbishop (Rino) Fisichella and other contributors offer in the new volume will have the worth of their fidelity to the unchanging doctrine of the Church,” the cardinal continued. 

“This is not some new Catechism of the Catholic Church and should not be viewed as such.”

The cardinal added that he asks people to study the official English-language Catechism promulgated in 1994 and underscored that authority is inextricably linked to the authentic teaching of the Church.
 
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/preposterous-cdl-burke-criticizes-calls-for-new-theology-to-match-pope-francis-teaching
‘Preposterous’: Cdl Burke criticizes calls for ‘new theology’ to match Pope Francis’ teaching
Fri Jan 10, 2020 - 3:21 pm EST

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Video, with English commentary, at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-francis-baptizes-children-in-sistine-chapel.html

Pope Francis baptizes children in Sistine Chapel
12 January 2020, 11:19

On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the Sistine Chapel, and baptizes 32 children.
By Christopher Wells

Following a long-standing tradition, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday. The feast commemorates Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by His cousin, St John the Baptist.

During the ceremony, the Holy Father baptized more than thirty children born in the past year to families of Vatican employees and diplomats accredited to the Holy See.
 
https://zenit.org/articles/pope-baptizes-32-babies-in-sistine-chapel-full-text-of-homily/
Baptizing 32 Babies in Sistine Chapel, Pope Reminds Parents to Pass Down Gift of Faith (Full Text of Homily)
January 12, 2020 14:20  Deborah Castellano Lubov

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-01/pope-angelus-feast-baptism-of-the-lord.html

Pope at Angelus: ‘Jesus teaches us to be meek, simple, respectful'
12 January 2020, 12:20

Pope Francis explains that Jesus shows us how to fulfill the Father’s plan with filial obedience, meekness, simplicity and respect as we go about our mission to witness and proclaim the Father’s boundless love for all of His children.
By Linda Bordoni

Recalling the joy of having just baptized several babies in the Vatican, Pope Francis addressed the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer and spoke about how Christians today must adopt Jesus’ meek and simple attitude.

Each year, the Pope celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord baptizing the babies of Vatican personnel in the Sistine Chapel.  He asked those present for prayers for the little ones and for their families, and he reflected on the liturgy of the day, which recounts the Baptism of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew.

The Evangelist, the Pope said, describes the dialogue between Jesus – who asks to be baptized - and John the Baptist, who is surprised by this request because he knows that the Messiah did not need purification; and in fact, it is he who needed to be baptized by the Lord.
 
https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-the-feast-of-the-baptism-of-the-lord-4/
‘Celebrate in Your Heart Each Year the Date of Your Baptism,’ Reminds Pope (Full Angelus Address on Feast of the Lord’s Baptism)
January 12, 2020 15:56  Deborah Castellano Lubov

Video, with English commentary, at the link below--
Pope's Angelus of 12 January 2020
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/angelus/2020-01/pope-s-angelus-of-12-january-2020.html
or
Pope Francis - Angelus prayer 2020-01-12
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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Update:  Cardinal Pell

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia-oceania/2020/01/drone-flies-over-pedophile-cardinals-australian-prison/
Pell changes prison location after drone attempts to photograph him
Associated Press  Jan 12, 2020

MELBOURNE, Australia - Disgraced Cardinal George Pell has been transferred from a Melbourne prison after a drone illegally flew overhead in a suspected attempt to photograph the famous inmate, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse had been transferred from the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he has been held since February last year on convictions of molesting two choirboys at the city’s cathedral in the late 1990s, the Herald Sun newspaper reported.

The move came after a drone flew over a prison garden where Pope Francis’s former finance minister is employed weeding and watering plants, the newspaper reported.

The Justice Department on Sunday confirmed “an incident involving a drone flying over the Melbourne Assessment Prison on Thursday,” but would not comment on the 78-year-old cleric’s whereabouts.

Pell had been transferred to the maximum-security Barwon Prison near Geelong, southwest of Melbourne, the newspaper reported.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/2020-all-pope-francis-men-4105

January 08, 2020
2020, all Pope Francis’ men
By Andrea Gagliarducci

2020 seems to be the year in which Pope Francis will be able to change the Curia profoundly, along with the profile of the worldwide episcopate. Many cardinal-archbishops holding major sees will turn 75 — the retirement age for a serving bishop — and many others already have. The same is true in the Roman Curia.

Then, the much-awaited reform of the Roman Curia should be out in the first half of 2020. It “should” be out: nothing is guaranteed. The draft of the reform is still under review. The draft was forwarded to the bishops conferences from all over the world for extensive consultation and received hundreds of amendments and suggestions.

Retirements in the Curia

Among the ones who will turn 75 during this year, there is Cardinal Robert Sarah: the prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments will get to the retirement age on June 15. Pope Francis put him at the helm of the Congregation in 2014, so even his five-year term is already expired.

Cardinal Sarah had also been president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, now absorbed in the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. His ability to govern the CDW has also been reduced, with the wholesale replacement of senior staff and membership a couple of years ago. Pope Francis might even decide simply not to renew Sarah’s mandate, as he did with Cardinal Gerhard Mueller at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 

According to the drafts of the Curia reform, the top-ranking positions in the Curia will be assigned on a five-year term basis, renewable only once. This reform was anticipated by the reform of the office of the Dean of the College of Cardinals, which has been until now a life-post.

Assuming Cardinal Sarah and others are still in office when he does turn 75, there will be five out of nine prefects of a Vatican congregation beyond 75. The other ones are Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who turned 75 last June; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, also 75 since June 2019; Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Congregation for the Catholic Education, who is 76; and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, also 76.
 

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Photo at the link
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/01/iowa-priest-photographer-surprised-by-appeal-of-viral-cattle-cross-image/

Iowa priest-photographer surprised by appeal of viral cattle cross image
Dan Russo  Jan 12, 2020
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

BANKSTON, Iowa - It wasn’t a miracle, but the scene that unfolded on Dan and Judy Gotto’s farm in Bankston shortly before Christmas became a beautiful testament to faith.

On Dec. 23, 2019, members of the family had carefully laid out many small piles of cattle feed in the shape of a giant cross on one of their fields, attracting 171 hungry cows into planned position. In the distance, the steeple of St. Clement Church in Bankston reached upward toward a clear sky.

At the right moment, Father Michael Schueller sprang into action. The pastor of the St. Elizabeth Pastorate, which includes St. Clement Parish, pilots drones in his spare time and enjoys taking aerial photographs.

The priest flew his camera equipped remote-controlled device high above the herd, capturing both still shots and video and posted the image of the Angus beef livestock appearing in the shape of the sacred symbol on his Facebook page.