Pope Francis

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-francis-sunday-angelus-all-saints-faithful-departed-eternal.html

Pope: a life of love prepares us for the final encounter with the Lord
08 November 2020, 12:20

Pope Francis tells Christians that the good works of every day, inspired by the love of Christ, allow us to await with serenity the feast of life beyond death.
By Vatican News staff writer

Pope Francis told Christians that the good works of every day, inspired by the love of Christ, allow us to await with serenity the feast of life beyond death.

Addressing pilgrims in St. Peter's Square and gathered through various media platforms for his Sunday Angelus, the Pope reflected on the Gospel reading of the day (Mt 25:1-13), the parable of the ten virgins. He recalled that in Jesus’ time, weddings were celebrated at night and therefore lit up with torches. In the parable, some of the bridsmaids, the “foolish” ones forget to bring extra oil for their lamps, whereas the “wise” ones do. When the foolish bridesmaids realise they do not have enough oil for their lamps they go and buy more, but return too late and are turned away from the wedding. 
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-francis-appeal-sunday-angelus-victims-hurricane-eta.html
Pope prays for Central America as Hurricane Eta wreaks havoc
08 November 2020, 12:17

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-angelus-appeals-peace-ethiopia-libya.html
Pope appeals for peace in Ethiopia and Libya
08 November 2020, 13:08

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-francis-appeal-sunday-angelus-safeguarding-water.html
Pope: without water there is no life
08 November 2020, 12:30

https://zenit.org/2020/11/08/pope-at-angelus-reflects-on-parable-of-bridesmaids-full-text/
Pope at Angelus Reflects on Parable of Bridesmaids (Full Text)
NOVEMBER 08, 2020 14:10  JIM FAIR

Video, with English commentary, at the link below--
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/angelus/2020-11/pope-angelus-8-november-2020.html
POPE'S ANGELUS OF 8 NOVEMBER 2020
08/11/2020

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-to-church-in-chile-live-the-eucharistic-mystery.html

Pope to Church in Chile: Live the Eucharistic Mystery
09 November 2020, 12:41

Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Bishop of Punta Arenas, Chile, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated in Chilean territory.
By Vatican News staff writer

Five hundred years ago, on 11 November 1520, Fray Pedro de Valderrama, one of the chaplains for the expedition of Portuguese explorer Hernando de Magallanes, offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the first time in the land that is now Chile.

To mark the occasion, Pope Francis has sent a letter to Bishop Bernardo Bastres Florence, in whose Diocese of Punta Arenas the liturgy was celebrated.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-kisses-hand-of-missionary-priest-freed-after-two-year-captivity-in-africa-51702

Pope Francis kisses hand of missionary priest, freed after two-year captivity in Africa
By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Nov 9, 2020 / 11:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis met Monday with an Italian Catholic missionary priest who was freed last month in Mali after he was kidnapped from his parish in Niger in 2018.

Speaking to Vatican News, the 59-year-old priest said that when greeting him, the pope not only shook his hand, but also kissed it. “I was not expecting [the gesture],” Fr. Pierluigi Maccalli said.

The priest, a member of the Society of African Missions, was kidnapped from his isolated parish in southwest Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso, on the night of Sept. 17, 2018.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-11/order-of-malta-election-lieutenant-grand-master-marco-luzzago.html

Order of Malta elects Lieutenant of the Grand Master
09 November 2020, 13:09

The electoral body of the Sovereign Order of Malta elects a Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the Sovereign Order to serve a one-year term amid the Order’s Constitutional reform.
By Vatican News staff writer

Fra’ Marco Luzzago has been elected, with a large majority, Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The elections took place in one of the Order of Malta’s two institutional seats over the weekend. The Order’s electoral body, known as the Council Complete of State, met over the 7 and 8 of November in the Magistral Villa in Rome. 

As Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Luzzago will serve a term of one year with all of the prerogatives of the Grand Master until the next election. This will allow the Order of Malta to continue its ongoing process of constitutional reforms.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-order-of-malta-cardinal-designate-tomasi-special-delegate.html
Pope appoints Cardinal-designate Tomasi Special Delegate to Order of Malta
01 November 2020, 18:48

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Update:  former cardinal Theodore McCarrick

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/what-to-know-ahead-of-the-mccarrick-report--a-cna-explainer-77782
What to know ahead of the McCarrick Report- A CNA Explainer
By JD Flynn

Denver Newsroom, Nov 9, 2020 / 12:15 pm MT (CNA).-  On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State will release a report on its two-year investigation into the career of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who has been found canonically guilty of serial sexual abuse and misconduct, and was laicized in 2019.

Ahead of the report, CNA looks at some of your questions, and reviews what you need to know:
 
What has happened in the Church since the McCarrick affair began?

Since June 2018, several U.S. bishops have resigned from their posts under some suspicion or finding of misconduct, and others are being investigated for allegations of sexual misconduct or cover-up.

In 2019, Pope Francis promulgated Vos estis lux mundi, an instruction and new norms for addressing bishops accused of abuse or misconduct. At least two U.S. bishops are being investigated under the auspices of Vos estis.

Dioceses where McCarrick served have not publicly released records, or summaries of their own investigations, in some cases citing ongoing civil investigations.

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The McCarrick Report

Video, in English, at the link
Other links--
   Full report
   introduction to the report and summary

https://zenit.org/2020/11/10/cardinal-parolins-statement-on-mccarrick-report/
 
Cardinal Parolin’s Statement on McCarrick Report
Recommends Full Reading of Document
NOVEMBER 10, 2020 16:18

Below in text and on video is the statement Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, issued today in conjunction with the release of the report on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

“We publish the Report with sorrow for the wounds that these events have caused to the victims, their families, the Church in the United States, and the Universal Church,” the Cardinal said. “As may be seen from the size of the report and from the quantity of documents and information contained therein, the truth has been pursued, offering useful material to answer the questions raised by the matter.”

See ZENIT’s article about the report here.

Read the full report here.

Read the introduction to the report and summary here.

******
 

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The McCarrick Report

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-11/usccb-statement-on-mccarrick-report.html
USCCB Statement on Holy See’s Report on Theodore McCarrick
10 November 2020, 15:23

The President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, welcomes the release of the McCarrick Report, and says the American Bishops are studying its findings.
By USCCB

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
November 10, 2020

I welcome the report of the Holy See’s investigation into its knowledge and decision-making regarding Theodore McCarrick during his long career as a priest, bishop, and cardinal. We are studying these findings, and we are grateful to our Holy Father Pope Francis for his pastoral concern for the family of God in the United States and his leadership in calling the Church to greater accountability and transparency in addressing issues of abuse and the mishandling of abuse claims at every level.

This is another tragic chapter in the Church’s long struggle to confront the crimes of sexual abuse by clergy. To McCarrick’s victims and their families, and to every victim-survivor of sexual abuse by the clergy, I express my profound sorrow and deepest apologies. Please know that my brother bishops and I are committed to doing whatever is in our power to help you move forward and to ensure that no one suffers what you have been forced to suffer.
 

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Video, with English commentary, at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-at-audience-we-must-pray-always.html
Pope at audience: We must pray always
11 November 2020, 09:35

At the General Audience, Pope Francis considers three of Jesus’ parables that emphasise the importance of praying constantly.
By Christopher Wells

Pope Francis continued his catechesis on prayer on Wednesday, focusing on the quality of perseverance in prayer. Jesus Himself, the Pope said, “has given an example of continual prayer, practiced perseveringly.”

Parables on persevering prayer

The Pope notes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church sees three parables that especially highlight this characteristic of prayer. In the parable of the unexpected guest who arrives in the middle of the night, we learn that prayer must be tenacious. “Our Father knows well what we need,” the Pope says. “Insistence is necessary not to inform Him or to convince Him, but is necessary to nurture the desire and expectation in us.”

The parable of the unjust judge helps us understand “that faith is not a momentary choice, but a courageous decision to call on God, even to ‘argue with Him,’ without resigning oneself to evil and injustice.”

And in the parable of the pharisee and the publican, Jesus shows that “God does not listen to the prayer of those who are proud,” but “He does grant the prayer of the humble.” Pope Francis adds, “There is no true prayer without a spirit of humility.”
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-francis-blesses-statue-miraculous-medal-audience-vincentian.html
Pope blesses statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on pilgrimage
11 November 2020, 11:42

https://zenit.org/2020/11/11/angelus-pope-continues-catechisis-on-prayer-full-text/
Angelus: Pope Continues Catechesis on Prayer (Full Text)
NOVEMBER 11, 2020 15:27  JIM FAIR

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https://zenit.org/2020/11/11/cardinal-bassetti-very-ill-with-covid19-pope-calls-to-check-in/

President of Italy’s Bishops, Cardinal Bassetti, Very Ill With COVID19 — Pope Calls to Check In
Requests for Daily Prayers for Archbishop of Perugia-Citta della Pieve
NOVEMBER 11, 2020 12:53  DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV

The President of the Italian Bishops is very ill with COVID-19, and Pope Francis last night called to see how Cardinal Bassetti is doing.

The Holy Father called Msgr. Marco Salvi, auxiliary bishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve, currently in quarantine because of being COVID-19 positive, but asymptomatic, to learn more about the current condition of the Cardinal.

The Italian Episcopal Conference’s Social Communications office issued a Nov. 9, 2020, update on the Cardinal, whose condition this week has become increasingly serious.

“In the last hours, the clinical picture of Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia-Citta della Pieve, and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, (CEI), —  hospitalized on November 3 in Intensive Therapy 2 at the “Saint Mary of Mercy” Hospital Center –, has suffered a sudden worsening,” it stated.
 

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https://zenit.org/2020/11/11/pope-appoints-auxiliary-bishop-of-metropolitan-archdiocese-of-krakow/

Pope Appoints Auxiliary Bishop of Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kraków

Reverend Robert Józef Chrząszcz
NOVEMBER 11, 2020 16:30Z

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary of the metropolitan diocese of Kraków, Poland, the Reverend Robert Józef Chrząszcz of the clergy of the same archdiocese, until now episcopal vicar of the Jacarepaguá vicariate in the archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro and parish priest of São Pedro do Mar in Rio de Janeiro, assigning him the titular see of Forconio.

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Robert Józef Chrząszcz was born on October 7, 1969, in Wadowice, in the metropolitan archdiocese of Kraków. After attending the Franciscan Minor Seminary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska he entered the major seminary of Kraków and completed his philosophical-theological studies at the Pontifical Theological Academy of Kraków (1988-1994).

He was ordained a priest on May 14, 1994, for the same metropolitan archdiocese, where he served as parish vicar of the Zesłania Ducha Świętego (1994-1999) and Matki Bożej Różańcowej (1999-2005) parishes.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-congratulates-biden-on-election-victory-in-phone-call-71835

Pope Francis congratulates Biden on election victory in phone call

CNA Staff, Nov 12, 2020 / 11:35 am MT (CNA).- Presumptive President-elect Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Thursday, his office has announced. The Catholic, former vice president, and presumptive next president was congratulated on his electoral victory by the pope on the morning of Nov. 12.

“President-elect Joe Biden spoke this morning with His Holiness Pope Francis. The president-elect thanked His Holiness for extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation for His Holiness’ leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation, and the common bonds of humanity around the world,” said a release from the Biden-Harris transition team.
 
https://twitter.com/EdwardPentin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Edward Pentin@EdwardPentin  2h

The #Vatican has confirmed the telephone conversation between #PopeFrancis and
@JoeBiden took place, but only in the Italian edition of Vatican News. It also reiterated the statement given earlier in the week by the
@USCCB
https://www.vaticannews.va/it/papa/news/2020-11/colloquio-telefonico-papa-francesco-joe-biden.html

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-to-jrs-reach-out-the-hand-of-friendship-to-those-who-seek.html

Pope to JRS: Give a voice to the abandoned
12 November 2020, 13:31

Pope Francis praises the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in a letter to mark its 40th anniversary.
By Vatican News staff writer

It’s been 40 years since the Jesuit Refugee Service began its mission to help the many men, women and children who seek refuge and assistance.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-encourages-religious-working-in-education.html

Pope to Piarists: Teach respect for persons and creation
12 November 2020, 12:27

Pope Francis writes to the head of the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Piarists) on the occasion of the online Working Seminar on the Global Educational Pact. He invites the Piarists to renew in themselves the commitment and enthusiasm of their founder, St Joseph Calasanctius.
By Christopher Wells

“Consecrated life has always been at the forefront of the educational task,” says Pope Francis in a letter to Pedro Aguado Cuesta, the Superior General of the Piarists, on the occasion of a seminar on the challenge of rebuilding the global education pact.

The working seminar, organised by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and the Union of Superiors General (USG), taking place 12-14 November, is being held online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-11/world-day-poor-solidarity-new-evangelisation.html

World Day of the Poor: solidarity and closeness to those in need
12 November 2020, 12:42

Ahead of the annual World Day of the Poor, marked on Sunday, Archbishop Rino Fisichella highlights the importance of caring for the poor with “outstretched” hands in a spirit of charity and solidarity.
By Vatican News staff writer

The World Day of the Poor this year is scheduled for Sunday, 15 November 2020.

To prepare for the fourth commemoration of this annual event, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization organized a press conference at the Vatican on Thursday, presenting the initiatives for the World Day.

The speakers at the event included Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, and Msgr. Graham Bell, the Under-secretary of the same Pontifical Council.
 
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pandemic-forces-vatican-to-scale-down-world-day-of-the-poor-events-80163
Pandemic forces Vatican to scale down World Day of the Poor events

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-calls-to-check-on-italian-cardinal-in-coronavirus-icu-90570

Pope Francis calls to check on Italian cardinal in coronavirus ICU
By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Nov 12, 2020 / 07:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis made a phone call this week to check in on an Italian cardinal who is in a serious condition as he battles COVID-19 after more than a week in intensive care.

Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian bishops’ conference and archbishop of Perugia, was hospitalized Oct. 31 after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The 78-year-old cardinal, who was moved to intensive care on Nov. 3, is reportedly in critical condition, having taken a turn for the worse this week.

His archdiocese has asked for prayers for him and those responsible for his care at Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital in Perugia.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-francis-india-appointment-agra-archdiocese-raphy.html

Pope appoints new archbishop in Agra, India
12 November 2020, 12:23

Pope Francis transfers Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad to the Archdiocese of Agra.
By Vatican News

Pope Francis on Thursday appointed a new archbishop in Agra, India.   He transferred Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad to the metropolitan see of Agra, in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh State.  The appointment comes after the Pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Albert D'Souza, who has been heading Agra Archdiocese since 2007.  Archbishop D’Souza reached the canonical retirement age for bishops last year. Sixty-two-year old
 

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Update:  McCarrick Report

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mccarrick-report-st-john-paul-ii-was-deceived-about-ex-cardinal-says-polish-archbishop-85288
McCarrick Report: St. John Paul II was deceived about ex-cardinal, says Polish archbishop

CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2020 / 03:20 am MT (CNA).- The McCarrick Report showed that St. John Paul II was deceived about the disgraced ex-cardinal, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference said Friday.

In a Nov. 13 statement, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki said: “Before McCarrick’s nomination to Washington, the pope did not receive from the American bishops full and complete information about his moral behavior, and McCarrick himself lied -- in a letter of Aug. 6, 2000 -- that he had no sexual relations with anyone.”

The archbishop of Poznań was referring to a section of the report, released Nov. 10, which said that John Paul II asked the apostolic nuncio to the United States in 2000 to contact four New Jersey bishops about whether McCarrick had behaved improperly with young adults.

The bishops confirmed that the then archbishop of Newark had shared a bed with young men, “but did not indicate with certainty that McCarrick had engaged in any sexual misconduct.”

The report concluded that three of the four bishops gave the Vatican “inaccurate and incomplete information.”

“This inaccurate information appears likely to have impacted the conclusions of John Paul II’s advisors and, consequently, of John Paul II himself,” it said.

In the Aug. 6, 2000, letter cited by Gądecki, McCarrick insisted: “In the 70 years of my life, I have never had sexual relations with any person, male or female, young or old, cleric or lay, nor have I ever abused another person or treated them with disrespect.”

The letter was addressed to the Polish pope’s long-time aide, Bishop Stanisław Dziwisz, who went on to become archbishop of Kraków in southern Poland.
 

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Update:  McCarrick Report

https://www.ncregister.com/interview/arroyo-vigano-interview
Exclusive: EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo Interviews Archbishop Viganò About McCarrick Report
November 13, 2020

More than any other person except for Theodore McCarrick himself, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is responsible for triggering the 449-page Vatican report released this week that details what other Church leaders knew about the disgraced ex-cardinal’s decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct, and the actions they took or failed to take with respect to what they had learned.

As the report itself documents, the archbishop was the first senior Vatican figure to call concretely for action to be undertaken against McCarrick, at a time when Archbishop Viganò was serving as a senior official in the Secretariat of State. Then, after the archbishop was subsequently posted to Washington as the U.S. nuncio from 2011 to 2016, he was again involved with the Vatican’s handling of the McCarrick file.

And in August 2018, Archbishop Viganò released his initial 11-page “testimony” regarding McCarrick, in which he accused numerous Church leaders of turning a blind eye to McCarrick’s misconduct — including the explosive claim that he personally told Pope Francis about the transgressions following the Holy Father’s election in 2013, and that the Pope ignored this information and tapped McCarrick to carry out duties on the behalf of the Vatican. The firestorm sparked by Archbishop Viganò’s document resulted in the Holy Father’s formal authorization of an investigation of all relevant documentation related to the allegations against McCarrick, and how they were handled.
 
"Testimony" of Archbishop Viganò:  https://online.wsj.com/media/Viganos-letter.pdf

https://www.ncregister.com/news/critics-say-mccarrick-report-evades-issue-of-pervasive-homosexuality-in-catholic-clergy
Critics Say McCarrick Report Evades Issue of Pervasive Homosexuality in Catholic Clergy
Edward Pentin  Vatican  November 14, 2020

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-bassetti-moved-out-of-icu-remains-in-critical-condition-with-covid-19-59352

Cardinal Bassetti moved out of ICU, remains in critical condition with COVID-19

CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2020 / 03:23 pm MT (CNA).- Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian Bishops Conference, has slightly improved and was moved out of the ICU, but remains in critical condition since contracting COVID-19, his auxiliary bishop said on Friday afternoon.

"We welcome the news that our Cardinal Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti has left the intensive care unit" at the hospital of Santa Maria della Misericordia, said Auxiliary Bishop Marco Salvi of Perugia, in northern Italy. However, he warned that the cardinal’s condition “is still serious and requires a chorus of prayers.”

Earlier on Friday, the hospital’s daily bulletin reported a “slight improvement” on Bassetti’s condition, but warned that the “clinical picture remains serious and the cardinal needs constant monitoring and appropriate care.”

The 78-year-old Archbishop of Perugia, chosen by Pope Francis to lead the Italian Bishops' Conference in May 2017, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on October 28th and was hospitalized on November 3 in very serious condition. He was placed in “Intensive Care 2” in the Perugia hospital.
 

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https://www.romereports.com/en/2020/11/14/pope-invites-homeless-in-rome-to-his-mass-this-sunday/

Pope invites homeless in Rome to his Mass this Sunday
2020/11/14

The pope will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the presence of the homeless. It will take place this Sunday morning, to commemorate World Day of the Poor.

The idea for World Day of the Poor was born to give continuity to this emblematic meeting during the Jubilee of Mercy. Four thousand homeless people gathered for the event.

It's the fourth consecutive year Pope Francis leads this initiative, to demonstrate the good Christians can do by helping people without resources.