Pope Francis

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https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/critics-sound-alarm-over-possible-changes-to-synod-process/

Critics Sound Alarm Over Possible Changes to Synod Process
by EDWARD PENTIN 09/29/2015

VATICAN CITY — Critics of the as-yet unreleased changes to the methodology of the upcoming Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family say they threaten not only to smother voices opposed to certain controversial changes to pastoral practice on family and marriage issues, but also leave the meeting inconclusive and various proposals open to interpretation.

The Synod of Bishops is expected to announce new rules on Friday, but it is already clear that discussion time at the Oct. 4-25 meeting will be reduced; there will be no final message from the synod fathers, as no commission has been set up to write one; no interim report will be issued; and contentious issues largely will be left until the final week.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-greets-the-sick-in-paul-vi-hall

Pope Francis greets the sick in Paul VI hall
2015-09-30 Vatican Radio

Before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted four hundred disabled and sick people and their four hundred carers from the German branch of the Order of Malta, in the Paul the VI hall.

The Pope thanked them for their visit and empathized with the difficulties they were facing. He said, that being ill was very hard, even despite care from doctors and nurses and medicine, but he stressed, “there is faith”, faith that encourages us…”. The Holy Father went on to say that God became ill for us, in that, “he sent His Son, who took upon himself all our diseases, to the Cross .” 
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-audience-god-builds-bridges-when-we-build-wal

Pope Audience: God builds bridges when we build walls
2015-09-30 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) In his first General Audience since his return from an Apostolic Journey to Cuba and the United States, Pope Francis recalled that visit in an overcast St Peter’s Square on Wednesday.

He told the thousands of pilgrims and tourists gathered, that in Cuba, he wished to embrace all Cubans without exception, to proclaim the transforming power of God’s mercy, and to renew the hope expressed by Saint John Paul II that Cuba will open itself to the world and the world to Cuba.  He also underlined how travelling from Cuba to the United States of America was a symbolic step, likening it to a bridge God is rebuilding.

The Pope said, God always wants to build bridges when we build walls, and he stressed, “walls always collapse.”

Speaking about the next leg of his journey to the United States, the Pope called to mind his visit to Washington, noting America’s tradition of religious freedom and its’ contribution to the life of the nation.
 
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/general-audience-on-the-apostolic-visit-to-cuba-and-the-united-states
GENERAL AUDIENCE: On the Apostolic Visit to Cuba and the United States
Vatican City,  September 30, 2015

Here is a ZENIT translation of the Holy Father's address during his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square.
 

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http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/vatican-confirms-pope-met-kentucky-clerk-won-t-comment-further.cfm

Vatican confirms pope met Kentucky clerk, won't comment further
9.30.2015 12:27 PM ET

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican does not deny reports that while in Washington, Pope Francis briefly met with Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses.

Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan County, initially refused to grant marriage licenses to gay couples and then stopped issuing them to gay or straight couples, claiming that doing so would violate her Christian religious values after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have a right to marry.

Davis told ABC News she met the pope Sept. 24 at the Vatican embassy in Washington. "I put my hand out and he reached and he grabbed it, and I hugged him and he hugged me," Davis told ABC News. "And he said, 'Thank you for your courage.'"

The clerk said a "church official" phoned and invited her to meet the pope.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, issued a statement late Sept. 30 saying, "I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no comments to add."
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-album-to-be-released-in-november

Pope Francis album to be released in November
2015-09-30 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) A new CD combining the speeches of Pope Francis with different styles of music will be released on 27 November.

The album is called Wake Up!, and will bring together excerpts of speeches in different languages with music ranging from Gregorian chant to rock-n-roll.

Rolling Stone magazine’s website premiered the first track "Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!", which uses a speech Pope Francis gave in South Korea, and the album can currently be pre-ordered on iTunes.

The Pope speaks in Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese on the album, which has 11 tracks.

Among the contributors are Giorgio Kriegsch (also known as Nirvanananda Swami Saraswati), Tony Pagliuca, Mite Balduzzi, Giuseppe Dati, Lorenzo Piscopo, and the orchestral director Dino Doni.

Wake Up! Track List
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-at-daily-mass-joy-of-the-lord-our-str

Pope Francis at daily Mass: joy of the Lord our strength
2015-10-01 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The joy of the Lord is our strength, and in Him we discover who we really are: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ reflection following the readings of the day at Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday morning, the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux. The Holy Father focused especially on the need to cultivate nostalgia – deep yearning – for God in the Christian life.

Drawing on the First Reading, from the Book of the Prophet Nehemiah, Pope Francis reflected on the people of Israel, who, after long years of exile, had at last returned to Jerusalem. He recalled that, in the years of Babylonian captivity, the people always remembered their homeland. After so many years, the day of return finally came, and with it the rebuilding of Jerusalem, as narrated in the First Reading. Nehemiah asked the scribe Ezra read to the people the Book of the Law, and the people were happy, “They were weeping in their joy, and felt God's Word; the experienced joy, and also weeping, all together,” he said.

The joy of the Lord is our strength

Asking how we might understand this intense confluence of emotion, Pope Francis explained, “Simply, these people not only had found their city, the city where the people was born, the city of God: hearing the Law, they also rediscovered their identity, and for that, the people wept with joy.”:
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-respect-and-listen-to-our-guardian-an

Pope Francis: Respect and listen to your Guardian Angel
2015-10-02 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis says God has given everybody a Guardian Angel to accompany us and offer advice and protection, an Angel to whom we should listen with meekness and respect. He was speaking during his homily at Mass on Friday (2nd October) celebrated in the Santa Marta Residence. 

Taking his cue from Friday’s feast of the Guardian Angels, the Pope’s homily reflected on this divine presence in our lives, describing the Angel as God’s ambassador who accompanies each one of us. He noted how the proof of this was illustrated when God chased Adam out of Paradise: He didn’t leave Adam on his own or say to him: “fend for yourself as best as you can.”  The Pope stressed that every person has been given a Guardian Angel by God who stays by our side.     

God's Ambassador by our side

“He is always with us!  And this is a reality.  It’s like having God’s ambassador with us.  And the Lord advises us: ‘Respect his presence!’ And when we, for example, commit a sin and believe that we’re on our own: No, he is there. Show respect for his presence. Listen to his voice because he gives us advice. When we hear that inspiration: ‘But do this … this is better … we should not do that.’ Listen! Do not go against him.”
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/cardinal-lorenzo-baldisseri-explains-how-the-synod

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri explains how the Synod on the Family will unfold

Vatican City, 2 October 2015 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, gave a presentation of the phases and methods of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”, which will commence on Sunday 4 October.

“Tomorrow evening, in St. Peter's Square, in the presence of the Holy Father, a prayer vigil will be held in preparation for the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be attended by the Synod Fathers, the participants in the Synod and all the faithful of the world, on an initiative of the Italian Episcopal Conference, which has invited families, movements and ecclesial associations. At nightfall the beauty of the family will shine through lighted torches. The trustful invocation of the Holy Spirit by the People of God is the prelude to the work of the Synod; indeed, we recall the important tone given to the last Extraordinary General Assembly by the Holy Father, with the powerful homily he gave during the Vigil.

The Mass on Sunday morning, presided by the Holy Father, will signal the opening of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod on 'The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world', allowing all the faithful of the world to join the common path of the pastors cum Petro et sub Petro.

This Assembly is the culmination of the synodal journey undertaken two years ago, with the distribution of the first questionnaire to all the particular Churches, enabling the profile of the family in the world, its riches and its challenges, to be outlined. The Extraordinary General Assembly then prepared a Final Report (Relatio Synodi) which raised further questions; the answers have been incorporated in today's Instrumentum Laboris. With this text in hand, composed of the Relatio Synodi and by the contributions of the particular Churches, the Fathers are preparing to listen to the challenges faced by the family, to discern its vocation, and to announce its mission.
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/10/02/changes_to_synod_of_bishops_on_family_unveiled/1176374

Changes to Synod of Bishops on Family unveiled
02/10/2015 14:55

(Vatican Radio) The Ordinary General Synod of bishops on the family, which opens in the Vatican this weekend, will be structured in a more “dynamic” way to allow greater participation of all its various members. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, held a press conference on Friday to announce the major changes to the three week meeting which will be discussing the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the modern world.”

270 bishops from across the globe, 75 auditors and experts, lay and religious, and 14 representatives from other Christian Churches. Among those Synod participants there are 30 women, including religious sisters, married couples and professional women working in different areas of family ministry.

Participants will gather with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square on Saturday night for a candle-lit prayer vigil and again on Sunday morning for the opening Synod Mass in St Peter’s Basilica. But the real news announced by Cardinal Baldisseri is the way the meeting is structured, allowing more time for the small group discussions, known as Circuli Minores, where all members can play a more active part in the discussion.
 

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http://www.news.va/en/news/holy-see-press-office-issues-statement-on-popes-me

Holy See Press Office issues statement on Pope's meeting with Kim Davis
2015-10-02 Vatican Radio

 
The full statement is below

The brief meeting between Mrs. Kim Davis and Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, DC has continued to provoke comments and discussion. In order to contribute to an objective understanding of what transpired I am able to clarify the following points:

Pope Francis met with several dozen persons who had been invited by the Nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City. Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness and availability. The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family.

The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-clarifies-background-on-popes-meeting-with-kim-davis-47449/
Vatican clarifies background on Pope's meeting with Kim Davis

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Video at the link (Pope Francis meets with former student)

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/10/02/vatican-distances-pope-francis-from-kim-davis/

Vatican distances Pope Francis from Kentucky clerk Kim Davis
Meanwhile, the Vatican confirmed that Francis met with a gay friend and his partner a day earlier
Crux Staff | October 2, 2015

ROME — Facing mounting controversy over a brief private meeting between Pope Francis and Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis last week, the Vatican broke its silence Friday with a statement saying the pontiff did not intend the encounter as a form of support for her case “in all its particular and complex aspects.”

Meanwhile, CNN reported — and the Vatican confirmed — that the day before Francis met Davis, he held a private meeting with a longtime friend and former student from Argentina who has been in a same-sex relationship for 19 years.

Davis, an Apostolic Christian, is the clerk who spent five days in jail in September for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite the US Supreme Court ruling in June that legalized gay marriage nationwide. The meeting with Davis was thus seen as the pontiff wading deeply into America’s culture wars.

The temptation to read the meeting as an endorsement of Davis was especially strong given comments made by the pope aboard the papal plane returning to Rome that conscientious objection on same-sex marriage, including for government officials, is a “human right.”

Davis and her lawyers also trumpeted the meeting as support for her cause. Earlier this week, Davis said that when she and her husband met the pope at the Vatican ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, where the pontiff was staying, he encouraged her to “stay strong.”
 

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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/ahead-of-the-synod-lgbt-activists-lobby-bishops-heres-what-they-want-42396/

Ahead of the synod, LGBT activists lobby bishops. Here's what they want.

Rome, Italy, Oct 2, 2015 / 03:08 pm (CNA).- As the Synod on the Family approaches, a well-funded LGBT activist coalition is lobbying bishops to revive controversial language from the debates of the 2014 extraordinary synod.

It also advocates that the synod adopt the practices of dissenting Catholic groups.

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups is among the organizers of the “Ways of Love” conference of LGBT Catholic activists and their allies. The conference will be held in Rome Oct. 3, just ahead of the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family.

The Forum's event is distinct from – and even opposed to – the Living the Truth in Love conference, held Oct. 2 at the Angelicum by Courage, Ignatius Press, and the Napa Institute, which aimed at welcome and accompaniment, aligned with Church teaching, to Catholics with homosexual tendencies.
 

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/10/03/holy_see_statement_on_popes_meeting_with_yayo_grassi/1176502

Holy See Press Office issues statement on Pope's meeting with Yayo Grassi
03/10/2015 09:00

 
Please find the full statement below:

Statement of Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, Director of Holy See Press Office

Regarding the Meeting of Pope Francis with Mr. Yayo Grassi in Washington, DC

Mr. Yayo Grassi, a former Argentine student of Pope Francis, who had already met other times in the past with the Pope, asked to present his mother and several friends to the Pope during the Pope’s stay in Washington, DC. As noted in the past, the Pope, as pastor, has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue.

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/10/03/fr_lombardi_reacts_to_revelations_by_gay_prelate/1176558

Fr Lombardi reacts to revelations by gay prelate
03/10/2015 12:07

Fr Federico Lombardi
(Vatican Radio) The director of the Holy See press office Father Federico Lombardi on Saturday reacted to revelations by a high-ranking Vatican official that he is in a gay relationship.

43 year old Polish Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa has been living in Rome for 17 years and has worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 2003. He also serves as assistant secretary of the International Theological Commission and teaches theology at two of Rome’s Pontifical universities , the Gregorian and the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum.
 
Please find below the statement by the director of the Holy See press office Father Federico Lombardi:

With regard to the declarations and interview given by Msgr. Krzystof Charamsa it should be observed that, notwithstanding the respect due to the events and personal situations, and reflections on the issue, the decision to make such a pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the Synod appears very serious and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the Synod assembly to undue media pressure. Msgr. Charamsa will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his previous work in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical universities, while the other aspects of his situation shall remain the competence of his diocesan Ordinary.

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http://www.johnthavis.com/on-eve-of-synod-a-vatican-official-comes-out-as-gay#.Vg_0if-FPIV

On eve of synod, a Vatican official comes out as gay
Posted on Sat, October 3, 2015

If the Vatican wanted to bury the question of homosexuality during the Synod of Bishops that begins tomorrow, those plans were upset today when a longtime official of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation came out as gay.

Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa did not come out quietly, either. He held a press conference (at which he hugged his partner), gave interviews and announced that a book on his experience is imminent.

Saying he was “happy and proud” to be gay, Charamsa said his (soon to be former) workplace at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was homophobic and paranoid. He said he was asking Pope Francis to change the Catholic catechism, which calls homosexuality “disordered.”
 

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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-tells-synod-fathers-to-learn-from-the-holy-family-36477/

Pope tells Synod Fathers to learn from the Holy Family

Prayer vigil before the 2015 Synod on the Family October 3, 2015. Credit: Bohumil Petrik / CNA
Vatican City, Oct 3, 2015 / 12:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Saturday presided over a candlelight vigil for the Synod on the Family, calling on the Synod Fathers to listen to families, including the Holy Family, over the course of their deliberations.

“The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognize God’s plan for our lives and to embrace it with trust,” the Pope said. “It is a place of gratuitousness, of discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to be forgiven.”

“Every family is always a light, however faint, amid the darkness of this world.”

Speaking the night before the opening of the Synod on the Family, he called on Synod participants – many of whom were present – to “acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy” in the family, and “embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship: war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create distress, resentment and separation.”

“May (the Synod) remind these families, and every family, that the Gospel is always 'good news' which enables us to start over,” he said, addressing the crowds – many of them families with children – gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGOTOdOI53M
Prayer vigil - 2015.10.03
Streamed live on Oct 3, 2015
Starts at 5.30 pm. Pope Francis participates in the prayer vigil in preparation of the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 4 - 25, 2015)

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http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/10/04/popes_homily_at_opening_mass_of_the_synod_of_bishops/1176802

Pope's Homily at Opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops
04/10/2015 15:07

(Vatican Radio) The front of St. Peter’s Basilica was lined with green and scarlet as the Synod Fathers gathered around the altar for the opening mass of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family this morning presided over by the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

The Scripture texts were those of the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in ordinary time but, as the Pope himself remarked at the beginning of the homily, they “seem to have been chosen precisely for this moment of grace which the Church is experiencing.”

The Pope said that the readings centred on three themes, “solitude, love between man and women, and the family.”

The First Reading came from the book of Genesis – the Lord giving Adam a helpmate. Pope Francis, reflecting on Adam’s loneliness, likened it to the drama of solitude experienced by men and women today – especially the elderly, widows and widowers and those left by their spouses. He said that many today are lonely because they are misunderstood and unheard – referring particularly to migrants and refugees.
 
http://www.news.va/en/news/holy-mass-for-the-opening-of-the-14th-ordinary-gen
Full text: Homily of Pope Francis during the Mass for the opening of the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vqz5O6HX5M
Holy Mass for the Opening of the Synod - 2015.10.04
Streamed live on Oct 4, 2015

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http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-angelus-address--6

Pope's Angelus Address
Vatican City,  October 04, 2015

Below is a ZENIT-translation of Pope Francis' Angelus Address today at noon in St. Peter's Square, following his having presided over Mass for the Opening of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family in St. Peter's Basilica:
***
Before the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

The Eucharistic celebration with which we began the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops just ended in St. Peter's Basilica. The Synod Fathers, coming from every part of the world and gathered around the Successor of Peter, for three weeks, will reflect on the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in society, for careful spiritual and pastoral discernment. We'll keep our eyes fixed on Jesus to find, on the basis of His teaching of truth and mercy, the most appropriate ways for adequate commitment of the Church with families and for families, so that the Creator's original plan for man and woman be implemented and may operate in today's world, in all its beauty and its strength.
 

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Photo at the link

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-relics-of-st-therese-and-her-parents-will-be-displayed-throughout-the-synod-93770/

The relics of St Therese, and her parents, will be displayed throughout the synod

Rome, Italy, Oct 3, 2015 / 01:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Glass cases with the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, will be displayed in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for the entirety of the Synod on the Family, Oct. 4-25.

Blessed Louis and Zelie will both be canonized Oct. 18.

The relics will be available for veneration by the faithful from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the normal hours the basilica is open.

The relics of St. Therese will be displayed in the Borghese chapel of the basilica before the icon of the Salus Populi Romani. Through this devotion to Mary, Pope Francis has asked for her intercession for the fruits of the work of thesSynod and for all the families of the world.
 

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http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/back-to-the-synod-year-given-for-discernment-also-brought-debate.cfm

Back to the synod: Year given for 'discernment' also brought debate
10.2.2015 10:35 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis planned two gatherings of the Synod of Bishops to focus on the family and urged participants to use the year between the assemblies as a time for "true spiritual discernment" with both study and prayer.

In the months leading up to the opening of the world Synod of Bishops Oct. 4, dozens of books about the Catholic Church and families were published, consultations were conducted, conferences held, groups formed, petitions were circulated and study days were sponsored. "Spiritual discernment" sounds like a quiet, peaceful pursuit, but screaming headlines and reports of "shadow synods" and conspiracies by forces allegedly trying to overturn church doctrine or to keep it in the Dark Ages probably made such discernment a challenge for many participants.

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, synod general secretary, told reporters Oct. 2 that Pope Francis invited church members and all people of goodwill to discuss the theme of the family. "It is not surprising then that there were positions and statements that contrast with each other or focus on different aspects. This was foreseen."