Pope Francis

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-presides-over-mass-for-rome-s-filipino-community.html

Pope Francis presides over Mass for Rome's Filipino community
15 December 2019, 16:51

Pope Francis on Sunday celebrates Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for Rome’s Filipino Community, telling them they have a special mission to share their faith.
By Vatican News

During his homily for the Filipino community gathered in St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis began by drawing from Sunday’s liturgy. He said that “from the words of the Responsorial Psalm we learn that there are those "vulnerable people who also deserve a look of special love from God.”

The Pope was referring to “the oppressed, the hungry, prisoners, foreigners, orphans and widows. “These are the inhabitants of the existential peripheries of yesterday and of today”, he said.
 
Video at the link below--
Pope Francis-Holy Mass for the Filipino Community 2019-12-15
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-at-angelus-let-us-not-distracted-make-room-for-the-joy-of.html

Pope at Angelus: let us not be distracted, make room for the joy of Jesus
15 December 2019, 12:56

On the third Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis invites the faithful not to be distracted by external things, but to make room for Jesus who wants “to give us his joy”.
By Vatican News

Before the recitation of the Marian Prayer, Pope Francis said the liturgy on this third Sunday of Advent invites us to be joyful, but to be aware “that existence also includes moments of doubt”. “Joy and doubt are both experiences that are part of our lives”.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-at-angelus-blesses-baby-jesus-statues.html
Pope Francis blesses baby Jesus statues during Angelus
15 December 2019, 12:17

https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-the-third-sunday-of-advent-or-gaudete-sunday/
Angelus Address: On the Third Sunday of Advent or “Gaudete” Sunday
December 15, 2019 15:20  Virginia Forrester

Video, with English commentary, at the link below--
Pope's Angelus of 15 December 2019
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/angelus/2019-12/pope-s-angelus-of-15-december-2019.html
or
Pope Francis - Angelus prayer 2019-12-15
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2019/12/in-latest-sign-of-stress-on-bishops-nebraska-prelate-takes-leave-of-absence/

In latest sign of stress on bishops, Nebraska prelate takes leave of absence
Elise Harris  Dec 14, 2019

ROME - After what has been a tumultuous and at times painful 18 months for Catholic shepherds in the United States, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln issued a moving letter Friday saying he will take a temporary leave of absence to deal with mental health struggles.

The announcement was immediately met with an outpouring of support, with many taking to social media to offer words of comfort and assure Conley of their prayers.

In the Dec. 13 letter, the 64-year-old Conley said that for the foreseeable future, he will be on a medical leave of absence, “effective immediately.”
 

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Reminder...

Update:  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/peoria-bishop-announces-novena-for-venerable-sheens-sainthood-cause-63512
Peoria bishop announces novena for Venerable Sheen's sainthood cause

Peoria, Ill., Dec 10, 2019 / 02:38 pm (CNA).- Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria is inviting the faithful to pray a novena beginning Dec. 12 to "petition God unceasingly" that Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s sainthood cause may move forward.

Sheen, a beloved American evangelist and television personality who died in 1979, was set to be beatified Dec. 21 in Peoria, but the Holy See announced Dec. 2 that the beatification was to be postponed.

“I know how deeply saddened we all are about the postponement of the beatification of Fulton Sheen,” said Bishop Jenky said in a video message Dec. 9.
“But in these turbulent times when our faith is being tested...we need to remain faithful to prayer like Archbishop Sheen.”

The novena will begin Dec. 12 and include daily meditations on reflections from Sheen, Jenky announced.

The novena at the link:  https://celebratesheen.com/novena/

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-celebrates-a-filipino-christmas-tradition-at-the-vatican-82137

Pope Francis celebrates a Filipino Christmas tradition at the Vatican
By Courtney Mares

Vatican City, Dec 15, 2019 / 10:00 am (CNA).- On Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated a Filipino Christmas tradition in St. Peter’s Basilica -- the Simbang Gabi Christmas novena.

“In the Philippines, for centuries, there has been a novena in preparation for Christmas called Simbang Gabi, 'Mass of the night'. During nine days the Filipino faithful gather at dawn in their parishes for a special Eucharistic celebration,” Pope Francis said Dec. 15.

“Through this celebration we want to prepare ourselves for Christmas according to the spirit of the Word of God that we have listened to, remaining constant until the Lord's definitive coming,” he said in his homily for the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis invited Rome’s Filipino community to celebrate Gaudete Sunday Mass at the Vatican in honor of the first day of the traditional novena. It is the first time that a pope has celebrated Simbang Gabi at the Vatican.
 
There are over 167,000 Filipinos residing in Italy, according to the Italian Ministry of Labor. Fr. Ricky Gente, chaplain for the Filipino community in Rome, address Pope Francis following the Mass:

“Almost 500 years ago, European missionaries planted the seed of faith in our beloved Philippines. We are happy and blessed because after five centuries we are here in Europe and throughout the world transmitting the joy and beauty of the Gospel,” Fr. Gente said.

“Before the celebration of the last World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the Holy Father shared with me that Filipino women are ‘smugglers of the faith,’” the priest said.

“Yes, it is true, we carry with us everywhere we go the torch of faith and of the Gospel in the world, the same faith and Gospel that have been transmitted to us. This is why today, here in front of you, you find a happy and smiling people because the flame of faith continues to burn intensely in our hearts," he added.

The Filipino community gave Pope Francis a traditional Marian statue as an early birthday gift. The pope will celebrate his 83rd birthday on Dec. 17. Pope Francis responded after receiving the gift: “Be smugglers of the faith.”
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2019-12/pope-francis-mass-monday-lukewarm-christians-challenge-god.html

Pope at Mass: Lukewarm Christians put God in a corner
16 December 2019, 12:26

In his homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta on Monday, Pope Francis describes two attitudes of lukewarm Christians – “putting God in a corner and washing their hands of Him”.
By Vatican News

Pope Francis took his cue from the day’s Gospel (Mt 21:23-27), in which the chief priests confront Jesus about the origin of His teaching authority.

Jesus turns the question around and asks his interrogators whether John the Baptist’s authority came from God. They claim not to know, and refuse to take a position on the matter.

Pope Francis said the chief priests’ questioning reveals two attitudes of lukewarm Christians: wanting to put God in a corner and to wash our hands of challenges.

The Pope called these attitudes “dangerous” because they are “like challenging God”. If God did the same with us, he said, “we would never enter Paradise”.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-children-catholic-action-acr.html

Pope urges children to be little “bridges” like Child Jesus
16 December 2019, 13:17

Pope Francis on Monday met a delegation of young boys and girls Children’s Catholic Action, a wing of Italy’s lay Catholic organization, Azione Cattolica.
By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis is inviting children to look to the Child Jesus with amazement and, like Him, be little “bridges” where they live.

He made the invitation to a group of some 64 boys and girls of the Italian organization called Azione Cattolica dei Ragazzi (ACR), or Children’s Catholic Action.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-society-to-move-in-step-with-elderly.html

Pope says society needs to move “in step” with the elderly
16 December 2019, 13:45

Pope Francis meets with Italy’s National Association of Elderly Workers and confirms we need the wisdom and experience of the aged to build a world more respectful of the rights of all.
By Vatican News

Founded in 1949, Italy’s National Association of Elderly Workers brings together older professionals who still want to contribute to society with their skills and experience. Meeting with representatives of the Association in the Vatican on Monday, to mark the 70th anniversary of their foundation, Pope Francis focused on ageing in terms two seasons: the season of gift, and the season of dialogue.
 

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Update:  The movie, "The Two Popes"

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/making-two-popes-director-fernando-meirelles-cast-francis-google-search-1261867

Making of 'The Two Popes': Director Fernando Meirelles Cast Francis After Google Search
by Stephen Galloway December 16, 2019, 7:00am PST

While shooting inside a Roman refugee camp and re-creating the Sistine Chapel, the film ultimately focuses on a conversation between conservative Benedict XVI and progressive Francis as it explores "what had made the most traditional pope of the modern era do the most untraditional thing possible and resign."

In September 2015, Anthony McCarten was on vacation in Rome when he got some bad news: His cousin had died. The 58-year-old writer, a former altar boy from a devout New Zealand family (a lapsed or rather "collapsed" Roman Catholic, as he puts it), went in search of a church where he could light a candle and found himself in St. Peter's Square, surrounded by thousands of people "of all denominations, races and creeds," jammed into the open space for Pope Francis' weekly mass.

The atmosphere was electric, the pontiff's presence overwhelming, even though McCarten (Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything) couldn't understand a word the cleric said in Italian. He began to wonder how such a liberal figure had ascended to the papacy in 2013 after the eight-year pontificate of Benedict XVI, an arch-conservative who had stepped down of his own accord.

"It occurred to me in that moment," says McCarten, "to ask: What had made the most traditional pope of the modern era do the most untraditional thing possible and resign?"
That was the beginning of a long journey of exploration that led McCarten first to write a play (The Pope, staged earlier this year in Northampton, England) and then a film: the $45 million Netflix movie The Two Popes (in limited theatrical release beginning Nov. 27, streaming Dec. 20). Shot over 48 days in Argentina and Rome, the two shoots separated by a break of three and a half months, the feature is director Fernando Meirelles' first since 2011's 360 and may well return him to the Oscars, where his 2002 drama City of God earned four Academy Award nominations.
 

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Happy 83rd Birthday, Pope Francis! 

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/happy-birthday-pope-francis.html

Happy Birthday Pope Francis
17 December 2019, 11:03

Greetings have been arriving from around the world this 17th December as the Pope celebrates his 83rd birthday.

Pope Francis on Tuesday is marking his 83rd Birthday. It was only last Friday that the Pope celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
On the occasion of his birthday, the Pope has been receiving messages of congratulations from all over the world.

In a greeting to Pope Francis, the President of Italy, Sergio Matterella said he was particularly pleased to send the “most sincere and affectionate wishes” on this 83rd Birthday.

In his message, the President said the Pope’s incessant pastoral activity was “the crowning achievement of fifty years of generous priestly service”. He added that, the Pontiff’s voice was one that “continues to urge peoples and nations to overcome divisions, to preserve peace, to engage in dialogue..."
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-abolishes-pontifical-secret-sexual-abuse-clergy.html

The Pope abolishes the pontifical secret in cases of sexual abuse
17 December 2019, 12:00

Pope Francis is now making testimony collected in canonical processes available to legal authorities.
Vatican News

Two documents are destined to make a lasting mark: Pope Francis has abolished the pontifical secret in the case of sexual violence and the abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy. He has also decided to change the norm regarding the crime of child pornography by making the possession and dissemination of pornographic images of children under the age of 18 which fall under the category of delicta graviora – the most grave delicts[/color].

The first and most important document is a Rescript signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. This Rescript communicates that, last 4 December, the Pope decided to abolish the pontifical secret connected with reporting, trials and decisions regarding the crimes listed in the first article of the recent Motu Proprio Vos estis lux mundi, that is: cases of violence and sexual acts committed under threat or abuse of authority; cases of the sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable persons; cases of child pornography; cases regarding the lack of reporting and the cover-up of the abusers on the part of bishops and superiors general of religious institutes.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-12/abolish-papal-secret-february-summit.html
Editorial
Historic decision, fruit of the February summit
17 December 2019, 12:00

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-12/scicluna-interview-apolish-pontifical-secret.html
Scicluna: "Transparency is being implemented at the highest levels"
17 December 2019, 12:20

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-general-audience-crib-advent-christmas.html

Pope at Audience: ‘Life is reborn at Christmas’
18 December 2019, 12:31

Pope Francis invites Christians to make a crib in their homes as a preparation for Christmas, noting that in a world in which weapons continue to be manufactured, the crib is “an artisanal image of peace.”
By Linda Bordoni

“Christmas is a week away,” Pope Francis reminded those present for the weekly General Audience, inviting them to ask themselves “how am I preparing to celebrate the birth of the Lord?”

A simple, but effective way, he told them, is to make a crib.

This, he told them, is exactly what he did: “I went to Greccio, where Saint Francis set up the first crib, with the people who lived there. And I wrote a letter recalling the significance of this tradition.”

The crib: a living Gospel

The Pope went on to describe the crib as a kind of living Gospel that “brings the Gospel into the places of our lives: our homes, schools, workplaces, community centers, hospitals and clinics, prisons and squares.”

It reminds us, the Pope said, of how the Lord showed His love for us by being born as one of us.

https://zenit.org/articles/general-audience-in-a-week-it-will-be-christmas-ask-how-have-i-prepared-for-his-birth/
GENERAL AUDIENCE: In a Week, It Will Be Christmas. Ask: ‘How Have I Prepared for His Birth’
December 18, 2019 13:30

Video at the link below--
Pope Francis - General Audience 2019-12-18
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2019-12/pope-francis-mass-santa-marta-homily-gratuitousness-barren.html

Pope at Mass: The Lord’s gratuitousness makes the desert bloom
19 December 2019, 16:08

Celebrating Mass at the Casa Santa Marta chapel in the Vatican, Thursday morning, Pope Francis reflected on God’s gratuitousness, saying the desert will bloom like the barren mothers of Samson and John the Baptist.
By Robin Gomes

Evoking the prophecy of Isaiah, the Pope dwelt on the blooming of the desert, reminding Christians that God is capable of changing everything, gratuitously.  God saves us for free, but we sin when we desire to save ourselves.

With God nothing is impossible

With Christmas less than a week away, Pope Francis reflected on the day’s readings, which "puts us in front of two deserts", or two barren women, namely Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist in the Gospel and the mother of Samson in the Old Testament.

Speaking about Elizabeth, the Pope said, reminds us of the story of Abraham and Sarah.  "Sterility is a desert", he explained, because "a sterile woman ends up there, without descendants".  Both Sarah and Elizabeth are "women of faith" and trust in the Lord.  Both conceive and give birth.

The Pope pointed out that both conceive because God is capable of changing everything, even the laws of nature. He is capable of making way for His Word. 
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-ambassadors-holy-see-credentials.html

Pope to new Ambassadors to Holy See: ‘help build a better world’
19 December 2019, 12:36

Pope Francis addresses a group of Ambassadors in the Vatican to present their Credentials, saying that the path to peace begins with openness and reconciliation.
By Linda Bordoni

The new Ambassadors to the Holy See whom Pope Francis received in the Vatican on Thursday hail from Seychelles, Mali, Andorra, Kenya, Latvia and Niger.

They are part of a corps representing some 183 States that currently have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

In his discourse, Pope Francis noted that the meeting today takes place “as Christians throughout the world prepare to celebrate the birth of the one whom we address as the Prince of Peace.”
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-it-s-injustice-that-causes-migrants-to-die-at-sea.html

Pope Francis: It's injustice that causes migrants to die at sea
19 December 2019, 14:46

Pope Francis meets recently arrived refugees from the Greek island of Lesbos and unveils a cross in the Vatican’s Belvedere Courtyard to remember all migrants and refugees who are forced to make perilous journeys in search of a better life.
By Lydia O'Kane

Two life jackets that tell their own story: The first one was given to the Pope a few years ago by a group of rescuers; The vest belonged to a girl who drowned in the Mediterranean. The second one, delivered to Pope Francis by another group of rescuers just a few days ago, belonged to a migrant who was lost at sea last July. No one knows who he was or where he came from.

The Pope on Thursday told 33 refugees recently arrived from the Greek island of Lesbos through a humanitarian corridor, that he had donated the first life jacket to the two undersecretaries from the Migrants and Refugees Section, at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, telling them ‘This is your mission’.

The Pontiff said he wanted it “to mean the inescapable commitment of the Church to save the lives of migrants, so that then we could welcome, protect, promote and integrate them.”
 

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Photo gallery and video at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-video-message-christmas-guterres.html

Pope urges world not to be indifferent to humanity’s woes
20 December 2019, 16:54

At the end of a meeting with UN Secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, in the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered a video message, stressing the urgent need to address the emergencies facing the world. After the Pope, Guterres also delivered a video message.
By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis is calling on the world not to close its eyes or look the other way in the face of the many woes, pain and wounds afflicting mankind but to unite and work to build a peaceful world, saying  “what really counts in life is love”.

The Pope issued the video message at the end of his meeting with the UN Secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, in the Vatican.

“It is good that this meeting of ours takes place in the days leading up to Christmas,” the Pope says in the presence of Guterres.  “These are days when our eyes are turned to heaven to entrust to God the people and situations we hold most dear. In this gaze we recognize ourselves as children of one Father, brothers and sisters,” he says speaking in his native Spanish.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-visits-rome-high-school.html

Pope Francis on Friday morning pays a surprise visit to the Pilo Albertelli State High School in Rome.
20 December 2019, 16:54

Pope Francis travelled by car to the Pilo Albertelli State High School in Rome, near the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The Pope was accompanied by the Director of L'Osservatore Romano, Andrea Monda, a former religion teacher at the school; along with the Dean of the Institute. He greeted the teachers, staff, and students who had written the texts of the meditations for the Way of the Cross on Good Friday 2018.

He entered the schoolyard, where he was welcomed by the approximately 800 students of the institute. After a song performed by some students and a greeting from the Headmaster, the Holy Father addressed a few words to the young people, in response to their questions. He spoke of loneliness, which when lived badly leads to sadness; and of freely-given love, a difficult road, that requires “trimming oneself back”, of patience, of “small sacrifices”.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cdf-secretary-anthropology-and-scripture-document-is-not-open-to-same-sex-unions-30867

CDF official: Anthropology and Scripture document is not ‘open’ to same-sex unions

Vatican City, Dec 20, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, said Friday that a new document by the Pontifical Biblical Commission does not give an “opening” to the validity of so-called same-sex unions.

Morandi referred to the book-length document “Che Cosa E' L’Uomo? Un itinerio di antropologia biblica” (“What is Man? An Itinerary of Biblical Anthropology”) published by the Vatican as an Italian-language book Dec. 16.

The report was written over several years by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which is a part of the CDF, and aims to provide a study of the whole of scripture on the topic of human anthropology, aimed as a resource for scholars and students.

One nine-page section of the book studies the Bible’s treatment of homosexuality.

In that section, “there is no ‘opening’ to unions between people of the same sex, as some people erroneously claim,” Morandi said in an interview with Vatican News published Dec. 20.

Morandi’s interview came after some media reports and commentators suggested that the book affirmed homosexual relationships, or appeared to downplay the significance of sexual sin in Scripture.
 

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https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12307/one-tenth-of-peter-s-pence-actually-reaches-the-needy

20 December 2019, The Tablet
One tenth of Peter’s Pence actually reaches the needy
by Christopher Lamb

A fraction of donations to a special papal fund goes directly to charitable causes with the rest spent on plugging the Holy See’s budget deficit, according to a report in "The Wall Street Journal".

Around 10 per cent of the monies donated to Peter’s Pence is spent on supporting the poor and suffering out of an annual budget of €50 million (£42 million).

The fund is technically not for charitable purposes describing itself as serving “the many different needs of the Universal Church and for the relief of those most in need”, and has long been used to help with the Vatican's running costs.

But the news that such a large portion of the budget is still being used to balance the Vatican’s books shows the deep-seated problems Pope Francis is grappling with in attempting to reform the Vatican's finances.

Soon after his election, Francis lamented that the monies were being used to plug deficits rather than being spent on the poor. During his pontificate, the Pope has used the fund to help the destitute, including sending $500,000 (£375,000) in April 2019 to help migrants on the Mexico border.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-12/pope-francis-christmas-greetings-vatican-employees.html

Pope to Holy See employees: Smile!
21 December 2019, 12:17

Pope Francis receives Vatican employees to exchange Christmas greetings and encourages them to rediscover the importance of a smile.
By Vatican News

Pope Francis fulfilled another important Christmas tradition on Saturday morning when he met with Vatican employees and their families in the Paul VI Audience Hall.
The theme of his remarks could be summed up in one word: smile.

The Pope said he was inspired by his recent visit to Thailand, a country where people are always smiling. This experience made him reflect on how much smiles are “a typically human expression of love and affection”, he said.