(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is to pay a visit to the Archdiocese of Genoa on Saturday 27 May 2017. A statement by the Holy See Press Office announcing the scheduled visit was read on Sunday by the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, during celebration of Holy Mass in his Cathedral. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco is also the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. He described the news as “a particularly lovely event, which will help us, sustain us and encourage us”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday called on all men and women of good will to unite in the fight against poverty by implementing serious political legislation in support of families and employment.
Speaking during the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square after the morning’s Canonization Mass , the Pope recalled the “ International Day for the Eradication of Poverty ” which is marked on Monday, 17 October, and said: “Let us join our moral and economic forces to fight together against poverty that degrades, offends and kills so many of our brothers and sisters, by giving life to serious policies in support of families and employment”.
During his address, the Pope also renewed his appeal to pray insistently and fervently for peace, and he thanked those who had travelled from various countries across the world to pay homage to the new Saints .
“A special greeting in particular goes to the official delegations of Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico. May the example and intercession of these luminous witnesses give support to each of you in your work and service for the good of the Church and of civil society” he said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday canonized seven new Saints including Argentina’s “gaucho priest” Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero.
Know as “Cura Brochero”, the Argentinian who made it his mission to take the Gospel message of salvation to the peripheries, was proclaimed a Saint together with six others in a Mass in St. Peter’s Square.”
During his homily the Pope said “saints are men and women who enter fully into the mystery of prayer. Men and women who struggle with prayer, letting the Holy Spirit pray and struggle in them.”
The others to be canonized were two Italians, two from France, a Spaniard and a young Mexican martyr, José Sanchez del Rio who died during the Cristero struggle upholding his faith.
Some 80,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the occasion, including many flag-waving Argentinians who had made the journey to Rome to see Brochero elevated to sainthood.
Amongst them was also Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his family.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Canonization Mass:
At the start of today’s celebration, we addressed this prayer to the Lord: “Create in us a generous and steadfast heart, so that we may always serve you with fidelity and purity of spirit” (Collect).
By our own efforts, we cannot give ourselves such a heart. Only God can do this, and so in the prayer we ask him to give it to us as his “creation”. In this way, we come to the theme of prayer, which is central to this Sunday’s scriptural readings and challenges all of us who are gathered here for the canonization of new Saints. The Saints attained the goal. Thanks to prayer, they had a generous and steadfast heart. They prayed mightily; they fought and they were victorious.
So pray! Like Moses, who was above all a man of God, a man of prayer. We see him today in the battle against Amalek, standing atop the hill with his arms raised. From time to time, however, his arms would grow weary and fall, and then the tide would turn against the people. So Aaron and Hur made Moses sit on a stone and they held up his arms, until the final victory was won.
This is the kind of spiritual life the Church asks of us: not to win by war, but to win with peace!
There is an important message in this story of Moses: commitment to prayer demands that we support one another. Weariness is inevitable. Sometimes we simply cannot go on, yet, with the support of our brothers and sisters, our prayer can persevere until the Lord completes his work.
Saint Paul writes to Timothy, his disciple and co-worker, and urges him to hold fast to what he has learned and believed (cf. 2 Tim 3:14). But Timothy could not do this by his own efforts: the “battle” of perseverance cannot be won without prayer. Not sporadic or hesitant prayer, but prayer offered as Jesus tells us in the Gospel: “Pray always, without ever losing heart” (Lk 18:1). This is the Christian way of life: remaining steadfast in prayer, in order to remain steadfast in faith and testimony. Here once again we may hear a voice within us, saying: “But Lord, how can we not grow weary? We are human… even Moses grew weary…!” True, each of us grows weary. Yet we are not alone; we are part of a Body! We are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, whose arms are raised day and night to heaven, thanks to the presence of the Risen Christ and his Holy Spirit. Only in the Church, and thanks to the Church’s prayer, are we able to remain steadfast in faith and witness.
We have heard the promise Jesus makes in the Gospel: “God will grant justice to his chosen ones, who cry to him day and night” (cf. Lk 18:7). This is the mystery of prayer: to keep crying out, not to lose heart, and if we should grow tired, asking help to keep our hands raised. This is the prayer that Jesus has revealed to us and given us in the Holy Spirit. To pray is not to take refuge in an ideal world, nor to escape into a false, selfish sense of calm. On the contrary, to pray is to struggle, but also to let the Holy Spirit pray within us. For the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray. He guides us in prayer and he enables us to pray as sons and daughters.
The saints are men and women who enter fully into the mystery of prayer. Men and women who struggle with prayer, letting the Holy Spirit pray and struggle in them. They struggle to the very end, with all their strength, and they triumph, but not by their own efforts: the Lord triumphs in them and with them. The seven witnesses who were canonized today also fought the good fight of faith and love by their prayers. That is why they remained firm in faith, with a generous and steadfast heart. Through their example and their intercession, may God also enable us to be men and women of prayer. May we cry out day and night to God, without losing heart. May we let the Holy Spirit pray in us, and may we support one another in prayer, in order to keep our arms raised, until Divine Mercy wins the victory.
(from Vatican Radio)…