(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Silvano Tomasi has warned that unless efforts are made to protect millions of children caught up in the Syrian conflict they are at risk of becoming a lost generation. In an statement delivered on March 17 to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Archbishop Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See…
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(Vatican Radio) The Church “is the home of Jesus,” a house of mercy that welcomes all, and therefore not a place where Christians should close the doors to those seeking to enter. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning at Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican. It is a message that Pope Francis has repeated many times in the past: that of Jesus who opens the doors to anyone who seeks Him and especially to those far from Him. But, the Pope laments, some Christians shut out those who knock at the door of the Church. While Christ offers complete mercy, those who profess to believe in Him sometimes fail Him by closing the door on others. Do not stop those seeking Christ The Pope’s reflection begins with water, the protagonist of Tuesday’s liturgical readings. Calling it “the water that heals,” Francis comments on the Prophet Ezekiel’s description of the trickle of water emerging from the doorway of the temple, and which becomes a raging torrent rich with fish, capable of healing anyone. And, in the Gospel: the water of the pool of Bethesda where a sad paralyzed man lies just on the edge. The Pope describes him as a little ‘”lazy” – never having found a way to immerse himself in the moving waters to seek healing. Instead, Jesus heals him and encourages him to “go on”, but this triggers the criticism of the doctors of the law because the healing took place on Saturday. It’s a tale notes the Pope, which occurs “many times” today: “A man – a woman – who feels sick in the soul, sad, who made many mistakes in life, at a certain time feels that the waters are moving – the Holy Spirit is moving something – or they hear a word or … ‘Ah, I want to go!’ … And they gather up their courage and go. And how many times in Christian communities today will they find closed doors! ‘But you cannot, no, you cannot [come in]. You have sinned and you cannot [come in]. If you want to come, come to Mass on Sunday, but that’s it – that’s all you can do.’ So, what the Holy Spirit creates in the hearts of people, those Christians with their ‘doctors of the law’ mentality, destroy “. The Church is the house of Jesus “This pains me,” the Pope says, reiterating that the Church always keeps its doors open: “It’s Jesus’ home and Jesus welcomes [all]. But not only does He welcome, He goes out to see people just as He went out to find this man. And if people are hurt, what does Jesus do? Scold them because they are hurt? No, He comes and He carries them on His shoulders. And this is called mercy. And when God rebukes his people – ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice!’ – He’s talking about this. ” Love is the law “Who are you,” the Pope continues, “ who shut the door of your heart to a man, a woman, who wants to improve, to return within the people of God – because the Holy Spirit has stirred his or her heart?” Lent, concludes Francis, helps us to avoid making the same mistake as those who regarded with contempt Jesus’ love towards the paralytic, solely because it was contrary to the law: “We call today on the Lord in the Mass for us, for each of us and for the whole Church, a conversion to Jesus, a conversion to Jesus, a conversion to the mercy of Jesus. And so the Law will be fully accomplished, because the Law is to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. ” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Church “is the home of Jesus,” a house of mercy that welcomes all, and therefore not a place where Christians should close the doors to those seeking to enter. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning at Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican. …
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Bishops of Nigeria expressing his closeness to all those suffering in the country.
While acknowledging the progress the nation of 160 million has made in recent years, Pope Francis laments the “new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism” which are affecting the country on ethnic, social and religious grounds, which has led to murders, kidnappings, and forced many people to leave their homes.
“Every day I remember you in my prayers and I repeat here, for your encouragement and comfort, the consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always resound in our hearts: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,’” Pope Francis writes.
“Peace – as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation,” the Pope continues. “Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace.”
Pope Francis reminds the Bishops that, at the same time, peace is “a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded.”
“In a word, peace consists in building up a ‘culture of encounter’,” he said.
The full text of the Pope’s letter to the Bishops of Nigeria is below:
To the Bishops of Nigeria
Dear Brother Bishops,
While we walk this Lenten journey towards the Resurrection of the Lord united with the whole Church, I wish to extend to you, dear Archbishops and Bishops of Nigeria, a fraternal greeting, which I extend to the beloved Christian communities entrusted to your pastoral care. I would also like to share some thoughts with you on the current situation in your country.
Nigeria, known as the “African giant”, with its more than 160 million inhabitants, is set to play a primary role, not only in Africa but in the world at large. In recent years, it has experienced robust growth in the economic sphere and has again reasserted itself on the world stage as an attractive market, on account of its natural resources as well as its commercial potential. It is now considered officially the single largest African economy. It has also distinguished itself as a political player widely committed to the resolution of crisis situations in the continent.
At the same time, your nation has had to confront considerable problems, among them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds. Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated, kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones, their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and their rights. Many have not been able to return to their homes. Believers, both Christian and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder.
I would like to assure you and all who suffer of my closeness. Every day I remember you in my prayers and I repeat here, for your encouragement and comfort, the consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always resound in our hearts: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27).
Peace – as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation. Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace, who has made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the man or woman who treasures the peace of Christ as a guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker (cf. Mt 5:9).
At the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded. In a word, peace consists in building up a “culture of encounter”.
And so I wish here to express my heartfelt thanks to you, because in the midst of so many trials and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to witness to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness. How can we fail to remember the priests, religious men and women, missionaries and catechists who, despite untold sacrifices, never abandoned their flock, but remained at their service as good and faithful heralds of the Gospel? To them, most particularly, I would like to express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of doing what is right!
We give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many men and women of every social, cultural and religious background, who with great willingness stand up in concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose efforts are directed at favouring a more secure and just future for all. They offer us moving testimonies, which, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod for Africa, show “the power of the Spirit to transform the hearts of victims and their persecutors and thus to re-establish fraternity” (Africae Munus, 20).
Dear Brother Bishops, in perseverance and without becoming discouraged, go forward on the way of peace (cf. Lk 1:79). Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the poor! Teach the youth! Become promoters of a more just and fraternal society!
I gladly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I ask you to extend to priests, religious, missionaries, catechists, lay faithful and above all to those suffering members of the Body of Christ.
May the Resurrection of the Lord bring conversion, reconciliation and peace to all the people of Nigeria! I commend you to Mary, Queen of Africa, and I ask you also to pray for me.
FRANCISCUS PP.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Bishops of Nigeria expressing his closeness to all those suffering in the country. While acknowledging the progress the nation of 160 million has made in recent years, Pope Francis laments the “new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism” which are affecting the country on…
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