(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Wednesday with members of the Harlem Globetrotters, the famous basketball team from the United States.
During the encounter, they gave the Holy Father a jersey with the name “Pope Francis” and the number 90.
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team founded in the 1920’s, featuring African-American players at a time when most sports were segregated. In later years, they were known for adding comedy and stunts to their routines. They are currently in Italy as part of their 2015 international tour.
Before meeting the Pope, members of the team entertained members of the crowd, spinning their signature red-white-and-blue basketballs.
The Harlem Globetrotters met with Pope St. John Paul II in 2000, and named him an Honorary Harlem Globetrotter.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted a group of pilgrims from the Chinese diocese of Wenzhou on Wednesday, who were present in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly General Audience.
While making his customary turn of the Square to greet pilgrims before the start of the Audience, the Holy Father spotted the pilgrims and decided to stop his conveyance – the “Popemobile” – and go to greet the pilgrims, who carried a placard from their home diocese, Wenzhou.
Wenzhou is a city on the east coast of the Chinese mainland, which counts more than 9 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and from which as many as 90% of Chinese immigrants to Italy hail.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on Tuesday attended a conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Canonization of Pope St. John XXIII. The conference focused on the presentation of the book Giovanni XXIII e Paolo VI, i papi del Vaticano II,…
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(Vatican Radio) Radio is the most popular form of communication in Papua New Guinea, and recently a group of Catholic communicators held a workshop on the island to help train staff from several of the country’s radio stations. Vatican Radio, the Centre for Research and Education in Communication (CREC), and Signis (The World Catholic Association…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, during which he continued his catechetical reflections on the nature and purpose of marriage in the order of creation and in the Divine plan of salvation. This week, the Holy Father focused specifically on Christian marriage as a Sacrament: an efficacious sign of God’s love for each and every person, for all humanity and for the whole world, a means of grace, and a genuine way of living our common baptismal call to holiness. “Christian marriage is that sacrament which builds up the community of the Church and of society,” explained Pope Francis through an interpreter in the English-language synopsis of the main catechesis, which he delivered in Italian. “Marriage has been inscribed in creation’s design by God, and, by his grace, countless Christian men and women have lived married life fully,” he continued. The Holy Father went on to describe marriage as an act of faith in God’s plan for humanity and an act of selfless love. Drawing on the writings of St. Paul the Apostle, the Pope focused especially on the duties of husbands to their wives, saying that married love is an image of the love between Christ and his Church, and that a husband is therefore to love his wife as Christ loved the Church, by giving himself completely for her. “When a man and a woman marry in the Lord, they participate in the missionary life of the Church, by living not only for themselves or their own family, but for all people,” explained Pope Francis. “Therefore,” the summary continued, “the life of the Church is enriched through every marriage which shows forth this beauty, and is impoverished when marriage is disfigured in any way.” Pope Francis concluded his remarks by saying that every couple which faithfully and courageously lives the grace of this sacrament assists the Church in offering the gifts of faith, hope and love to all people, and helps others to experience these gifts in their married lives and their families. He prayed that married couples everywhere live this mystery ever more fully, trusting in God’s tenderness and the Church’s maternal care. (from Vatican Radio)…