At Wednesday’s general audience, Pope Francis met and blessed the eyes of Lizzy Myers, a five year old girl from Ohio suffering from Usher Syndrome Type II, a rare condition causing the gradual loss of vision and hearing.
When Lizzy was first diagnosed, her parents, Steve and Christine Myers, decided to make a “visual bucket list” to help Lizzy see as much of the world as she could before she starts to lose her sight. One of their first visits was to an observatory, where Lizzy could see the moon, stars, and meteors. Once the media picked up this story, Turkish Airlines offered to cover the cost of a trip to anywhere in the world. When they decided on Rome, the Italian charity U.N.I.T.A.L.S.I. invited them to the Vatican for this once in a lifetime opportunity.
“I never expected this in a million years when we first started the journey,” Steve Myers said.
Upon meeting the Holy Father, Lizzy handed him a small meteorite. He thanked Lizzy, told her parents he will pray for their family, and asked them to pray for him as well. Vatican Radio’s Sophia Pizzi spoke to Lizzie’s parents after the audience and asked them about their feelings on meeting the Pope.
Listen to the voices of Christine and Steve Meyers, the parents of Lizzie:
Awestruck, Steve Myers said he was nervous beforehand, but a sense of calmness came over him as the Pope blessed his daughter. Christine Myers described it as “the first time she had felt an overwhelming sense of peace” since the diagnosis of their daughter’s illness.
The family originally chose to visit Rome because of its rich visuals in artwork and architecture. So far, Lizzy has been “enthralled” by everything she has seen, including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Sistine Chapel. “You have to be with her to understand how much she enjoys everything she sees,” her father said after describing how she sat and stared at the walls of the Sistine Chapel.
Next on Lizzy’s bucket list is a visit to Wyoming, though her parents note that not everything on the list involves travel. It includes normal activities too, such as catching fireflies at night, blowing bubbles, and flying a kite.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At many Wednesday general audiences during 2015, Pope Francis dedicated his catechesis to the topic of the family. He reflected on the family in the light of scripture and tradition, social realities and challenges, current roles and future possibilities. Out of more than 30 talks, here is a selection highlighting some main features of the Holy Father’s teaching on the family.
“The Incarnation of the Son of God opens a new beginning in the universal history of man and woman. And this new beginning happens within a family, in Nazareth. Jesus was born in a family. (…) God chose to come into the world in a human family, which He himself formed.” (17.12.2014)
“There is a close link between the hope of a people and the harmony among generations. The joy of children causes the parents’ hearts to beat and reopens the future. Children are the joy of the family and of society. They are not a question of reproductive biology, nor one of the many ways to fulfill oneself, much less a possession of their parents…. No. Children are a gift, they are a gift: understood? Children are a gift. Each one is unique and irreplaceable; and at the same time unmistakably linked to his/her roots.” (11.2.2015)
“In the family, among siblings, human coexistence is learned, how one must live in society. Perhaps we are not always aware of it, but the family itself introduces fraternity into the world!” (18.2.2015) “First of all children remind us that we all, in the first years of life, were completely dependent upon the care and benevolence of others. The Son of God was not spared this stage. It is the mystery that we contemplate every year at Christmas. The Nativity Scene is the icon which communicates this reality in the simplest and most direct way.” (18.3.2015)
“Man and woman are the image and likeness of God. This tells us that it is not man alone who is the image of God or woman alone who is the image of God, but man and woman as a couple who are the image of God.” (15.4.2015) “Sin generates distrust and division between man and woman. Their relationship will be undermined by a thousand forms of abuse and subjugation, misleading seduction and humiliating ignorance, even the most dramatic and violent kind. And history bears the scar. Let us think, for example, of those negative excesses of patriarchal cultures. Think of the many forms of male dominance whereby the woman was considered second class. Think of the exploitation and the commercialization of the female body in the current media culture. And let us also think of the recent epidemic of distrust, skepticism, and even hostility that is spreading in our culture — in particular an understandable distrust from women — regarding a covenant between man and woman that is capable, at the same time, of refining the intimacy of communion and of guarding the dignity of difference.
If we do not find a surge of respect for this covenant, capable of protecting new generations from distrust and indifference, children will come into the world ever more uprooted from the mother’s womb. The social devaluation for the stable and generative alliance between man and woman is certainly a loss for everyone. We must return marriage and the family to the place of honour!” (22.4.2015)
“The family tops all the indices of wellbeing among young people; but, fearing mistakes, many do not want to even consider it; even being Christians, they do not consider the sacrament of matrimony, the single and unrepeatable sign of the covenant, which becomes a testimony of faith. Perhaps this very fear of failure is the greatest obstacle to receiving the Word of Christ, which promises his grace to the conjugal union and to the family. (…) The Christian seed at the root of equality between spouses must bear new fruit today. The witness of the social dignity of marriage shall become persuasive precisely in this way, the way of a testimony which attracts, the way of reciprocity between them, of complementarity between them. For this reason, as Christians, we must become more demanding in this regard. For example: firmly support the right to equal pay for equal work; why is it taken for granted that women should earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. This disparity is an absolute disgrace! At the same time, recognize women’s motherhood and men’s fatherhood as an always precious treasure, for the good of their children above all.” (29.4.2015)
“The sacrament of marriage is a great act of faith and love: a witness to the courage to believe in the beauty of the creative act of God and to live that love that is always urging us to go on, beyond ourselves and even beyond our own family. (…) The decision to “wed in the Lord” also entails a missionary dimension, which means having at heart the willingness to be a medium for God’s blessing and for the Lord’s grace to all.” (6.5.2015)
“Around us we find various families in so-called irregular situations — I don’t really like this word”. (24.6.2015) “The Church is fully aware that such a situation is contrary to the Christian Sacrament. However, her gaze as a teacher always draws from a mother’s heart; a heart which, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, always seeks the good and the salvation of the people. This is why she feels obliged, “for the sake of truth”, to “exercise careful discernment of situations”. This is how St John Paul II expressed it in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (n. 84). (…) In fact, these persons are by no means excommunicated — they are not excommunicated! — and they should absolutely not be treated as such: they are still a part of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this question, calling for careful discernment and wise pastoral accompaniment, knowing that there are no “simple solutions” ( Speech at the Seventh World Meeting of Families , Milan, 2 June 2012). Here the repeated call to Pastors to openly and consistently demonstrate the community’s willingness to welcome them and encourage them, so they may increasingly live and develop their membership in Christ and in the Church through prayer, by listening to the Word of God, by attending the liturgy, through the Christian education of their children, through charity and service to the poor, through the commitment to justice and peace.” (5.8.2015)
“Jesus never stops accepting and speaking to everyone, even those who no longer expect to encounter God in this life. That is an important lesson for the Church! The disciples were chosen to care for this assembly, for this family of God’s guests. In order to maintain this reality of the assembly of Jesus in today’s situation, it is indispensable to renew the covenant between the family and the Christian community. We could say that the family and the parish are the two places where the communion of love, which finds its ultimate source in God, takes place. A Church truly according to the Gospel cannot but take the form of a hospitable home, with its doors open, always. Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must never be called churches, they should be called museums!” (9.9.2015)
“The faith draws it from the wisdom of the creation of God, who has entrusted to the family, not the care of intimacy as an end in itself, but rather the exciting project of domesticating the world. The family is at the beginning, at the root of this world culture that saves us… saves us from many, many attacks, from so much destruction, from so many “colonizations”, like that of money or of the ideologies that threaten so much of the world. The family is the basis of our defense!” (16.9.2015) “The family, the fruitful covenant between man and woman, is the answer to the great challenge of our world. That challenge is two-fold: fragmentation and standardization, two extremes that coexist and foster each other, and together they support the economic model of consumerism. The family is the answer because it is the cell of a society that balances the personal and the communal dimensions, and that at the same time can be the model for the sustainable management of the goods and resources of creation. The family is the principal agent of an integral ecology, because it is the primary social agent, which contains within it the two foundational principles of human civilization on the earth: the principle of communion and the principle of fruitfulness.” (30.9.2015)
“With this reflection we arrive at the threshold of the Jubilee, its close. The door is before us, not just the Holy Door, but another: the great door of the Mercy of God — and that is a beautiful door! (…) An inhospitable Church, like a family closed off within itself, mortifies the Gospel and withers the world. No armoured doors in the Church, none! Completely open! The symbolic management of “doors” — of thresholds, of passages, of borders — has become crucial. The door must protect, of course, but not reject. The door must not be forced but on the contrary, one asks permission, because hospitality shines in the freedom of welcoming, and dims in the arrogance of invasion. The door is frequently opened, in order to see if there is someone waiting outside, perhaps without the courage nor, perhaps, the strength to knock. How many people have lost faith, do not have the courage to knock at the door of our Christian heart, at the doors of our churches…. And they are there, they don’t have the courage, we have taken away trust: please, may this never happen. A door says many things about the house, and also about the Church. Tending the door requires careful discernment and, at the same time, must inspire great faith.” (18.11.2015)
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, during the course of which he began a new chapter in his catecheses on mercy, one focusing specifically on Christ’s fulfillment of the promise and action of mercy revealed to humanity through God’s Chosen People, as expressed in the New Testament.
The Holy Father said that the Gospels show us a Jesus who, in every moment of His earthly life, made mercy visible: meeting the crowds, announcing the Gospel, healing the sick, drawing close to the forgotten, pardoning sinners.
Click below to hear our report
The Pope went on to say that the love Christ showed was a love open to all, a love which was fulfilled on the Cross. “Jesus,” said Pope Francis in an emphatic departure from his prepared remarks, “did not bring hatred, nor did He bring enmity: He brought love – a great love – a heart open to all – to all of us – a love that saves.”
The Holy Father went on to say that no one is excluded from God’s merciful love – and that He proved this once and for all from the Cross. “We are all sinners,” he said in another emphatic departure, “but we are all forgiven: we all have the possibility of receiving this pardon, which is the mercy of God; we need not fear, therefore, to recognize ourselves sinners, confess ourselves sinners, because every sin was carried by the Son to the Cross.”
Pope Francis concluded with an exhortation to frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation, saying that it offers us the forgiveness that flows from the Cross and which renews us in His grace, and inviting everyone everywhere in this Jubilee Year to embrace the Gospel with greater vigor and be heralds of the Father’s mercy and forgiveness.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, during the course of which he began a new chapter in his ongoing catechetical reflections on mercy. Specifically, the Holy Father began a series focusing on Christ’s fulfillment of the promise and action of mercy revealed to humanity through God’s Chosen People, as it is expressed and articulated in the New Testament.
Below, please find the text of the official English-language summary of Pope Francis’ main catechesis, which was delivered in Italian
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Dear Brothers and Sisters: today I wish to reflect on God’s mercy fulfilled in Jesus, who is mercy incarnate. In every moment of his earthly life, Jesus made mercy visible: meeting the crowds, announcing the Gospel, healing the sick, drawing close to the forgotten, pardoning sinners. He showed a love open to all, a love which was fulfilled on the cross. His mission of mercy began in humble surroundings at the Jordan, where he stood in line with sinners to be baptized by John. The Father confirmed this mission at Jesus’ Baptism when he sent the Holy Spirit upon him and said: “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased” ( Mk 1:11). We can contemplate this mystery by gazing upon the cross, for there Jesus offered to the Father the sin of the world, our sins. From the cross, Jesus shows us that no one is excluded from God’s merciful love: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” ( Lk 23:34). We should, therefore, never fear to acknowledge and confess our sins, for the sacrament of Reconciliation offers us the forgiveness which flows from the cross and which renews us in his grace. In this Jubilee Year, let us embrace the Gospel with greater vigour and be heralds of the Father’s mercy and forgiveness.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Press Office of the Holy See has called a conference and briefing for journalists in connection with the publication of Pope Francis’ highly anticipated post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia , on “The Joy of Love”, for 11:30 AM Rome Time on Friday, April 8 th , in the John Paul II Hall of the sala stampa facility.
Presenting the document will be the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, and the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP, along with a couple of married academics, Professor Francesco Miano and Professor Giuseppina De Simone, of the University of Tor Vergata (Rome) and the Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, respectively.
Below, please find the official announcement in English
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Accredited journalists are informed that on Friday 8 April 2016at 11.30 a.m., in the Aula Giovanni Paolo II of the Holy See Press Office, a Press Conference will be held for the presentation of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Holy Father Francis, Amoris laetitia , on love in the family.
The panel will be composed of:
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops;
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., archbishop of Vienna;
The married couple Professor Francesco Miano, lecturer in moral philosophy at the University of Rome at Tor Vergata, and Professor Giuseppina De Simone in Miano, lecturer in philosophy at the Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples.
A simultaneous translation service will be available in Italian, English and Spanish.
The Press Conference can be seen via live streaming (audio-video) on the site:
http://player.rv.va(Vatican Player, Vatican Radio) where it will subsequently remain available on
demand.
The Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia is to be considered under embargo until 12.00
p.m. on Friday, 8 April 2016. Accredited journalists may find the text of the Apostolic Exhortation in pdf format in the Reserved Area of the Holy See Press Office Bulletin web page from 18.00, Thursday 7 April, in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. In addition – in the same languages – a summary of the same Apostolic Exhortation can be consulted, again in the reserved area. The paper version of the Exhortation (in the available languages) will be available to
accredited journalists from 8.00 on Friday 8 April 2016.
(from Vatican Radio)…