(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent his condolences after the attack on the hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, which killed over 70 people.
The majority of the victims were lawyers who had gathered to mourn the assassination of the president of the Baluchistan Bar Association, Bilal Anwar Kasi, who was killed earlier in the day.
The telegram sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin reads:
Deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life following the attack on a hospital in Quetta, His Holiness Pope Francis sends heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the deceased, to the authorities and to the entire nation, as he offers the assurance of his prayers for the many injured victims of this senseless and brutal act of violence. Upon all who mourn and upon all who have been affected by this tragedy, His Holiness invokes the divine gifts of consolation and strength.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegramme on Monday expressing his condolences and prayers for the victims of Hurricane Earl in Central America.
Hurricane Earl is estimated to have caused damages in excess of US$50 million and left 13 people dead in the Dominican Republic and at least 45 others in Mexico.
The telegramme – dated 8 August and signed by the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin – was addressed to the Mexican Episcopal Conference.
A Vatican Radio English translation of the telegramme is below:
In the face of the grave damage caused by the hurricane which affected several areas of the country – causing numerous victims and extensive material damage – the Holy Father expresses his affection for the beloved Mexican people, offering his prayers for those who lost their lives and desiring to show his closeness to their families and the victims. At the same time, His Holiness asks the Lord to sustain the will of the authorities and people of Mexico and to awaken in all a spirit of solidarity. He also imparts his Apostolic Blessing.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness
(from Vatican Radio)…
“One who knows Jesus Christ can never be a
fundamentalist. The great Gospel narratives, such as the parable of the Good
Samaritan or the Beatitudes, are stories that belong to the cultural history of
Europe, not just to Christians. But the modern culture of freedom has no
guarantee of existence. What we have created must not be called into question
by a new era of passions” that we are likely experiencing. This is one of the
most significant passages of the address given by Cardinal Reinhard Marx,
Archbishop of Munich and Freising, President of the German Bishops’ Conference,
who spoke on Sunday, 7 August, on the final day of the 85 th “Week of the University of Salzburg”. The
event held in the Austrian city was dedicated to the topic of “Passions”. The
cardinal expressed his concern for the spread of “passions” – aggression –
in Europe. “It concerns me that what is emerging is not freedom or human
dignity but exclusion and fear, as well as new nationalisms. What meaning does
the culture of responsibility have today, which, even at the time of the cold
war, represented a prospect for the future?”, the Cardinal asked….
(Vatican Radio) After twenty weeks and 143 posts, including a number of videos, Pope Francis’ Instragram account has now reached more than three million followers. Unlike the Pope’s Twitter account, which goes out in nine different languages, there is only one official Instagram account. Each post, though, is subtitled in numerous languages.
Followers of @franciscus can follow, day by day, the activities of the Holy Father thanks to photos of official events produced by the photography team of L’Osservatore Romano.
Speaking at the launch of the Pope’s Twitter account earlier this year, the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, Monsignor Dario Viganò said the decision to open an Instagram account arises from the Pope’s conviction that pictures can reveal many things that words can’t. The aim of this papal Instagram account, he said, is to tell the story of the Pontificate of Pope Francis through images.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus on Sunday with people gathered in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square, beneath the window of the Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace.
In remarks to the pilgrims and tourists on hand, which he delivered ahead of the traditional noonday prayer of Marian devotion, the Holy Father focused on the Gospel reading of the day, which on this Sunday was from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke (Lk. 12:32-48), in which Jesus tells the disciples once again not to mind the things of the world, but to work for the kingdom of God and store up treasure in heaven. “For,” he tells them, “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Jesus goes on in the passage to relate three short parables regarding the Second Coming, the unifying theme of which is vigilance.
The unexpected return of the Master of the House, the thief in the night, and the behavior of the steward in the wake of his Master’s departure each in its own way point us to the need for sober watchfulness, keen awareness, and careful attention to our duty under justice and tireless solicitude for our fellows in charity, as we await the Lord, whose coming is certain, but whose hour we cannot know.
“Jesus,” said Pope Francis, “today reminds us that the expectation of eternal beatitude does not dispense us from our responsibility to work for a more just and more habitable world. Indeed, it is precisely this, our hope of possessing the Kingdom in eternity, which encourages us to work towards improving the conditions of life on earth, especially those of our weakest brothers and sisters.”
(from Vatican Radio)…