(Vatican Radio) Did you know the Vatican Apostolic Library uses a system developed for radio astronomy to help preserve its vast collection?
The system is called ‘FITS’ [flexible image transport system format], and it was developed by NASA and the European Space Agency [ESA] in the 1970’s.
The Vatican Library hosted an event on Friday to announce the continuation of a five year collaboration with the ESA to use the FITS system to preserve, manage, and exploit the archived information.
The system not only helps preserve original documents, it also has a special text header with instructions on how to easily decode the data. In the likelihood current technology becomes obsolete in the future, newer computers will still be able to access the information.
“Our collaboration is based on the common intention by our two institutions to promote the long-term preservation of images in electronic format,” – said Monsignor Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library on the ESA website – “Thanks to our cooperation with ESA, the Vatican Library has found the courage to make an innovative choice to use the FITS format for long-term storage.”
“The Vatican Apostolic Library and ESA are two examples that attest to the approach of collaboration for global benefit,” said Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA.
“While ESA provides global information about the state of our planet through satellite observations, the Vatican Apostolic Library offers a unique source of wisdom that has contributed to the development of our society and culture,” Aschbacher continued.
More information can be found here at the ESA’s website.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ prayer intention for November is for Countries Receiving Refugees : That the countries which take in a great number of displaced persons and refugees may find support for their efforts which show solidarity.
The Apostleship of Prayer has produced the Pope’s Video on this prayer intention.
The full text of the Pope’s Video is below:
Can one country alone manage the problems of forced migration?
We must move away from indifference and the fear of accepting the other. [1]
Because that other could be you. Or me…
Join me in this prayer request:
That the countries which take in a great number of displaced persons and refugees may find support for their efforts which show solidarity. [2]
[1] Message of his Holiness Pope Francis for the 101st World Day of Migrants and Refugees (2015). Church Without Frontiers, Mother To All.
[2] Universal Prayer Intention of the Holy Father entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer). November 2016.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s Basilica on Friday, Pope Francis offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in suffrage for the souls of Cardinals and Bishops who have died in the course of the past year.
“These our Brothers,” Pope Francis said, “have reached the goal, after having served the Church and loved the Lord Jesus.”
The Holy Father reminded those present that for each of us, the journey “to the house of the Father” begins in the first moment of our existence; and, through Baptism, the first moment when we receive sanctifying grace. An important stage of that journey, for priests, is the moment they receive priestly ordination. “From that moment,” he said, “we are united in a special way to Christ, associated with His priestly ministry.” The Cardinals and Bishops we remember today, he continued, “throughout their lives, especially after having consecrated themselves to God, dedicated themselves to witnessing and to giving to others the love of Christ.”
They were “pastors of the flock of Christ,” and, in imitation of Him, they spent their lives in working for the salvation of those entrusted to their care. Now, he said, “we are here to pray for them, to offer the divine Sacrifice in suffrage for their souls, and to ask the Lord to make them shine forever in His kingdom of light.”
In fact, he said, their death is “the entrance into the fullness of life.” Precisely in the light of faith, “we feel even closer to our deceased Brothers”; although we seem separated by death, “the power of Christ and of His Spirit unites us in an even more profound way.”
Pope Francis concluded his homily by reminding us that “nourished by the Bread of Life, we too, together with all those who have gone before us, wait with firm hope the day of the face-to-face encounter with the luminous and merciful countenance of the Father.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Press Office of the Holy See was the scene on Thursday morning for a conference featuring the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization , Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who presented the final major celebrations associated with the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy at the Vatican: the Jubilee for Prisoners on November 5 th and 6 th ; and the Jubilee for the Socially Excluded from November 11 th to 13 th .
Each particular Jubilee will culminate with Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
The Jubilee for Prisoners will involve a contingent of persons currently serving penal sentences in Spain, along with persons of several different nationalities currently incarcerated in Italy, as well as hundreds of people either released on parole or who have served their sentences and are working to rejoin society. Over 1 thousand people either currently serving time or who have served time in prison are expected to take part in the Jubilee in Rome, according to official estimates from the Council for New Evangelization.
Click below to hear our report
On Saturday, participants will have the opportunity to confess in the Jubilee churches and make the pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Mass with the Holy Father is scheduled to begin at 10 AM on Sunday, following an hour-long series of testimonies given by four people whose lives have been changed through the experience of crime and punishment: a prisoner who has experienced conversion, who will speak with the victim with whom he is reconciled; the brother of a victim of a deadly crime who has become the instrument of mercy and forgiveness; a minor who is serving his sentence; and an agent of the Penitentiary Police, who has daily contact with inmates.
“We will listen to their life experience,” explained Archbishop Fisichella, “and we will understand that the theme of mercy is not a theoretical word, but a genuine daily action that often represents a real existential challenge.”
The following weekend, beginning on Friday the 11 th and concluding on Sunday, November 13 th , the Church will mark the Jubilee of Socially Excluded Persons: for anyone and everyone who, due to reasons ranging from economic precariousness to disease, loneliness, or lack of family ties, have difficulties and often remain at the margins of society, without a home or a place to live.
“People,” said Archbishop Fisichella, “we meet every day, people our eyes do not want to see, and from whom we look away.”
The approximately 6 thousand expected participants come from different countries: France, Germany, Portugal, England, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Switzerland. The organization started by the French organization Lazare , founded by Etienne Villemain.
Participants will have an intense jubilee program: Friday at 11:30 AM, in the Paul VI Hall, they are scheduled to meet Pope Francis, who will listen to some of their testimonies and at the end will meet with them. In cdifferent churches throughout the city there will be the opportunity to hear testimony on Saturday 10 AM. The churches are: San Salvatore in Lauro for the English language; Santa Monica for Dutch, St. Louis of France for Portuguese; XII Apostles for French; St. John the Baptist of the Florentines for Polish; Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) for German; Santa Maria sopra Minerva for Italian; Sant’Andrea della Valle for Spanish and Santa Maria Maddalena in the Campus Martius for Slovak.
Saturday afternoon at 5 PM, there will be a Vigil of Mercy in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which is to be preceded by a brief pilgrimage to the Basilica’s Holy Door, starting from the front gardens.
On Sunday, the Holy Father will preside at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at 10 AM, following which he will lead all the faithful in the recitation of the Angelus prayer.
Sunday, November 13 th , is also to be the closing of the Door of Mercy in all the churches and shrines throughout the world, including in the three Papal Basilicas: at St. Paul Outside the Walls, at 5 PM; at St. John Lateran, at 5:30 PM; at Saint Mary Major 6 PM.
“We are confident,” concluded Archbishop Fisichella, “that these two Jubilee events will be experienced with the same intensity and experience of prayer with which we have seen the entire Jubilee celebrated.”
That enthusiasm was on display October 22 nd , when an extraordinary crowd of 93 thousand people participated – the highest number yet for a Jubilee Audience, Archbishop Fisichella told reporters – in the Extraordinary Jubilee Audience held once each month on a Saturday during the Jubilee Year.
The official website of the Jubilee of Mercy estimates that 19,797,652 people have participated in the Jubilee in Rome through the end of October.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City – Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, begins his pastoral visit to Malawi today, where on November 5 he will preside at the consecration of the Cathedral of the diocese of Karonga, as Special Envoy of Pope Francis, and then in Zambia, for the 125 years of evangelization. The Prefect of the Congregation will arrive in Malawi in the late morning of today, November 3. In the afternoon he will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of Lilongwe then, immediately after, will meet with the clergy and religious. On Friday, November 4 he will travel to Mzuzu, where he will celebrate Mass and then in the afternoon leave for Karonga, where he will be welcomed by the children of Holy Childhood. On the morning of Saturday 5, the rite of consecration of the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker will be held, and in the afternoon the Prefect will have a meeting with the Bishops. The following day, on Sunday, November 6, Cardinal Filoni will return to Lilongwe where, in the afternoon, he will celebrate Mass in the parish of St. Patrick, then he will meet with the laity. On Monday morning, November 7 after a visit to the Mother Teresa Center, the Prefect of the Congregation will leave for Lusaka, Zambia, where in the afternoon he will meet with the Bishops. On Tuesday 8 a Mass is scheduled at the St. Dominic Major Seminary, followed by a meeting with the formators of the three major seminaries. In the afternoon Vespers in the monastery of the Poor Clares. On Wednesday, November 9 he will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of the Child Jesus, and in the afternoon will preside over the opening of the National Catholic Forum . On Thursday 10 Cardinal Filoni will celebrate Mass at the Sisters of Mother Teresa, and then will return to Rome. …