(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis noted the beatification in Madrid of four Spanish martyrs: Blessed José Antón Gómez, Antolín Pablos Villanueva, Juan Rafael Mariano Alcocer Martínez and Luis Vidaurrázaga Gonzáles. The four Benedictine priests were killed during the Spanish Civil War.
In his remarks following the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis said, “We praise the Lord, and we entrust to their intercession our brothers and sisters who unfortunately still today, in various parts of the world, are persecuted for their faith in Christ.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed for victims of an earthquake that struck Italy near the town of Norcia on Sunday. The powerful temblor was felt as far away as Rome and Venice.
“I express my closeness to the people of central Italy,” the Pope said. “I pray for the wounded and the families that have suffered major damage; as well as for the personnel” involved in rescue efforts and in aiding the victims.
The Holy Father concluded his remarks with the prayer “May the Risen Lord give them strength, and the Madonna watch over them.”
Sunday’s earthquake was the latest in a series of seismic events to strike central Italy. Earlier this month, Pope Francis visited the area to express his closeness to victims of magnitude 6.2 quake that hit the region in August, killing almost 300 people.
The earthquake that struck Norcia on Sunday was even stronger, measuring approximately 6.5 on the Richter scale. It is believed to be the strongest quake in Italy in decades. No deaths have been reported, but a number of people have been gravely injured. There was widespread devastation, with many buildings, already compromised by earlier quakes, suffering severe damage. The Basilica of St Benedict, built over the birthplace of Sts Benedict and Scholastica; and the nearby Cathedral of Norcia, were both completely destroyed.
The region is still suffering from aftershocks, and victims of the quake have asked for prayers.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 10/30/2016
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday addressed the organizers and participants in the first-ever International Conference for the Vicars and Episcopal Delegates for Consecrated Life.
Organized by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for the purpose of the conference is to respond to the call, which the Holy Father made to Pastors of particular Churches around the world when he proclaimed the Year for Consecrated Life, “[T]o show special concern for promoting within [their] communities the different charisms, whether long-standing or recent.”
In the Letter , the Holy Father went on to ask them to do this by support and encouragement, assistance in discernment, and, “tender and loving closeness to those situations of suffering and weakness in which some consecrated men or women may find themselves.”
“Above all,” Pope Francis wrote, “do this by instructing the People of God in the value of consecrated life, so that its beauty and holiness may shine forth in the Church.”
In remarks prepared for the roughly 200 people involved in the initiative and delivered in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on Friday, Pope Francis spoke of the bridge-building and relationship-strengthening roles of Vicars and Delegates – especially those serving newer communities and congregations. “Build mutual relations on the basis of an ecclesiology of communion, on the principle of co-essentiality, and on the autonomy that belongs rightfully to consecrated persons.”
The three-day formation congress is being hosted by the Pontifical University Antonianum , the flagship university of the Franciscan order in Rome, and closes Sunday.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Details of the upcoming Third World Meeting of Popular Movements taking place in Rome from 2-5 November were presented in the Vatican on Friday.
Please find below a communique in English from the Holy See’s Press Office:
This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements, to be held in Rome from 2 to 5 November 2016. The speakers were Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Holy See Permanent Observer at the United Nations and delegate secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Juan Grabois, consulter to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and co-founder of the Movement of Excluded Workers of the Conference of the Popular Economy.
Following the two meetings in Rome 2014 and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia in 2015, next week around two hundred members will meet, representing 92 popular movements from 65 countries. The themes to be considered in the third meeting will again be “las tres T: Trabajo, Techo, Tierra”; (“The three Ls: Labour, Lodgings and Land”); care for nature; and migrants and refugees.
The meeting will take place at the Pontifical International Maria Mater Ecclesiae College from 2 to 4 November. Then, on 5 November, the Holy Father Francis will receive the participants in audience in the Paul VI Hall. The attendees will include Don Luigi Ciotti, founder of the Abel group which fights against abuse by the Mafia throughout Italy; Vandana Shiva, Indian philosopher and environmentalist; and Pepe Mujica, president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.
For further information, see:
http://www.iustitiaetpax.va
http://movimientospopulares.org/
(from Vatican Radio)…