(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi on the occasion of a celebration held at the Italian Senate on Monday morning marking the 750th anniversary of the birth of the poet Dante Alighieri. Listen to this report by Lydia O’Kane In the…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the members of the Swiss Guard and their families on Monday, ahead of the annual May 6th swearing in ceremony for new Guards. Pope Francis said the meeting was an opportunity to “strengthen a [significant] friendship,” noting the words of Christ who said “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” “In the history of the Church, many men and women have embraced the call of this great love,” Pope Francis said. “The Swiss Guards who fought during the sack of Rome [on May 6, 1527] and who gave their lives in the defense of the Pope followed this call. And responding with devotion to this call means to follow Christ.” Pope Francis said a Swiss Guard is “a person who truly seeks to follow the Lord Jesus and who loves in a particular way the Church; [he] is a Christian with a genuine faith.” The Holy Father called on them to live their vocation through the Sacraments of the Church, regularly participating in the Mass and frequently attending confession. He also urged them to read the Gospel every day, and even to keep a small book of the Gospels on their person, so it is available to read at quiet moments. The Pope said prayer will help them in their service. “So when you meet the people, the pilgrims, you convey – with your kindness and competence – this ‘greater love’ that comes from friendship with Christ,” Pope Francis said. “In effect, Swiss Guards are a ‘billboard’ of the Holy See!” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the members of the Swiss Guard and their families on Monday, ahead of the annual May 6th swearing in ceremony for new Guards. Pope Francis said the meeting was an opportunity to “strengthen a [significant] friendship,” noting the words of Christ who said “No one has greater love than this,…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday celebrated Mass at the Roman parish of Regina Pacis (Queen of Peace) in the suburb of Ostia. During his homily on the day’s Gospel, the Pope focused on the words of Christ at the Last Supper: “Remain with me.” The Christian life, he said, consists precisely in remaining in Jesus. “To remain in Jesus means to be united to Him, to receive life from Him, to receive love from Him, to receive the Holy Spirit from Him.”
Before the Mass, the Holy Father met with members of the parish, including they elderly and the sick. He spoke about their wisdom of life, which comes from experience – an experience the has the wisdom of sorrows, and of patience. “It is a wisdom we often forget,” he said. But the elderly have an experience of life that they hand down to their children, giving them “the memory of our people, the memory of our family.” The sick, he said, are similar to Jesus in their suffering: they suffer with Him, and bear the Cross as Jesus did. In that sense, they are privileged. Pope Francis spoke, too, about the children of the parish, who will carry life forward – with the wisdom, the patience, the constancy of those who go before them.
As he concluded his visit with the sick and elderly, the Pope asked for prayers for himself, noting that he too “is a little old, a little sick – but not too much.”
The Pope also met with families who have had children baptized within the past year. Baptism, Pope Francis said, is a beautiful step to take. It is the beginning of the life of faith, which children receive from their parents. The children recently baptized are the latest in a chain that goes back all the way to the beginnings of Christianity.
But he warned parents not to drift away from the Church after their children are baptized. Pope Francis said it is important to be with the children in their journey of faith, to walk with the children in their new faith, and to stay close to the local parish. After blessing the families, the Holy Father said he prayed especially for any problems they may have.
Pope Francis also heard the Confessions of several parishioners immediately before the Liturgy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday celebrated Mass at the Roman parish of Regina Pacis (Queen of Peace) in the suburb of Ostia. During his homily on the day’s Gospel, the Pope focused on the words of Christ at the Last Supper: “Remain with me.” The Christian life, he said, consists precisely in remaining in…
Read more