(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is continuing his week-long retreat with the senior officers of the Roman Curia in the small town of Ariccia, a short trip south-east of Rome. In his Message for Lent this year, the Holy Father called the faithful everywhere to make this privileged time of prayer and penance one in which – as we pray in the litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – we all ask the Lord to Make our hearts like His “In this way,” writes Pope Francis, “we will receive a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.”
These were all themes that the Major Penitentiary-emeritus of the Church, Cardinal James Francis Stafford, took up in a reflection on Lent, and the Holy Father’s Lenten Message. In this first part of Cardinal Stafford’s reflection, which we share with you now, he begins by placing the Message in the context of Pope Francis’ broader pastoral writings, specifically the Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium , and the Christmas, 2014 examination of conscience , which the Holy Father offered to the Roman Curia.
Click below to hear part 1 of Cardinal Stafford’s reflection on Pope Francis’ Message for Lent
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is continuing his week-long retreat with the senior officers of the Roman Curia in the small town of Ariccia, a short trip south-east of Rome. In his Message for Lent this year, the Holy Father called the faithful everywhere to make this privileged time of prayer and penance one in which…
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(Vatican Radio) The Holy See press office has confirmed the news of the burial of a homeless man in the Teutonic College cemetery within Vatican City State. Willy was a homeless man of Flemish origin. His exact age was unknown but he was believed to have been around 80 years of age. He died on December…
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(Vatican Radio) The Holy See press office has confirmed the news of the burial of a homeless man in the Teutonic College cemetery within Vatican City State. Willy was a homeless man of Flemish origin. His exact age was unknown but he was believed to have been around 80 years of age. He died on December 12 last year and was buried in the Teutonic Cemetery on January 9 this year.
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Willy was a familiar face to many in the area of the Vatican. He attended daily Mass in Sant’Anna parish in the Vatican and spent his days and nights on the streets around St. Peter’s Square, Borgo Pio and Via di Porta Angelica.
The pastor of Sant’Anna in the Vatican, Father Bruno Silvestrini, had dedicated the Nativity Scene at Christmas to Willy, adding a homeless man among the shepherds. He loved to pray, he had a good heart, attended the morning Mass at St. Anna every day and always sat in the same place.
“For over 25 years he attended the 7:00 Mass”, Fr. Silvestrini told Vatican Radio, explaining why he wanted a homeless among the shepherds in the Nativity Scene. “He was very, very open and had made many friends. He spoke a lot with young people, he spoke to them of the Lord, he spoke of the Pope, he would invite them to the celebration of the Eucharist. He was a rich person, of great faith – said the pastor of St. Anne who added – there were prelates who brought him food on certain days. Then, we no longer saw him, and subsequently we heard about his death. I’ve never seen so many people knocking on my door to ask when the funeral was, how they could help to keep his memory alive … He never asked for anything, rather he was the one who would strike up a conversation and through his questions of faith, suggest a spiritual path to those with whom he spoke”.
Willy died in Holy Spirit hospital, where he had been brought by ambulance on a cold December evening. The cold had caused him to collapse and some passers-called for the emergency services. He died on December 12, but his body remained at the hospital morgue because no one could identify him.
When those used to seeing him on the streets noticed his absence and began to search for him he was finally traced to the hospital in Lungotevere in Sassia on the banks of the Tiber.
The costs of his funeral were covered by a German-speaking family, the funeral was held in the chapel of the Teutonic Cemetery, and Willy was buried in the old Germanic cemetery, in Vatican City State.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Catholics in Scotland are being urged to give generously this Lent to support families in Malawi who’ve been made homeless by the worst flooding in half a century. Dozens of people died and up to 200.000 were displaced by last month’s torrential rains which swept away houses, crops and entire village communities in the south-east African nation.
As part of its Lent appeal this year, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, or SCIAF, is raising money for those affected by the floods, as well as supporting small scale projects to help women farmers improve their maize crop and provide a stable income for their families. For every pound raised through the ‘Wee Box’ appeal, as it’s known, the British government will double that donation.
The Archbishop of Edinburgh Leo Cushley has just returned from a week-long visit to Malawi to see first-hand where the money from SCIAF’s Lent appeal will go. He told Philippa Hitchen that there are important signs of hope, despite the devastation wreaked by the flooding….
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Archbishop Cushley said the first thing he saw during his February 15th to 21st visit was a field that had been planted three times and repeatedly washed away. Despite the tenacity and hard work of farmers in Malawi, he said, climate change is making an already precarious existence even harder. This is the eighth year of unpredictable weather in the region and this leads quickly to problems of hunger, he said.
But in spite of the challenges, Archbishop Cushley said he saw other projects supported by SCIAF that are very successful. He gave the example of a farmer and mother of four he met called Mary Jackson in the village of Chipolomba. With some training in new farming methods and improved tools, she has been able to improve her maize crop, thus helping her feed her family and have some money left over to spend on education for her children.
Archbishop Cushley spoke of the links between the Scottish town of Blantyre – where he was baptised and where the 19th century missionary David Livingstone was born – and Malawi’s most important commercial city of the same name. The explorer is still fondly remembered by the people of Malawi, he said, and there remains a warm and friendly connection between the two countries.
While Malawi remains very poor, with most people living a hand-to-mouth existence, the Archbishop said he saw the dramatic improvements that SCIAF’s support has brought to peoples’ lives. He urged Catholics in Scotland to fill their ‘wee boxes’ during Lent so that they can help twice as many people in need.
At the same time, Archbishop Cushley said he was moved by the depth of faith of the people he met in Malawi. While the White Fathers and Montfort missionaries may have taken the faith there over a century ago, today he said, the Church in that country is now teaching us how to live and how to celebrate our Christian faith.
(from Vatican Radio)…