(Vatican Radio) Young people from around the world have descended on the Czech capital, Prague for a five day ecumenical meeting of the Taizé Community. Tens of thousands of young adults are joining in the next step of the “pilgrimage of trust on earth” initiated by the Taizé Community founder, Brother Roger at the end…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Sunday that “in a world often marred by selfishness, a large family is a role model for solidarity and sharing and this benefits the whole of society.” The Pope’s remarks came during an address to a gathering of around 7,000 people belonging to an Italian association for large families.
Speaking to the families and their children, Pope Francis said he was pleased to meet them, saying it was clear that they “love the family and they love life.” “Each of your children”, he said, “was wanted by God” and it amazes us “how great a miracle is a child.” A child is somebody who changes our life. He also underlined the important role played by grandparents, saying they can not only provide practical support but above all can help the parents pass down to their children their faith.
The Pope went on to urge politicians and the local administration to provide more support to help people with large families, lamenting that such help is not always forthcoming. He concluded his address with a special prayer for families hit by the economic crisis where either the father or mother have lost their jobs or where the young can’t find employment, as well as all families struggling with solitude and divisions. And please, continue praying for me, the Pope ended, “because in a way I’m like a grandfather for all of you.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Sunday that “in a world often marred by selfishness, a large family is a role model for solidarity and sharing and this benefits the whole of society.” The Pope’s remarks came during an address to a gathering of around 7,000 people belonging to an Italian association for large families.…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Sunday that “his thoughts are with those on board the missing AirAsia plane that disappeared during a flight between Indonesia and Singapore.” He added he was also thinking of two separate accidents involving two merchant ships and a ferry in the Adriatic Sea. “I am close with my affection and prayer,” the Pope said, to the families and loved ones who are undergoing “these difficult situations with apprehension and suffering” and also to those involved in the rescue operations. His words of solidarity came at the end of his Angelus address on the feast of the Holy Family in which he spoke about how the light coming from the Holy Family encourages us to offer human warmth and where he also stressed the important role played by grandparents in the family setting.
Pope Francis said the infant Jesus with his mother Mary and with St. Joseph are a shining example of mercy and salvation for the entire world. “This light which comes from the Holy Family encourages us to offer human warmth in those family situation in which, for various reasons, there is a lack of peace and harmony and forgiveness. Our concrete solidarity is just as present, especially when it comes to families who are undergoing difficult situations because of illness, lack of work, discrimination and the need to emigrate.”
At that point, the Pope departed from his prepared text to urge all those present to pray in silence with him for families facing these difficulties and who lack understanding and unity. Jesus, he continued “is the person who brings the (young and old) generations closer together.” He is “the source of that love which unites family and people, overcoming every mistrust, isolation and distance.”
Turning next to the role of grandparents, Pope Francis stressed “how important” their presence is within the family and society as a whole. “A good relationship between young and old people is a key element in the functioning of the civil and ecclesial community.” he said. And when we look at the elderly couple in the Bible, Simeon and Anna, let’s “give a round of applause to all the grandparents in the world.”
The Pope explained how the message that comes from the Holy Family is a message of faith. “The family of Nazareth,” he said, “is holy because it is centered on Jesus” and when a family has faith it gives them the strength to face up to difficult situations, just as it did for Mary and Joseph.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Father Federico Lombardi SJ highlights some of the events that have made 2014 an extremely busy and significant year for Pope Francis.
In a long interview with Vatican Radio, the Director of the Vatican Press Office lists an impressive number of events, speeches, journeys and appeals pronounced by Pope Francis in the year gone by, and says that perhaps the most powerful images to linger in our minds are those of the Pope amongst the people: his reaching out to the faithful in every circumstance, the warmth of his embrace in particular towards children, people with disabilities or ill health.
Listing the five international apostolic journeys undertaken by Pope Francis this year, Lombardi says that each of them carried within a particular message that places the Church at the center of all the current issues of our times. During 2014 the Pope travelled to the Holy Land, to Korea, to Albania, to Strasbourg and to Turkey, and Lombardi has words for each of these visits.
He is happy, he says, that the Pope travelled to the Holy Land because it is like a journey to the roots of our faith, to the roots of Christianity, to the very places of the history of Salvation, and this he says “has a strong symbolic and spiritual power”. And pointing out the ecumenical aspect of his Holy Land visit, Lombardi speaks in particular of the strong personal relationship Pope Francis has interwoven with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and of how this is so important for the achievement of full Christian Unity.
And speaking of the Pope’s journey to Korea, Lombardi points out that in a couple of weeks Pope Francis will again return to the Asian continent when he journeys to Sri Lanka and to the Philippines. These visits – Lombardi points out – signal a renewed attention of the Church towards a “predominant portion of today’s and tomorrow’s humanity, both from a demographic point of view” and because of its incredible diversity: “a borderless land for evangelization in social, cultural and political situations of all kinds”.
Regarding Europe, Lombardi says that the Pope’s short journey to Albania was meaningful also for his desire to start from the periphery before going to the heart of the Continent – represented by his trip to Strasbourg when he addressed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe; a particularly powerful and wide-ranging speech with the added weight of his own non-European provenance and viewpoint.
And finally Turkey, where the significance of ecumenism was again highlighted together with interfaith dialogue and his forceful “reaching out” to the Christians (and other minorities) in the Middle East who are pouring across borders to flee persecution and death.
Another important feature of 2014 mentioned by Father Lombardi pertained to the canonizations of Saint John XXIII, Saint John Paul II and the beatification of the Blessed Paul VI. He points out that the common denominator of these great events is the message of the Second Vatican Council which was at the heart of the ministry of these three Popes, a message of an “open Church” that deeply marks the ministry of Francis himself.
The Synod for the Family, Lombardi says, provides another important theme for the year as does the Pope’s unwavering attention for justice and peace, for the poor, for those who are exploited, for human trafficking, for those persecuted for their faith.
Father Lombardi recalls the innumerable appeals Pope Francis made this year to not turn away from the dramatic situation in Syria and in Iraq, for the need to protect and support migrants and refugees, for attention towards the terrible reality of new forms of slavery including human trafficking. The Pope – Lombardi says – has mobilized the Church and all men and women of goodwill on each of these pressing issues.
Not to be forgotten is Pope Francis’s clear wish to bring reform to the Church itself and to the Curia, which Lombardi says, is part of a wide ranging project that he formulated in his Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”.
Concluding, Father Lombardi says there is a concept we could use to sum up and characterize Pope Francis’ 2014 and that is: his “culture of encounter”. The Pope’s attitude, the way he relates to people, the way he always offers his personality, his personal experience, his friendship as well as this thoughts and ideas really does bring about “the encounter between people,” just as both the American and Cuban Presidents pointed out when they thanked him for providing them with a new dimension in which to start building a bridge between their peoples.
(from Vatican Radio)…