(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on a seriously ill young man before his Saturday Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
16-year-old Giuseppe Chiolo, a patient of the oncological department of the Meyer Hospital in Florence, travelled to the Vatican on Saturday morning aboard an ambulance.
The Pope embraced Giuseppe before confirming him, and gifted him with a rosary as he asked the boy not to forget to pray for him.
Giuseppe had recently written a letter to Pope Francis in which he revealed his strong desire to meet with the Pope; he was immediately invited to come to the Vatican.
The Pope also had words of encouragement and comfort for Giuseppe’s parents and for his sister and aunt who were present in the Square together with the Chaplain of the Meyer Hospital and with the vice-director of the local Florentine Caritas office. He also thanked the three volunteers of Mercy who accompanied Giuseppe on his journey to Rome.
During the special Jubilee Audience Pope Francis had special words of greeting for other sick and disabled persons, including Laura Salafia who was shot by mistake six years ago and has had to undergo a series of operations and rehabilitation, and Pompeo Barbieri, a survivor of the 2002 earthquake in the southern Apulia region who has managed to become a swimming champion notwithstanding a disability that constrains him to a wheelchair.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis warned against a “false freedom” which has created “many new forms of slavery” during his Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.
Listen to the report by Charles Collins :
The Holy Father’s catechesis focused on the word ‘redemption,’ which he said is “little used, but it is important because it points to the most radical liberation God is able to perform for us, for all humanity, and for the entirety of creation.”
“It appears that the people of today no longer love to think of being liberated and saved by the intervention of God; in fact, people today are under the illusion that their liberty is a force with which to obtain all things. They even boast of this,” – Pope Francis said – “But in reality, it is not like this. How many illusions are being sold under the pretext of freedom, and how many new forms of slavery are being created in our time in the name of a false freedom!”
“There are so many slaves: ‘I do this because I want to do it, I take drugs because I like it, I’m free, I will do something else.’ They are slaves!” – the Holy Father continued – “They become slaves in the name of freedom. We have all seen such people eventually end up in the ground. We need God to deliver us from all forms of indifference, selfishness and self-sufficiency.”
Pope Francis said we have been called instead to a new state of life.
“By becoming one of us, the Lord Jesus not only takes on our human condition, but he also raises us up to the possibility of being children of God,” – the Pope said – “By His death and resurrection, the unblemished lamb Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin to free us from their domination. He is the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, so we might receive a new life of forgiveness, love and joy. How beautiful are these three words: forgiveness, love and joy!”
“All that He has assumed has also been redeemed, liberated and saved,” Pope Francis said.
“Certainly, it is true that life puts us to the test, and sometimes we suffer for it,” – he continued – “Nevertheless, in these moments we are invited to turn our gaze to the crucified Jesus, who suffers for us and with us, as certain proof that God does not abandon us. Never forget, however, that in anguish or persecution – as in everyday suffering – we are always freed by the merciful hand of God, who raises us to himself and leads us to new life.”
The Pope said the love of God has no limits, and we are able to discover “ever-new signs” of God’s attention to us.
“Our whole life, though marked by the fragility of sin, is placed under the gaze of God who loves us,” Pope Francis said.
“How many pages of Holy Scripture tell us about the presence, closeness, and tenderness of God for all people, especially for children, the poor and the afflicted!” – the Holy Father said – “God has a great tenderness – a great love – for children, for the weak, for those discarded by society. The more we are in need, the more his gaze on us is filled with mercy. He shows a merciful compassion towards us because he knows our weaknesses. He knows our sins and forgive us; He always forgives!”
Pope Francis concluded his catechesis by asking the pilgrims to “let us open ourselves to Him, so we receive his Grace: Because, as he Psalm says, ‘with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is the fullness of redemption.”
Over 30,000 pilgrims attended the special Saturday Audience, which takes place once a month during the Jubilee of Mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has met with a group of Italian Pentecostal pastors, telling them that unity is achieved by walking patiently together.
The seven Pentecostal pastors, led by the Pope’s friend Giovanni Traettino from the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation, had a private audience in the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday afternoon to continue the dialogue begun by the pontiff’s visit to their community in Caserta two years ago.
During the informal encounter Pastor Traettino thanked the Pope for his role “as a brother and an ally” in accelerating the dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals.
Pope Francis replied that he “felt in his heart” the need to undertake steps towards reconciliation, citing the examples of his meeting with the Waldensian community or with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Unity, he said, is achieved step by step, through a patient and continuous journey together. Full unity, he said, will be achieved after “the Son of Man returns” but in the meantime, he stressed, Christians must pray, repent of their sins and walk together.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) As Iraqi government forces step up military efforts to take back towns in the north and west of the country held by so-called Islamic State fighters, doctors in the city of Erbil struggle to provide vital support to displaced families fleeing from the conflict.
The Humanitarian “Nineveh Relief” Organization is an independent, non-governmental organisation founded in November 2015 to provide medical services to all displaced people in the Kurdistan region, regardless of their religion and ethnicity.
Wissam Elias is one of the doctors working for the organisation which Pope Francis has also supported in a personal way by helping provide transport for medical supplies to Iraq.
Listen to Philippa HItchen’s interview with Dr Elias…..
HNRO runs two primary health care units providing different services, such as pediatric care, dental and ophthalmic services, medical tests and medicines for the internally displaced people. While other NGOs in the region provide food and others essential supplies such as shelter and blankets, only HNRO and one other Church organisation provides health care those who have lost everything.
Dr Elias says that most of those fleeing from IS are Christians from Mosul and the surrounding region but over the last few months the organisation has been receiving people from other cities in Iraq, including Tikrit and Ramadi.
He says many of them are facing health complications connected to trauma and psychological stress as a result of losing everything and not being able to find work or sufficient resources. Many of them have been there for two years now and are trying to find ways of leaving the country.
Dr Elias notes that since the start of their work, Pope Francis has been supporting the organsiation following a phone call that he made to their president Fr Benham Benoka. “He said he will never let us down”, Dr Elias says and explains how the Pope has recently signed the necessary papers to pay for deliveries of medical supplies in containers coming from an American NGO. “He kept his promise to us, so we feel blessed by this”, Dr Elias says.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday told bishops that division, gossip and money are weapons in the hands of the devil.
Speaking to a group of recently appointed bishops of mission countries at the end of a formation course organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pope said each bishop is called to give testimony of God’s love, care and mercy with their own lives and example.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Pointing out that bishops of mission countries come from places that are “different and distant”, each of you – Pope Francis said – has “the great privilege and responsibility of being on the front lines of evangelization”.
Inviting them never to forget that one of their foremost duties is to respond immediately to the requests and needs of their priests, the Pope warned them against the evils that can wreak damage and destroy their mission to evangelize.
He reminded them that a missionary bishop’s first duty as a pastor is to reach out to the lost sheep and to bring the joy of the gospel to those who perhaps do not know Jesus or have rejected him.
He spoke of the vocation of the episcopal ministry saying that each bishop is called give testimony of Jesus’s care and love for all men and women also through their own personal example.
And he warned of the dangers that can foil this vocation mentioning specifically the factors that – he said – become weapons in the hands of the devil bent on destroying the Church.
“The devil – he said – has two weapons: the main one is division; the other is money”.
And saying that the devil slips in through one’s pockets and wreaks havoc through ‘the tongue’, Pope Francis described the tendency to gossip as “a terroristic” one.
“He who gossips is a terrorist who throws a bomb” – because gossip, he said, destroys.
Urging those present to fight against divisions which can destroy the local Church and the universal Church, he said there are many difficult challenges to overcome, but thanks to the grace of God, thanks to prayer and thanks to penitence, it is possible.
Pope Francis concluded his address to the new missionary bishops urging them to take good care of the people of God who have been entrusted to them, to take good care of their priests, and of their seminarians. “This – he said – is your job”.
(from Vatican Radio)…