(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday encouraged the President of the Vatican’s ‘Bambino Gesù’ pediatric hospital to continue to promote the institution’s good work and promised his personal contribution.
In the course of a private audience with Mariella Enoc – at the head of the children’s hospital since February 2015 – the Pope assured her of his continuing support and said the hospital must evermore be a ‘great work of mercy’.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
During the heart-to-heart conversation that ‘Bambino Gesù’ President Mariella Enoc said took place in an atmosphere of great friendliness and intimacy, Pope Francis expressed deep interest in an ongoing charity project that sees the Vatican institution actively supporting the Pediatric Hospital of Bangui, in the Central African Republic.
“The Pope even pledged his personal help ” – she told Vatican Radio – “an economic contribution that will help us ‘adopt’ the African hospital and help it to grow by providing medical formation, by establishing a school that specializes in pediatric care and by building new wards”.
Enoc also spoke to the Pope about how the Bambino Gesù Hospital has been active in helping support refugees and about an agricultural initiative in collaboration with FAO and the Italian state that aims to provide long-term solutions for the poor in the Central African Republic.
Of course much attention was dedicated to the work carried out by the Vatican Hospital itself here in Rome that offers quality health care, taking in children from across the world, many of whom from families who cannot afford to pay.
And this is exactly what the ‘Pope’s Hospital’ that has its roots in the Gospel is expected to do – Enoc pointed out – as she presented Francis with the gift of a one of the beautiful “Madonna of Bangui” photographs that are part of the Bambino Gesù project to raise money for its sister hospital in the Central African Republic.
After the audience Mariella Enoc presented the ‘Santa Marta pediatric dispensary,’ where a team of Bambino Gesù doctors offer voluntary service, with an ultrasound scanner as sign of concrete commitment to help in the Pope’s works of mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A surprise meeting on Tuesday morning in the Vatican made the day for a group of young pilgrims from northern Italy who has cycled to Rome in pilgrimage for this Holy Year of Mercy.
Pope Francis himself stepped out of his Vatican residence at Casa Santa Marta and into the square in front of the building to greet the young ‘pilgrim cyclists’ and to bestow his blessing upon them and ‘don Andrea’, the priest who has accompanied them on their pilgrimage.
The young people have travelled on bicycle down the backbone of Italy from two parishes that are part of the Milan diocese. They intend to resume their pilgrimage with a torchlight procession ‘on wheels’.
“Now that we have received Pope Francis’ apostolic blessing we shall set off with extra joy” they said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has released his videomessage accomplanying his monthly prayer intention: “That each may contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the center.”
The text of the video message reads:
“Humanity is experiencing a crisis that is not only economic and financial, but is also ecological, educational, moral, and human. [1] When we talk about crisis, we talk about dangers, but also opportunities. What is the opportunity? Being solidarity.
“Come, help me.
“That each may contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the center. [2] ”
The Pope World Prayer Network of the Apostleship of Prayer developed the ” Pope Video” initiative to assist in the worldwide dissemination of monthly intentions of the Holy Father in relation to the challenges facing humanity.
[1] Address of Holy Father Francis, Lecture Hall of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sardinia, Cagliari, Sunday, 22 September 2013. Paragraph 4.
[2] Universal Prayer Intention of the Holy Father entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), September 2016.
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(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, celebrated the Mass of Thanksgiving on Monday for the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
In his homily for the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Cardinal Parolin recalled several key moments of her life and the thirst for God which drove her every action.
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
‘ Caritas Christi urget nos : the love of Christ compels us’ was the recurring theme of Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s homily for the Thanksgiving Mass.
These words, he said, summed up the flame of love which compelled the now-St. Teresa of Calcutta during her life and which compel us to follow her example.
Cardinal Parolin revisited several of the key events of Mother Teresa’s life, including her self-definition as ‘a little pencil in God’s hands’.
‘Mother Teresa,’ he said, ‘was a clear mirror of the love of God and an admirable example of service to our neighbor, especially to the poorest, most derelict, and most abandoned of people.’
He also recalled her constant fight for the rights of the unborn, which he said grew out of her recognition that the worst form of poverty is ‘to feel unloved, unwanted, scorned’.
He said, ‘This recognition brought her to identify unborn children whose very existence is threatened as the “poorest of the poor”. Each of them depends, more than any other human being, on the love and care of the mother and on the protection of society.’
Cardinal Parolin went on the recall Mother Teresa’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in 1979, in which she said, ‘It is very important to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. It hurt Jesus to love us, it hurt him.’
He said these words ‘are like a doorway through which we enter into the abyss, which surrounded the life of the Saint.’
Cardinal Parolin concluded his homily remembering the two simple words she had posted in every house of the Missionaries of Charity: ‘I thirst’.
‘I thirst,’ he said, ‘a thirst for fresh, clean water, a thirst for souls to console and to redeem from their ugliness to make them beautiful and pleasing in the eyes of God, a thirst for God, for His vital and luminous presence. I thirst; this is the thirst which burned in Mother Teresa: her cross and exaltation, her torment and her glory.’
‘St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!’
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The celebration of the life and sanctity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta will continue in Rome in the days following her canonization on Sunday.
On Monday, the 19th anniversary of St Teresa’s death, the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for the canonization, with tens of thousands of pilgrims expected to attend. Later on Monday, the relics of Mother Teresa will be moved to the Papal Archbasilica of St John Lateran – the Cathedral of Rome – where they will be exposed for the veneration of the faithful.
The veneration of the relics will continue on Wednesday and Thursday in the church of Saint Gregory on the Celian Hill (San Gregorio al Celio). On those days, the faithful will also have the opportunity to visit the rooms of Mother Teresa in the convent of the Missionaries of Charity next to the church. The Missionaries operate a homeless shelter near San Gregorio, in addition to numerous other charitable enterprises in Rome.
(from Vatican Radio)…