(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday offered prayers for the victims of Saturday’s bombing in southern Turkey. At least 50 people were killed and dozens wounded when a suspected suicide bomber detonated his explosives among people at a wedding party in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep. Women and children were among those killed. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was likely that so-called Islamic State militants carried out the late-night attack. Speaking after the recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said, “Sad news has reached me about the bloody attack” that was carried out yesterday in “dear Turkey.” “Let us pray for the victims, for the dead and the injured, and we ask for the gift of peace for all,” the Pope said, leading pilgrims present in the square in the recitation of the Hail Mary prayer. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Cardinal Vinko Pulić, the Archbishop of Sarajevo, as his special envoy to a celebration taking place in Skopje, Macedonia, on 11 September 2016, at the conclusion of a special day of thanksgiving for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa, whose birth name was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, was born in Skopje in 1910, when the city was part of the Ottoman Empire. Beatified in 2003, she is scheduled to be canonized by Pope Francis at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square on 4 September.
Mother Teresa was an ethnic Albanian, but due to the conflicts in the Balkans in the first part of the 20th century – including the First World War – Skopje was under various jurisdictions, so she held at different times Ottoman, Serbian, and Yugoslavian citizenship. She became a citizen of her adoptive India in 1948.
Skopje is now the capital of the modern Republic of Macedonia, which declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to the XXXVII Rimini Meeting for the Friendship of Peoples. Each year in the Italian city of Rimini, thousands of people gather for an encounter among persons of different faiths and cultures, with hundreds of speakers from all over the world and from all walks of life.
The Pope’s message for this year’s Meeting was conveyed in a letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
In the letter, Cardinal Parolin describes the theme of this year’s Meeting —“You are good for me” — as “courageous”. Too often in the modern world, he says, a certain individualism tempts us to look only at our own concerns, or even to see other people as a burden or a hindrance. But, he continued, in the face of the changing age we are living in, “who can imagine he can save himself by himself, and by his own power?” Rather, “following the example of the Lord Jesus, the Christian always cultivates a thought open to the other, whoever he might be, because he does not consider any person to be definitively lost.
With this attitude, the Cardinal said, Christians can understand their unique contribution to dialogue and communion: in the words of Pope Francis, “the proclamation of the Gospel, which today more than ever finds expression in going forth to bind the wounds of humanity with the powerful yet simple presence of Jesus, and his mercy that consoles and encourages.”
This, Cardinal Parolin said, is the hope of the Holy Father, “who encourages the participants in the Meeting to be especially mindful of the creative personal testimony,” with the understanding that what attracts others is not the strength of the instruments, but the tenacious meekness of the merciful love of the Father, that each person can attain from the outpouring of the grace that God offers in the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist and in Penance, to then give to the brothers.”
The Rimini Meeting takes place this year from 19-25 August.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Bishop Kevin J. Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas, Texas, said he was “humbled” when Pope Francis asked him to be the new Prefect of the new Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life .
“I was obviously humbled by the fact that the Holy Father would ask me to go and do such an important work,” Bishop Farrell told Vatican Radio.
Listen to the interview of Bishop Kevin Farrell with Charles Collins:
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“I have always considered myself to be just a bishop of the diocese and at service to the people here, so when you get a call from the Holy Father asking you to do something like this you cannot but be amazed and humbled at the same time by the whole venture,” he said.
He takes up his new position in just a matter of weeks: The new Dicastery has a start date of 1 September, taking over the offices of the Pontifical Councils for the Family and for the Laity.
“I look forward to it,” Bishop Farrell said.
“It seems to me to be a great challenge, especially given the fact that the Holy Father’s letter Amoris laetitia is so important and so well-received by the whole world; and being in charge of what was the Council for the Family, obviously that is going to be my number one agenda,” – he continued – “And obviously to promote lay ministry, and to ensure that the lay people take their rightful place in the Church, and to promote the apostolate of the laity in the world. I see it as a challenge. I didn’t expect this at this stage in my life, but that’s where we are!”
When Bishop Farrell arrives in Rome, he will become the second Bishop Farrell at the Vatican: His older brother, Bishop Brian Farrell, is the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“Yes, I do have a brother there that works there in the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity,” Bishop Kevin Farrell said.
“I am looking forward to it,” – he explained. – “We have been priests for many, many years, but we have never worked together in the same city, so it will be unique, it will be change.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis had a private meeting in the Vatican on Wednesday with France’s President Francois Hollande. Their meeting came three weeks after the brutal murder of the elderly French priest, Father Jacques Hamel, who was killed by two young French terrorists claiming allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group whilst he was celebrating Mass in his church near the city of Rouen.
Following the murder of Father Hamel, President Hollande telephoned Pope Francis to express his closeness and told him that “when a priest is attacked all of France is wounded.” Speaking on his flight to Poland, the Pope thanked the French President “in a special way” for having contacted him like “a brother.”
President Hollande was accompanied on his visit to the Vatican by the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the French ambassador to the Holy See, Philippe Zeller.
Wednesday’s encounter marked the second time that Pope Francis and President Hollande have met in the Vatican. Their first meeting, which was an official one, took place on 24th January 2014.
(from Vatican Radio)…