(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and members of the Vatican Curia arrived on Sunday evening at the “Casa del Divin Maestro,” a retreat centre in Ariccia, located about 25 miles from Rome. They are taking part in the week-long Curial Spiritual Exercises.
Usually conducted during the first week of Lent, the exercises were postponed this year due to the Papal Voyage to Mexico.
Each day will include moments of prayer, meditation, and Eucharistic adoration. The spiritual exercises will be led by noted Italian author, Father Ermes Ronchi.
The participants will return to the Vatican on Friday.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter of thanks and gratitude to His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevhchuk, Major Archbishop of Kiev and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The Archbishop, together with other members of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have been meeting in Rome and released a statement in which they affirmed communion with the Catholic Church. They were received in audience by the Pope on Saturday.
In his letter to Archbishop Shevhchuk, Pope Francis recalls that some seventy years ago, a particular ideological and political context, as well as the existence of “ideas that were contrary to the very existence of your Church, led to the organization of a pseudo-synod in Lviv, and caused decades of suffering for the pastors and the faithful”.
“In sad memory of these events, he writes, we bow our heads in deep gratitude before those, who at the cost of suffering and even martyrdom, continued to witness the faith in the course of time and to show dedication to the Church in union with the Successor of Peter”.
At the same time, Pope Francis continues, “with eyes lit by the same faith, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to place in him, and not in human justice, all of our hope”.
“He is the true source of our trust in the present and in the future, as we are called to announce the Gospel also in the midst of suffering or difficulties” he says.
And the Pope goes on to express deep gratitude for the loyalty of Ukrainian Greek-Catholics and encourages them to be “tireless witnesses of that hope which makes our existence and the existence of all of our brothers and sisters more luminous”.
Pope Francis also renewed his feelings of solidarity with the pastors and faithful for all they do in these difficult times “marked by the hardships of war, to alleviate the suffering of the population and to seek the ways of peace for the beloved Ukrainian land”.
“In the Lord, he concludes, is our courage and our joy. It is to Him that I speak, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the martyrs of your Church, so that the divine consolation may illuminate your communities in Ukraine and other parts of the world”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says that the four nuns who were killed in Yemen are modern-day martyrs and victims of indifference.
During his address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square after the Angelus prayer, the Pope prayed for the slain nuns who belonged to Mother Teresa’s “Missionaries of Charity” and who were serving in a home for the elderly which was attacked on Friday by gunmen in the city of Aden.
Expressing his closeness to the religious Order, he said the nuns “gave their blood for the Church”’ and that they were not only victims of the attackers but also of “this indifference of globalization.”
The nuns were among 16 people killed during an attack by terrorists who stormed the retirement home.
Pope Francis also praised an ecumenical project to fly refugees to Europe as “a concrete sign of commitment for peace and life.”
He described the “pilot” project as a reality that unites solidarity with security allowing the safe transfer of people who are fleeing war and violence, such as the “one hundred refugees who have already arrived in Italy and amongst whom there are minors, sick people, disabled people, war widows with children and elderly people”.
The group that arrived in Rome last month represents the first wave of the planned transfer of 1,000 particularly vulnerable refugees from camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia.
Pope Francis said he is particularly happy the initiative is an ecumenical one that sees the support of the Community of Saint Egidio, the Federation of Italian Evangelical Churches, the Waldensian and the Methodist Churches.
Meanwhile, during his catechesis Pope Francis reflected on the parable of the prodigal son saying that God gives us the freedom to make mistakes, but he always welcomes us back to the fold with open arms.
Jesus, he said, teaches us to be merciful just as the Father is, and he warned against pride and arrogance that can derive from feelings of righteousness. That kind of attitude, he said, is evil. The Lord welcomes those who recognize their sinfulness.
The Pope concluded his catechesis saying that God loves us immeasurably and comes towards us with tenderness when we approach Him after having wandered.
“He welcomes us, Pope Francis concluded, and restores our dignity as God’s children.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis was “shocked and profoundly saddened” by the murder of four Missionaries of Charity and twelve other people at a home for the elderly in Aden, Yemen.
Gunmen entered the building on Friday and went room-to-room, handcuffing victims before shooting them in the head.
A message signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy Father “sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence.”
The message said Pope Francis “prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue.”
It concludes with a strong appeal for an end to the ongoing violence in Yemen.
“In the name of God, he calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the Sisters and their helpers sought to serve” – the message reads – “Upon everyone suffering from this violence, the Holy Father invokes God’s blessing, and in a special ways he extends to the Missionaries of Charity his prayerful sympathy and solidarity.”
The full text of the message is below
His Holiness Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four Missionaries of Charity and twelve others at a home for the elderly in Aden. He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence. He prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue. In the name of God, he calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the Sisters and their helpers sought to serve. Upon everyone suffering from this violence, the Holy Father invokes God’s blessing, and in a special ways he extends to the Missionaries of Charity his prayerful sympathy and solidarity.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) As part of ongoing celebrations for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis on Friday evening delivered the homily at a special “Penitential Celebration” in St Peter’s Basilica.
Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ prepared homily for the Celebration
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Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Penitential Celebration
Saint Peter’s Basilica
Friday, 4 March 2016
“I want to see again” (Mk 10:51). This is what we ask of the Lord today. To see again, because our sins have made us lose sight of all that is good, and have robbed us of the beauty of our calling, leading us instead far away from our journey’s end.
This Gospel passage has great symbolic value for our lives, because we all find ourselves in the same situation as Bartimaeus. His blindness led him to poverty and to living on the outskirts of the city, dependent on others for everything he needed. Sin also has this effect: it impoverishes and isolates us. It is a blindness of the spirit, which prevents us from seeing what is most important, from fixing our gaze on the love that gives us life. This blindness leads us little by little to dwell on what is superficial, until we are indifferent to others and to what is good. How many temptations have the power to cloud the heart’s vision and to make it myopic! How easy and misguided it is to believe that life depends on what we have, on our successes and on the approval we receive; to believe that the economy is only for profit and consumption; that personal desires are more important than social responsibility! When we only look to ourselves, we become blind, lifeless and self-centred, devoid of joy and true freedom.
But Jesus is passing by; he is passing by, and he halts: the Gospel tells us that “he stopped” (v. 49). Our hearts race, because we realize that the Light is gazing upon us, that kindly Light which invites us to come out of our dark blindness. Jesus’ closeness to us makes us see that when we are far from him there is something important missing from our lives. His presence makes us feel in need of salvation, and this begins the healing of our heart. Then, when our desire to be healed becomes more courageous, it leads to prayer, to crying out fervently and persistently for help, as did Bartimaeus: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47).
Unfortunately, like the “many” in the Gospel, there is always someone who does not want to stop, who does not want to be bothered by someone else crying out in pain, preferring instead to silence and rebuke the person in need who is only a nuisance (cf. v. 48). There is the temptation to move on as if it were nothing, but then we would remain far from the Lord and we would also keep others away from Jesus. May we realize that we are all begging for God’s love, and not allow ourselves to miss the Lord as he passes by. “Timeo transeuntem Dominum” (Saint Augustine). Let us voice our truest desire: “[Jesus], let me receive my sight!” (v. 51). This Jubilee of Mercy is the favourable time to welcome God’s presence, to experience his love and to return to him with all our heart. Like Bartimaeus, let us cast off our cloak and rise to our feet (cf. v. 50): that is, let us cast aside all that prevents us from racing towards him, unafraid of leaving behind those things which make us feel safe and to which we are attached. Let us not remain sedentary, but let us get up and find our spiritual worth again, our dignity as loved sons and daughters who stand before the Lord so that we can be seen by him, forgiven and recreated.
Today more than ever, we Pastors are especially called to hear the cry, perhaps hidden, of all those who wish to encounter the Lord. We need to re-examine those behaviours of ours which at times do not help others to draw close to Jesus; the schedules and programmes which do not meet the real needs of those who may approach the confessional; human regulations, if they are more important than the desire for forgiveness; our own inflexibility which may keep others away from God’s tenderness. We must certainly not water down the demands of the Gospel, but we cannot risk frustrating the desire of the sinner to be reconciled with the Father. For what the Father awaits more than anything is for his sons and daughters to return home (cf. Lk 15:20-32).
May our words be those of the disciples who, echoing Jesus, said to Bartimaeus: “Take heart; rise, he is calling you” (Mk 10:49). We have been sent to inspire courage, to support and to lead others to Jesus. Our ministry is one of accompaniment, so that the encounter with the Lord may be personal and intimate, and the heart may open itself to the Saviour in honesty and without fear. May we not forget: it is God alone who is at work in every person. In the Gospel it is he who stops and speaks to the blind man; it is he who orders the man to be brought to him, and who listens to him and heals him. We have been chosen to awaken the desire for conversion, to be instruments that facilitate this encounter, to stretch out our hand and to absolve, thus making his mercy visible and effective.
The conclusion of the Gospel story is significant: Bartimaeus “immediately received his sight and followed him on the way” (v. 52). When we draw near to Jesus, we too see once more the light which enables us to look to the future with confidence. We find anew the strength and the courage to set out on the way. “Those who believe, see” (Lumen Fidei, 1) and they go forth in hope, because they know that the Lord is present, that he is sustaining and guiding them. Let us follow him, as faithful disciples, so that we can lead all those we encounter to experience the joy of his merciful love.
(from Vatican Radio)…