(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ prayer intention for November is for Countries Receiving Refugees : That the countries which take in a great number of displaced persons and refugees may find support for their efforts which show solidarity.
The Apostleship of Prayer has produced the Pope’s Video on this prayer intention.
The full text of the Pope’s Video is below:
Can one country alone manage the problems of forced migration?
We must move away from indifference and the fear of accepting the other. [1]
Because that other could be you. Or me…
Join me in this prayer request:
That the countries which take in a great number of displaced persons and refugees may find support for their efforts which show solidarity. [2]
[1] Message of his Holiness Pope Francis for the 101st World Day of Migrants and Refugees (2015). Church Without Frontiers, Mother To All.
[2] Universal Prayer Intention of the Holy Father entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer). November 2016.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s Basilica on Friday, Pope Francis offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in suffrage for the souls of Cardinals and Bishops who have died in the course of the past year.
“These our Brothers,” Pope Francis said, “have reached the goal, after having served the Church and loved the Lord Jesus.”
The Holy Father reminded those present that for each of us, the journey “to the house of the Father” begins in the first moment of our existence; and, through Baptism, the first moment when we receive sanctifying grace. An important stage of that journey, for priests, is the moment they receive priestly ordination. “From that moment,” he said, “we are united in a special way to Christ, associated with His priestly ministry.” The Cardinals and Bishops we remember today, he continued, “throughout their lives, especially after having consecrated themselves to God, dedicated themselves to witnessing and to giving to others the love of Christ.”
They were “pastors of the flock of Christ,” and, in imitation of Him, they spent their lives in working for the salvation of those entrusted to their care. Now, he said, “we are here to pray for them, to offer the divine Sacrifice in suffrage for their souls, and to ask the Lord to make them shine forever in His kingdom of light.”
In fact, he said, their death is “the entrance into the fullness of life.” Precisely in the light of faith, “we feel even closer to our deceased Brothers”; although we seem separated by death, “the power of Christ and of His Spirit unites us in an even more profound way.”
Pope Francis concluded his homily by reminding us that “nourished by the Bread of Life, we too, together with all those who have gone before us, wait with firm hope the day of the face-to-face encounter with the luminous and merciful countenance of the Father.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Press Office of the Holy See was the scene on Thursday morning for a conference featuring the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization , Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who presented the final major celebrations associated with the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy at the Vatican: the Jubilee for Prisoners on November 5 th and 6 th ; and the Jubilee for the Socially Excluded from November 11 th to 13 th .
Each particular Jubilee will culminate with Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
The Jubilee for Prisoners will involve a contingent of persons currently serving penal sentences in Spain, along with persons of several different nationalities currently incarcerated in Italy, as well as hundreds of people either released on parole or who have served their sentences and are working to rejoin society. Over 1 thousand people either currently serving time or who have served time in prison are expected to take part in the Jubilee in Rome, according to official estimates from the Council for New Evangelization.
Click below to hear our report
On Saturday, participants will have the opportunity to confess in the Jubilee churches and make the pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Mass with the Holy Father is scheduled to begin at 10 AM on Sunday, following an hour-long series of testimonies given by four people whose lives have been changed through the experience of crime and punishment: a prisoner who has experienced conversion, who will speak with the victim with whom he is reconciled; the brother of a victim of a deadly crime who has become the instrument of mercy and forgiveness; a minor who is serving his sentence; and an agent of the Penitentiary Police, who has daily contact with inmates.
“We will listen to their life experience,” explained Archbishop Fisichella, “and we will understand that the theme of mercy is not a theoretical word, but a genuine daily action that often represents a real existential challenge.”
The following weekend, beginning on Friday the 11 th and concluding on Sunday, November 13 th , the Church will mark the Jubilee of Socially Excluded Persons: for anyone and everyone who, due to reasons ranging from economic precariousness to disease, loneliness, or lack of family ties, have difficulties and often remain at the margins of society, without a home or a place to live.
“People,” said Archbishop Fisichella, “we meet every day, people our eyes do not want to see, and from whom we look away.”
The approximately 6 thousand expected participants come from different countries: France, Germany, Portugal, England, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Switzerland. The organization started by the French organization Lazare , founded by Etienne Villemain.
Participants will have an intense jubilee program: Friday at 11:30 AM, in the Paul VI Hall, they are scheduled to meet Pope Francis, who will listen to some of their testimonies and at the end will meet with them. In cdifferent churches throughout the city there will be the opportunity to hear testimony on Saturday 10 AM. The churches are: San Salvatore in Lauro for the English language; Santa Monica for Dutch, St. Louis of France for Portuguese; XII Apostles for French; St. John the Baptist of the Florentines for Polish; Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) for German; Santa Maria sopra Minerva for Italian; Sant’Andrea della Valle for Spanish and Santa Maria Maddalena in the Campus Martius for Slovak.
Saturday afternoon at 5 PM, there will be a Vigil of Mercy in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which is to be preceded by a brief pilgrimage to the Basilica’s Holy Door, starting from the front gardens.
On Sunday, the Holy Father will preside at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at 10 AM, following which he will lead all the faithful in the recitation of the Angelus prayer.
Sunday, November 13 th , is also to be the closing of the Door of Mercy in all the churches and shrines throughout the world, including in the three Papal Basilicas: at St. Paul Outside the Walls, at 5 PM; at St. John Lateran, at 5:30 PM; at Saint Mary Major 6 PM.
“We are confident,” concluded Archbishop Fisichella, “that these two Jubilee events will be experienced with the same intensity and experience of prayer with which we have seen the entire Jubilee celebrated.”
That enthusiasm was on display October 22 nd , when an extraordinary crowd of 93 thousand people participated – the highest number yet for a Jubilee Audience, Archbishop Fisichella told reporters – in the Extraordinary Jubilee Audience held once each month on a Saturday during the Jubilee Year.
The official website of the Jubilee of Mercy estimates that 19,797,652 people have participated in the Jubilee in Rome through the end of October.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City – Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, begins his pastoral visit to Malawi today, where on November 5 he will preside at the consecration of the Cathedral of the diocese of Karonga, as Special Envoy of Pope Francis, and then in Zambia, for the 125 years of evangelization. The Prefect of the Congregation will arrive in Malawi in the late morning of today, November 3. In the afternoon he will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of Lilongwe then, immediately after, will meet with the clergy and religious. On Friday, November 4 he will travel to Mzuzu, where he will celebrate Mass and then in the afternoon leave for Karonga, where he will be welcomed by the children of Holy Childhood. On the morning of Saturday 5, the rite of consecration of the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker will be held, and in the afternoon the Prefect will have a meeting with the Bishops. The following day, on Sunday, November 6, Cardinal Filoni will return to Lilongwe where, in the afternoon, he will celebrate Mass in the parish of St. Patrick, then he will meet with the laity. On Monday morning, November 7 after a visit to the Mother Teresa Center, the Prefect of the Congregation will leave for Lusaka, Zambia, where in the afternoon he will meet with the Bishops. On Tuesday 8 a Mass is scheduled at the St. Dominic Major Seminary, followed by a meeting with the formators of the three major seminaries. In the afternoon Vespers in the monastery of the Poor Clares. On Wednesday, November 9 he will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of the Child Jesus, and in the afternoon will preside over the opening of the National Catholic Forum . On Thursday 10 Cardinal Filoni will celebrate Mass at the Sisters of Mother Teresa, and then will return to Rome. …
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday urged representatives of different religions to foster a peaceful encounter of believers and genuine religious freedom.
Speaking to some 200 people gathered in the Vatican for an interreligious audience, Pope Francis reflected on the soon- to-end Year of Mercy saying that mercy extends also to the world around us, “to our common home, which we are called to protect and preserve from unbridled and rapacious consumption”.
He pointed out that in today’s hectic and forgetful world we need the oxygen of gratuitous and life-giving love: “We thirst for mercy and no technology can quench that thirst. We seek a love that endures beyond momentary pleasures, a safe harbour where we can end our restless wanderings, an infinite embrace that forgives and reconciles”.
He told those present that common commitment is needed “for an education to sobriety and to respect, to a more simple and orderly way of life”.
Above all, the Pope urged all religions to join in embarking on a path of dialogue, rejecting the aimless paths of disagreement and closed-mindedness.
He appealed to never let it happen again that religions, because of the conduct of some of their followers, convey a distorted message that is out of tune with that of mercy.
“Sadly, not a day passes that we do not hear of acts of violence, conflict, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, killings and destruction. It is horrible that at times, to justify such barbarism, the name of a religion or the name of God himself is invoked. May there be clear condemnation of these iniquitous attitudes that profane the name of God and sully the religious quest of mankind” he said.
Pope Francis concluded his message calling for the peaceful encounter of believers and genuine religious freedom: “Here, our responsibility before God, humanity and the future is great; it calls for unremitting effort, without dissimulation. It is a call that challenges us, a path to be taken together, for the good of all, and with hope”.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ address to Representatives of Different Religions:
Dear Friends,
I offer you a warm welcome. I am pleased to meet you and I thank you for accepting this invitation to reflect together on the theme of mercy.
As you are well aware, we are approaching the end of the Holy Year, in which the Catholic Church has pondered the heart of the Christian message from the viewpoint of mercy. For us, mercy reveals the name of God; it is “the very foundation of the Church’s life” (Misericordiae Vultus, 10). It is also the key to understanding the mystery of man, of that humanity which, today too, is in great need of forgiveness and peace.
Yet the mystery of mercy is not to be celebrated in words alone, but above all by deeds, by a truly merciful way of life marked by disinterested love, fraternal service and sincere sharing. The Church increasingly desires to adopt this way of life, also as part of her “duty to foster unity and charity” among all men and women (Nostra Aetate, 1). The religions are likewise called to this way of life, in order to be, particularly in our own day, messengers of peace and builders of communion, and to proclaim, in opposition to all those who sow conflict, division and intolerance, that ours is a time of fraternity. That is why it is important for us to seek occasions of encounter, an encounter which, while avoiding a superficial syncretism, “makes us more open to dialogue, the better to know and understand one another; eliminates every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect; and drives out every form of violence and discrimination” (Misericordiae Vultus, 23). This is pleasing to God and constitutes an urgent task, responding not only to today’s needs but above all to the summons to love which is the soul of all authentic religion.
The theme of mercy is familiar to many religious and cultural traditions, where compassion and nonviolence are essential elements pointing to the way of life; in the words of an ancient proverb: “death is hard and stiff; life is soft and supple” (Tao-Te-Ching, 76). To bow down with compassionate love before the weak and needy is part of the authentic spirit of religion, which rejects the temptation to resort to force, refuses to barter human lives and sees others as brothers and sisters, and never mere statistics. To draw near to all those living in situations that call for our concern, such as sickness, disability, poverty, injustice and the aftermath of conflicts and migrations: this is a summons rising from the heart of every genuine religious tradition. It is the echo of the divine voice heard in the conscience of every person, calling him or her to reject selfishness and to be open. Open to the Other above us, who knocks on the door of our heart, and open to the other at our side, who knocks at the door of our home, asking for attention and assistance.
The very word “mercy” is a summons to an open and compassionate heart. It comes from the Latin world misericordia, which evokes a heart – cor – sensitive to suffering, but especially to those who suffer, a heart that overcomes indifference because it shares in the sufferings of others. In the Semitic languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, the root RHM, which also expresses God’s mercy, has to do with a mother’s womb, the deepest source of human love, the feelings of a mother for the child to whom she will give birth.
In this regard, the prophet Isaiah conveys a magnificent message, which, on God’s part, is both a promise of love and a challenge: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even through she may forget, yet I will never forget you” (Is 49:15). All too often, sad to say, we forget, our hearts grow heedless and indifferent. We distance ourselves from God, our neighbour and even our historical memory, and we end up repeating, in even more cruel forms, tragic errors of the past.
This is the drama of evil, of the grim depths to which our freedom can plunge when tempted by evil, ever-present, waiting to strike and bring us down. Yet precisely here, before the great riddle of evil that tests every religious experience, we find the most amazing aspect of merciful love. That love does not leave us prey to evil or to our own frailty; it does not “forget”, but “remembers”, and draws near to every human misery in order to relieve it. Like a mother. Whatever the evil done by her child, a mother always sees past the sin to recognize the face she bore in her womb.
In today’s ever more hectic and forgetful word, which leaves so many men and women behind as it races on, breathlessly and aimlessly, we need the oxygen of this gratuitous and life-giving love. We thirst for mercy and no technology can quench that thirst. We seek a love that endures beyond momentary pleasures, a safe harbour where we can end our restless wanderings, an infinite embrace that forgives and reconciles.
How important this is, when we consider today’s widespread fear that it is impossible to be forgiven, rehabilitated and redeemed from our weaknesses. For us Catholics, among the most meaningful rites of the Holy Year is that of walking with humility and trust through the door – the Holy Door – to find ourselves fully reconciled by the mercy of God, who forgives our trespasses. But this demands that we too forgive those who trespass against us (cf. Mt 6:12), the brothers and sisters who have offended us. We receive God’s forgiveness in order to share it with others.
Forgiveness is surely the greatest gift we can give to others, because it is the most costly. Yet at the same time, it is what makes us most like God.
Mercy extends also to the world around us, to our common home, which we are called to protect and preserve from unbridled and rapacious consumption. Our commitment is needed for an education to sobriety and to respect, to a more simple and orderly way of life, in which the resources of creation are used with wisdom and moderation, with concern for humanity as a whole and coming generations, not simply the interests of our particular group and the benefits of the present moment. Today in particular, “the gravity of the ecological crisis demands that we all look to the common good, embarking on a path of dialogue which requires patience, self-discipline and generosity” (Laudato Si’, 201).
May this be the path we take. May we reject the aimless paths of disagreement and closed-mindedness. May it never happen again that the religions, because of the conduct of some of their followers, convey a distorted message, out of tune with that of mercy. Sadly, not a day passes that we do not hear of acts of violence, conflict, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, killings and destruction. It is horrible that at times, to justify such barbarism, the name of a religion or the name of God himself is invoked. May there be clear condemnation of these iniquitous attitudes that profane the name of God and sully the religious quest of mankind. May there instead be fostered everywhere the peaceful encounter of believers and genuine religious freedom. Here, our responsibility before God, humanity and the future is great; it calls for unremitting effort, without dissimulation. It is a call that challenges us, a path to be taken together, for the good of all, and with hope. May the religions be wombs of life, bearing the merciful love of God to a wounded and needy humanity; may they be doors of hope helping to penetrate the walls erected by pride and fear.
(from Vatican Radio)…