(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called for prayerful solidarity with victims of natural disasters that recently struck parts of the United States, Great Britain, and South America (in particular Paraguay). The Holy Father’s appeal came at the end of his catechetical reflection during the General Audience on Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square.
“I invite everyone to pray for the victims of the calamities which in these days have befallen the United States, Great Britain, and South America – particularly Paraguay,” said Pope Francis.
Paraguay is the country hardest hit by flooding in South America that has spread across Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as well, causing several fatalities and inflicting massive damage, while driving at least 150 thousand people from their homes. Climatologists say the flooding is due to unusually heavy summer rains resulting from an intense “el Niño” weather phenomenon.
In the United States, severe weather that included tornadoes and flooding killed dozens of people over the past weekend, and continues to advance across the United States, bringing heavy snow and freezing rain over a great stretch of the country from Texas to northern New England.
The United Kingdom was in the throes of another major north Atlantic storm on Wednesday, after several episodes of severe weather provoked flooding from western Scotland to Wales, and especially in Cumbria and Yorkshire. Storm Frank, as the latest disturbance has been called by meteorologists, was expected to produce more heavy rain and wind gusts in excess of 80 km/h throughout much of the UK through Wednesday.
“May the Lord give comfort to all these peoples,” prayed Pope Francis, “and may fraternal solidarity aid them in their need.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message of encouragement to some 30,000 young people gathered in the Spanish city of Valencia for the 38th European Meeting of Young Adults organized by the Taizé Community.
Please find below the full text of the message sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on behalf of the Holy Father:
Dear young people,
Thousands of you have come together in Valencia, Spain, for the 38th European Meeting animated by the Taizé Community. The theme of mercy that brings you together and that you will deepen throughout 2016 makes Pope Francis particularly close to you, since the Jubilee of Mercy that he proposed began on December 8. And it is his wish that “the Christian people may reflect during the Jubilee on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy” (Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy). The Holy Father thanks you from all his heart for committing to this the creative forces and imagination of your youth.
You also want mercy to be manifested in all its dimensions, including the social ones. The Pope encourages you to continue on this path, to have the courage of mercy which will lead you not only to receive it for yourself, in your personal lives, but to come close to people who are in distress. You know that the Church is there for all humanity and “where there are Christians, anyone should be able to find an oasis of mercy.” This is what your communities can become.
This applies particularly to the many migrants who need your welcome so much. The Pope recently wrote to Brother Alois for the hundredth birthday of the founder of the Taizé community, “Brother Roger loved the poor, the disadvantaged, those who apparently do not matter. He showed by his life and that of his brothers that prayer goes together with human solidarity.” By your practice of solidarity and mercy, may you live that demanding happiness, rich in meaning, to which the Gospel calls you.
The Holy Father wishes that during these beautiful days that you gather in Valencia, praying and sharing among yourselves, you may better discover Christ, “the face of the Father’s mercy.” He already spoke through the prophet Hosea when he transmitted to his people the message “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
From his heart, Pope Francis gives his blessing to you, the young participants in the meeting, to the brothers of Taizé, and to all those who are welcoming you in Valencia and the surrounding region.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family and the Jubilee of Families in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. In his homily, the Holy Father focused on the family on pilgrimage – in ways great and small, making its way through life, toward the ultimate goal of perfect joy in the House of the Father, forever.
The Holy Father drew on the readings of the day, which told of the Old Testament figures, Elkanah and Hannah, who brought their son Samuel to the Temple of Shiloh to consecrate him to the Lord (cf. 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28), and of Joseph and Mary, who went with Our Lord in His boyhood as pilgrims to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover (cf. Lk 2:41-52).
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“How important it is for our families to journey together towards a single goal,” said Pope Francis. “We know that we have a road to travel together,” he went on to say, “a road along which we encounter difficulties but also enjoy moments of joy and consolation,” especially in the moments of shared prayer that punctuate our days – or ought to punctuate them – and thus help us maintain contact with the sacred rhythm of life. “What can be more beautiful than for a father and mother to bless their children at the beginning and end of each day, to trace on their forehead the sign of the cross, as they did on the day of their baptism?” reflected Pope Francis, who also indicated meal times as a privileged moment in which to express gratitude for God’s provident goodness and learn to share what we have received with those in greater need. “These are all little gestures,” he said, “yet they point to the great formative role played by the family in the pilgrimage of everyday life.”
Reflecting in a moment of spiritual imagination that envisioned the scene once the Holy Family had returned home, Pope Francis suggested that it is not impossible that even Our Lord might have asked His mother and foster father to excuse (It. chiedere scusa) Him the worry and consternation He caused them while he was about His Father’s business in the Temple, teaching the Teachers of the Law.
“In the Year of Mercy,” said Pope Francis, “every Christian family can become a privileged place on this pilgrimage for experiencing the joy of forgiveness: forgiveness is the essence of the love which can understand mistakes and mend them,” and, “ – how miserable we would be if God did not forgive us,” Pope Francis asked, in pointed departure from his prepared text. “Within the family we learn how to forgive, because we are certain that we are understood and supported, whatever the mistakes we make.”
The Holy Father concluded with an exhortation: “Let us not lose confidence in the family!” he said. “It is beautiful when we can always open our hearts to one another, and hide nothing. Where there is love, there is also understanding and forgiveness. To all of you, dear families, I entrust this most important mission – the domestic pilgrimage of daily family life – which the world and the Church need, now more than ever.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with pilgrims and tourists gathered beneath a Sun-drenched Roman sky in an unseasonably warm St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the third day of Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
“By the example and witness of the Holy Family,” said Pope Francis, “each family can draw valuable guidance for life and lifestyle choices, and can draw strength and wisdom for the journey of every day.” He went on to say, “Our Lady and Saint Joseph teach us to welcome children as a gift from God, to get them and rear them, cooperating in a wonderful way with the Creator’s work and giving to the world, in every child, a new smile.”
“It is,” said Pope Francis, “in united families that children bring their small lives into full maturity, living the meaningful and effective experience of love freely given and received, of tenderness, mutual respect, mutual understanding, forgiveness and joy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis appealed for Cuban migrants on Sunday, who are often victims of human traffickers, and find themselves at present stranded on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He called on the countries of Central America to help the roughly five thousand migrants seeking to reach the United States via the land route to find a solution to the situation.
Speaking to pilgrims and tourists after the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis said, “My thoughts in this moment go out to the numerous Cuban migrants who find themselves in difficulty in Central America, many of whom are victims of human trafficking: I invite the countries of the region to renew with generosity all necessary efforts in order to find a rapid solution to this humanitarian drama.”
Mexico and several Central American countries have seen a surge in migration from Cuba as warming relations between the Communist-ruled island nation and the United States has raised the possibility that current U.S. asylum policy toward Cubans could end soon.
The Nicaraguan government has proposed that the U.S. organize an airlift to bring the migrants to the United States, while the government of Costa Rica has been in conversation with Belize and Guatemala, in an effort to convince those countries to grant safe passage to the migrants that would allow them to reach Mexico.
(from Vatican Radio)…