(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday sent a video message to the people of the Central African Republic, on the eve of his visit to the country this Saturday, November 28th.
In his video message, Pope Francis told the people of the Central African Republic of the “joy which pervades me” on the occasion of his first visit to Africa and, in particular, to the CAR.
The Holy Father said, “Your dear country has for too long been affected by a violent situation and by insecurity of which many of you have been innocent victims. The goal of my visit is, above all, to bring you, in the name of Christ, the comfort of consolation and hope. I hope with all my heart that my visit may contribute, in one way or another, to alleviate your wounds and to favor conditions for a better, more serene future for Central Africa and all its inhabitants.”
Pope Francis then reminded them that the theme of his visit is “Let us pass to the other side”, saying that it invites Christian communities “to look ahead with determination and encourages each person to renew their own relationship with God and with their brothers and sisters to build a new, more just and fraternal world”.
At the heart of the Holy Father’s 6-day journey, taking him to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic is his desire to bring a message of peace, reconciliation, dialogue and the impetus to overcome internal divisions.
In war-torn CAR he will open Bangui Cathedral’s Holy Door in a powerful gesture leading up to the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
One of Pope Francis’ last commitments before he boards the Papal plane bringing him back to Rome on November 30, will be a visit to Bangui’s Central Mosque for a meeting with the Muslim community.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday sent a video message to the people of Kenya and Uganda, saying he is coming “as a minister of the Gospel, to proclaim the love of Jesus Christ and his message of reconciliation, forgiveness and peace”.
The Holy Father will visit Kenya and Uganda, as well as the Central African Republic (CAR), from 25-30 November.
Listen to Pope Francis’ video message:
The full transcription Pope Francis’ video message may be found below:
Dear Friends,
As I prepare to visit Kenya and Uganda later this month, I send a word of greeting and friendship to you and your families. I look forward to this time we will have together.
I am coming as a minister of the Gospel, to proclaim the love of Jesus Christ and his message of reconciliation, forgiveness and peace. My visit is meant to confirm the Catholic community in its worship of God and its witness to the Gospel, which teaches the dignity of every man and woman, and commands us to open our hearts to others, especially the poor and those in need.
At the same time I wish to encounter all the people of Kenya and Uganda, and to offer everyone a word of encouragement. We are living at a time when religious believers, and persons of good will everywhere, are called to foster mutual understanding and respect, and to support each other as members of our one human family. For all of us are God’s children. A highlight of my visit will be my meetings with young people, who are your greatest resource and our most promising hope for a future of solidarity, peace and progress.
I know that many people are working hard to prepare for my visit, and I thank them. I ask everyone to pray that my stay in Kenya and Uganda will be a source of hope and encouragement to all. Upon you and your families I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!
(from Vatican Radio)…
Pope Francis called for all the faithful everywhere to pray for persecuted Christians on Sunday. Speaking to pilgrims and tourists gathered beneath the window of the Papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, which overlooks St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father recalled the beatification in Barcelona on Saturday of Bl. Federico da Berga and his 25 Companions, who were martyred during the course of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.
“They were,” said Pope Francis, “priests, young professed friars awaiting ordination, and lay brothers belonging to the Capuchin Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans): let us entrust to their intercession the many of our brothers and sisters who, sadly still today, in many different parts of the world, are persectuted because of their faith in Christ.”
Pope Francis also asked the faithful to pray for the success of his upcoming visit to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, which begins this Wednseday, Nov. 25. “I ask you all to pray for this voyage,” he said, “that it might be for all our brothers and sisters in those lands, and also for me, a sign of closeness and of love.”
Ahead of the Angelus on Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, with faithful pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the focus of the Holy Father’s remarks was the nature of Christ’s kingship: a kingship that opposes itself to the worldly logic that prizes ambition and rewards ruthlessness, expressing itself in humility and selflessness, and affirming itself silently but efficaciously with the force of truth.
“The kingdoms of this world sometimes build themselves on arrogance, rivalry, oppression; the kingdom of Christ is ‘a kingdom of justice, love and peace’,” he said. The Holy Father went on to say, “[T]o reign as He does means to serve God and the brethren – a service that flows from love: to serve for love’s sake is to reign: this is the regality of Jesus.”
Pope Francis concluded, saying, “Before so many lacerations in the world, and the too many wounds in the flesh of men, we ask the Virgin Mary to sustain us in our commitment to imitating Jesus, our King, making present His Kingdom with acts of tenderness, compassion and mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a telegram expressing his condolences and assuring his prayerful solidarity with the whole people of Mali, in the wake of a terrorist attack on a hotel in the capital, Bamako, which left at least 21 people dead.
Addressed to the Archbishop of Bamako, Jean Zerbo, and signed by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the telegram says Pope Francis joins in prayer the pain of bereaved families and the sadness of Malians.
“Appalled by this senseless violence,” which the Holy Father “strongly condemns,” the telegram continues, “the Pope implores God for the conversion of hearts and the gift of peace, and invokes abundance of divine blessings on all those affected by this tragedy.”
Below, please find the full text of the Holy Father’s telegram, in Vatican Radio’s English translation
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His Excellency Archbishop Jean Zerbo
Archbishop of Bamako BAMAKO
Having learned of the tragic attack, which took place in Bamako, His Holiness Pope Francis unites himself in prayer to the pain of bereaved families and the sadness of all Malians. He recommends all the victims to the mercy of God, praying that the Almighty welcome them into His light. He expresses his deepest sympathy with the injured and their families, asking the Lord to bring them comfort and consolation in their ordeal. Appalled by this senseless violence, which the Pope strongly condemns, the Pope implores God for the conversion of hearts and the gift of peace, and invokes abundance of Divine blessings on all those affected by this tragedy.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of His Holiness
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in a major international congress under the sponsorship of the Congregation for Catholic Education on Saturday morning. For four days this week, more than 2 thousand educators, administrators, students and teachers from around the world have been examining the challenges facing the mission of Catholic education in the 21 st century, under the umbrella of Educating today and tomorrow: a passion renewed .
The Conference was organized in connection with 50 th anniversary celebrations for the II Vatican Council’s document on Catholic education: Gravissimum educationis .
Click below to hear our report
In lieu of prepared remarks, Pope Francis held a question-and-answer session with a select few of the people taking part, fielding queries on a wide array of topics ranging from the challenges of maintaining Christian identity in an educational setting across all social, political and cultural contexts, to the dissolution of the ties that historically have bound together family, school and society, to the specific challenges to education posed by the “piecemeal III World War” being fought around the world, to which Pope Francis has made repeated reference.
“Today there is a tendency toward a neopositivism,” said Pope Francis, “that is, to educate in immanent things, and this both in traditionally Christian countries and in countries of Pagan tradition.” He went on to say, “Transcendence is what is wanting – for me, the greatest crisis in education, in order that it be [truly, authentically] Christian, is this closure to transcendence.” The Holy Father went on to say, “To prepare hearts, that the Lord might manifest Himself,” is the true mission of the teacher and the goal of all education worthy of the name.
Using the example of St. John Bosco’s “emergency education” in response to the Masonic threat in northern Italy in the 19 th century, Pope Francis said, “There are three languages: the language of the head, the language of the heart, and the language of the hands; education must go forward by these three ways; instructing in how to think, helping students to feel well; accompanying students as they do [what they have learned or are learning to do].” He added, “The three languages must be in harmony: that the child, the student think [about] what he feels and does, feel that which he thinks and makes, and do that which he thinks and feels.”
The Holy Father concluded with an appeal and an assignment for the educators present and for all their colleagues, everywhere: to respond to the brutalities of war in contemporary life, by committing themselves anew to learning and teaching mercy, especially the fourteen Works of Mercy. “Think through once again the works of mercy,” he said, “they are the work of the Father.”
(from Vatican Radio)…