VOLUME 1, ISSUE 40  •  OCTOBER 3, 2015

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Full text of Pope Francis’ homily at Mass with clergy and religious

Pope Francis to priests, religious: It’s your job to inspire vocations

Full text of Pope Francis’ religious liberty address to Hispanics

The most important part of the Pope’s trip is still to come

For Pope Francis, it’s imperative: Religious liberty is a gift from God. Defend it.

Full text of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks at the Festival of Families

Pope Francis off-the-cuff: Family is the most beautiful thing God made

‘God cries’ for victims of abuse, Pope says after meeting survivors

Help youth be brave in opting for marriage and family, Pope tells bishops

Confinement is not exclusion! Pope Francis visits with Philly inmates

God’s love is for everyone and it’s dangerous to think otherwise, Pope says

Pope makes impromptu stop at statue marking Jewish-Catholic unity

Pope Francis: I leave with a heart full of gratitude and hope

Pope: Communion for divorced, remarried isn’t the only synod issue

I can forgive an abuser, but understand those who can’t, Pope says

Full transcript of Pope Francis’ inflight interview from Philadelphia to Rome

Pope Francis explains what World Youth Day has to do with Divine Mercy

Pope Francis met Argentine family who travelled 11,000 miles to Philadelphia

Mercy, dialogue to be the focus of World Communications Day

Pope appeals for life of Georgia death row inmate, but parole board rejects

Sistine Chapel Choir releases sacred music album recorded in its chapel

Pope Francis reportedly met with Kim Davis, offered support

Pope Francis lauds Archbishop Chaput’s ‘great love for the family’

To welcome a migrant is to welcome God himself, Pope says

Vatican clarifies background on Pope’s meeting with Kim Davis

What to expect from this year’s synod of bishops

Listen to your guardian angel’s advice - he is God’s messenger, Pope says

WORLD NEWS

As synod approaches, Nigerian bishops speak up for the family

Catalan bishops: Church can’t make specific proposals on independence from Spain

This event hopes to bring the voice of chaste, gay Catholics to the Synod

A Mexican exorcist advances on path to sainthood – courtesy of the Pope

These African pastors want to maintain Christ’s love, and truth, at the synod

Ahead of the synod, LGBT activists lobby bishops: Here’s what they want

U.S. NEWS

Cardinal O’Malley to families: Want to evangelize? You’d better have these two qualities

Pope Francis hailed for transcending liberal/conservative divide

Francis defended religious liberty in word and deed, Archbishop Lori says of D.C. visit

Saint Junipero Serra’s canonization an ‘exciting time to be a Catholic’

After the Pope’s visit – an exclusive interview with Archbishop Chaput

What’s it like to play for the Pope? Here’s how one Catholic artist described it

U.S. bishops echo Pope’s words on sex abuse, accountability

Here’s what Archbishop Kurtz thought about Pope Francis’ visit

What meeting Pope Francis was like for elementary students in Harlem

Families tell Pope Francis ‘thank you’ with a renewed commitment to marriage

Stop ‘corporate welfare’ for Planned Parenthood, pro-life Democrats say

Man up! Phoenix bishop encourages, challenges Catholic men in new letter

In wake of Pope Francis, bishops urge Congress to move on religious freedom

Dating apps could be leading to a rise in STDs – and Tinder isn’t happy about it

‘You are not alone’ - Oregon bishops, priests support a community in shock

FEATURES

‘The Intern’ offers something for everyone

The Moral Life and Human Choice

Recapping the Papal Visit

The Pope, The Congress, and a Trappist Monk

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • October 4, 2015

Monday • October 5, 2015

Tuesday • October 6, 2015

Wednesday • October 7, 2015

Thursday • October 8, 2015

Friday • October 9, 2015

Saturday • October 10, 2015

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Volume 1, Issue 40 • October 3, 2015

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VATICAN NEWS

Full text of Pope Francis’ homily at Mass with clergy and religious

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, PA. (Peter Miller via Flickr CC 2.0)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis is now saying Mass at Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for clergy and religious, and has just delivered his homily. Find the full text here:

This morning I learned something about the history of this beautiful Cathedral: the story behind its high walls and windows. I would like to think, though, that the history of the Church in this city and state is really a story not about building walls, but about breaking them down. It is a story about generation after generation of committed Catholics going out to the peripheries, and building communities of worship, education, charity and service to the larger society.

That story is seen in the many shrines which dot this city, and the many parish churches whose towers and steeples speak of God’s presence in the midst of our communities. It is seen in the efforts of all those dedicated priests, religious and laity who for over two centuries have ministered to the spiritual needs of the poor, the immigrant, the sick and those in prison. And it is seen in the hundreds of schools where religious brothers and sisters trained children to read and write, to love God and neighbor, and to contribute as good citizens to the life of American society. All of this is a great legacy which you have received, and which you have been called to enrich and pass on.

Most of you know the story of Saint Katharine Drexel, one of the great saints raised up by this local Church. When she spoke to Pope Leo XIII of the needs of the missions, the Pope – he was a very wise Pope! – asked her pointedly: “What about you? What are you going to do?”. Those words changed Katharine’s life, because they reminded her that, in the end, every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission. Each one of us has to respond, as best we can, to the Lord’s call to build up his Body, the Church.

“What about you?” I would like to dwell on two aspects of these words in the context of our particular mission to transmit the joy of the Gospel and to build up the Church, whether as priests, deacons, or members of institutes of consecrated life.

First, those words – “What about you?” – were addressed to a young person, a young woman with high ideals, and they changed her life. They made her think of the immense work that had to be done, and to realize that she was being called to do her part. How many young people in our parishes and schools have the same high ideals, generosity of spirit, and love for Christ and the Church! Do we challenge them? Do we make space for them and help them to do their part? To find ways of sharing their enthusiasm and gifts with our communities, above all in works of mercy and concern for others? Do we share our own joy and enthusiasm in serving the Lord?

One of the great challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in all the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission, and to enable them to fulfill that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world. This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward the legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of our life.

“What about you?” It is significant that those words of the elderly Pope were also addressed to a lay woman. We know that the future of the Church in a rapidly changing society will call, and even now calls, for a much more active engagement on the part of the laity. The Church in the United States has always devoted immense effort to the work of catechesis and education. Our challenge today is to build on those solid foundations and to foster a sense of collaboration and shared responsibility in planning for the future of our parishes and institutions. This does not mean relinquishing the spiritual authority with which we have been entrusted; rather, it means discerning and employing wisely the manifold gifts which the Spirit pours out upon the Church. In a particular way, it means valuing the immense contribution which women, lay and religious, have made and continue to make, to the life of our communities.

Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for the way in which each of you has answered Jesus’ question which inspired your own vocation: “What about you?”. I encourage you to be renewed in the joy of that first encounter with Jesus and to draw from that joy renewed fidelity and strength. I look forward to being with you in these days and I ask you to bring my affectionate greetings to those who could not be with us, especially the many elderly priests and religious who join us in spirit.

During these days of the World Meeting of Families, I would ask you in a particular way to reflect on our ministry to families, to couples preparing for marriage, and to our young people. I know how much is being done in your local Churches to respond to the needs of families and to support them in their journey of faith. I ask you to pray fervently for them, and for the deliberations of the forthcoming Synod on the Family.

Now, with gratitude for all we have received, and with confident assurance in all our needs, let us turn to Mary, our Blessed Mother. With a mother’s love, may she intercede for the growth of the Church in America in prophetic witness to the power of her Son’s Cross to bring joy, hope and strength into our world. I pray for each of you, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to priests, religious: It’s your job to inspire vocations

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis says Mass for clergy and religious in Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Sept. 26, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — The Church today is called to foster among young people a sense of responsibility and enthusiasm for the Gospel mission, Pope Francis said on Saturday to group of priests and religious gathered in Philadelphia’s cathedral.

Saying Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Sept. 26, the Roman Pontiff said creativity is needed for inspiring young people in parishes and schools to “have the same high ideals, generosity of spirit, and love for Christ and the Church”.

“Do we challenge them? Do we make space for them and help them to do their part? To find ways of sharing their enthusiasm and gifts with our communities, above all in works of mercy and concern for others? Do we share our own joy and enthusiasm in serving the Lord?”

The Pope stressed the importance of inspiring the faithful in their mission to spread the Gospel in this day in age.

“One of the great challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in all the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission, and to enable them to fulfill that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world,” he said.

“This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward the legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of our life.”

Saturday’s Mass is the first major event of Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia, which will culminate with his participation in the World Meeting of Families, already underway in the city. The Sept. 22-28 apostolic journey to the U.S. marks this Pope’s first on American soil.

Remarking on the history of the cathedral, Pope Francis said the history of the Church in Philadelphia is not about building walls, but metaphorically “breaking them down” in bringing the faith to others.

“It is a story about generation after generation of committed Catholics going out to the peripheries, and building communities of worship, education, charity and service to the larger society.”

This Catholic legacy is evidenced by the various shrines and parishes throughout the city, and two hundred years of ministry on the part of priests, religious, and lay persons in caring for the poor, immigrants, sick, and the imprisoned, the Roman Pontiff said.

He continued that it is also demonstrated in the hundreds of schools, run by religious men and women, as they “trained children to read and write, to love God and neighbor, and to contribute as good citizens to the life of American society.”

“All of this is a great legacy which you have received, and which you have been called to enrich and pass on,” the Pope said.

Pope Francis spoke about 19th century Philadelphia-native St. Katherine Drexel, foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

He recounted a meeting she had with Leo XIII about the needs of the missions, during which the then-Pope asked her: “What about you? What are you going to do?”

“Those words changed Katharine’s life, because they reminded her that, in the end, every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission,” the Pope said.

“Each one of us has to respond, as best we can, to the Lord’s call to build up his Body, the Church.”

Pope Francis went on to reflect on the significance of these words of Leo XIII – “What about you?” – for priests, religious, and consecrated persons in the mission of spreading the Gospel and building up the Church.

Just as these words changed the young Katherine Drexel’s life, so too should those responsible for young people help foster them with a desire to do their part in serving God.

“They made her think of the immense work that had to be done, and to realize that she was being called to do her part. How many young people in our parishes and schools have the same high ideals, generosity of spirit, and love for Christ and the Church!” the Pope said.

“Do we challenge them? Do we make space for them and help them to do their part? To find ways of sharing their enthusiasm and gifts with our communities, above all in works of mercy and concern for others.”

Katherine Drexel, moreover, was a lay woman when Leo XIII challenged her with the words “What about you?” – a fact Pope Francis said was significant in recognizing the role of the laity in the Church’s future: “We know that the future of the Church in a rapidly changing society will call, and even now calls, for a much more active engagement on the part of the laity.”

The Pope recognized the commitment of the Church in the United States to catechesis and education, and called the faithful to build upon this. He also stressed the significant role which women, both lay and religious, play in enlivening communities.

“Our challenge today is to build on those solid foundations and to foster a sense of collaboration and shared responsibility in planning for the future of our parishes and institutions,” he said.

“This does not mean relinquishing the spiritual authority with which we have been entrusted; rather, it means discerning and employing wisely the manifold gifts which the Spirit pours out upon the Church.”

Pope Francis went on to thank the priests and religious present for also responding to the question: “What about you?”

“I encourage you to be renewed in the joy of that first encounter with Jesus and to draw from that joy renewed fidelity and strength,” he said.

In light of the World Meeting of Families, the Pope reminded the priests and religious present of their role in ministering to families, couples preparing for marriage, and young people.

“I know how much is being done in your local Churches to respond to the needs of families and to support them in their journey of faith,” he said.

He called on them to pray for these families, as well as for October’s Synod on the Family in the Vatican.

The Pope concluded by invoking Mary’s intercession for the Church in the US to be a “prophetic witness to the power of her Son’s Cross to bring joy, hope and strength into our world.”

At the conclusion of Mass, Pope Francis received a greeting from Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, who thanked him for showing support for families, marriage, immigrants, youth, and the poor. He said the entire city has awaited this visit: “Not just Catholics, but Christians from every tradition; a vibrant and generous Jewish community; our mayor and governor and business leaders who’ve given us wonderful support; and people of good will from every walk of life.”

He also recalled how Philadelphia has produced two great saints in the United States: St. Katharine Drexel and St. John Neumann.

“Thank you for celebrating the Eucharist with us today. Thank you for showing your support for families, for marriage, for immigrants, the young and the poor. Most of all, thank you for living the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a spirit of joy that has reached into every heart in this cathedral.”

Over the course of his Sept. 19-28 apostolic journey, Pope Francis visited Cuba before moving on to the United States.

Highlights of the journey have included the canonization of St. Junipero Serra and the Pope’s address to the US Congress in Washington, D.C., his speech to the United Nations’ headquarters in New York, and an interreligious gathering held at Ground Zero.

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VATICAN NEWS

Full text of Pope Francis’ religious liberty address to Hispanics

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis delivers his address at Independence Hall, Sept. 26, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis met with the Hispanic community and other immigrants at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution debated and adopted, this afternoon. Please find below the full text of his prepared remarks for the address:

Dear Friends,

One of the highlights of my visit is to stand here, before Independence Mall, the birthplace of the United States of America. It was here that the freedoms which define this country were first proclaimed. The Declaration of Independence stated that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that governments exist to protect and defend those rights. Those ringing words continue to inspire us today, even as they have inspired peoples throughout the world to fight for the freedom to live in accordance with their dignity.

But history also shows that these or any truths must constantly be reaffirmed, re-appropriated and defended. The history of this nation is also the tale of a constant effort, lasting to our own day, to embody those lofty principles in social and political life. We remember the great struggles which led to the abolition of slavery, the extension of voting rights, the growth of the labor movement, and the gradual effort to eliminate every kind of racism and prejudice directed at successive waves of new Americans. This shows that, when a country is determined to remain true to its founding principles, based on respect for human dignity, it is strengthened and renewed.

All of us benefit from remembering our past. A people which remembers does not repeat past errors; instead, it looks with confidence to the challenges of the present and the future. Remembrance saves a people’s soul from whatever or whoever would attempt to dominate it or use it for their interests. When individuals and communities are guaranteed the effective exercise of their rights, they are not only free to realize their potential, they also contribute to the welfare and enrichment of society.

In this place which is symbolic of the American way, I would like to reflect with you on the right to religious freedom. It is a fundamental right which shapes the way we interact socially and personally with our neighbors whose religious views differ from our own.

Religious freedom certainly means the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences dictate. But religious liberty, by its nature, transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families.

Our various religious traditions serve society primarily by the message they proclaim. They call individuals and communities to worship God, the source of all life, liberty and happiness. They remind us of the transcendent dimension of human existence and our irreducible freedom in the face of every claim to absolute power. We need but look at history, especially the history of the last century, to see the atrocities perpetrated by systems which claimed to build one or another “earthly paradise” by dominating peoples, subjecting them to apparently indisputable principles and denying them any kind of rights. Our rich religious traditions seek to offer meaning and direction, “they have an enduring power to open new horizons, to stimulate thought, to expand the mind and heart” (Evangelii Gaudium, 256). They call to conversion, reconciliation, concern for the future of society, self-sacrifice in the service of the common good, and compassion for those in need. At the heart of their spiritual mission is the proclamation of the truth and dignity of the human person and human rights.

Our religious traditions remind us that, as human beings, we are called to acknowledge an Other, who reveals our relational identity in the face of every effort to impose “a uniformity to which the egotism of the powerful, the conformism of the weak, or the ideology of the utopian would seek to impose on us” (M. de Certeau).

In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and brutality, it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.

We live in a world subject to the “globalization of the technocratic paradigm” (Laudato Si, 106), which consciously aims at a one-dimensional uniformity and seeks to eliminate all differences and traditions in a superficial quest for unity. The religions thus have the right and the duty to make clear that it is possible to build a society where “a healthy pluralism which respects differences and values them as such” (Evangelii Gaudium, 255) is a “precious ally in the commitment to defending human dignity … and a path to peace in our troubled world” (ibid., 257).

The Quakers who founded Philadelphia were inspired by a profound evangelical sense of the dignity of each individual and the ideal of a community united by brotherly love. This conviction led them to found a colony which would be a haven of religious freedom and tolerance. That sense of fraternal concern for the dignity of all, especially the weak and the vulnerable, became an essential part of the American spirit. During his visit to the United States in 1987, Saint John Paul II paid moving homage to this, reminding all Americans that: “The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones” (Farewell Address, 19 September 1987, 3).

I take this opportunity to thank all those, of whatever religion, who have sought to serve the God of peace by building cities of brotherly love, by caring for our neighbors in need, by defending the dignity of God’s gift of life in all its stages, by defending the cause of the poor and the immigrant. All too often, those most in need of our help are unable to be heard. You are their voice, and many of you have faithfully made their cry heard. In this witness, which frequently encounters powerful resistance, you remind American democracy of the ideals for which it was founded, and that society is weakened whenever and wherever injustice prevails.

Among us today are members of America’s large Hispanic population, as well as representatives of recent immigrants to the United States. I greet all of you with particular affection! Many of you have emigrated to this country at great personal cost, but in the hope of building a new life. Do not be discouraged by whatever challenges and hardships you face. I ask you not to forget that, like those who came here before you, you bring many gifts to your new nation. You should never be ashamed of your traditions. Do not forget the lessons you learned from your elders, which are something you can bring to enrich the life of this American land. I repeat, do not be ashamed of what is part of you, your life blood. You are also called to be responsible citizens, and to contribute fruitfully to the life of the communities in which you live. I think in particular of the vibrant faith which so many of you possess, the deep sense of family life and all those other values which you have inherited. By contributing your gifts, you will not only find your place here, you will help to renew society from within.

Dear friends, I thank you for your warm welcome and for joining me here today. May this country and each of you be renewed in gratitude for the many blessings and freedoms that you enjoy. And may you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for it has been given to you by God himself. May he bless you all. I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me.

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VATICAN NEWS

The most important part of the Pope’s trip is still to come

by Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis greets a mother and daughter during a special meeting with sick children in New York City, Sept. 25, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — While the Pope’s speeches to Congress and the United Nations have drawn much attention, the upcoming weekend is the main focus of the Holy Father’s trip to the U.S., said the director of the Holy See press office.

Pope Francis’ Sept. 26 arrival in Philadelphia marks the last stretch of his nine-day trip, which also included Cuba, Washington, D.C., and New York City. But while Philadelphia is the final part of the trip chronologically, “it was the first in intention,” said Fr. Lombardi at a press conference.

“The decision of the Pope to come to America – to the U.S.A. and Cuba – began with the decision to take part in the World Meeting of Families,” he said, emphasizing that while much interest and excitement has surrounded the Pope’s speeches in D.C. and New York, the primary purpose of the papal trip has yet to take place.

“This last stage is very important for him,” Fr. Lombardi stressed.

An international gathering held every three years to encourage and strengthen families across the globe, this year’s World Meeting of Families has as its theme, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

The event includes several days of presentations, testimonies, prayer, music, and fellowship. The Holy Father will conclude the event with Mass Sept. 27.

Fr. Lombardi noted that Pope Francis himself has repeatedly drawn attention to the World Meeting of Families as the reason for his trip.

“In every stage of this trip, the Pope has always recalled the theme of the family. For him it was important that the direction of this trip was toward the World Meeting of Families.”

As an example, Fr. Lombardi pointed to the final papal meeting in Cuba, which took place with a group of families at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. The Pope spoke about family life and the importance of families.

He again highlighted the purpose for his trip shortly after arriving in the United States, when he said at the White House that he intended to “travel to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to celebrate and support the institutions of marriage and the family at this, a critical moment in the history of our civilization.”

With these words, the Pope “was short but was very clear” about his intentions, Fr. Lombardi said.

The Vatican press officer also noted the references to family in Pope Francis’ address to the U.S. bishops and his remarks to Congress, as well as the comments on the human nature of men and women at the United Nations.

After days of building up to the World Meeting of Families, the Holy Father will now deliver comments and celebrate Mass for an expected 1 million people in Philadelphia, Fr. Lombardi said, referring to the upcoming weekend as the “fundamental moment” in the nine-day papal trip.

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VATICAN NEWS

For Pope Francis, it’s imperative: Religious liberty is a gift from God. Defend it.

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia outside Independence Hall, Sept. 26, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — In a Philadelphia moment laden with symbolism, Pope Francis on Saturday encouraged all Americans and all religions to unite against efforts that would limit religious freedom.

“May this country and each of you be renewed in gratitude for the many blessings and freedoms that you enjoy. And may you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for it has been given to you by God himself,” the Pope said Sept. 26.

“In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and brutality, it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others,” he said.

The Pope reflected at length on religious freedom at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. The venue includes the National Constitution Center and the Liberty Bell Center. The Pope recognized the symbolism of speaking of religious freedom there.

“It was here that the freedoms which define this country were first proclaimed,” he said, citing the Declaration of Independence.

“Those ringing words continue to inspire us today, even as they have inspired peoples throughout the world to fight for the freedom to live in accordance with their dignity.”

He was greeted by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who reflected that the United States is “an experiment in freedom ordered by law and ordered to basic truths about the human person. The greatest goods in the American character come from our belief in a merciful God – a God who guarantees the dignity and rights of all his children.”

Archbishop Chaput spoke about Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, who was himself an immigrant. The archbishop said Hamilton’s life shows that the United States is “a nation that no single ethnic group or privileged economic class ‘owns.’ It’s a country where a person who comes from nowhere can still make a difference … He reminds us that immigrants from around the world renew this country in every generation.”

Archbishop Chaput noted that “When the Church defends marriage and the family, the unborn child and the purpose of human sexuality, she’s attacked as too harsh. When she defends immigrant workers and families that are broken up by deportation, she’s attacked as too soft,” but that in fact “she is neither of those things,” but is rather a mother, “who understands and loves the whole human person; from conception to natural death; always, consistently and everywhere.”

“When it comes to immigration, the Church reminds us that in the end, all of us are children of the same loving God,” the archbishop stated. “That makes us brothers and sisters, despite the borders that separate us. And in arguing over borders to keep people out, we need to be vigilant against erecting those same borders in our hearts.”

Following Archbishop Chaput’s introduction, Pope Francis discussed the nature of religion and religious freedom.

“Religious freedom certainly means the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences dictate. But religious liberty, by its nature, transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families,” Pope Francis said.

Religious traditions, he said, “call individuals and communities to worship God, the source of all life, liberty and happiness” and “remind us of the transcendent dimension of human existence and our irreducible freedom in the face of every claim to absolute power.”

The religious freedom meeting’s audience included representatives of the Hispanic community and other immigrants. An estimated 50,000 people are believed to have to attend.

He said religious freedom is “a fundamental right which shapes the way we interact socially and personally with our neighbors whose religious views differ from our own.” He recalled the atrocities committed in the 20th century by regimes which dominated peoples and denied them “any kind of rights.”

Pope Francis also stressed the richness of religious traditions that offer meaning and direction and have “an enduring power to open new horizons, to stimulate thought, to expand the mind and heart.”

“They call to conversion, reconciliation, concern for the future of society, self-sacrifice in the service of the common good, and compassion for those in need. At the heart of their spiritual mission is the proclamation of the truth and dignity of the human person and human rights,” the Pope said.

Catholics in the United States have witnessed new threats to religious freedom in recent decades.

Catholic adoption agencies in some states have been forced to close down because laws or other government policies would require them to place children with same-sex couples. Catholic standards for school employees are also facing challenges.

The federal government has also required many religious employers to provide health insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. Those who refuse to do so face heavy fines.

Opponents of this mandate include the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns who care for the indigent poor. Their health care provider is also a Catholic organization. They have filed a legal challenge against the mandate, saying that helping to provide such drugs and procedures would violate their Catholic beliefs.

Pope Francis visited a Washington, D.C. house of the Little Sisters of the Poor on Sept. 23 to show support for their cause. The visit resulted in an iconic photo of the Pope shaking the hand of a 102-year-old nun.

In other parts of the world, especially the Middle East, Christians and other religious minorities have faced violence and even threats to their continued existence because of their religious beliefs.

Pope Francis stressed that religious freedom is a benefit to society as a whole.

“When individuals and communities are guaranteed the effective exercise of their rights, they are not only free to realize their potential, they also contribute to the welfare and enrichment of society,” he said.

The Pope warned against a cultural uniformity imposed by “the egotism of the powerful,” the “conformism of the weak,” or utopian ideology, quoting Fr. Michel de Certeau, a 20th century Jesuit from France.

“In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and brutality, it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.”

Citing his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, the Pope warned against the “globalization of the technocratic paradigm” which “aims at a one-dimensional uniformity and seeks to eliminate all differences and traditions in a superficial quest for unity.”

In the face of such pressures, Pope Francis said that religions have the right and the duty to support a healthy pluralism that respects differences and is a “precious ally in the commitment to defending human dignity.”

He cited the history of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, whose Quaker founders sought to create “a colony which would be a haven of religious freedom and tolerance.”

He thanked people of all religions who have “sought to serve the God of Peace” in building cities of brotherly love, caring for neighbors in need, defending the poor and the immigrant, and defending “the dignity of God’s gift of life in all its stages.”

“All too often, those most in need of our help are unable to be heard. You are their voice, and many of you have faithfully made their cry heard,” the Pope said. In this witness, which frequently encounters powerful resistance, you remind American democracy of the ideals for which it was founded, and that society is weakened whenever and wherever injustice prevails.”

Speaking of the cuff, Pope Francis then reflected on globalization, clarifying that it “is not bad – on the contrary, the tendency to globalize is good. What can be bad is the way of doing it.”

When globalization attempts to impose uniformity and “would destroy the richness, the particularity of every person and people,” it is bad. But when it “seeks to unite everyone, while respecting each person in his richness, particularities, this globalization is good, and makes all of us grow, and leads to peace.”

Returning to his prepared text, he greeted “with particular affection” American Hispanics in his audience and recent immigrants to the United States.

“Many of you have emigrated to this country at great personal cost, but in the hope of building a new life,” he said. “Do not be discouraged by whatever challenges and hardships you face.”

He encouraged them to never be ashamed of their traditions.

“Do not forget the lessons you learned from your elders, which are something you can bring to enrich the life of this American land.”

He encouraged them to continue to cultivate the virtues of “vibrant faith” and their deep sense of family life.

“By contributing your gifts, you will not only find your place here, you will help to renew society from within.”

The Pope also stressed the importance of memory for Americans.

“A people which remembers does not repeat past errors; instead, it looks with confidence to the challenges of the present and the future. Remembrance saves a people’s soul from whatever or whoever would attempt to dominate it or use it for their interests.”

He said United States history is a “constant effort” to embody the Declaration of Independence’s principles.

“We remember the great struggles which led to the abolition of slavery, the extension of voting rights, the growth of the labor movement, and the gradual effort to eliminate every kind of racism and prejudice directed at successive waves of new Americans,” he said.

“This shows that, when a country is determined to remain true to its founding principles, based on respect for human dignity, it is strengthened and renewed.”

?”Never forget what happened here two centuries ago,” he implored Americans. “Don’t lose the memory of that Declaration, which declared all men and women are created equal, endowed by their creator with rights which governments exist to protect and to defend.”

“Let us preserve liberty, let us take care of it: freedom of conscience, religious freedom, the freedom of every person, family, and nation, which causes other rights.”

Pope Francis concluded by leading the crowd in praying the Our Father.

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Full text of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks at the Festival of Families

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis addresses the Festival of Families in Philadelphia on Sept 26, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis put aside his prepared remarks for the World Meeting of Families’ “Festival of Families” Sept. 26, at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Here is the full text of the prepared remarks he did not give:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Dear Families,

First of all, I want to thank the families who were willing to share their life stories with us. Thank you for your witness! It is always a gift to listen to families share their life experiences; it touches our hearts. We feel that they speak to us about things that are very personal and unique, which in some way involve all of us. In listening to their experiences, we can feel ourselves drawn in, challenged as married couples and parents, as children, brothers and sisters, and grandparents.

As I was listening, I was thinking how important it is for us to share our home life and to help one another in this marvelous and challenging task of “being a family”.

Being with you makes me think of one of the most beautiful mysteries of our Christian faith. God did not want to come into the world other than through a family. God did not want to draw near to humanity other than through a home. God did not want any other name for himself than Emmanuel (cf. Mt 1:23). He is “God with us”. This was his desire from the beginning, his purpose, his constant effort: to say to us: “I am God with you, I am God for you”. He is the God who from the very beginning of creation said: “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). We can add: it is not good for woman to be alone, it is not good for children, the elderly or the young to be alone. It is not good. That is why a man leaves his father and mother, and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh (cf. Gen 2:24). The two are meant to be a home, a family.

From time immemorial, in the depths of our heart, we have heard those powerful words: it is not good for you to be alone. The family is the great blessing, the great gift of this “God with us”, who did not want to abandon us to the solitude of a life without others, without challenges, without a home.

God does not dream by himself, he tries to do everything “with us”. His dream constantly comes true in the dreams of many couples who work to make their life that of a family.

That is why the family is the living symbol of the loving plan of which the Father once dreamed. To want to form a family is to resolve to be a part of God’s dream, to choose to dream with him, to want to build with him, to join him in this saga of building a world where no one will feel alone, unwanted or homeless.

As Christians, we appreciate the beauty of the family and of family life as the place where we come to learn the meaning and value of human relationships. We learn that “to love someone is not just a strong feeling – it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise” (Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving). We learn to stake everything on another person, and we learn that it is worth it.

Jesus was not a confirmed bachelor, far from it! He took the Church as his bride, and made her a people of his own. He laid down his life for those he loved, so that his bride, the Church, could always know that he is God with us, his people, his family. We cannot understand Christ without his Church, just as we cannot understand the Church without her spouse, Christ Jesus, who gave his life out of love, and who makes us see that it is worth the price.

Laying down one’s life out of love is not easy. As with the Master, “staking everything” can sometimes involve the cross. Times when everything seems uphill. I think of all those parents, all those families who lack employment or workers’ rights, and how this is a true cross. How many sacrifices they make to earn their daily bread! It is understandable that, when these parents return home, they are so

weary that they cannot give their best to their children.

I think of all those families which lack housing or live in overcrowded conditions. Families which lack the basics to be able to build bonds of closeness, security and protection from troubles of any kind.

I think of all those families which lack access to basic health services. Families which, when faced with medical problems, especially those of their younger or older members, are dependent on a system which fails to meet their needs, is insensitive to their pain, and forces them to make great sacrifices to receive adequate treatment.

We cannot call any society healthy when it does not leave real room for family life. We cannot think that a society has a future when it fails to pass laws capable of protecting families and ensuring their basic needs, especially those of families just starting out. How many problems would be solved if our societies protected families and provided households, especially those of recently married couples, with the possibility of dignified work, housing and healthcare services to accompany them throughout life.

God’s dream does not change; it remains intact and it invites us to work for a society which supports families. A society where bread, “fruit of the earth and the work of human hands” continues to be put on the table of every home, to nourish the hope of its children.

Let us help one another to make it possible to “stake everything on love”. Let us help one another at times of difficulty and lighten each other’s burdens. Let us support one another. Let us be families which are a support for other families.

Perfect families do not exist. This must not discourage us. Quite the opposite. Love is something we learn; love is something we live; love grows as it is “forged” by the concrete situations which each particular family experiences. Love is born and constantly develops amid lights and shadows. Love can flourish in men and women who try not to make conflict the last word, but rather a new opportunity. An opportunity to seek help, an opportunity to question how we need to improve, an opportunity to discover the God who is with us and never abandons us. This is a great legacy that we can give to our children, a very good lesson: we make mistakes, yes; we have problems, yes. But we know that that is not really what counts. We know that mistakes, problems and conflicts are an opportunity to draw closer to others, to draw closer to God.

This evening we have come together to pray, to pray as a family, to make our homes the joyful face of the Church. To meet that God who did not want to come into our world in any other way than through a family. To meet “God with us”, the God who is always in our midst.

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Pope Francis off-the-cuff: Family is the most beautiful thing God made

by CNA/EWTN News • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis in Philadelphia on Sept. 26, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — A visibly moved Pope Francis ditched his prepared remarks in speaking to thousands of families gathered in Philadelphia Saturday night – giving an impromptu reflection on the beauty and dire importance of family life.

“The most beautiful thing that God did, the Bible says, was the family,” he said Sept. 26 at the celebration for families on the streets of Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The Pope voiced his thanks at “the presence of all of you – who are a real witness that it’s worth being a family!” A society “is strong, solid and edified on beauty goodness and truth,” he added.

Pope Francis spoke after intense and often heartrending testimonies of several families from around the globe, who are at the World Meeting of Families, hosted by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The city is the last of three that the Holy Father visited during his Sept. 22 to 27 trip to the United States.

In his first leg of his journey, the Pope addressed a joint session of Congress and met briefly with President Obama in Washington, DC. While in New York City, Pope Francis spoke to the United Nations and met with school children in Harlem.

The lively evening in Philadelphia, moderated by actor Mark Wahlberg, was filled with performances by Aretha Franklin and Andrea Bocelli, as well as the city’s ballet company and rock band The Fray.

Families from as far as Nigeria, Australia, Jordan, Argentina and Ukraine shared their respective stories with the Pope, touching on themes that involved war, disability, economic uncertainty, discrimination and the death of children.

Francis embraced and spoke to each one after their testimonies, opting to set aside his prepared remarks when it came time for his address.

“God’s love is so overflowing that it could not be egoistic, it had to be poured out of him,” the Pope said, explaining that this is what prompted the creation of the world. “Family is really family when it is able to open its arms and receive all that love.”

However, “that love God gave almost was lost,” he said. “In a little time, the first crime, the first instance of fratricide, the first instance of war … men and women, through the astuteness of the devil, have unfortunately learned to divide themselves.”

But God “did not abandon them,” the Pope stressed. “So great was his love that he began to walk with humanity, with his people until the right moment and he made the highest expression of love, his own son.”

“And how did he send his son?” he asked. “Through a family.”

The Pope then joked: “sometimes people tell me ‘Father, you speak like that because you are not married.’ Families have difficulties … families, we quarrel. And sometimes plates can fly. Children bring headaches, and I won’t even speak about mothers-in law …”

“In families there are always difficulties, but those difficulties are overcome by love,” he said. “Hatred is not capable of dealing with any difficulty … Only love is able to overcome them.”

Before giving the final blessing, he told the crowds: “We will see each other for Mass tomorrow – wait, what time is Mass tomorrow?”

“Ah, four o’ clock,” he laughed in response to thunderous cheers.

He then led a prayer to the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, invoking them “to help us believe that it’s worth the struggle and the fight, for the good of the family.”

Tomorrow’s agenda for the Pope’s last day in the U.S. includes a speech to the bishops gathered in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, a visit to a correctional facility and Mass downtown.

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‘God cries’ for victims of abuse, Pope says after meeting survivors

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to bishops in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis this morning met with 5 survivors of sexual abuse during his visit to Philadelphia, telling bishops afterward that the evil acts can no longer remain in silence, and promised his personal vigilance in protecting minors.

“The stories of suffering and pain of minors who were sexually abused by priests have aggravated my heart,” Pope Francis told bishops participating in the World Meeting of Families Sept. 27.

He said he is continuously overwhelmed by the shame of “people who were responsible for the tender care of these little ones and violated them.”

In the face of such heinous acts, “God cries,” he said, adding that “the criminal sins of the abuse of minors can’t be kept in silence any longer.”

“I promise, with the vigilance of the Church, to protect minors and I promise (that) all of those responsible will be held accountable.”

Survivors of abuse, he said, have become “true heralds of hope and ministers of mercy.” He said we must be grateful for each one of them and their families for “their immense value in shining the light of Christ over the evil of the abuse of minors.”

“I say this now because I have just met with a group of people abused as children, who are helped and accompanied here in Philadelphia, with the special affection of Archbishop Chaput. I thought it was the right thing to do, to tell you all where I was this morning.”

Pope Francis met with the abuse survivors for close to a half-hour between 8-9a.m. before meeting with bishops gathered in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.

According to a Sept. 27 communique from the Vatican, among the 5 survivors who participated were three women and two men, all of whom had been abused in childhood either by members of the clergy, family members or educators.

Each of the survivors were accompanied either by a family member or person of support.

Also present in the meeting were Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, and Bishop Michael Fitzgerald, who is in charge of the Philadelphia diocese’s Office for the Protection of Minors.

During the encounter Pope Francis listened to the testimonies of the survivors and spoke a few words to them all together before greeting each one individually.

He prayed with them and expressed his participation in their suffering, as well as his pain and shame, particularly in the cases where the injury was caused by members of the clergy or Church employees.

The Pope then renewed his commitment and that of the Church to ensuring that all victims are heard and treated with justice, the guilty are punished, and that the crimes of abuse are combated with an effective prevention in the Church and in society.

Francis thanked the victims for their essential role in restoring the truth and in beginning the journey of healing. The meeting closed with Pope Francis giving his blessing.

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Help youth be brave in opting for marriage and family, Pope tells bishops

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis speaks at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia to bishops taking part in the World Meeting of Families, Sept. 27, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis told bishops Sunday that a widespread consumerism and desire to follow new fads has rendered youth fearful of commitments, and said that as pastors they must encourage youth to be brave in going against the tide.

He began his speech, however, with an impromptu reflection on the clergy sex abuse crisis, mentioning that he had met earlier with victims and their families. He said the victims “have become true heralds of hope and mercy. In humility, we owe each of them and their families an immense debt of gratitude … they made the light of christ shine on something so awful: the sexual abuse of minors.”

“I say this now because I just met with some victims of sexual abuse, and at that time I heard how they’re being helped in a special way here in this archdiocese, by Archbishop Chaput, and I thought it was the right thing to do, to tell you where I was this morning.”

The Pope then continued with his prepared remarks, noting his joy at being able to reflect together with fellow bishops: “I am happy to be able to share these moments of pastoral reflection with you, amid the joyful celebrations for the World Meeting of Families,” he said Sept. 27 at the chapel of Philadelphia’s St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

“To Congress a couple days ago, I said we are living in a culture that pushes young people not to form families: some because they don’t have the material resources to realize a wedding, or a life together. But others just choose this because they think they’re better off this way – but that’s the temptation, to not lay a foundation, to not have a family. As pastors, we bishops are called to collect our energies and to rebuild enthusiasm for making families correspond ever more fully to the blessing of God which they are!”

“We need to invest our energies not so much in rehearsing the problems of the world around us and the merits of Christianity, but in extending a sincere invitation to young people to be brave and to opt for marriage and the family.”

Francis’ comments on his last day in the U.S. were addressed to bishops participating in the World Meeting of Families.

After spending three days in Cuba, the Pope arrived to Washington D.C. Sept. 23, where he met with president Barack Obama and addressed a joint-meeting of U.S. Congress. He then moved onto New York, where he spoke to the United Nations and met with school children in Harlem.

He met with the bishops before celebrating Mass to close the World Meeting of Families, and will board a plane to Rome later this evening.

In his speech to the bishops, Pope Francis said that despite current challenges, the family shouldn’t be viewed primarily as a cause for concern, but rather “the joyous confirmation of God’s blessing upon the masterpiece of creation.”

A key pastoral concern amid the constant changes of our time is to recognize the gift of the family, and be aware that both gratitude and appreciation ought to prevail over worries or complaints.

The family, he said, “is the fundamental locus of the covenant between the Church and God’s creation. Without the family, not even the Church would exist. Nor could she be what she is called to be.”

However, the Pope noted that Christians are not immune to the changes of our time, and because of that “the unprecedented changes taking place in contemporary society, with their social, cultural – and now juridical – effects on family bonds” shouldn’t be disregarded.

While until recently the civil institution of marriage and the Christian sacrament were a shared notion seen as interrelated and mutually supportive, “this is no longer the case,” Francis observed.

Using the example of neighborhood stores and large supermarkets, the Pope said that formerly the situation was like the local stores, which had everything needed for both personal and family life, even if it wasn’t “cleverly displayed.”

“Business was done on the basis of trust, people knew one another, they were all neighbors. They trusted one another. They built up trust,” he said, noting that later the big supermarkets sprang up with large spaces and an endless selection of merchandise.

“The world seems to have become one of these great supermarkets; our culture has become more and more competitive. Business is no longer conducted on the basis of trust; others can no longer be trusted. There are no longer close personal relationships,” Francis said.

In a culture that seems to encourage people not to trust, the most important thing now appears to be following the latest trend, even in terms of religion, he continued.

Consumerism now determines what is important, he said. “Consuming relationships, consuming friendships, consuming religions, consuming, consuming … Whatever the cost or consequences. A consumption which does not favor bonding, a consumption which has little to do with human relationships,” adding that “joy is not something that can be ‘consumed’.”

Social bonds, the Pope observed, have become a mere means for satisfying one’s own needs, rather than focusing on the other person, their lives, and their stories.

“This causes great harm,” he said, and diagnosed “a kind of impoverishment born of a widespread and radical sense of loneliness” as the root cause of many contemporary problems.

“Running after the latest fad, accumulating ‘friends’ on one of the social networks, we get caught up in what contemporary society has to offer. Loneliness with fear of commitment in a limitless effort to feel recognized.”

However, Pope Francis said that youth shouldn’t be condemned or pegged with blame for living and growing up in this type of society.

“Should they hear their pastors saying that ‘it was all better back then,’ ‘the world is falling apart and if things go on this way, who knows where we will end up?’” he asked.

“No, I do not think that this is the way,” he said, explaining that as shepherds, it is their responsibility to “seek out, to accompany, to lift up, to bind up the wounds of our time.”

As bishops, they must look at things “realistically, with the eyes of one who feels called to action, to pastoral conversion. The world today demands this conversion on our part.”

Rather than viewing the current situation as a mere indifference or “pure and simple selfishness” regarding marriage and the family, many youth have “have yielded to a form of unconscious acquiescence” inside a culture of discouragement, the Pope observed.

Francis explained that youth “are paralyzed when they encounter the beautiful, noble and truly necessary challenges which faith sets before them,” and often put off marriage in order to wait for ideal conditions, “when everything can be perfect.”

“Meanwhile, life goes on, without really being lived to the full. For knowledge of life’s true pleasures only comes as the fruit of a long-term, generous investment of our intelligence, enthusiasm and passion.”

He added, off-the-cuff, that “In Buenos Aires many of the women were complaining, saying, ‘I have a son who’s 30, 34, and he won’t get married. I don’t know what to do!’ I would tell them, ‘Well, quit ironing his shirts!’”

“We need to give to the young people enthusiasm,” he told the bishops, “so they will take this worthwhile risk. Here too, we bishops need parrhesia!”

After giving a mock conversation between a bishop and a young person about “Why don’t you get married?” he said that bishops must “accompany them, and help them to mature, to make this decision to get married.”

Returning to his prepared remarks, the Pope said that “A Christianity which does little in practice, while incessantly explaining its teachings, is dangerously unbalanced. I would even say that it is stuck in a vicious circle.”

Rather, in a culture where concern for oneself is the overriding trend, it’s the pastor’s job to show that the “the Gospel of the family” is truly good news.

“We are not speaking about some romantic dream,” he said, adding that “the perseverance which is called for in having a family and raising it transforms the world and human history.”

Pastors must watch over the dreams, lives and growth of his flock, Francis said, explaining that this isn’t done by talking, but guiding. “Only one capable of standing in the midst of the flock can be watchful, not someone who is afraid of questions, contact, accompaniment.”

He stressed the importance of prayer in the life of a pastor, and questioned whether or not they are prepared to “waste time” with families, uplifting them in time of discouragement.

The Pope gave an extended and impromptu reflection on the office of bishops: “pray, and announce the Gospel – this always drew my attention about the beginning of the Church, because the widows and the orphans were not well taken care of, and the apostles couldn’t handle them. And so they came up with the office of deacons, to deal with them! And the Holy Spirit inspired them, ‘you have to build up deacons’, and when Peter announces this decision, he says, ‘now, we have chosen seven of you to be deacons, to take care of these problems, these situations.’”

From this institution of the diaconate, he said, the bishops are freed to pray. “From this we can expect two things: prayer, and preaching … What is the primary job of a bishop? To pray. To pray. The second task of a bishop, that goes with the first, is preaching. [Preaching] helps us. Dogmatic definitions help us – if not, you have to deal with Cardinal Mueller! But this helps us. It gives the definition of a bishop, and what his role is. He is a shepherd – he needs to shepherd, and proclaim, and take care of the sheep. To do that, he needs to pray and to preach. If there’s time, he can get to the rest of what he needs to do.”

Returning to his prepared remarks he said that “By our own humble Christian apprenticeship in the familial virtues of God’s people, we will become more and more like fathers and mothers, and less like people who have simply learned to live without a family.”

“Our ideal is not to live without love!” he said, explaining that a good pastor renounces the love of a family “in order to focus all his energies, and the grace of his particular vocation, on the evangelical blessing of the love of men and women who carry forward God’s plan of creation, beginning with those who are lost, abandoned, wounded, broken, downtrodden and deprived of their dignity.”

Jesus is the model for the mission of a pastor, who is called to imitate the Son’s love for the Father, he said, adding that “only God can authorize this, not our own presumption!”

Ministry must first of all deepen the bond between the Church and the family, the Pope said, otherwise “it becomes arid, and the human family will grow irremediably distant, by our own fault, from God’s joyful good news.”

Pope Francis closed by praying for a renewed closeness between the family and the Church.

The family, he said, “is our ally, our window to the world, and the evidence of an irrevocable blessing of God destined for all the children who in every age are born into this difficult yet beautiful creation which God has asked us to serve!”

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Confinement is not exclusion! Pope Francis visits with Philly inmates

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis embraces a man at Curran-Fromhold Correction Facility in Philadelphia Sept. 27, 2015. (EWTN)

Philadelphia, PA — During his visit to a Philadelphia correctional facility this morning, Pope Francis said every person is marked and bruised by life, but Jesus washes away our sins and invites us to live a full life.

“Life is a journey, along different roads, different paths, which leave our mark on us,” the Pope said. “All of us need to be cleansed, to be washed. All of us are being sought out by the Teacher, who wants to help us resume our journey.”

“The Lord goes in search of us; to all of us he stretches out a helping hand.”

Pope Francis met with some 100 inmates and their families at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, in one of the last public events of his pastoral visit to the United States. The inmates were Christian and Muslim, and racially diverse. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, their charges ranged from murder and rape to robbery and drug offenses.

The Pope centered his reflections on the Gospel scene in which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. At the time, the gesture was a sign of welcome because guests’ feet were frequently dusty, cut and bruised by the dust and stones on the roads.

“That is why we see Jesus washing feet, our feet, the feet of his disciples, then and now,” Pope Francis reflected. We know in faith that Jesus seeks us out. He wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet, which hurt from travelling alone, to wash each of us clean from our journey.”

The Pope then stressed that Jesus heals us in order to give us the opportunity to live a full life again.

“The Lord tells us this clearly with a sign: he washes our feet so we can come back to the table. The table from which he wishes no one to be excluded,” the Pope said. “Unless I wash your feet, I will not be able to give you the life which the Father always dreamed of, the life for which he created you.”

“Jesus comes to meet us so that he can restore our dignity as children of God. He wants to help us set out again, to resume our journey, to recover our hope, to restore our faith and trust.”

“He wants us to keep walking along the paths of life, to realize that we have a mission, and that confinement is not the same thing as exclusion.”

Pope Francis challenged inmate, prison workers and society as a whole to see each other with these eyes of Christ, “which are not scandalized by the dust picked up along the way, but want to cleanse, heal and restore.”

He said an inmate’s time in prison should be a time of rehabilitation, and all are called to encourage and assist in this rehabilitation.

“This time in your life can only have one purpose: to give you a hand in getting back on the right road, to give you a hand to help you rejoin society,” he said. “All of us are part of that effort, all of us are invited to encourage, help and enable your rehabilitation.

“(Jesus) asks us to create new opportunities: for inmates, for their families, for correctional authorities, and for society as a whole.”

The Pope lamented prison systems “which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities.”

“Any society, any family which cannot share or take seriously the pain of its children, and views that pain as something normal or to be expected, is a society “condemned” to remain a hostage to itself, prey to the very things which cause that pain,” he warned.

Pope Francis then reflected that he came to the prison as a pastor and a brother in solidarity with inmates and their families.

“I have come so that we can pray together and offer our God everything that causes us pain, but also everything that gives us hope, so that we can receive from him the power of the resurrection.”

“Let us look to Jesus, who washes our feet. He is “the way, and the true, and the life”. He comes to save us from the lie that says no one can change. May the power of his love and his resurrection always be a path leading you to new life.”

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God’s love is for everyone and it’s dangerous to think otherwise, Pope says

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis celebrates the opening Mass of the 2014 Extraoridinary Synod on the Family in St. Peter’s Basilica, Oct. 5, 2014. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — At the final Mass closing out the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, Pope Francis warned against narrowing God’s love and works to only a certain group of people.

“To raise doubts about the working of the Spirit, to give the impression that it cannot take place in those who are not ‘part of the group’, who are not ‘like us’, is a dangerous temptation,” the Holy Father said Sept. 27.

“Not only does it block conversion to the faith; it is a perversion of the faith!”

In the day’s Mass readings, Pope Francis pointed out, both Moses and Jesus rebuked their followers for the same reason: trying to put limits on God’s works. Joshua told Moses that people were prophesying without a mandate and John reported that the disciples had put a stop to people casting out demon’s in Christ’s name.

“Would that we could all be prophets!” he said, “Would that all of us could be open to miracles of love for the sake of all the families of the world, and thus overcome the scandal of a narrow, petty love, closed in on itself, impatient of others.”

“But the temptation to be scandalized by the freedom of God, who sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, by passing bureaucracy, officialdom and inner circles, threatens the authenticity of faith.”

Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States culminated in his stop in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. While there, he made an unscheduled visit with five survivors of sexual abuse.

His visit also included a trip to New York where he addressed the United Nations and Washington, D.C. where he was the first pope to speak to a joint meeting of Congress.

He will travel back to the Vatican where next week Bishops will convene for the much anticipated Synod on the Family.

The Holy Father praised all the families who came to the meeting calling it “something prophetic, a kind of miracle in today’s world.”

Family life is so important because it is full of “little gestures” that make up a vibrant faith life.

Hugs after an absence, a warm meal shared at the end of the day, evening prayers and the like teach us love, which is why we call the family the “true domestic churches.”

Although these small acts of love that are learned in the family often get lost in daily life, they still make a difference in each day.

“Love is shown by little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home. Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love.

He said that as seen in today’s readings, “Jesus tells us not to hold back these little miracles.”

“Instead, he wants us to encourage them, to spread them. He asks us to go through life, our everyday life, encouraging all these little signs of love as signs of his own living and active presence in our world.”

In this vein we should ask ourselves, “How are we trying to live this way in our homes, in our societies? What kind of world do we want to leave to our children?”

“Sterile divisions” can no longer be tolerated because we now face an “urgent challenge of protecting our home.”

Therefore, he said, Christians are asking other families of the world for help in spreading love and generosity.

“Anyone who wants to bring into this world a family which teaches children to be excited by every gesture aimed at overcoming evil – a family which shows that the Spirit is alive and at work – will encounter our gratitude and our appreciation,” he said. “Whatever the family, people, region, or religion to which they belong!”

Speaking briefly off the cuff, he said: “I will leave you with a question. In your house do people yell, or do you speak with love or affection or kindness?”

“This is a good way to measure our love.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope makes impromptu stop at statue marking Jewish-Catholic unity

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St Peter’s Square on May 20, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — Pope Francis paid an unscheduled visit to St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia this afternoon to bless a statue celebrating improved Vatican relations with the Jewish community.

The bronze statue, titled “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time,” depicts two figures – signifying Christianity and Judaism – sitting beside each other and displaying their sacred texts in postures of dialogue.

“This statue is exactly a demonstration of two sisters of the same dignity, the church and the synagogue,” said Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardi.

The statue, which was crafted by a Philadelphia native, revolutionizes past artwork on relations between the Catholic Church and Jewish communities. In the past, the Catholic Church was often depicted as a triumphant figure celebrating its defeat of a blindfolded woman representing the Jewish community.

The Jesuit St. Joseph’s University installed th09e statue on Friday in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vatican II document that reformed relations between Christianity and Judaism. Nostra Aetate condemned anti-Semitism and promoted unity and dialogue between Catholics and Jewish communities. The statue is placed outside of a Catholic chapel.

Pope Francis made the unscheduled stop on his way to celebrate the closing Mass for the World Meeting of Families at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. He visited with St. Joseph’s students and administration as well as several religious leaders, including the Pope’s close friend Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who co-authored a book with Pope Francis about interreligious dialogue.

Relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community have been a major priority for St. Joseph’s University, which established the Institute for Jewish-Catholic relations in 1967 – just two years after Nostra Aetate’s publication.

Pope Francis has also had a major emphasis on Jewish-Catholic relations during his pontificate – and even before. During his pastoral visit to the Holy Land in 2014, Pope Francis detailed to the Chief Rabbis of Israel his respect and appreciation for dialogue.

“As you know, from the time I was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I have counted many Jews among my friends,” he said.

“Together we organized rewarding occasions of encounter and dialogue; with them I also experienced significant moments of sharing on a spiritual level.

In the 2014 meeting, Pope Francis referred to the many requests for meetings and improving relations between Jewish leaders and the Popes of the last decades as “one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council” and “a genuine gift of God.”

“Together, we an make a great contribution to the cause of peace; together, we can bear witness, in this rapidly changing world, to the perennial importance of the divine plan of creation; together, we can firmly oppose every form of anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination.”

Today is the final day of Pope Francis’ pastoral visit to the United States. He will return to Rome this evening after Mass at Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: I leave with a heart full of gratitude and hope

by CNA/EWTN News • September 27, 2015

Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families on Sept. 26, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — As he concluded his historic visit to the United States, Pope Francis thanked organizers and volunteers, saying that he concludes his trip with appreciation and hope.

“Your care for me and your generous welcome are a sign of your love for Jesus and your faithfulness to him,” Pope Francis said.

“So too is your care for the poor, the sick, the homeless and the immigrant, your defense of life at every stage, and your concern for family life. In all of this, you recognize that Jesus is in your midst and that your care for one another is care for Jesus himself.”

Preparing to leave, the Pope said that he does so “with a heart full of gratitude and hope.”

Sept. 27 marked the end of the Pope’s trip to the United States, which also included stops in Washington, D.C., and New York, culminating at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this weekend.

The Pope thanked Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, as well as the civil authorities, donors, volunteers and organizers that made the gathering possible.

He also thanked the families who shared their testimonies.

“It is not so easy to speak openly of one’s life journey! But their honesty and humility before the Lord and each of us showed the beauty of family life in all its richness and diversity.”

“I pray that our days of prayer and reflection on the importance of the family for a healthy society will inspire families to continue to strive for holiness and to see the Church as their constant companion, whatever the challenges they may face.”

Reflecting on the rest of his U.S. trip, the Holy Father said that it was “particularly moving for me to canonize Saint Junípero Serra, who reminds us all of our call to be missionary disciples.”

He added that he was touched “to stand with my brothers and sisters of other religions at Ground Zero, that place which speaks so powerfully of the mystery of evil. Yet we know with certainty that evil never has the last word, and that, in God’s merciful plan, love and peace triumph over all.”

Furthermore, he promised his prayers for the U.S. people, saying, “This land has been blessed with tremendous gifts and opportunities. I pray that you may all be good and generous stewards of the human and material resources entrusted to you.”

“I thank the Lord that I was able to witness the faith of God’s people in this country, as manifested in our moments of prayer together and evidenced in so many works of charity.”

Concluding, he asked those present: “do not let your enthusiasm for Jesus, his Church, our families, and the broader family of society run dry.”

“May our days together bear fruit that will last, generosity and care for others that will endure!” he said. “Just as we have received so much from God – gifts freely given us, and not of our own making – so let us freely give to others in return.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope: Communion for divorced, remarried isn’t the only synod issue

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • September 28, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to journalists on his flight from Philadelphia to Rome on Sept. 27, 2015. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis told journalists on board his flight to Rome that giving communion to divorced and remarried Catholics is a “simplistic” solution to the issue, and stressed that there are also other problems that need to be discussed.

“(It) seems a bit simplistic to me to say that the synod, that the solution for these people is that they can receive communion. That’s not the only solution (asked for).”

What the “Instrumentum laboris” proposes “is a lot,” he said. “Also, the problem of the new unions of divorcees isn’t the only problem.”

“In the instrumentum laboris, there are many (problems to be addressed). For example, young people don’t get married. They don’t want to get married. It’s a pastoral problem for the Church. Another problem: the effective maturity for a marriage. Another problem: faith.”

Pope Francis spoke to journalists on board his American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Rome after spending 10 days in Cuba and the United States.

In the 47 minute inflight news conference, Francis answered 11 questions on themes such as his impressions of the United States after completing his first visit, bishop’s accountability in cases of clerical sex abuse and the right of government employees to exercise conscientious objection as a human right.

The Pope’s comments on divorced and remarried were the answer to a question posed by journalist Jean Marie Guenois of French news agency Le Figaro.

Guenois asked the Pope whether he is looking for a solution to the situation of divorced and remarried Catholics, as well as his response to fears that his recent ‘motu proprio’ on streamlining marriage annulments have created a de-facto “Catholic divorce,” and whether they have closed discussion on the topic.

In his response, Francis stressed that with his motu proprio, he has closed the administrative path that could have led to divorce.

“Those who think this is ‘Catholic divorce’ are wrong because this last document has closed the door to divorce by which it could have entered. It would have been easier with the administrative path,” he said.

“This document, this ‘motu proprio,’ facilitates the processes and the timing, but it is not divorce because marriage is indissoluble when it is a sacrament. And this the Church cannot change. It’s doctrine. It’s an indissoluble sacrament.”

On Sept. 8 Pope Francis made significant changes to the marriage nullification process, giving more of a role to local bishops, dropping the automatic appeals, and declaring the process free of charge.

The changes were published in two motu proprio – or letters issued by the Pope “on his own initiative.” The documents were entitled “Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus” (The Lord Jesus, a meek judge), which deals with modifications in the Latin Rite’s Code of Canon Law, and “Mitis et misericors Iesus” (Jesus, meek and merciful), which outlines changes for Eastern Churches who, although in full communion with Rome, have historically had a different process.

Francis noted that the streamlined process was asked for by last year’s synod participants, since there are some cases that take up to 10-15 years.

“There’s one sentence, then another sentence and after there’s an appeal, there’s the appeal then another appeal. It never ends,” he said.

Although Pope Benedict XIV instituted the double-sentence in his time, it was because there were “some abuses” being made in the process in central Europe, the Pope noted, and that to stop it “he introduced this but it’s not something essential to the process.”

“The procedure changes, jurisprudence changes, it gets better,” he said, noting that although at the time it was an urgent need, times change and even Pius X wanted to streamline the annulment process but didn’t “have time or the possibility to do it.”

On the topic of the coming synod, Pope Francis said that the issues surrounding divorced persons who enter into new marriages will be discussed, as can be seen in the “instrumentum laboris,” or working document, for the discussion.

However, he also stressed that there are many others issues to be addressed besides just new unions and communion for the divorced and remarried, such as the growing number of youth who don’t want to marry, personal maturity when entering into the sacrament and faith.

Marriage preparation is also an important point to address, he said, adding that “I think so often that to become a priest there’s a preparation for eight years, and then, it’s not definite, the Church can take the clerical state away from you.”

“But, for something lifelong, they do four courses! Four times … Something isn’t right. It’s something the synod has to deal with: how to do preparation for marriage. It’s one of the most difficult things.”

He said that the many problems needing attention can be found in the synod’s “Instrumentum laboris,” but said he was glad to get a question on “Catholic divorce,” and clarified that “it doesn’t exist.”

“Either it wasn’t a marriage, and this is nullity – it didn’t exist. And if it did, it’s indissoluble. This is clear.”

Published June 23, the “Instrumentum Laboris,” has been compiled by the Vatican department in charge of organizing the synod to guide this October’s discussions.

Divided into three parts, it builds on the final report of last October’s synod, also incorporating suggestions from Church entities like bishops’ conferences and even individuals who freely sent their opinions.

The final instrumentum was reviewed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before its publication, according to a source familiar with the document.

Set to take place Oct. 4-25, this year’s ordinary synod will reflect on the theme “Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the family” will gather more than 200 Bishops and representatives from all over the world. The conclusions of the gathering will be used by Pope Francis to draft his first Post-Synodal Exhortation, which can be expected in 2016.

In the document it is noted that various opinions have been expressed by synod fathers on the topic of communion for the divorced and remarried, including suggestions to keep the current practice.

Others have asked that each individual case be examined, and that couples in special circumstances be allowed to receive the Eucharist after completing a journey of penance and reconciliation guided by the local bishop.

The document emphasizes that the question is still being discussed, and that particular emphasis should be given to the distinction between “objective situations of sin and extenuating circumstances.”

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VATICAN NEWS

I can forgive an abuser, but understand those who can’t, Pope says

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • September 28, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to journalists on his way back from Strasbourg, Nov. 25, 2014. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Vatican City — In his wide-ranging press briefing en route from the United States to Rome, Pope Francis spoke on the difficult subject of forgiving priests who have molested minors, saying that the strength to forgive, and to be forgiven, can only come from God.

Francis also told journalists that while he is willing to forgive clergy who have abused children and young people, he understands why there are some who find this difficult.

“We must forgive, because we were all forgiven,” the Pope said. However, “it is another thing to receive that forgiveness.”

Pope Francis told journalists on board the papal plane he is not judgmental of victims or the families of molested children who struggle to forgive the abuser.

He illustrated this point by recalling a meeting he once had with a victim of molestation, who told him that her mother had “lost her faith and died an atheist” on account of the abuse.

“I understand that woman,” the Pope said, “and God who is even better than me understands her.”

Pope Francis said he believes this mother “has been received by God,” taking into account that it was her own flesh and blood, her daughter, who was molested.

“I don’t judge someone who can’t forgive,” he said, but instead prays for them. “God is a champion in finding paths of solutions. I ask him to fix it.”

“What remains is to pray for the Lord to open that door. To forgive, you must be willing.”

Pope Francis also stressed that he forgives priests who have abused children, but they in turn must be open to receiving forgiveness.

A priest who has sexually abused a minor, and is not remorseful, “is closed to forgiveness,” the pontiff said. “He won’t receive it, because he locked the door from the inside.”

“If a person has done wrong, is conscious of what he has done, and does not say sorry, I ask God to take him into account.”

“I forgive him, but he does not receive that forgiveness. He is closed to forgiveness.” Not everyone is able or willing to receive forgiveness, he acknowledged.

“What I’m saying is hard. And that is how you explain how there is people who finish their life hardened, badly, without receiving the tenderness of God.”

Pope Francis made these remarks on the papal plane returning from his Sept. 19-28 visit to Cuba and the U.S. While in the United States, he spoke several times on the topic of sex abuse by clergy.

The apostolic journey concluded with his visit to Philadelphia, a city which was struck hard by the clerical sex abuse crisis. While there, the Pope met with five survivors who had been molested as children, either by clergy, family members or educators.

One journalist asked Pope Francis about his remarks to the U.S. bishops in Washington, D.C. about the clerical sex abuse crisis – specifically, his reasons for offering them comfort in the wake of the scandal.

“I felt the need to express compassion because something really terrible happened,” he said in reference to the Sept. 23 speech, explaining that many of the bishops who suffered “did not know of this.”

The Pope said he made reference to the book of Revelation when he told the bishops: “You are coming from a large tribulation. What happened was a great tribulation.”

Although sexual abuse of minors exists in many areas, Pope Francis said it is particularly serious when it occurs at the hands of a priest, whose vocation is to lead children toward God.

“We know the abuses are everywhere in families in the neighborhoods, in the schools, in the gyms,” he said.

“But, when a priest abuses it is very serious because the vocation of the priest is to make that boy, that girl grow toward the love of God, toward maturity and toward good,” he said.

The abuse of minors is “nearly a sacrilege,” he said, and by committing these acts the priest has “betrayed his vocation, the calling of the Lord.”

The Pope stressed that this is why the Church is adamant that these crimes of abuse must not be covered up.

During the sex abuse crisis in the U.S., it came to light that a number of US bishops sought to prevent these criminal acts by priests from being exposed.

“Those who covered this up are guilty,” the pontiff said, in reference to these bishops.

During his Sept. 22-28 visit to the U.S., Pope Francis also spoke with clergy and religious in New York on the country’s sex abuse crisis, in which he acknowledged their suffering in the wake of the scandal.

In his homily at the Sept. 24 vespers in St. Patrick’s Cathedral the Pope acknowledged they had come out of the period of “great tribulation,” and reminded them that their vocation is to be lived out with joy.

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VATICAN NEWS

Full transcript of Pope Francis’ inflight interview from Philadelphia to Rome

by CNA/EWTN News • September 28, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard his flight from Philadelphia to Rome on Sept. 27, 2015. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Vatican City — In a 47 minute Q&A with journalists on his way back to Rome Pope Francis touched on sensitive topics such as forgiving abusers and conscientious objection, as well as the upcoming synod of bishops and women’s ordination.

The Pope answered 11 questions posed in English, Spanish and Italian Sept. 27 while on board his American Airlines overnight flight from Philadelphia to Rome.

Among the themes addressed were the new, streamlined annulment process, women’s ordination to the priesthood, the migrant crisis and whether or not government officials have a right to conscientious objection.

He reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s position on women’s ordination to the priesthood, saying that St. John Paul II led the lengthy reflections and discussion on the topic and it “cannot be done,” though it’s not because women “don’t have the capacity.”

Please read below for the full English transcription:

(Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi S.J. greeted everyone onboard before going immediately into the questions and answers. He introduced each of the journalists before their questions).

Pope Francis: Good evening to all and thank you for the work because you went about from one place to the other and I was in a car but you … thank you very much.

Elizabeth Dias, Time Magazine: Thank you so much Holy Father, Elizabeth Diaz from TIME magazine. We are all so curious … this was your first visit to the U.S. What surprised you about the U.S. and what was different to what you might have expected?

Pope Francis: It was my first visit. I’d never been here before. What surprised me was the warmth, the warmth of the people, so lovable. It was a beautiful thing and also different: Washington the welcome was warm but more formal; New York was a bit exuberant. Philadelphia very expressive. Three different kinds of welcome. I was very struck by this kindness and welcome but also by the religious ceremonies and also by the piety, the religiosity of the people … you could see the people pray and this struck me a lot. Beautiful.

Elizabeth Diaz, Time Magazine: Was there challenge that the United States presented that you didn’t expect? (The translator added “some provocation?”)

Pope Francis: No thank God no … everything good. No challenge. No provocation. All polite. No insults and nothing bad.

Elizabeth Diaz, Time Magazine: And the challenge?

Pope Francis: We must continue to work with these faithful people like we have always done so until now. Accompanying the people in their growth through good times and also through their difficulties, accompanying people in their joy and in their bad moments, in their difficulties when there is no work, ill health and the challenge of the Church … now I understand … the Church’s challenge is staying close to the people, close to the people of the United States … not being a detached Church from the people but close to them, close, close, and this is something that the Church in the United States has understood and understood well.

David O’Reilly, Philadelphia Inquirer: Holy Father. Philadelphia as you know has had a very difficult time with sex abuse. It’s still an open wound in Philadelphia. So I know many people in Philadelphia were surprised that you offered bishops comfort and consolation and I think many in Philadelphia would ask you why did you feel the need to offer compassion to the bishops?

Pope Francis: In Washington I spoke to all the U.S. bishops … they were all there no? I felt the need to express compassion because something really terrible happened. And many of them suffered because they didn’t know about this. And when the thing was discovered, they suffered so much, men of the Church, of prayer … true pastors. I used word from the bible from the apocalypse. You are coming from a large tribulation. What happened was a great tribulation. But not only the actual suffering, but what I said today to the victims of abuse. I wouldn’t say it was an apostasy but almost a sacrilege. We know the abuses are everywhere; in families, in the neighborhoods, in the schools, in the gyms, but when a priest abuses it is very serious because the vocation of the priest is to make that boy, that girl grow toward the love of God, toward maturity and toward good, but instead of that they squashed them and this is nearly a sacrilege. He betrayed his vocation, the calling of the Lord. For this reason the church is strong on this and one must not cover these things up. There are also those who covered these things up, even some bishops who covered this up. It is a terrible thing and the words of comfort were not to say “No, no don’t worry it was nothing,” but “It’s a terrible thing I imagine that you cried a lot” That was the sense of what I meant and today I spoke strongly.

Maria Antonieta Collins, Univision: You have spoken a lot about forgiveness, that God forgives us and that we often ask for forgiveness. I would like to ask you, after you were at the seminary today. There are many priests that have committed sexual abuses to minors and have not asked for forgiveness for their victims. Do you forgive them? And on the other hand, do you understand the victims or their relatives who can’t or don’t want to forgive?

Pope Francis: If a person has done wrong, is conscious of what he has done and does not say sorry, I ask God to take him into account. I forgive him, but he does not receive that forgiveness, he is closed to forgiveness. We must forgive, because we were all forgiven. It is another thing to receive that forgiveness. If that priest is closed to forgiveness, he won’t receive it, because he locked the door from the inside. And what remains is to pray for the Lord to open that door. To forgive you must be willing. But not everyone can receive or know how to receive it, or are just not willing to receive it. What I’m saying is hard. And this is how you explain how there are people who finish their life hardened, badly, without receiving the tenderness of God.

Maria Antonieta Collins, Univision: On victims or relatives who don’t forgive – do you understand them?

Pope Francis: Yes, I do. I pray for them. And I don’t judge them. Once, in one of these meetings, I met several people and I met a woman told me “When my mother found out that I had been abused, she became blasphemous, she lost her faith and she died an atheist.” I understand that woman. I understand her, and God who is even better than me understands her. And I’m sure that that woman has been received by God. Because what was groped, destroyed, was her own flesh, the flesh of her daughter. I understand her. I don’t judge someone who can’t forgive. I pray and I ask God, because God is a champion in finding paths of solutions. I ask him to fix it.

Andres Beltramo, Notimex: Thanks, first of all for this moment. We’ve all heard you speak so much about the peace process in Colombia between the FARC and the government. Now, there’s a historic agreement. Do you feel involved in this agreement and you’ve said that you wished to go to Colombia when this agreement was made, right? Now there are a lot of Colombians awaiting you. And a little one, how do you feel when the trip is over and the airplane takes off?

Pope Francis: When I heard the news that in March the accord will be signed I said to the Lord, ‘Lord, help us reach March.’ The willingness is there on both sides. It is there, even in the small group, everyone is in agreement. We have to reach March, for the definitive accord, which is the point of international justice. I was very happy and I felt like I was a part of it because I’ve always wanted this. I spoke to president Santos twice about this problem and not only me but the Holy See. The Holy See was always willing to help and do what it could.

The other questions, this is a bit a personal but I have to be sincere. When the plane leaves after a visit, I see the faces of so many people. I get the urge to pray for them and say to the Lord, ‘I came here to do something, to do good, perhaps I have done wrong, forgive me but protect all those people who saw me, who thought of what I said, who heard me, even those who have criticized me, all of them,’ that is what I feel. Excuse me, it’s a bit personal … you can’t say that in the newspapers.

Thomas Jansen, CIC: Holy Father, I wanted to ask something about the migrant crisis in Europe. Many countries are building new barriers out of barbed wire. What do you think of this development?

Pope Francis: You used a word, crisis. It’s become a state of crisis after a long process. For years, this process has exploded because the wars which those people leave and flee are wars waged for years. Hunger. It’s hunger for years. When I think of Africa, this is a bit simplistic, but I saw it as an example. It comes to me to think about Africa, “the exploited continent.” They went to pick up the slaves there, then the great resources. It’s the exploited continent. And, now the wars, tribal or not. But they have economic interests behind them. And, I think that instead of exploiting a continent or a nation, make investments instead so these people might have work and this crisis would be avoided. It’s true, as I said at Congress, it’s a refugee crisis not seen since World War II. It’s the biggest. You asked me about barriers. You know what happens to all walls. All of them. All walls fall. Today, tomorrow or in 100 years, they will fall. It’s not a solution. The wall isn’t a solution. In this moment, Europe is in difficult, it’s true. We have to be intelligent, and whoever comes … that migrant flow. It’s not easy to find solutions, but with dialogue between nations they should be found. Walls are never solutions. But bridges are, always, always. I don’t know. What I think is that walls can last for a long time or a little time. The problem remains but it also remains with more hate. That’s what I think.

Jean Marie Guenois, Le Figaro: Holy Father, you obviously cannot anticipate the debate of the synod fathers, we know that well but we want to know just before the synod, if your heart as a pastor, if you really want a solution of the divorced and remarried. We want to also know if your ‘motu proprio’ on the speeding of annulments has closed this debate. Finally, how do you respond to those who fear that with this reform, there is a de-facto creation of a so-called ‘Catholic divorce?’ Thank you.

Pope Francis: I’ll start with the last one. In the reform of the procedure and the method, I closed the door to the administrative path, which was the path through which divorce could have entered. You could say that those who think this is ‘Catholic divorce’ are wrong because this last document has closed the door to divorce by which it could have entered. It would have been easier with the administrative path. There will always be the judicial path. (Continuing with the third question) The document … I don’t remember the third but you correct me.

Jean Marie Guenois, Le Figaro: The question was on the notion of catholic divorce, if the motu proprio has closed the debate before the synod on this theme?

Pope Francis: This was called for by the majority of the synod fathers in the synod last year: streamline the process because there are cases that last 10-15 years, no? There’s one sentence, then another sentence, and after there’s an appeal, there’s the appeal then another appeal. It never ends. The double sentence, when it was valid that there was an appeal, was introduced by Pope Lambertini, Benedict XIV, because in central Europe, I won’t say which country, there were some abuses, and to stop it he introduced this but it’s not something essential to the process. The procedure changes, jurisprudence changes, it gets better. At that time it was urgent to do this, then Pius X wanted to streamline and made some changes but he didn’t have time or the possibility to do it. The synod fathers asked for it, the speeding up of the annulment processes. And I stop there. This document, this ‘motu proprio’ facilitates the processes and the timing, but it is not divorce because marriage is indissoluble when it is a sacrament. And this the Church cannot change. It’s doctrine. It’s an indissoluble sacrament. The legal trial is to prove that what seemed to be a sacrament wasn’t a sacrament, for lack of freedom for example, or for lack of maturity, or for mental illness, or, there are so many reasons that bring about (an annulment), after a study, an investigation. That there was no sacrament. For example, that the person wasn’t free. Another example: now it’s not so common but in some sectors of common society at least in Buenos Aires, there were weddings when the woman got pregnant: ‘you have to get married.’ In Buenos Aires, I counselled my priests, strongly, I almost prohibited them to celebrate weddings in these conditions. We called them “speedy weddings,” eh? (They were) to cover up appearances. And the babies are born, and some (marriages) work out, but there’s no freedom and then things go wrong little by little and they separate (and say) ‘I was forced to get married because we had to cover up this situation’ and this is a reason for nullity. So many of them.

Cases of nullity, you have, you can find (the reasons) on the Internet, there are many, eh? Then, the issue of the second weddings, the divorcees, who make a new union. You read what, you have the “instrumentum laboris.” What is put in discussion seems a bit simplistic to me to say that the synod, that the solution for these people is that they can receive communion. That’s not the only solution (being asked). What the “Instrumentum laboris” proposes is a lot and also the problem of the new unions of divorcees isn’t the only problem. In the instrumentum laboris, there are many (problems to be addressed). For example, young people don’t get married. They don’t want to get married. It’s a pastoral problem for the Church. Another problem: the affective maturity for a marriage. Another problem: faith. ‘Do I believe that this is for ever? Yes, yes, yes, I believe.’ ‘But do you believe it?’ the preparation for a wedding: I think so often that to become a priest there’s a preparation for eight years, and then, its not definite, the Church can take the clerical state away from you. But, for something lifelong, they do four courses! Four times … Something isn’t right. It’s something the synod has to deal with: how to do preparation for marriage. It’s one of the most difficult things. There are many problems, they’re all are listed in the “Instrumentum laboris.” But, I like that you asked the question about ‘Catholic divorce.’ That doesn’t exist. Either it wasn’t a marriage, and this is nullity – it didn’t exist. And if it did, it’s indissoluble. This is clear. Thank you.

Terry Moran, ABC News: Holy Father, thank you, thank you very much and thank you to the Vatican staff as well. Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples? Do you support those kinds of claims of religious liberty?

Pope Francis: I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscientious objection. But, yes, I can say conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.’ It (conscientious objection) is a human right. It always moved me when I read, and I read it many times, when I read the Chancon Roland, when the people were all in line and before them was the baptismal font – the baptismal font or the sword. And, they had to choose. They weren’t permitted conscientious objection. It is a right and if we want to make peace we have to respect all rights.

(Editor’s note: He’s referring to the provencal poem Song of Roland in which Crusaders forced Muslims to choose between being baptized or being killed by the sword. The Pope says they were not allowed to choose conscientious objection)

Terry Moran, ABC News: Would that include government officials as well?

Pope Francis: It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right.

Stefano Maria Paci, Sky News: Holiness, you used very strong words at the U.N. to denounce the world’s silence on the persecution of Christians, who are deprived of their homes, thrown out, deprived of their possessions, enslaved and brutally killed. Yesterday, President Hollande announced the beginning of a bombing campaign by France on ISIS bases in Syria. What do you think of this military action? Also, the mayor of Rome, city of the Jubilee, declared that he came to the World Meeting of Families because you invited him. Can you tell us how it went?

Pope Francis: I will start with your second question. I did not invite Mayor Marino. Is that clear? I didn’t do it and I asked the organizers and they didn’t invite him either. He came. He professes to be a Catholic and he came spontaneously. That’s the first thing. But it is clear, heh? And now about bombardments. Truly, I heard the news the day before yesterday, and I haven’t read about it. I don’t know much about the situation. I heard that Russia took one position and it wasn’t clear yet about the United States. I truly don’t know what to say because I haven’t fully understood the situation. But, when I hear the word bombing, death, blood … I repeat what I said in Congress and at the U.N., to avoid these things. But, I don’t know, I can’t judge the political situation because I don’t know enough about it.

Miriam Schmidt, German DPA Agency: Holy Father, I wanted to ask a question about the relationship of the Holy See with China and the situation in this country which is also quite difficult for the Catholic Church. What do you think about this?

Pope Francis: China is a great nation that offers the world a great culture, so many good things. I said once on the plane when were flying over China when we were coming back from Korea that I would very much like so much to go to China. I love the Chinese people and I hope there is the possibility of having good relations. We’re in contact, we talk, we are moving forward but for me, to have as a friend a great country like China, which has so much culture and has so much opportunity to do good, would be a joy.

Maria Sagrarios Ruiz de Apodaca, RNE: Thanks. Good evening, Holy Father. You have visited the U.S. for the first time, you had never been there before. You spoke to Congress, you spoke to the United Nations. You drew multitudes. Do you feel more powerful? And another question, we heard you draw attention to the role of religious women, of the women in the Church in the United States. Will we one day see women priests in the Catholic Church as some groups in the U.S. ask, and some other Christian churches have?

Pope Francis: He’s telling me not to answer in Spanish (referring to Fr. Federico Lombardi). The sisters in the United States have done marvels in the field of education, in the field of health. The people of the United States love the sisters. I don’t know how much they may love the priests, (laughs) but they love the sisters, they love them so much. They are great, they are great, great, great women. Then, one follows her congregation, their rules, there are differences. But are they great. And for that reason I felt the obligation to say thank you for what they have done. An important person of the government of the United States told me in the last few days: “The education I have, I owe above all to the sisters.” The sisters have schools in all neighborhoods, rich and poor. They work with the poor and in the hospitals. This was the first. The second? The first I remember, the second?

Maria Sagrarios Ruiz de Apodaca, RNE: If you feel powerful after having been in the United States with your schedule and having been successful?

Pope Francis: I don’t know if I had success or not. But I am afraid of myself. Why am I afraid of myself? I always feel – I don’t know – weak in the sense of not having power and also power is a fleeting thing, here today, gone tomorrow. It’s important if you can do good with power. And Jesus defined power, true power is to serve, to do service, to do the most humble services, and I must still make progress on this path of service because I feel that I don’t do everything I should do. That’s the sense I have of power.

Third, on women priests, that cannot be done. Pope St. John Paul II after long, long intense discussions, long reflection said so clearly. Not because women don’t have the capacity. Look, in the Church women are more important than men, because the Church is a woman. (Using masculine and feminine articles in Italian) It is “la” Church, not “il” Church. The Church is the bride of Jesus Christ. And the Madonna is more important than popes and bishops and priests. I must admit we are a bit late in an elaboration of the theology of women. We have to move ahead with that theology. Yes, that’s true.

Mathilde Imberty, Radio France: Holy Father, you have become a star in the United States. Is it good for the Church if the Pope is a star?

Pope Francis: The Pope must … Do you know what the title was of the Pope, which ought to be used? Servant of the servants of God. It’s a little different from the stars. Stars are beautiful to look at. I like to look at them in the summer when the sky is clear. But the Pope must be, must be the servant of the servants of God. Yes, in the media this is happening but there’s another truth. How many stars have we seen that go out and fall? It is a fleeting thing. On the other hand, being servant of the servants of God is something that doesn’t pass.

(Fr Federico Lombardi thanks the Pope. Pope Francis thanks the journalists and it’s over. The Pope says, “I’ll pray for you, truly,” and heads back to his seat).

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis explains what World Youth Day has to do with Divine Mercy

by CNA/EWTN News • September 28, 2015

Pope Francis is presented with an image of the Divine Mercy by the John Paul II Foundation on April 25, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — With World Youth Day coming up next year, Pope Francis has a question for young people: “Do you realize how precious you are to God, who has given you everything out of love?”

“You, dear young man, dear young woman, have you ever felt the gaze of everlasting love upon you, a gaze that looks beyond your sins, limitations and failings, and continues to have faith in you and to look upon your life with hope?” the Pope asked Sept. 28.

His Message for the 31st World Youth Day in Krakow 2016 invited young people to reflect on mercy and to visit the Divine Mercy Shrine in Krakow. The next global Catholic youth gathering takes place July 25-31.

“Dear young people, at the Shrine in Krakow dedicated to the merciful Jesus, where he is depicted in the image venerated by the people of God, Jesus is waiting for you. He has confidence in you and is counting on you! He has so many things to say to each of you,” the Pope continued.

“Do not be afraid to look into his eyes, full of infinite love for you. Open yourselves to his merciful gaze, so ready to forgive all your sins. A look from him can change your lives and heal the wounds of your souls. His eyes can quench the thirst that dwells deep in your young hearts, a thirst for love, for peace, for joy and for true happiness. Come to him and do not be afraid!”

Pope Francis credited to Divine Providence the decision to celebrate World Youth Day in Krakow, the city of Sts. John Paul II and Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina, a 20th century nun, had visions of Christ, upon which is based the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

“John Paul II realized that this is the time of mercy,” Pope Francis said. He noted that his predecessor had instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy and personally inaugurated Krakow’s Divine Mercy Shrine in 2002.

Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to come to Jesus and say “Jesus, I trust in you!”

“Let yourselves be touched by his boundless mercy, so that in turn you may become apostles of mercy by your actions, words and prayers in our world, wounded by selfishness, hatred and so much despair,” he said.

“We are being guided on this long and challenging path by Jesus’ words taken from the Sermon on the Mount,” the Pope continued. “During the year ahead, let us allow ourselves to be inspired by the words: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy’.”

Pope Francis reflected on the message of Divine Mercy and the struggle to forgive.

“One of the most obvious works of mercy, and perhaps the most difficult to put into practice, is to forgive those who have offended us, who have done us wrong or whom we consider to be enemies,” he said.

“I meet so many young people who say that they are tired of this world being so divided, with clashes between supporters of different factions and so many wars, in some of which religion is being used as justification for violence,” the Pope said. “We must ask the Lord to give us the grace to be merciful to those who do us wrong.”

“Mercy is the only way to overcome evil. Justice is necessary, very much so, but by itself it is not enough”

Pope Francis also reflected on the example of the 20th century Italian layman Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who said, “Jesus pays me a visit every morning in Holy Communion, and I return the visit in the meager way I know how, visiting the poor.”

The Pope said Frassati was a young man who “understood what it means to have a merciful heart that responds to those most in need.”

“He gave them far more than material goods. He gave himself by giving his time, his words and his capacity to listen,” the Pope said. He noted that Frassati, who was beatified in 1990, also followed the gospel command that his almsgiving be secret.

“At his funeral, his family and friends were stunned by the presence of so many poor people unknown to them. They had been befriended and helped by the young Pier Giorgio.”

Pope Francis linked the Beatitudes with the works of mercy Christ commanded in Matthew 25: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, assist the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead.

“Nor should we overlook the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, teach the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the sorrowful, forgive offences, patiently bear with troublesome people and pray to God for the living and the dead,” he added.

“God’s mercy is very real and we are all called to experience it firsthand,” he said, recounting his deep feeling of mercy when he decided to stop into a church for confession at the age of 17.

“I felt certain that, in the person of that priest, God was already waiting for me even before I took the step of entering that church. We keep looking for God, but God is there before us, always looking for us, and he finds us first.”

He said that the Church must “offer abundant signs of God’s presence and closeness, and reawaken in people’s hearts the ability to look to the essentials.”

He explained that mercy is not “mere sentimentality” nor does it just imply being “a good person.”

“It is the measure of our authenticity as disciples of Jesus, and of our credibility as Christians in today’s world,” the Pope said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis met Argentine family who travelled 11,000 miles to Philadelphia

by CNA/EWTN News • September 29, 2015

The Walker family from Argentina embraces Pope Francis in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — The Holy See press officer explained on Sunday that that morning Pope Francis had met with the Walkers, a family from Argentina who travelled in a VW camper van to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.

Father Federico Lombardi explained that the Walkers left from Buenos Aires, and covered 11,000 miles and passed through 13 countries during their 194-day trip.

The encounter took place after the Pope met with sexual abuse victims, and before his meeting with the bishops attending the World Meeting of Families.

Pope Francis wanted to meet the family because their story profoundly touched him, and he found it an interesting moment.

The parents of the Walker family are Catire and Noelle, and the children are Carlos, Mia, Dimas, and Carmen. They posted on their Facebook page Sept. 27 that “at six in the morning we received a call that the pope wanted to meet us, and that we should immediately go to Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia.”

When they were finally face to face with the Pope, he said, “Are you the family who travelled from Buenos Aires? You’re crazy,” and he laughed. He then gave everyone a hug and they briefly talked in a family type atmosphere, “as if they were friends forever.”

The family told the Roman Pontiff that “they really wanted to greet him” and Pope replied that “when I found out that you were here I said I wanted to meet you, I was following (your travels). It’s great we got to meet each other!”

Then the Pope approached one of the members of the papal staff and told him in Italian, “This is really important: a young family who had the courage to take off in a camper van and live life with joy comes out to meet other families.”

The Walkers commented to the Holy Father that “there are thousands of families that love him a lot and pray for him.” He replied, “I need it, this is really hard; (in my position) it’s possible to do a lot of good and a lot of bad, pray for me.”

They also told him that one of their daughters brought a rosary and asked the Pope to bless it. They added that despite the short time allotted for this meeting, the pontiff kept on talking with them.

As they said goodbye to each other, Pope Francis thanked them for this moment, to which the Walkers responded, “thanks for inspiring us to come out and shake things up a bit.”

Then the Holy Father turned around and while the family was walking away he said jokingly, “They’ve lost their minds!”

According to the Facebook post, this meeting “was the best gift of our lives and for the end of our trip.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Mercy, dialogue to be the focus of World Communications Day

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • September 29, 2015

Pope Francis before the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica during the convocation of the Jubilee of Mercy, April 11, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Announced Tuesday, this year’s theme for World Communications Day is inspired by the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy, and stresses that social communications should be centered on mercy, dialogue and welcome.

The Pontifical Council of Social Communication announced the choice of “Communication and Mercy: a fruitful encounter” in a Sept. 29 communique from the Vatican.

“Clearly determined” by the Holy Year for Mercy, the theme “highlights the capacity of good communication to open up a space for dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation, thereby allowing fruitful human encounters to flourish,” the communique read.

“At a time when our attention is often drawn to the polarized and judgmental nature of much commentary on the social networks, the theme invokes the power of words and gestures to overcome misunderstandings, to heal memories and to build peace and harmony.”

The jubilee was announced by Pope Francis during a March 13 penitential service, the second anniversary of his papal election. It will open Dec. 8 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – and will close Nov. 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King.

World Communications Day takes place each year on the Sunday before Pentecost, and is the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second Vatican Council in the 1963 document “Inter Mirifica.”

This year the day falls on May 8, 2016. The Pope traditionally releases a message for the day on Jan. 24, observing the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers, journalists and the Catholic press.

In paragraph 12 of the Bull of Indiction of the Holy Year, Pope Francis affirms that “the Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person.”

Her language and gestures, he added, “must transmit mercy, so as to touch the hearts of all people and inspire them once more to find the road that leads to the Father.”

In this context, it is helpful to remember to be aware that communication is a key element in promoting a culture of encounter, according to the communique.

It was clarified that although in quoting the Jubilee’s Bull of Indiction, the Pope referred specifically to the language and gestures of the Church, the context of the message makes it clear the message is for all.

“All men and women in their own communications, in their reaching out to meet others, ought to be motivated by a deep expression of welcome, availability and forgiveness.”

The theme serves as a reminder from Pope Francis that in its essence, “communication is a profoundly human achievement,” the communique said in conclusion.

“Good communication is never merely the product of the latest or most developed technology, but is realized within the context of a deep interpersonal relationship.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope appeals for life of Georgia death row inmate, but parole board rejects

by CNA/EWTN News • September 29, 2015

Kelly Gissendaner at the Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto, GA at its 2011 graduation ceremony. (Ann Borden, Emory Photo Video)

Atlanta, GA — The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has declined to commute the death sentence of a local woman scheduled to be executed tonight, despite a plea from Pope Francis to do so.

In a Sept. 29 letter to members of the board, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., asked for clemency in the case of inmate Kelly Gissendaner.

“As the personal representative of His Holiness Pope Francis to the United States of America, I make an urgent appeal, on his behalf, for the commutation of the death sentence of Ms. Kelly Gissendaner, who is scheduled to be executed later today,” the letter read.

It quoted Pope Francis’ speech to a joint session of Congress last week, in which the Holy Father reiterated his call for an abolition of the death penalty, saying, “I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes.”

Gissendaner was convicted of convincing her boyfriend, Greg Owen, to murder her husband Douglas in 1997.

She has received a death sentence and is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Atlanta. Owen is currently serving a sentence of life without parole.

While acknowledging the gravity of the crime and expressing sympathy for victims, the letter from the Pope’s representative asked the board members to “commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy.”

Last week, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory sent a similar letter to the board. While acknowledging that the state has “the right and the duty to seek justice” for the crime committed, he nevertheless asked for mercy for Gissendaner “simply because she is a child of God, and our Christian faith teaches us that the life of every human person has worth and dignity.”

Citing the need to balance justice and charity, Archbishop Gregory asked for clemency, saying that a sentence of life without parole would be compatible with that goal.

Gissendaner has voiced remorse for her actions. She accepted full responsibility in a statement, saying that she had become bitter and self-centered, losing judgment.

“I will never understand how I let myself fall into such evil, but I have learned first-hand that no one, not even me, is beyond redemption through God’s grace and mercy,” she said in the statement, which was included in the February 2015 clemency application.

“I have learned to place my hope in the God I now know … I rely on the steadfast and never-ending love of God.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Sistine Chapel Choir releases sacred music album recorded in its chapel

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

The Sistine Chapel Choir. (YouTube)

Vatican City — As the first album ever to be recorded inside the Sistine Chapel is released, Archbishop Georg Ganswein said the sacred music featured is not something of the past, but continues to play a role in evangelization.

“Sacred music has a past. It comes from the past, but it has a great future,” Archbishop Ganswein, prefect of the Papal Household, told CNA Sept. 29, following a presentation of the Sistine Chapel Choir’s new album Cantate Domino.

Even though some sacred music is part of the past, it’s not stuck there, he said, adding that “This is a richness.”

“It’s like the roots which you don’t see, but are very important. Sacred music is a root of the liturgy, also today. It has a great future.”

The archbishop said this style of music can also have an impact on evangelizing today’s youth, no matter how old, because “music doesn’t have age limits.”

“Music is a means of communication, a great gift, and it would be a shame not to use it for the New Evangelization.”

Created in partnership with the classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, Cantate Domino is the first album to be recorded inside the Sistine Chapel itself.

Alongside Gregorian chant, the album includes music which was written for the Sistine Chapel Choir in particular. The album is dominated by compositions of Palestrina, but also includes the work of Orlando di Lasso, Gregorio Allegri, Felice Anerio, and Tomas Luis de Victoria.

It was released Sept. 25 by the Vatican Publishing House, and all proceeds will go to papal charities.

With special permission from the Vatican, Deutsche Grammophon created a specially-constructed studio inside the chapel in order to allow listeners to hear the music as the composers intended at the time: in Latin, and within the surroundings for which the music was written.

The mixing desk for recording was set up in an ante-chamber next to the Sala del Pianto, which is where the newly elected cardinal is first dressed as Bishop of Rome after his election.

Key figures in both the Vatican and the world of classic music were present during recording sessions, including Italian opera singer and recitalist Cecilia Bartoli, Italian choral conductor Roberto Gabbiani, and the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

Formed of 20 adults and 30 young boys, the Sistine Chapel Choir is the oldest choir in the world, and is directed by Massimo Palombella.

Also present at the Sept. 29 presentation of the album, Palombella said that it is his hope the album “will touch millions of listeners worldwide, and connect them to the historical culture and deep spirituality of the Catholic Church.”

Mark Wilkinson, president of Deutsche Grammophon, said the album “has the power, the beauty, and the excellence to find a truly global audience, and an audience beyond the traditional confines and boundaries of classical music.”

In comments to other journalists, Archbishop Ganswein said it is his hope that sacred music continues to be “a fertile, important and effective” tool in evangelization.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis reportedly met with Kim Davis, offered support

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Washington, D.C. — Embattled county clerk Kim Davis met with Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. last Thursday, her lawyer has told multiple media outlets.

When asked about the meeting, the head of the Holy See press office, Fr Federico Lombardi, said, “I don’t deny that the meeting may have taken place but I don’t have comments to add.”

Robert Moynihan, editor of the publication “Inside the Vatican,” first broke the story about the alleged meeting. According to his account, Pope Francis and Davis met at the Vatican Embassy in D.C. on Thursday afternoon after the Pope’s address to the U.S. Congress. He offered her words of support – “Thank you for your courage” – and told her to “stay strong,” offering rosaries to Davis and her husband.

Davis, a clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, made headlines this past summer for refusing out of conscience to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, after the U.S. Supreme Court in June legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states in its decision, Obergefell v. Hodges.

The district court judge ordered that Davis serve jail time for refusing to obey the law, stating that her conscientious objection was not enough for her to lawfully recuse herself from issuing licenses. Davis served five days in jail.

According to Moynihan, Vatican sources confirmed the details of the meeting. Davis’ attorney Mathew Staver confirmed to multiple outlets that the meeting occurred and told CBS News that the two promised to pray for each other, and that Pope Francis offered Davis and her husband rosaries.

“I can confirm the meeting took place Thursday afternoon in DC,” the Twitter account for Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and attorney for Davis, said on Tuesday night.

Liberty Counsel released a statement Tuesday evening linking to Moynihan’s report. The rosaries that Pope Francis reportedly presented to Davis and her husband were blessed by the Pope and would be given to Kim’s parents, both of whom are Catholic, the group said.

According to the Liberty Counsel statement, Davis responded that she was “humbled” to meet the Pope.

“Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable. He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to ‘stay strong,’” she said, according to the statement.

Last Wednesday, Sept. 23, Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop to visit with the Little Sisters of the Poor in Washington, D.C., at their Jeanne Jugan Residence to support the sisters as they await word on whether or not the Supreme Court will hear their case against the federal contraception mandate.

The sisters sued the Obama administration over its mandate that employers cover sterilizations, contraceptives, and drugs that can cause abortions in employee health plans. Although revised rules were offered in the manner of an “accommodation,” the sisters still charge that the updated rules would force them to violate their consciences, or endure crippling fines.

On the flight back to Rome from the U.S., Pope Francis was asked by ABC’s Terry Moran about his visit to the sisters, along with whether he supported the appeal to religious liberty made by those, including government clerks, who could not obey a law in good conscience. Moran gave the example of “issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.”

Pope Francis answered that “I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscientious objection. But, yes, I can say conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right.”

When asked if government officials possessed this right he answered, “It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis lauds Archbishop Chaput’s ‘great love for the family’

by CNA/EWTN News • September 30, 2015

Pope Francis arrives at St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience, Sept. 30, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis reviewed his recent trip to Cuba and the United States during his General Audience on Wednesday, calling the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia the “culmination” of his apostolic visit.

“I wish to convey my fraternal and warm thanks to Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia, for his commitment, his piety, his enthusiasm, and his great love for the family in the organization of this event,” the Pope said Sept. 30 in St. Peter’s Square.

“At closer inspection, it is no accident, but rather providential that the message, indeed, the witness of the World Meeting of Families came at this moment from the United States of America, that is, the country that during the last century reached the highest level of economic and technological development, without renouncing its religious roots. Now these same roots are asking to be replanted in the family, to rethink and change the model of development, for the good of the entire human family.”

He noted that his trip to Cuba and the United States was occassioned by the World Meeting of Families, and was expanded from there to include the United Nations and Cuba. He expressed his thanks to Cuban president Raul Castro, United States president Barack Obama, and United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon for their welcome.

The Pope began with his time in Cuba, which he called “rich in natural beauty, culture, and faith,” where he went as a “Missionary of Mercy.”

“God’s mercy is greater than any affliction, any conflict, any ideology; and with this gaze of mercy I was able to embrace the entire Cuban population, at home and abroad, looking beyond any division.”

He called Cuba’s patroness, Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the symbol of this unity, and said she “guides us on the path of justice, peace, freedom and reconciliation.”

“I was able to share with the Cuban people the hope of fulfilling the prophecy of St. John Paul II: that Cuba will open up to the world, and the world will open up to Cuba,” he said. “No more closure, no more exploitation of the poor, but instead freedom and dignity. It is the path that draws strength from the Christian roots of the people, who have suffered greatly.”

Pope Francis continued: “From Cuba to the United States of America: an emblematic step, a bridge that, thanks be to God, is being rebuilt. God always wants to build bridges; we are the ones who build walls! But walls fall down, always!”

He said the that United States’ greatest wealth is in its “spiritual and ethical patrimony.”

“And so I wanted to encourage to continuation of social construction faithful to the United States’ fundamental principle, that all men are created by God, equal and endowed with inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These values, shared by all, find their fulfilment in the Gospel, as was clearly shown by the canonisation of Fr. Junipero Serra, a Franciscan, the great evangeliser of California. St. Junipero shows us the way to joy: going forth and sharing Christ’s love with others. This is the way of Christians, but also of any person who has known love: not to keep it to oneself but to share it with others. The United States of America have grown on this religious and moral base, and on this base they can continue to be a land of freedom, welcome and cooperation for a more just and fraternal world.”

The Pope then discussed his visit to the United Nations, where “I renewed the Catholic Church’s commitment to the institution and to its role in promoting development and peace, especially with regard to the need for joint and active commitment to care for creation.” He also highlighted his appeal “to stop and prevent violence against ethnic and religious minorities and against civilian populations.”

“The culmination of the trip was the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, where the horizon extends to all the world through the ‘prism’ of the family. The family is the answer to the great challenge of our world, which is a dual challenge: fragmentation and solidification, two extremes which co-exist, support each other, and together support the consumerist economic model.”

The said the family is “the answer” because “it is the cell of a society which balances the personal and community dimensions, and is at the same time the model for a sustainable management of the goods and resources of creation. The family is the protagonist of an integral ecology, as it is the primary social subject which contains within itself the two basic principals of human civilisation on earth: the principles of communion and fruitfulness.”

“Biblical humanism presents us with this icon: the human couple, united and fruitful, placed by God in the garden of the world to cultivate it and protect it.”

Following his address, Pope Francis asked the pilgrims to pray for the upcoming Synod on the Family, “and to be witnesses of God’s presence in the world through your family life.”

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VATICAN NEWS

To welcome a migrant is to welcome God himself, Pope says

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 1, 2015

Young refugees play games as they wait for Pope Francis to visit in Istanbul, Turkey on Nov. 30, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.)

Vatican City — In his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees Pope Francis recognized the challenges involved with welcoming migrants, but stressed that despite the difficulties they should always be accepted as brothers and sisters.

“At the heart of the Gospel of mercy the encounter and acceptance by others are intertwined with the encounter and acceptance of God himself,” the Pope said in his message for the 2016 World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

“Welcoming others means welcoming God in person!” he said, and addressed migrants and refugees directly, telling them not to let themselves “be robbed of the hope and joy of life born of your experience of God’s mercy, as manifested in the people you meet on your journey!”

Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees was presented to journalists during an Oct. 1 new conference in Rome.

The day will be celebrated in the Church Jan. 17, 2016, within the context of the Holy Year for Mercy. The title of the Pope’s message is “Migrants and Refugees Challenge Us. The Response of the Gospel of Mercy.”

In his message, the Pope highlighted the various challenges both migrants and refugees face in leaving their homes, as well as difficulties encountered by the countries who receive them.

He noted how migration today is growing at a global level, and that the exodus of people fleeing their homes challenges both individuals and communities, and can at times upset the traditional ways of life and the cultural and social horizons of the societies who welcome them.

On the other hand, the Pope also noted that migrants are increasingly “the victims of violence and poverty (who) are exploited by human traffickers during their journey towards the dream of a better future.”

Even if they survive the journey, migrants and refugees are often faced with “latent suspicions and fear,” as well as a lack of clear and practical policies that provide sort or long term programs aimed at societal integration with respect for everyone’s rights, he observed.

Francis said migrants and refugees are above all brothers and sisters in search of a better life, far away from hunger, violence, poverty and an unjust distribution of the earth’s resources, and ought to be viewed as such.

Migration has become a structural reality, he said, explaining that our primary concern to the crisis ought to be providing programs that address the root causes of migration, and the changes it entails.

“The tragic stories of millions of men and women daily confront the international community as a result of the outbreak of unacceptable humanitarian crises in different parts of the world,” he said.

“Indifference and silence lead to complicity whenever we stand by as people are dying of suffocation, starvation, violence and shipwreck,” he said, adding that whether they happen on a large or small scale, “these are always tragedies, even when a single human life is lost.”

The Pope said that identity is not a secondary question in the matter, and noted how both those forced to migrate as well as the receiving countries are often forced to change some of their most distinct attributes, whether they like it or not.

He questioned how these changes can be viewed not as obstacles to development, but rather “as opportunities for genuine human, social and spiritual growth, a growth which respects and promotes those values which make us ever more humane.”

“How can we ensure that integration will become mutual enrichment, open up positive perspectives to communities, and prevent the danger of discrimination, racism, extreme nationalism or xenophobia?”

As an answer, Francis pointed to the biblical emphasis on welcoming the stranger, and said that in doing so “we open our doors to God … in the faces of others we see the face of Christ himself.”

While various organizations, institutions and movements have already made great efforts to welcome incoming migrants and refugees, debates continue on the conditions and limits to be set for receiving them, both in the international community, and in parishes communities, he observed.

In response to these issues we are faced with the question on how the Church can imitate the example and words of Jesus, Pope Francis said, explaining that the answer is “the Gospel is mercy.”

Mercy, he said, “nourishes and strengthens solidarity towards others as a necessary response to God’s gracious love.”

“Concern for fostering good relationships with others and the ability to overcome prejudice and fear are essential ingredients for promoting the culture of encounter, in which we are not only prepared to give, but also to receive from others.”

The Pope emphasized that migrants shouldn’t be seen solely on the basis of their status as regular or irregular, but above all as persons with dignity who are able to contribute the well-being of society.

Migrations, he said, “cannot be reduced merely to their political and legislative aspects, their economic implications and the concrete coexistence of various cultures in one territory.”

Francis assured the Church’s closeness to all who work to defend the right of each person to live in dignity, especially in exercising their right not to emigrate.

Processes aimed at helping persons to stay in their own countries first of all involve helping the countries that migrants and refugees are leaving, he said.

“In any case, it is necessary to avert, if possible at the earliest stages, the flight of refugees and departures as a result of poverty, violence and persecution.”

Doing this, the Pope noted, will demonstrate that cooperation, solidarity, international interdependence and the just distribution of the earth’s goods are essential for more concrete efforts.

Pope Francis also underlined the fact that public opinion “needs to be correctly formed, not least to prevent unwarranted fears and speculations detrimental to migrants.”

No one, he said, can claim to be indifferent in front of the new forms of slavery that buy and sell men, women and children as forced laborers in construction, agriculture, fishing or in various other markets, as well as those who force children to fight as soldiers.

“Today’s refugees are fleeing from these aberrant crimes, and they appeal to the Church and the human community to ensure that, in the outstretched hand of those who receive them, they can see the face of the Lord,” the Pope observed.

He closed his message by stressing the importance of the Gospel of mercy, and entrusted all migrants and refugees to the care of Mary and St. Joseph, who also experience “the bitterness” of their flight to Egypt, and extended his blessing to those who invest in the pastoral and social care of migrants.

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VATICAN NEWS

Vatican clarifies background on Pope’s meeting with Kim Davis

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J. addresses journalists during a May 15, 2014 press conference. (Daniel Ibañez/CNA)

Vatican City — After meeting with Pope Francis earlier this morning Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi confirmed that the Pope met with Kim Davis and her husband as part of a large group invited by the nunciature.

In an Oct. 2 statement, Fr. Lombardi said that Pope Francis met with Davis alongside several dozen others who had been invited by the nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City.

Such brief greetings “occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness and availability,” he said, adding that only the specific audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature “was with one of his former students and his family.”

Fr. Lombardi clarified that during Pope Francis’ meeting with Davis, the Pope “did not enter into the details” of her situation, and specified that the meeting with her “should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.”

The spokesman answered questions about the meeting with Davis during an Oct. 2 press briefing for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the Family, saying that “I don’t have anything else to add at this moment.”

Davis, a clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, made headlines this past summer for refusing out of conscience to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, after the U.S. Supreme Court in June legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states in its decision, Obergefell v. Hodges.

The district court judge ordered that Davis serve jail time for refusing to obey the law, stating that her conscientious objection was not enough for her to lawfully recuse herself from issuing licenses. Davis served five days in jail.

Headlines have been circling the past few days after Roberty Moynihan, editor of the publication “Inside the Vatican,” broke the news about the meeting Sept. 30. The meeting was later confirmed by Davis’ attorney, Matthew Staver, to several news outlets.

Fr. Thomas Rosica C.S.B., CEO of Salt and Light media foundation and the English language assistant to Holy See Press Office, told journalists Oct. 2 that as far as the Pope’s meeting with Davis goes, “I don’t think it’s a matter of being tricked as of being fully aware of the situation and its complexities.”

“I don’t think anyone was willfully trying to trick the Pope,” he said, but clarified that the Pope had not been fully briefed on her situation, or the impact such a meeting would have.

Fr. Rosica said that since Pope Francis had not been fully aware of Davis’ situation, he was not referring to her when he made his comments about a government employee’s right to conscientious objection on board the plane from Philadelphia to Rome.

He also said he is unaware whether any U.S. bishop had known about the meeting in advance, and was not sure who orchestrated the meeting, if it had been the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, or the Davis’ lawyer.

Although Fr. Rosica had been very involved in Pope Francis’ visit to the United States last week and was aware of the details, he said that no one really knew about the meeting with Davis and her husband until the Pope had returned to Rome.

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VATICAN NEWS

What to expect from this year’s synod of bishops

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

Opening Session of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican on Oct. 6, 2014. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Vatican City — As the synod’s schedule and methodology were rolled out ahead of its launch this weekend, some novelties came along with it, such as no midterm report and a heightened emphasis on the small groups.

Set to take place Oct. 4-25, this year’s ordinary synod will reflect on the theme “Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the family” and will gather 279 cardinals, bishops and representatives from all over the world.

Each day of the synod will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions, similar to last year. However, with a longer overall duration, the gathering will be divided into three parts, with each week dedicated to one of the three sections of the synod’s guiding document.

Released in June, the synod’s “Instrumentum Laboris” builds on the final report of last October’s extraordinary synod, and incorporates suggestions from Church entities like bishops’ conferences and even individuals who freely sent their opinions.

The first part, titled “Listening to the challenges of the family,” focuses mainly on themes surrounding last year’s synod, and will be the topic of the first five days of this year’s ordinary synod.

Afterward, discussion will shift to the second part, titled “Discernment of the family vocation,” before culminating with the third, “The mission of the family today.” Both of the final parts will address the new themes to be discussed this year.

The schedule and new method were presented by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi and the Secretary General of the synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, during an Oct. 2 press briefing.

Cardinal Baldisseri explained that although there will be no midterm report during this year’s synod, all of the reports of the small groups will be published and available to the press after each of their 13 sessions.

However, due to time constraints, official translations into the rest of the languages will not be available.

Divided by language into 13 groups with 20 around members each, there will be one German group, four in English, three in Spanish, two in Italian and three in French. Groups were determined by both the language of participants and the requests of the synod fathers.

Fr. Lombardi said that the publication of the small group reports is really “the novelty” of this synod, since last year they were only published once, and now they will be published after each of the three synod phases. Small groups will meet in total 13 times throughout the three-week gathering.

Also distinct from last year is the fact that there will be no midterm report. However, the synod fathers will draft an initial report summarizing the discussions of the first week, and will continue to develop the document throughout the following two weeks of discussion.

The synod will officially be opened by Pope Francis Sunday, Oct. 4, with a special inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Discussion will formally begin the following day with speeches from Cardinal Baldisseri as well as the synod General Relator, Cardinal Peter Erdo, who will expose the first theme. Afterward, a married couple auditing will have the chance to speak.

Cardinal Baldisseri said it is still unknown whether or not Pope Francis will speak at the opening discussion, but said they at least expect the Pope to stop by for a greeting.

Discussion will then continue with the synod fathers in the General Congregations. Each participant will have three minutes to speak, but are able at any point to provide a text expressing more of their thoughts.

After the initial general meetings take place, there will be several small group sessions, during which the participants will reflect on the Instrumentum and develop it with their own thoughts and input.

When the small group sessions finish, one member from each will give a brief presentation of their work in the synod hall, which will then be made public. This process will be repeated for the three stages of the synod discussion.

At the end of the three-week gathering, a special 10-member global commission nominated by Pope Francis will draft the final synod report.

The members include: Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest (Hungary), Rapporteur General; Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the General Secretary; Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto (Italy); Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay (India); Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington (United States of America); Cardinal John Atcherley Dew, archbishop of Wellington (New Zealand); Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (Argentina); Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan of Mouila (Gabon); Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano (Italy); Father Adolfo Nicolas Pachon, superior general of the Society of Jesus, representing the Union of Superiors General.

When the final synod document has been finished, it will, like last year, be voted on paragraph by paragraph with a required majority of 2/3 vote to be approved. However, the final approval of the report depends on Pope Francis.

Cardinal Baldisseri stressed that it is still unknown whether the document, including the details of the voting, will be published like last year’s. That decision, he said, depends on the Pope.

Conclusions from the synod discussion will then be used by Pope Francis to draft his first Post-Synodal Exhortation, which can be expected in 2016.

Among the 279 participants are 74 cardinals, including one cardinal Patriarch and 2 major archbishops; six Patriarchs; one major archbishop; 72 archbishops, including three titular; 102 bishops, among whom are six auxiliaries, three apostolic vicars and one emeritus; two parish priests and 13 religious.

There will also be 24 experts and collaborators, 51 auditors, both couples and individuals, and 14 fraternal delegates.

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VATICAN NEWS

Listen to your guardian angel’s advice - he is God’s messenger, Pope says

by CNA/EWTN News • October 2, 2015

(UMB-O via shutterstock.com)

Vatican City — Each of us has a Guardian Angel who, acting on behalf of God, advises us and protects us from evil, if we only listen to him, Pope Francis said during his homily at Mass on Friday.

“May we ask the Lord for the grace of this meekness, to listen to the voice of this companion, to this ambassador from God who accompanies us in His name and may we be supported by his help,” the Pope said Oct. 2 during his celebration of Mass for the feast of the Guardian Angels, Vatican Radio reported.

He explained that when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, God could have left them to fend for themselves. But instead, as an act of love and mercy, the Lord sent with them an angel to guide and protect them.

The same is true for us today, Pope Francis said. Even when we feel alone or think that we can “hide so many things from God,” our Guardian Angels are by our sides, guiding us and trying to show us the right path.

“It’s like having God’s ambassador with us. And the Lord advises us: ‘Respect his presence!’ And when we, for example, commit a sin and believe that we’re on our own: No, (the Guardian Angel) is there,” he said.

Although we cannot see our angels, we can listen to them and heed their advice, the Pope continued.

“Show respect for (the angel’s) presence. Listen to his voice because he gives us advice. When we hear that inspiration: ‘But do this … this is better … we should not do that.’ Listen! Do not go against him.”

In today’s Gospel reading (Mt. 18:1-5, 10), Jesus tells his disciples they must become like little children in order to enter heaven.

In the same way, we must be childlike in our humility and meekness before our Guardian Angels, Pope Francis said.

“The Christian must be meek when it comes to the Holy Spirit. Meekness towards the Holy Spirit begins with this yielding to the advice given by this companion on our journey.”

He closed by saying that we must “ask the Lord for the grace of this meekness, to listen to the voice of this companion” who is a sign of God’s love for us.

“(I)n this Mass where we praise the Lord, let us remember how good our Lord is, who straight after we lost His friendship, did not leave us alone, did not abandon us.”

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WORLD NEWS

As synod approaches, Nigerian bishops speak up for the family

by CNA/EWTN News • September 28, 2015

Nigerian Christians displaced from Maiduguri diocese after Boko Haram attacks. (Diocese of Maiduguri)

Port Harcourt, Nigeria — Nigeria’s bishops closed their latest assembly with a view toward the upcoming Synod on the Family, re-affirming the family while warning about LGBT activism.

The bishops said “we reaffirm the validity of the family as a divinely instituted community of persons made up of a man and a woman who are open to life in love, together with their children and relatives.”

They commended the Pope for his recent document Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, which aimed at accelerating the process for investigating the nullity of a marriage.

“We pledge to use this new process for the pastoral and spiritual benefit of our people,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria said in a wide-ranging statement closing its second plenary meeting, held Sept. 10-18 in Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria’s Rivers State.

The bishops also voiced “deep concern” about homosexual, bisexual and transgender activism in many parts of the world.

“We reiterate our unreserved condemnation of all acts of homosexuality as sinful and opposed to the natural law of creation,” they said. “We call on our government to continue to resist the attempt by some external governments and agencies to impose an acceptance of same-sex unions.

“Nevertheless, we maintain that persons with these orientations should be assisted pastorally, spiritually and psychologically, with respect for their dignity as human persons created in the image and likeness of God.”

Nigeria’s bishops also welcomed Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for creation, Laudato Si’.

They said the ecological crisis requires “all persons of good will” to work for justice and to have “a profound spiritual and ecological conversion: from consumerism to sacrifice; from greed to generosity; and from wastefulness to sharing.”

“The changes we have noticed in our climate are affecting everyone,” they added. “Locally, the degradation of our environment is worsened by such collective bad habits as littering everywhere with plastic sachets and bottles, loss of tropical forests, lack of proper disposal of waste and a contemporary throwaway culture.”

The bishops commended Nigeria for holding peaceful elections. They called on the country’s leaders to work for the common good, and congratulated the national government and security services for achievements against Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group.

“The refugees and internally displaced persons are gradually returning to their homes,” they said.

The bishops pledged assistance in refugee resettlement and asked the government and other humanitarian agencies to take practical measures to help the families and victims of the conflict rebuild and reconcile.

They said the growing youth population in Nigeria is among the challenges facing priestly ministry.

“Priests should love their Church as Christ does. This era more than ever requires that priests be modest and honest. The youth are crucial agents of transformation that require our sincere pastoral concern,” they said. “We invite the young people to be courageous and proud of their faith and while investing in the life of the Church seek the truth of the gospel in which lies freedom.”

The bishops hoped for “practical demonstrations of mercy and compassion” from all sectors of society and all religions. They prayed for comfort for the poor and homeless and for healing for the wounded and broken-hearted.

The bishops also warned of the dangers of an economy in distress and unemployment that pressures young people to migrate.

“In many cases, young promising lives are wasted on our streets, in the deserts of some African countries and on the shores of Europe,” they said.

The bishops called for more productive investments and lamented the high cost of governance at a time when many workers are not paid a basic salary.

They repeated their condemnations of corruption and violence, as well as the presence of personal interest and vendettas in national life.

The bishops renewed a call to prayer and encouraged Catholics to pray a family rosary. The bishops have written two special prayers for this rosary: one for Nigeria in Distress, and another against bribery and corruption.

‘The bishops also called for repentance, inviting the faithful and all Nigerians to “a true conversion of heart.”

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WORLD NEWS

Catalan bishops: Church can’t make specific proposals on independence from Spain

by CNA/EWTN News • September 29, 2015

A Catalan independence march held in September, 2012. (Kippelboy via Wikimedia Commons 3.0)

Barcelona, Spain — The Catalan regional bishops conference last Tuesday issued a statement ahead of Sunday’s regional election – widely seen as an informal referendum on independence – saying the Church will not propose specifics, but can agree with positions that have “moral legitimacy.”

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain centered on Barcelona, which in recent years has seen agitation for independence from Spain.

The region’s Sept. 27 elections bolstered the separatist movement, with the Junts pel Si Party (Together For Yes) winning 62 of the regional parliament’s 135 seats. If it allies with the Popular Unity Party, which is also pro-independence, it will have a parliamentary majority.

In their Sept. 22 statement anticipating the election, the Catalan bishops said they “confirm it is not the Church’s place to propose a specific option, but they do defend the moral legitimacy of all political options that are based on the dignity of persons and peoples and that perseveringly seek peace, solidarity and justice.”

They also referred to an earlier statement, in which they had recognized “the considerable historic importance” this vote can have for the Catalan Parliament and so they consequently wanted to “contribute to the reflections of all the citizens of Catalonia, with the light that comes to us from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, aware that decisive questions on the institutional, political, and social level are in play.”

“Within the democratic framework, we believe that our voice as well, presented in a spirit of service, can enrich the current debate on the present and future of our country,” the bishops of Catalonia noted.

They also recalled their “love for the Catalonian homeland, which the Church has desired to serve from its beginnings, and our respect for the legitimate diversity of the options that will be voted on.”

The Catalan prelates recognized that “new challenges and new aspirations that affect the specific form in which the people of Catalonia should articulate (their position) and how they wish to fraternally relate with the other peoples in Spain, in the European context” “have become clearer still with the passage of time and taken on greater intensity.”

They added that “the duty of all citizens to actively participate in the elections as a way of exercising their own responsibility in the search for the common good,” especially “in a crucial moment such as we are going through, which can have long lasting consequences.”

In this way they asked the citizens of Catalonia to express themselves through their vote, “keeping in mind the great values that society must be built upon, such as the respect for the rights of persons, families and institutions, as well as the honesty and transparency of the political process.”

The Catalan bishops’ statement came shortly after Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Valencia (capital of the Valencian Community) had requested prayers for the unity of Spain.

Spain did not emerge as a unified country until the 16th century, consisting until then of regional kingdoms and language groups, whose legacy continues to impact Spanish national life and politics.

Catalonia has its own languages, Catalan and Occitan, beside Spanish, and Catalan nationalism developed in the late 19th century.

Following Sunday’s elections, the Junts pel Si party leaders said he will push for independence. The Spanish prime minister has said he will not discuss Spanish unity, but is prepared to listen to the new Calatan parliament.

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WORLD NEWS

This event hopes to bring the voice of chaste, gay Catholics to the Synod

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 1, 2015

Woman with prayer candles. (Massimo Valiani via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Rome, Italy — An upcoming international conference in Rome is hoping to give a face to those with same-sex attraction living in accord with the Church’s teaching on homosexuality – and to help make their voice heard at the Synod on the Family.

Centering on the pastoral needs of men and women who experience homosexual tendencies, the conference is partly in response to the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family, where persons with same-sex attraction did not have an adequate voice, according to one organizer.

“There was a voice that was not heard at that synod,” said Fr. Paul Check, the director of the Courage Apostolate, a group which offers pastoral care and support for homosexual persons. “That is the voice of the person for whom homosexuality is a part of their story and their life.”

While it is important that the Catholic catechism is “straightforward and precise” in its language on the subject of homosexuality, Fr. Check said this conference aims to bring the teaching a step further.

“What we wanted to do,” he said, was “to put a face on the teaching of the Church in the lived experience of this person” with same-sex attraction.

Their story, he said, includes those who had lived the gay lifestyle, but have since had a “change of heart.”

“Their homosexuality is not vanquished by any means, but they see it in a different light,” he said. “They trust that what the Church teaches is true, and (that it) leads to fulfillment, even if it can be hard to live.”

The conference, entitled: “The Ways of True Love – Pastoral Approaches to Welcome and Accompany those Living with Homosexual Tendencies,” will take place in Rome’s Pontifical Thomas Aquinas University – or, the Angelicum – on Friday, Oct. 2.

Organized by Courage, Ignatius Press, and the Napa Institute, the gathering was intentionally scheduled to take place as close to the Synod on the Family as possible.

At least two of the Synod fathers will take part in the event: French Guinea’s Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Divine Worship, and Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy.

In 2014, a preparatory document for last year’s Synod, known as the Instrumentum Laboris, touched on questions facing families today, including the pastoral concerns with regard to persons with same-sex attraction.

“It requested that we in the Church be thinking about effective, appropriate, pastoral approaches to same-sex issues,” said Dr. Janet Smith, a professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, and one of the organizers of the conference.

Smith, who holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at the seminary, explained that there is already a wealth of information on the subject of pastoral care for same-sex attracted persons – the challenge is getting this knowledge to those who need it.

“There’s already a body of understanding, a body of knowledge, that exists,” she said. The conference, therefore, aims at directing those responsible for pastoral care – people who work in parishes, dioceses, high schools, etc. – to these resources.

One of the resources she cited was a documentary released July 2014 by Courage, entitled “Desire of the Everlasting Hills,” which chronicles the stories of two men and one woman having same-sex attraction, and how they eventually found peace in the Catholic Church.

Smith also cited a newly published book to which she is a contributor, Living the Truth in Love. This book resulted from a similar conference in Detroit last August that was put together by the same organizers.

Friday’s conference in Rome comes at a time in history when many Catholics struggle to understand the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. This difficulty, Smith says, largely begins from an inability to understand the Church’s teaching on contraception.

“If you don’t understand why contraception is out of sync with God’s plan for sexuality, it will also be hard to understand (the Church’s) teaching on homosexuality,” she said.

Smith suggested that this difficulty in understanding also results from a lack of exposure to authentic Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

“They don’t have a very good foundation on which to build an understanding of an issue like same-sex attraction. Add to that, we are bombarded all day long by the media about the acceptability of same-sex sexual relationships.”

“It’s a very difficult thing to educate a Catholic populace that has not been educated in its own Church, and it’s being educated by the culture.”

The conference will also include Monsignor Livio Melina, president of Rome’s John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family, as well as experts such as Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins; Dr. Timothy Lock, a clinical psychologist; and Dr. Jennifer Morse of the Ruth Institute. There will also be a panel discussion featuring testimonies of Catholics living faithfully with same-sex attraction.

This year’s Synod on the Family, to be held on Oct. 4-25, will be the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

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A Mexican exorcist advances on path to sainthood – courtesy of the Pope

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

(Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

Vatican City — Among the eight causes for sainthood advanced by Pope Francis is a Mexican exorcist who lived during the time of the Cristero War, and was mentored by a bishop that has since been canonized.

The Pope gave the green light to move the causes on to the next step in a private Sept. 30 audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Vatican’s congregation for saint’s causes.

Fr. Juan Manuel Martín del Campo was one of five priests recognized for heroic virtue, and who have now received the title of “Venerable,” only two steps away from canonization, which takes place after the requirement two miracles has been fulfilled.

Born in in Lagos de Moreno, in the state of Jalisco, Dec. 14, 1917, Fr. Martín del Campo served as a priest for more than 50 years before his death, eight of which (1987-1995) were spent as the official exorcist for the Mexican diocese of Xalapa, Mexican newspaper “Diario de Xalapa” reports.

Raised in a pious family, the priest would pray the rosary with his parents and siblings every day, and would receive a blessing from his mother, Ana, each night before he went to bed. One of his brothers, Fernando, also became a priest.

He entered the seminary of Veracruz in the 1930s, during the time of Mexico’s Cristero War that was sparked by anti-clerical legislation being passed by the Mexican President Elías Calles in 1926.

The laws banned religious orders, deprived the Church of property rights and denied priests civil liberties, including the right to trial by jury and the right to vote. The persecution became so fierce that some Catholics began to forcibly resist, fighting under the slogan and banner of “Cristo Rey” (Christ the King).

Martín del Campo stood out as an exemplary student in the seminary, and was mentored by his bishop, Rafael Guízar y Valencia, who was canonized by Benedict XVI in 2006.

In the midst of the persecution, when the seminary was still in hiding, Bishop Guízar y Valencia named the young seminarian coordinator of the group of students in charge of buying food for the seminary.

In 1939 he was appointed to the ministry of acolyte – the person in charge of preparing all liturgical celebrations – by Bishop Guízar y Valencia’s successor, Manuel Pío López Estrada.

Martín del Campo was ordained a priest Dec. 21, 1940, and afterward continued on at the Veracruz seminary as a professor and director and prefect of theologians until 1947.

He became the Vicar of religious in April 1947, and seven years later, in 1954, was appointed the diocesan director of the Work of the Propagation of the Faith.

Four years later the priest was put in charge of St. Jerome parish in Coatepec, where he continued to serve for the next 10 years. In 1970, he was appointed as Canon penitentiary for the Xalapa Cathedral.

A canon penitentiary is a member of the cathedral’s chapter who serves as a general confessor of the diocese. After serving in that role for 15 years, he became the diocese’s exorcist until 1995, the year before he died.

Fr. Martín del Campo passed away Aug. 13, 1996, in Xalapa. His remains have since been moved to the Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, inside the Church of St. Jerome in Coatepec in 2010.

In addition to the exorcist, the heroic virtue was approved for four priests, a religious sister and a laywoman. The martyrdom of a priest and his four companions was also recognized, allowing for their beatification.

Fr. Valentino Palencia Marquina and his four companions were recognized as having been killed in hatred for the faith July 15, 1937, in Spain.

Sister Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey was one of those approved of heroic virtue. A Cistercian nun, she was born in Rome in 1836, and died May 10, 1913.

Also approved of heroic virtue is Anna Chrzanowska, a Polish laywoman who was an Oblate with the Ursuline Sisters of St. Benedict. She was born in Varsavia in 1902, and died in Krakow April 29, 1973.

The four priests approved of heroic virtue were Italians Fr. Giovanni Folci, founder of the Work of the Divine Prisoner who died in Colorina in 1963, and Fr. Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito of the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, who was born in Puglia in 1838 and died in Pagani in July 1917.

Spanish priest Giuseppe Rivera Ramírez of Toledo, Spain and Fr. Francesco Blachnicki of Rybnik, Poland were also approved of heroic virtue. Fr. Ramírez was born in 1925 and died in March 1991, and Fr. Blachnicki lived from 1921-1987, when he died in Germany.

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These African pastors want to maintain Christ’s love, and truth, at the synod

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, who authored one of the essays in “Christ’s New Homeland - Africa.” (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Ten prelates from Africa have stood up against a pastoral approach to new challenges to marriage and the family that would effectively modify the Church’s doctrine, by writing essays for a book meant to be a “contribution to the Synod onf the Family by African pastors.”

This is the subtitle of Christ's New Homeland - Africa, published this week by Ignatius Press, and which features a preface by Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

In the book, cardinals and bishops from Africa tackles the main issues of the upcoming Synod on the Family; shed light on shortcomings in the synod’s instrumentum laboris (working document); stress the importance of formation of Christians; and face challenges such as polygamy and interreligious marriages.

Above all, the African prelates claim the importance of their continent in facing secularizing trends, and explain that a strong faith is the best response to them.

The book is divided in three parts: “The Synod on the Family: From one Assembly to Another”; “The Gospel of the Family”; and “Pastoral Care of Families that are Hurting”. There is also an epilogue, an “Appeal from the Church in Africa to the State”, which explains why governments should support families.

The books contributors are Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship; Bishop Barthélemy Adoukonou, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Archbishop Denis Amuzu-Dzakpah of Lomé; Cardinal Philippe Ouedraogo of Ouagadougou; Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa; Cardinal Christian Tumi, Archbishop Emeritus of Douala; Archbishop Antoine Ganye of Cotonou; Cardinal Théodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop Emeritus of Dakar; Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala; and Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa of Abidjan.

The first part of the book is constituted by two essays, by Cardinal Sarah and Bishop Adoukonou, critiquing the instrumentum laboris of the upcoming synod.

Both found numerous deficiencies – “slippery language” and “treacherous expressions” among them – in the synod’s working document, and underscored the role the media has played in discussions leading up to the synod.

According to Cardinal Sarah, “the media coverage of this debate gives the impression that, on the one hand, there are those who are in favor of ‘closed doctrine’ and, on the other hand, those who are for ‘pastoral openness’.”

But – the cardinal underscored – “in reality, there is no doctrinal party opposed to a pastoral party; instead, both parties claim to be attached to the Church’s perennial doctrine and want pastoral practice to express God’s mercy toward everyone … Might there be some, then, who would argue for the continuation of a pastoral practice that, if it changed, would ipso facto modify the doctrine?

Cardinal Sarah added that “new developments in pastoral practice would not mean changing doctrine, they maintain, but rather would allow the Church to make God’s loving heart more apparent and accessible.” He countered, however, that such “developments” would be “a sort of ‘mercy’ that accomplishes nothing but lets them seek deeper into evil.”

“But could they seriously think that the bishops and cardinals who were warning about a real danger of doctrinal deviation have a fixed concept of pastoral practice? If God’s pedagogy changes, that of the Church should not become rigid,” concluded the prefect.

He noted that the media who push for a change to pastoral practice “forget to say that now most practicing Christians are found no longer in the Northern Hemisphere but rather in the Young Churches.”

Cardinal Sarah also highlighted some “perplexities” raised by the synod’s working document, especially as it seems to propose civil marriage as a preparation for sacramental marriage.

“To what population does the document address this reality of civil marriages as a preparation for sacramental marriage? To the baptized members of the Church or to sympathetic pagans in areas where an initial evangelization is being conducted? Unless it applies to the neo-pagans in the countries of former Christendom!”

“Set God and doctrine aside, and you create a major pastoral confusion,” Cardinal Sarah wrote.

Cardinal Sarah also underscored that “the Church’s pastoral ministry, as her pastors strive to conduct it in the Young Churches, has never outlawed from the community those who are in difficult marital situations. On the contrary, in most cases, they are active members in ecclesial life.”

He then explained that “the fact that they do not go to sacramental Communion – which is not in their view a simple communal meal from which they would feel excluded – nevertheless does not diminish their profound desire to serve Jesus and his ecclesial community.”

According to Cardinal Sarah, “the lack of a clear position and all the confusion that we note in the relatio synodi are obvious signs, not only of a deep crisis of faith, but also of an equally deep crisis in pastoral practice: pastors hesitate to set out clearly in one direction.”

The instrumentum laboris, he said, reflects the malaise of the Church in the West, and that were the Church to allow the divorced-and-remarried to receive Communion, “why would we reject the lay faithful who had become polygamous? We would also have to remove ‘adultery’ from the list of sins.”

Bishop Adoukonou wrote that “the fundamental methodological limitation that we observe in the document lies in the fact that it utilizes the resources of almost all the human and social sciences to put into context the topic of the family today without bringing to light the most important background, namely, the historical choices that led to this disaster.”

A clear position is needed, says Bishop Adookonou. Citing the rise of the Islamic State caliphate, similar efforts in the Sahel and that “other extremist movements seek to set up radical Islamic regimes everywhere, which confuse decadent Western civilization with Christianity, we have the obligation to set ourselves apart from that postmodern civilization, not out of fear or by way of withdrawing into our own enclaves, but out of fidelity to our deep Christian and African identity,” he wrote.

And he added: “For the sake of attracting people, we do not want to put ourselves into situations that would compromise our values, under the illusion of being open to the world in that way.”

Bishop Adokonou also declared that “conscious more than ever of this interdependence, Africa would like to remind the Church in the West that she could not possibly engage in a hermetically sealed dialogue with the postmodern world, while ridiculing other countries as though they were trapped in various forms of obscurantism that no one understands, without seriously compromising her faith and Christian roots.”

The archbishop deems “unacceptable” the idea – contained in the Synod’s working document – that “the Gospel in itself is a burden from which the Church, out of mercy, ought to strive to relieve our poor contemporaries.”

He went so far as to suggest that a section of the document “contains elements that are highly debatable and even in contradiction with Catholic doctrine.”

Cardinal Souphraniel highlighted the Church’s importance in providing a correct education about marriage and family.

The Church – he wrote - “prepares young couples for marriage. She provides religious education for children grades 1 – 12. She makes available Catholic schools from kindergarten to the university level, where truths of the faith and moral truths are part of the learning experience. She provides classes in Natural Family Planning, family counseling, and pastoral care, especially in the sacrament of reconciliation and forgiveness. She counteracts such contemporary trends as hedonism, abortion, euthanasia, and value-free sex education.”

But the most important thing is that “she provides the sacraments, whereby every man, woman, and child can obtain the spiritual help he needs to resist temptation, to pursue virtuous living, and to grow in the worship and praise of God,” Cardinal Souphraniel underscored.

Archbishop Kleda also shed light on the lack of education, especially for couples. In his words, “one last form of suffering that can be observed involves couples who are not well prepared for marriage, who have not understood the meaning of family life and have not agreed to give themselves totally to each other.”

In the end, explains Cardinal Kutwa, “The family is and remains, in Africa as elsewhere in the world, society’s most precious resource. It is the place where one learns the importance of oneself, certainly, but also the importance of the other. No one is born alone and for himself alone.”

This is one of the many reasons Cardinal Kutwa provides to explain why the state should support family.

But the real, final rationale of the book is that of setting the core on Christian families who are fully living their vocation as Christian families.

“The beautiful Christian families that are heroically living out the demanding values of the Gospel are today the real peripheries of our world and of our societies, which are going through life as though God did not exist,” wrote Cardinal Sarah.

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Ahead of the synod, LGBT activists lobby bishops: Here’s what they want

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

(Guillaume Paumier via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Rome, Italy — As the Synod on the Family approaches, a well-funded LGBT activist coalition is lobbying bishops to revive controversial language from the debates of the 2014 extraordinary synod.

It also advocates that the synod adopt the practices of dissenting Catholic groups.

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups is among the organizers of the “Ways of Love” conference of LGBT Catholic activists and their allies. The conference will be held in Rome Oct. 3, just ahead of the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family.

The Forum’s event is distinct from – and even opposed to – the Living the Truth in Love conference, held Oct. 2 at the Angelicum by Courage, Ignatius Press, and the Napa Institute, which aimed at welcome and accompaniment, aligned with Church teaching, to Catholics with homosexual tendencies.

Michael Brinkschroeder, the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups’ Catholic coordinator, is inviting bishops to attend the conference. In an e-mail sent to several bishops and obtained by CNA, he said he and his allies see the Church as engaged in “a process of spiritual discernment” that “will lead the Church to greater respect for the dignity of persons who identify as lesbian or gay, our love and partnerships _ including their sexual expression _ and our families.”

He said the conference puts forward “best practices for pastoral projects with LGBT people and their families from all regions of the world.”

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups has been the recipient of at least two Arcus Foundation grants totalling over $390,000 for several activities, including advocacy related to the Synod on the Family. These activities include the forum’s response to “homophobic Catholic church family synod decisions” and efforts to “pursue its successful strategy of shifting traditional views.” The grants also fund the drafting, testing and use of “a counter-narrative to traditional values,” including a special focus on “advocacy opportunities” such as the 2015 Catholic Synod on the Family, according to the forum’s annual report and grant announcements from the U.S.-based foundation.

The European Forum is a founding member of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, a new activist coalition which includes the dissenting Catholic groups New Ways Ministry and Dignity USA. These U.S.-based groups recently called for same-sex unions to become a sacrament of the Church.

On June 23 the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics proposed its own language for the final document of the 2015 synod. Its preferred language was published on the website of the European Forum.

The activist network said the synod should follow “positive pastoral ministry” and encourage renewed “theological reflections on human sexuality and gender identity” in a way that would work towards what it called “the right integration of ortho-praxis and ortho-doxy.”

It said the synod should propose a three- to five-year “discernment process” at global and local levels of the Church in order to “involve homosexual people, including those living in long-term, stable relationships as well as those who are single or celibate, their children and parents, experienced pastoral ministers, and theologians, as well as relevant dicasteries of the Holy See.” This process would reflect upon “examples of positive pastoral experience and ongoing theological, anthropological and scientific study.”

The Catholic Church’s 2015 synod on the vocation and mission of the family will be held Oct. 4-25. In preparation, the Church held an extraordinary synod in October 2014. The 2014 synod’s mid-term working summary of the debate, known as a relatio, became the topic of serious debate and also sensational headlines that claimed the Church was changing its teaching.

Many bishops countered these speculations, but some bishops also criticized the document itself for having confusing and even erroneous language on topics such as the pastoral response to same-sex couples, or people who have divorced and contracted a civil remarriage.

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics wants the synod to reinstate some of this controversial language, though their proposal leaves out the original document’s comments recognizing the moral problems of homosexual unions.

The activists’ proposal does include the relatio‘s language about the “gifts and qualities” of homosexuals. It also copies a preliminary English-language translation of the relatio which said that “the question of homosexuality leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective growth and human and evangelical maturity integrating the sexual dimension: it appears therefore as an important educative challenge.”

The activist network also included the mid-synod document’s statement about mutual aid being a “precious support” for same-sex partners.

“Furthermore, the Church pays special attention to the children who live with couples of the same sex, emphasizing that the needs and rights of the little ones must always be given priority,” it said. The activist network linked this sentence to a passage from the working document for the 2014 synod: when same-sex couples request a child’s baptism, “the child must be received with the same care, tenderness and concern which is given to other children.”

The European Forum had praised the mid-term relatio, but was critical of the 2014 synod’s final document. In October 2014 Brinkschroeder characterized the outcome as “a disaster for gays and lesbians.”

The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops prepared the working document for the 2015 synod, known as an instrumentum laboris. It rejects any equivalence between same-sex unions and God’s plan for marriage and the family. It also insists on respect and sensitivity towards those with a homosexual tendency and repeats Catholic teaching against unjust discrimination.

It recommends that dioceses devote “special attention” to accompanying homosexual persons and their families. The document rejected pressure on the Church, and also rejected international efforts to link financial assistance to poor countries with efforts to introduce gay marriage.

According to Brinkschroeder’s email to bishops, the “Ways of Love” conference keynote speaker will be Bishop José Raúl Vera López of Saltillo. In 2011, the Mexican bishop met with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, to discuss his support of a diocesan ministry that advocated positions on homosexuality contrary to Catholic teaching. The ministry later separated from the diocese. Bishop Vera was also head of two NGOs that promoted the legalization of abortion in Mexico.

Also at the conference will be former Irish president Mary McAleese, a vocal gay marriage advocate. She will be interviewed by Robert Mickens, a National Catholic Reporter columnist.

Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, is among the speakers, as is Martin Pendergast of the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council. The speakers include three Jesuit priests: Fathers Pedro Labrín of Chile, Pino Piva of Italy, and Kenya-based Terry Charlton. Father Charlton’s name was removed from a later version of the conference website, which described the speaker as “a priest working in Africa whose superior requested anonymity.”

The remaining speakers are Rungrote Tangsurakit of Thailand and Sister Anna Maria Vitagliani of Italy.

The 2014 “Ways of Love” conference’s keynote speaker was Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney, who authored a book which was rebuked by Australia’s bishops for doctrinal problems.

Some members of the global network, including New Ways Ministry and Dignity USA, have faced rebuke from Catholic officials on grounds they do not represent Catholic teaching. The two U.S. groups have received funding from the Arcus Foundation. Other members of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics include the Polish group Wiara I Tecza, the Italian group Nuova Proposta, the Chilean group PADIS, and the Maltese group Drachma.

The European Forum’s activities report said the global network was organizing advocacy efforts towards the Curia and synod participants.

CNA sought comment from the European Forum but did not receive a response by deadline.

Brinkschroeder’s e-mail invitation to bishops included a series of interviews with self-identified LGBT Catholics in the west African countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. He said they face exclusion from family, loss of work, and blackmail.

The European Forum’s annual report said the project was a reaction to “the extremely negative influence from bishops from Western Africa on the final document of the Family Synod 14.” The project had intended to interview people in Cameroon. Fastenopfer told CNA that the effort was intended for “sensibilization [sic] regarding the second Synod of the Family.”

Fastenopfer’s foundation board is headed by Bishop Felix Gmur of Basel, though his approval was not needed to fund the Africa project. Bishop Gmur was an attendee at what critics have called the “Shadow Council,” a secretive May 25 meeting of Swiss, French, and German bishops and theologians at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Some of the attendees advocated changing Catholic teaching on homosexual acts.

LGBT activism has already had a “long pattern” of disrupting Christian groups in the United States, said John Lomperis, the United Methodist director at the ecumenical think tank Institute for Religion and Democracy.

“It appears that they see American churches as institutions that can be usefully hijacked for their political agendas, or else torn apart if they refuse to get with the program,” said Lomperis.

“There are very focused, well-funded efforts to develop strategic slogans to try to reshape the narratives and discussions within the churches in really misleading and theologically vacuous ways.” He added that activists can be extremely focused on engaging the media.

“They seek to use media coverage as a weapon to embarrass, shame, and pressure church leaders who disagree with them. They can increasingly rely on a biased mainstream media in the U.S. and other Western nations to be very willing accomplices.”

Activists’ voices are highlighted in a way that creates “very misleading narratives” about division in churches when official church teaching is clear, according to Lomperis.

He said mainline Protestant denominations faced problems with some activists “essentially lying their way through ordination” and claiming to agree with church doctrine “so that they can go on to undermine the church’s own standards from within the ranks of clergy.”

“It’s just naïve to think that any Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant church is immune from the dangers of this,” he said.

“Activists very forcefully target weak points and apparent loopholes in the structures of the churches they seek to divert from biblical and historic Christian teaching, especially when they suspect a church leader is weak or quietly sympathetic.”

Lomperis said his eccesial community has allowed denominational meetings to be “disruptively taken over” by the protest group Love Prevails. He said that Episcopalians and the Anglican Communion have suffered “a massive, traumatic, and still ongoing global split” due to the rise of LGBT activism.

He recommended that churches targeted by such activism respond by being “faithful, pastoral, and non-naïve.”

“It is critical to not be naïve about the nature and the unprincipled tactics of the movement to silence church disapproval of homosexual practice as well as extra-marital sex more generally,” he continued. “Never make the error of thinking that any appeasement of such activists will accomplish anything beyond making things far worse and more difficult for your church in the long run.”

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U.S. NEWS

Cardinal O’Malley to families: Want to evangelize? You’d better have these two qualities

by Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • September 25, 2015

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston gives a keynote address in Philadelphia at the World Meeting of Families, Sept. 25, 2015. (Mary Rezac/CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — As thousands of Catholics descended upon Philadelphia to hear talks about family and faith, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley had a message for them: Don’t be a party pooper.

“Beauty and joy are the most powerful tools that we have to evangelize,” Cardinal O’Malley said during a September 25 keynote address at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

“So together we want to dream of a world where the beauty of family life attracts people to make a gift of themselves in marriage, to build a domestic church that will continue to build a civilization of love.”

The cardinal spoke at the World Meeting of Families, an international gathering designed to encourage and strengthen families across the globe. Pope Francis will celebrate the final Mass at the Sept. 22-27 gathering, which has as its theme, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

The meeting also includes presentations, testimonies, music, and other events. The final keynote address was delivered by Cardinal O’Malley and well-known evangelical pastor and author Rick Warren.

“Joy-filled families are based on the love of God,” Warren said, adding that we only have love because we are made in the image of God, who is love.

The pastor also described joy-filled families as being filled with purpose, focused on becoming like Christ, and ultimately fulfilling God’s mission for them.

In his remarks, Cardinal O’Malley stressed the call to be missionary disciples.

The fundamental decision to love is born from an encounter with the living God, who first loved us, he said. In this encounter, we can see the world through God’s eyes and recognize what is truly beautiful and important in life.

Our response to that encounter is how we live out discipleship, the cardinal said.

“Pope Francis makes it clear that our call to discipleship is a call to be missionary disciples. We’re faithful to our mission as Christ’s family only by inviting others to be a part of that mission, by helping families to become what they are.”

Family is critical to achieving this goal, Cardinal O’Malley said. “In God’s plan, the family is the school of love where we learn to make a gift of ourselves.”

He emphasized that “marriage in God’s plan is the sanctuary of love” and “families are missionaries - they pass on the faith to new generations.”

“The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can receive the same Gospel, deeply lived by them. Such a family becomes an evangelizer of many families.”

Those families that live out this mission “change the course of history,” Cardinal O’Malley said. “They open the door that allows God’s light to enter the world and their witness helps us to be open to life.”

If the family does its job properly, it transforms crowds into communities, the cardinal said. A crowd is simply a collection of people drawn by circumstances or common interest, but generally disinterested in one another’s well-being, he elaborated, while a community cares about the other members.

He pointed to the Gospel story in which the crowd prevented a paralyzed man from getting close to Jesus, but his community of friends brought him to Christ by lowering him through a roof.

“The crowd always pushes away. Community draws people closer to Christ.”

“We inhabit the new mission territories of the Church. We need to find a way to bring the Gospel to the contemporary world,” Cardinal O’Malley said. “Our task is to change the crowd into a community. That’s what evangelization is about, and it must begin with our families.”

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U.S. NEWS

Pope Francis hailed for transcending liberal/conservative divide

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Washington, D.C. — Pope Francis rose above party politics and challenged lawmakers to a higher standard in his Thursday address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, Catholic members said.

Just “his mere presence” commanded the respect of Congress, said. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.). “The fact that he is the successor of St. Peter validates the dignity of the institution and commands that everyone rise above petty partisanship and the rancor,” he told CNA.

“This day Congress took a pause from divisions and focused on higher things.”

The Pope called the members to a higher standard of governance, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. “I love the way he set high expectations for us,” he said in a written statement after the Pope’s address.

Thursday marked the first time a Pope ever addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, and members expressed their awe at the spectacle. The very event would have been “unthinkable” even two generations ago given the history of anti-Catholicism in the U.S., said Dr. Charles Comosy, a theology professor at Fordham University.

“It was really almost unreal to see the Pope walking into the House Chamber,” said Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), “coming into the place that I work.” With the audience dressed mostly in dark colors and Pope Francis in white, “it was like he was glowing,” Lipinski added.

Pope Francis’ lengthy address touched upon themes of dialogue and respect for human life, the environment, and the family. He was interrupted repeatedly by applause even after members had been told not to applaud or cheer during the speech.

It was not a partisan speech, noted Rep. Fortenberry, but one “that pointed to the dignity of persons and the necessity of just structures that lead to the well-being of persons.”

We cannot “try and parse everything that he said to see where it fits on the political spectrum,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). For example, if Pope Francis “is talking about the economy, he’s talking about the morality of an economy,” she said, not the politics of it.

“He didn’t come here to talk about whether there should be a capital gains tax increase. He took our own values, and elevated them and made everyone see that the intrinsic values of our country have high moral standing, but we have to live up to that,” she added.

Dr. Comosy agreed. The speech, he said, did not follow “our lazy binary categories of liberal or conservative.”

As an example, he noted the Pope’s praise of Catholic social activist Dorothy Day, who “at once stood unbelievably firmly against abortion and would go to the mat against nuclear weapons and would welcome the poor into her home, a house of hospitality, but would be very skeptical of government programs.”

She does not fit the traditional liberal-conservative mold, and “that’s one reason why he invoked her,” Camosy said.

If viewed purely on the surface, the address could be interpreted as slightly left-leaning, said Dr. Chad Pecknold, theology professor at the Catholic University of America, in the sense that it “seemed to re-order the priorities in favor of what the left has been prioritized most” like care for the environment, immigration, and abolishing the death penalty.

However, he explained, it is in fact neither liberal nor conservative because it is foremost the speech of a pastor. It is up to the members of Congress to make policy from the principles laid out by Pope Francis – care for the human person and the environment and dialogue.

“Republicans on the right who can articulate conservative policy around the universal issues that Pope Francis identifies have the most to gain,” he added.

Congressmen loved the Pope’s appreciation for U.S. history and culture, expressed in his praise for four Americans – President Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, and Trappist monk and spiritual author Thomas Merton – for their exemplary character in helping “build a better future.”

He “really took in the history of our country,” remarked Rep. Lipinski.

Pope Francis exemplified “the brilliance of the Jesuits,” said Rep. Eshoo, “in this intellect that he has, that he would have taken Lincoln, King, Day, and Merton and woven the thread of each and what they represented to our country.”

By invoking these American heroes, Sen. Kaine said, Pope Francis told America that “you are a great nation and you’ve had great leaders.”

“This is who we are as a people. And in a world that still has huge needs, we have a unique role to do something about it,” he said.

Members were also touched by Pope Francis invoking the “Golden Rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).

Pope Francis stated in his address that the rule “also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.” At a press conference later on Thursday, the head of the Holy See’s press office Fr. Fredrico Lombardi emphasized that the Pope spoke for all stages of life including the unborn.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said this defense of human life at all stages, conception until natural death, was “necessary and important.”

The reference to the Golden Rule was Pope Francis “reminding us of our humility, reminding us of our obligations and responsibilities, talking about bringing people together and treating people respectfully,” said Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.). It brought a “very significant reaction” in the House Gallery, he added.

Other parts of the speech touched different members of Congress. Rep. Fortenberry especially liked Pope Francis’ defense of the family.

“You can’t concentrate power in Washington and Wall Street and expect to have a healthy nation. It’s the other way around,” he said. “It begins with the most intimate form of community, which is the well-being of the family.”

Others saw the speech as a call to service. “He called us to selfless service, reconciliation,” said Rep. Smith, as well as “dialogue,” all of which is “much needed in modern society, especially in Washington.”

For Rep. Eshoo, her takeaway was that “we are servants,” and that “the closer you are to people, the more you will see the face of God.”

After the speech, Rep. Lipinski saw more clearly the connection between his Catholic faith and his job as a lawmaker, to “take care of every single person.” He said he hopes he lives up to this every day.

Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) is not Catholic but “appreciated” Pope Francis’ plea for Americans to see humanity in refugees, as the world faces the largest refugee crisis since World War II.

He brought up the fact that many religious minorities are persecuted around the world and suffer from lack of religious freedom, whom “we need to protect around the world” and “treat them as we want to be treated.”

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Francis defended religious liberty in word and deed, Archbishop Lori says of D.C. visit

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • September 26, 2015

Pope Francis discusses care of the elderly with Little Sisters of the Poor at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23, 2015. (Little Sisters of the Poor)

Washington, D.C. — Pope Francis’ defense of religious freedom at the White House on Wednesday was “hugely significant,” said the chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

“He said that we should not be forced to give up or compromise our beliefs,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said of Pope Francis’ remarks at the official welcoming ceremony for his U.S. visit at the White House. The Pope also “supported, really, the efforts of the U.S. Bishops and their efforts to defend religious freedom,” he added.

“I think any time that the Pope brings up a subject on the stage like the White House, it’s hugely significant,” the archbishop told CNA.

Pope Francis and President Obama both addressed each other Wednesday morning on the South Lawn of the White House in front of an estimated 20,000 people. The Pope called religious freedom “one of America’s most precious possessions.”

The Pope also spoke of the need to care for the environment and address the threat of climate change.

Later on Wednesday, Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop at the Little Sisters of the Poor community in Washington, D.C. as a “sign of support” for them in their battle against the contraception mandate in court, as the director of the Holy See’s press office Fr. Fredrico Lombardi described the visit.

The sisters had sued the Obama administration over its 2012 mandate that all employers provide employees insurance coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations, and drugs that can cause abortions. Despite the administration issuing revised rules as an “accommodation” for objecting employers, the sisters maintain the new rules still forced them to violate their religious beliefs and participate in actions they believe to be wrong.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the sisters were not exempt from the mandate. The sisters do not qualify for a religious exemption under the mandate, not being directly affiliated with a “house of worship.” If they do not comply with the mandate, they could be subject to $2.5 million in fines per year.

They have received a temporary reprieve from the mandate while the U.S. Supreme Court considers taking up their case.

Archbishop Lori acknowledged the Pope’s visit to their community in D.C. as a deep nod toward the cause of religious freedom. Pope Francis “affirmed them not so much by what he said, but certainly by his presence,” the archbishop said.

The Pope’s words and visit should galvanize Americans to rediscover – and put into practice – religious freedom, he insisted. Most importantly, Catholics can uphold this freedom by practicing their faith.

“At the end of the day, what will defend religious liberty the best is evangelization,” he said, “if people are really practicing their faith, professing it, worshipping, but also putting it into practice by serving others and by supporting the ministries of the Church that serve the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable, and our schools, all of which the Pope has also praised in these days.”

Americans can also educate themselves on what is one of our core freedoms.

“The Declaration on Religious Liberty is 50 years old this year, a great opportunity for us to go back and just read it,” Archbishop Lori said.

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Saint Junipero Serra’s canonization an ‘exciting time to be a Catholic’

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • September 28, 2015

Crowds gathered for the Mass canonizing Saint Junipero Serra at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23, 2015. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — Last week’s Mass for the Canonization of Saint Junipero Serra, said by Pope Francis, proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who participated in it, and a reflection of the excitement for the Pope’s mission.

“I think the Pope has a beautiful mission, which is to bring to all of us the love of Christ, who we grow closer to every day,” Maria, from Maryland, told CNA. Maria and her husband came to the Sept. 23 Canonization Mass along with their two daughters.

The Mass marked the canonization of Junipero Serra, a Franciscan missionary from Spain who founded nine Catholic missions in the area that would later become California. It was the first canonization performed on U.S. soil.

Kaden, a high school student at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland, said he took the canonization and large crowd at the Mass as a sign of “hope that the Catholic faith is still alive and strong” in the United States.

His little brother George piped up that to him, the Pope’s visit “means that he loves and respects us and prays for us all the time.”

Fray Carlos Reyes told CNA that as both a Franciscan friar and a Latino, he thought the canonization on US soil was “a good gesture on the part of the Church” to recognize Serra’s “work and legacy for Catholics.”

“It’s deserved.”

The excitement for the Mass and historic canonization united Christians across denominational divides.

Chloe, a student at Georgetown University, said even though she is a nondenominational Christian, she was excited to attend her first Mass.

“I can’t miss this historic opportunity,” she explained, adding that she was excited “just to be in this holy place with all these people” who had come for the Mass.

The Canonization Mass also had an impact on those who helped volunteer for the Mass.

Gina, a Catholic University of America junior helping direct the crowds at Mass, told CNA “it was incredible” to be able to serve in that capacity. “It was just amazing to help out people and helping at Communion. Being next to the Eucharist was incredible for me.”

The event also had great meaning for other Catholic University students - particularly one from California.

“It’s a really special time especially for Californians … because Junipero Serra is such an important part of our history,” said Dexie, a senior from San Diego – a city that sprung up around a mission St. Junipero Serra founded.

“Being a Catholic, I’m very excited that he’s being acknowledged and being canonized,” she added.

She also noted that the campus has been filled with “so much excitement.”

“For months,” she explained, “we’ve been preparing and not just setting up the altar … but also service, praying a lot, just getting ourselves ready for this very spiritual experience.”

“It’s just a really exciting time to be a Catholic.”

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After the Pope’s visit – an exclusive interview with Archbishop Chaput

by Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • September 29, 2015

Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia, greeted by Archbishop Chaput on September 26, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia hosted Pope Francis in his highly-anticipated first visit to the United States. As the dust settled after the departure of nearly 1 million participants in the final Mass for the World Meeting of Families, CNA had the chance to interview Archbishop Chaput, who offered his take on the historic papal trip, the challenges facing family in the U.S., and the upcoming Synod of Bishops in Rome.

You have spent many months preparing to host the World Meeting of Families. What were your impressions of the event? Would you consider it a success? What was the highlight?

Both the family congress and the papal visit were very successful – about 18,000 attendees at the congress and somewhere between 800,000 and 900,000 for the final papal Mass. The numbers would have been even higher except for the intense security. The spirit of the whole city was strikingly positive. But obviously the Pope’s personal presence was the highlight. Despite a very heavy schedule on this trip, he seemed to draw energy from the hundreds of thousands of people who greeted him. I was with him in the Popemobile, and he clearly gathered strength from the joy of the crowds.

What struck you most about Pope Francis’ visit?

The enthusiasm of the whole community, from ordinary persons in the street to TV journalists, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. It was a magic week. People in Philadelphia were hungry for something to feel good about, something to give them an experience of joy and hope, and they got it.

One other thing: Francis got to see the reality of American faith and life on this trip in a uniquely powerful way. In Washington he experienced our political center. In New York he encountered our greatest financial and international city. But in Philadelphia he saw the face of a great city built and sustained by ordinary Americans – the face of nearly a million everyday working people enthusiastically in love with him. I think he’ll remember that.

What do you hope that the U.S. Church – and the country as a whole – will take away from the Pope’s words?

Francis had important things to say about immigrants, human dignity, religious freedom and other specific issues. But his greatest skill is his ability to help people encounter the core elements of the Gospel in a simple, accessible way. He’s a healer and a guide, not a polemicist. People are eager for that kind of voice.

Some media reports have debated Pope Francis’ words in terms of liberal or conservative. Is this a good approach to viewing the Pope?

It’s a big mistake. He doesn’t fit easily into political categories. People bicker over his comments on climate change, but they miss the deeper implications of his remarks. Nature, including human nature, is a gift. We’re stewards of the world we’ve inherited. Creation – from the oceans and forests to our own sexuality – is not just dead matter we “own” and can manipulate with technology. When Francis talks about man’s abuse of the environment, he means not just the chemical waste we dump into the air but also the poison we pump into our bodies to suppress our natural fertility. His words are more subtle and more far-reaching than simple left/right divisions. That’s easy to miss if we’re too quick to draw partisan conclusions.

Pope Francis told the U.S. bishops that family “is the primary reason for my present visit.” What is the significance of the Pope making his first papal visit to the U.S. in the context of the family?

Family has been a constant theme of his pontificate. It’s the basic cell of society. Because of the global influence of the United States, problems here have an impact around the world. Given all the current issues in our country related to the nature of marriage, the breakdown of families and the purpose of human sexuality, the timing of the papal visit seems pretty logical.

What, in your opinion, is the state of the family in the United States? What are some of the greatest challenges that it faces? What are the greatest causes for hope?

The biggest challenge is the hyper-individualism encouraged by our mass media and the dynamics of a consumer economy. Francis touched on this when he was in Philadelphia. Our country was built on individual rights and dignity. That premise works very well as long as individuals understand that they’re part of a larger community and honor their obligations to other family members, neighbors and God. But the more radically we focus on ourselves, the more our links to other people break down. American culture tends to promote a distorted set of individual appetites and illusions. The family and religious faith inevitably suffer.

Entering now into the Synod of Bishops, is there any part of the Pope’s message at the World Meeting of Families that you think should carry over and set the stage for the coming weeks’ discussion on family in Rome?

The human family is a natural reality that pre-exists politics and states. It’s organic to creation. It needs to be strengthened, not re-engineered. It cannot be redefined by judges or lawmakers. I think that message will resonate throughout the synod.

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What’s it like to play for the Pope? Here’s how one Catholic artist described it

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • September 29, 2015

Marie Miller, who performed before the Pope at the World Meeting of Families, Sept. 26, 2015. (Missing Piece Media)

Washington, D.C. — Performing for Pope Francis at Saturday’s Festival of Families in Philadelphia was an answer to prayer for musician Marie Miller, but getting a personal thumbs-up from him surely helped confirm it.

“Why did God want me to play when they could have picked somebody that was really popular like the other artists?” she recalled herself asking, in an interview with CNA. Miller was part of a star-studded entertainment lineup that included comedian Jim Gaffigan, rock band The Fray, and “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin.

The answer was that she is a passionate young Catholic, like so many present in the audience at the Festival of Families.

“And I’m just thinking there’s all these young American Catholics who want to be heroically faithful to the Lord. And we love the Eucharist and we love our mother Mary and we love the Church and we love the Pope. And it’s like we got to represent that demographic.”

Miller is the third of ten children and hails from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. She plays guitar, mandolin, and piano, writes her own music – a blend of pop and folk – and has been singing since age 7. She’s been writing and performing full-time for five years now.

“I read John Paul II’s ‘Letter to Artists’ where he talks about how beauty is a call to transcendence,” she explained in an earlier interview with CNA, “so for me that was the reason why I decided to do music full-time again, because I wanted to find my way of leading people to God.”

One of her singles, “6’2”, was featured on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” in 2014. Another, “You’re Not Alone” from 2013, rose to #1 on the Billboard Christian Hot AC/CHR chart, with the video appearing on VH1 and CMT.

Miller submitted her resumé to the World Meeting of Families expecting at best a modest slot to perform sometime during the week-long event. The promoter for Saturday’s Festival of Families – the keynote entertainment for the week with the Pope himself present – heard her song on SiriusXM radio, recalled her resumé, and invited her to perform for the Pope.

“I was blown away. It really was a miracle.”

She had prayed for a “confirmation” that she was meant to stay in the music industry, and considers this a “pretty good one.”

The day of the festival, Miller was admittedly nervous about going onstage in front of thousands and playing for the Holy Father. Time was passing quickly in a “pretty hectic and crazy” day, she recalled.

She was able to calm down in the last half hour before her performance, hanging out with her older brother and sister in the dressing room backstage and greeting Catholic celebrities such as actor Jim Caviezel and Jim Gaffigan. An aide for classical tenor Andrea Bocelli made her a cappuccino and she was able to pray and meditate before taking the stage.

Her backstage neighbors might be famous, but Miller was “really impressed” by how they were able to “put celebrity aside” for the Pope, having reverence for his presence.

Then it was time for her to take the stage.

“I’m really klutzy, so it’s always ‘don’t trip’,” she chuckled about walking onstage.

She faced the Pope to “soak in the fact that this person that I look up to so much and that feeds me so much wisdom and that I love so much and that represents the Church that I love so much is so close to me, and I just got to smile at him.”

Two artists she often performs with accompanied her – guitarist Kenny Kohlhaas from Virginia and fiddler Stephen Rees of L’Angelus.

She played her two hit songs “6’2” and “You’re Not Alone,” which is about accompanying a friend who is suffering. Originally she did not have the stage time to perform the latter song but she e-mailed the head of the festival and begged to play it.

She insisted the song reflects closely on what the World Meeting of Families was about. “It’s about community and it’s about us being here for each other,” she said.

To her surprise, the organizers gave her the green light. “That was really, really special and a song I really wanted Pope Francis to hear,” she said.

Then her time was up and as she left the stage Pope Francis flashed her a thumbs-up sign – which she missed in the moment.

“I think he liked it,” she said. “I was hoping that he liked the fiddle and the mandolin and the bluegrassy kind of thing … I think it was good.”

She was able to attend the papal mass on Sunday and reflect on the Pope’s words on the family, which were especially moving given that many of her tight-knit, big Catholic family was present at the event.

Her favorite line was from the Pope’s prepared remarks for the festival, that “God’s dream does not change; it remains intact and it invites us to work for a society which supports families.”

Earlier in the Pope’s written remarks, the text read that “to want to form a family is to resolve to be a part of God’s dream, to choose to dream with him, to want to build with him, to join him in this saga of building a world where no one will feel alone, unwanted or homeless.”

As a poet, singer and songwriter who “dreams” – as well as a member of a large Catholic family – that line “really just struck my heart,” she said.

“I’ve been so blessed to have an incredible, incredible family,” she added. “Nine siblings and two parents that love each other so well. So I know from personal experience when the family is working together is that miracles can happen. And that is the best way for the Gospel to be spread is when families are loving each other.”

The entire experience was a “great gift” and an answer to prayer, she said, and “will always be in a very special place in my memory.”

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U.S. bishops echo Pope’s words on sex abuse, accountability

by Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

Pope Francis meets with the United States bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Philadelphia, PA — Two committee heads of the U.S. bishops’ conference voiced support for Pope Francis’ statement rejecting the sexual abuse of minors and promising accountability for those guilty of crimes against children.

“I was so happy that our Holy Father was very clear with his message today,” said Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on child and youth protection.

Speaking to CNA Sept. 27, he described the Holy Father’s words to an international gathering of bishops at the Philadelphia seminary earlier that day.

Pope Francis entered the room and set aside his prepared remarks, the bishop said. “He spoke to all the bishops heart-to-heart, and you could tell that he had a passion about him.”

“And in speaking within that passion, he was very clear and he was very strong in that anyone who participates in any of the crimes of sexual abuse will be held to accountability. And he also reached out to the victims with compassion, with tenderness and care. Because our very first response is to do all that we can to bring forth healing.”

Pope Francis announced Sept. 27 that he had met that morning with five victims of sexual abuse by clergy and family members. He told a gathering of international bishops afterwards that their stories of suffering “have aggravated my heart,” and said that crimes of abuse must never be kept in silence.

“I promise, with the vigilance of the Church, to protect minors and I promise all of those responsible will be held accountable,” he said.

Bishop Christopher J. Coyne of Burlington, Vermont, incoming chair of the U.S. bishops’ communications committee, described the Pope’s words as “the strongest repudiation of any culture of abuse or protection of abusers within the Church.”

He told CNA that the bishops “absolutely” support the Holy Father’s efforts to fight sexual abuse and emphasized the need for “continuous vigilance to do everything that we can to keep children and families safe.”

“I think all of us say, ‘We should be held accountable in the same way that our priests are.’ If any of us ever commit a crime and a sin against a child or a family, then we need to be held accountable.”

Furthermore, he continued, “if we do not do everything that we can to protect families and to report these things but to cover them up, then we also need to be accountable for that too. As Harry Truman said, the buck stops here.”

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly about the gravity of sex abuse. He has promised a “zero-tolerance” approach and said that “everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors.”

In 2014, the Pope created the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to take concrete action on preventing abuse. He has also approved measures to increase bishop accountability and worked with abuse victims to discuss reconciliation and healing.

Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombardi noted at a Sept. 27 press conference that the Pope chose to announce his meeting with the victims during an audience with bishops from around the globe, a reminder of the global impact of sexual abuse and the need for a universal response.

He also observed that the victims who met with Pope Francis suffered abuse not only by clergy and Church officials, but also by family members and educators.

This, he said, is a recognition that the Church has a responsibility to care for the environment and safety of young people everywhere, both inside the Church and out.

Bishop Burns discussed the importance of working with law enforcement as part of the Church’s effort to fight and respond to abuse.

“When there is an allegation of abuse, the Church reaches out to those who were abused to assist them in the process of healing,” he said. “And at the same time, the Church reaches out to law enforcement agencies, because it’s imperative that we involve law enforcement in the investigation of any allegation of abuse.”

The bishop said that Pope Francis’ words are “a very clear call, one of accountability,” while also a message delivered to a pastor with a “shepherd’s heart” who mourns for the suffering of his people.

“It was a powerful and a very poignant moment,” he said, voicing gratitude to Pope Francis “for all that he’s doing in helping us create a safe environment for our children as well as addressing what is necessary for us as a Church to restore trust and to restore credibility.”

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Here’s what Archbishop Kurtz thought about Pope Francis’ visit

by Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz speaks at a press conference in Philadelphia during Pope Francis’ visit on September 26, 2015. (Mary Rezac/CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — For Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, hearing the words of Pope Francis is like being taken back in time to when he first experienced his “original call” to serve the Church through the priesthood.

“When I hear our Holy Father speaking, I feel like I’m going back on retreat. I’m going back to when I first was drawn to become a priest,” the president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference said at a Sept. 26 press conference in Philadelphia.

While he said this is true of the Pope’s words in general, Archbishop Kurtz identified one particularly powerful moment from the pontiff’s Sept. 26 Mass that was “especially insightful and certainly rewarding to me.”

The Holy Father recalled the words of Pope Leo XIII to St. Katharine Drexel when she voiced concern over the state of the missions: “What about you? What will you do?” It was these words that inspired her to become a missionary and eventually found a religious order.

These words became an invitation and a challenge for each person in the room, Archbishop Kurtz said. “I heard it, and it reminded me of my own vocation and call to be renewed in service of others.”

“I would say that our Holy Father tends, wherever he can, to point us to the Lord Jesus … and then to point us to return to the original call, the original zeal,” he reflected.

Archbishop Kurtz highlighted several other moments from the first half of the papal trip that he found striking. While the Pope has spoken before about care, the archbishop noted that on this trip he talked specifically about a “culture of care.”

In the archbishop’s view, this was similar to the saying, “You are what you eat.” In this case, he reflected, the Pope “seems to say, ‘You will find your identity in the manner in which you care for others.’ And I thought that was pretty powerful.”

He also pointed to the Holy Father’s message at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York: “Don’t get tired of reaching out,” as well as what he saw as a mutual sense of encouragement when the Pope entered the upper shrine in D.C., filled with thousands of seminarians and novices for religious orders.

“And so I also see him telling us, be alive as a Church.”

Archbishop Kurtz described the Pope’s visit as engaging not only the intellect, but the entire person.

He recalled two priests who work at the United Nations telling him that speeches delivered there often get no applause and very little reaction.

But in the case of Pope Francis’ address, the archbishop said, “I think I’ve seen the touching of the heart.”

This was also true at the Pope’s visit to the school in Harlem, where the emotion of the people was clearly visible, he continued.

“There’s a palpable enthusiasm. There’s a desire to reach out,” he said, comparing the excitement in the room to children eager to open presents on Christmas morning.

Commenting on the Mass at Madison Square Garden, he added that the New York Rangers – the local hockey team that plays at that arena – “would have loved the applause for their team that the Holy Father was getting at the end of Mass.”

With thousands of people lining the streets in each city, hoping for just a glimpse of the Pope as he passed by, Archbishop Kurtz said that he was “swept up” in the experience. He voiced gratitude that he was truly able to enjoy each moment in the presence of the Holy Father, without worrying about the next thing on the agenda.

“It’s like going on retreat for me.”

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What meeting Pope Francis was like for elementary students in Harlem

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

Negueubou Kamwa (C), who met Pope Francis Sept. 25 at Our Lady, Queen of the Angels School in New York City, together with her family. (Addie Mena/CNA)

New York City, N.Y. — Students and community members in East Harlem were moved, sometimes to tears, by Pope Francis’ words and example during his visit to the New York neighborhood.

“It was mindblowing and at the same time very shocking,” Aaron Diaz, a third grader from Our Lady, Queen of the Angels School told CNA, “because not many people are able to meet him.”

Negueubou Kamwa, a fourth grader at Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, added that the meeting “amazing and it was like a big opportunity and a blessing,” and that the experience was so overwhelming “I started crying all over the place.”

“It was just incredible, and I cried.”

Pope Francis visited Our Lady, Queen of the Angels on Sept. 25, during the second day of his visit to New York City. While at the school, the Pope met with students from four schools in the neighborhood, as well as with migrants and refugees chosen by Catholic Charities of New York.

Diaz explained that out of over 7,000 students in the neighborhood, there were “only six of us and I was chosen.”

While the students didn’t have time to talk to Pope Francis, Pope Francis spoke to them – and was very funny, Diaz said.

“When we were singing he said ‘are you asleep!? Make it louder!’”

Diaz was also excited to receive a picture, and pulled out a his rosary. “He actually blessed it,” he explained, responding when asked if he would pray with it, “yes, I will.”

Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of New York, explained to CNA that when planning the event “we wanted to make sure that he reached out and touched the communities of people in the United States,” and could not think of a better community or neighborhood for that goal than East Harlem.

The neighborhood, he elaborated “is a community that has welcomed immigrants for many many years.”

“The way we planned the event was just to try to get representatives with as many immigrant groups that Catholic Charities is working together so that the Pope could see the breadth of what is going on in New York, the breadth of how Catholic Charities is helping immigrants and refugees.”

The meeting also touched Msgr. Sullivan on a personal level as well. “For me, I just kept looking around the room and seeing it filled with so many different people from so many different countries,” he recalled. “You know, in that room, there were immigrants and refugees from every single continent except Antarctica, because the penguins wouldn’t come,” the monsignor joked.

“It was just the diversity of New York was there, and it was just a magnificent experience.”

During the meeting the Pope addressed following one’s dreams, a message which resounded with the experiences of many of the immigrants who came.

Odette Manzano, an immigrant herself, was touched by the experience. She was invited by Catholic Charities to come to the event as well as write a letter to Pope Francis, which was compiled into a book that was given to the Pope during the visit.

“It was one of a kind and it was one of the best experiences of my life and just hearing himself pronounce himself in Spanish, my native language, it was just amazing.”

She also found the Pope’s example even more inspiring in person. “He’s a leader, one of the greatest leaders, and he’s just showing what a leader should do, which is to be humble.”

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Families tell Pope Francis ‘thank you’ with a renewed commitment to marriage

by CNA/EWTN News • September 30, 2015

Sonia Maria Crespo de Illingworth, author of the thank you letter to Pope Francis, speaks at the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.. (CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — In response to Pope Francis’ ongoing encouragement of marriage, an Ecuadorian lay woman has penned a simple thank you letter that has now gained over 1,500 signatures in the Hispanic community.

“Your concern and your words have often been a source of strength to us in the midst of times and circumstances that are often challenging,” Sonia María Crespo de Illingworth’s letter read.

“You have further called us to ‘experience joy’ from the ‘harmony of persons’ patient ‘love’ and ‘mutual support,’ which must be part of the family,” she said. “You have said that families must be kept strong through ‘prayer’ – especially prayer for one another.”

Crespo shared the letter at the World Meeting of Families last week, where she gained some 1,500 signatures, which will be sent along to the Holy Father.

In the letter she praised the Holy Father’s encouragement and support for marriage and the family not only during his visit to the United States for the World Meeting of Families, but also in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and his public addresses.

“You have been a witness to the fact that ‘the holiness and indissolubility of Christian matrimony, often disintegrating under tremendous pressure from the secular world must be deepened by clear doctrine and supported by the witness of committed married couples,’” the author said, quoting Pope Francis’ address to the bishops of South Africa during their April 2014 ad limina visit to Rome.

The author went on to highlight the attention the Holy Father has frequently given to Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae.

In light of this support, the author and signers made a pledge to strengthen their families through prayer and joyfully living out the faith.

“We will pray for one another, for the Church and for you,” the letter read, especially for the upcoming Synod on the Family, “that God may enlighten the Synod fathers so that they may help families to embrace and proclaim by their lives the joy that comes from living out the Gospel.”

The signers said that they wish to follow the Pope’s example by witnessing to their faith with words and actions and “resist attempts to redefine the family or create ideological colonization.”

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Stop ‘corporate welfare’ for Planned Parenthood, pro-life Democrats say

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • September 30, 2015

The U.S. Capitol building. (Shawn Clover CC BY-NC 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — The House on Tuesday passed a bill allowing states to withhold Medicaid funds from health care providers that perform abortions.

The Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) passed the House largely along party lines in a 236-193 vote Sept. 29. Only two Democrats – Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) – supported the bill. Nine Republicans voted against it.

Kristen Day, director of the group Democrats for Life of America, told CNA taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood amounts to “corporate welfare for one organization.”

And Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) said that “Given the appalling activities revealed to be occurring at Planned Parenthood clinics, states should have the option to direct tax dollars away from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood and toward comprehensive health care providers,” shortly after the vote.

The bill is another effort by the House to direct Medicaid dollars away from Planned Parenthood, as well as other abortion providers. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the U.S. but receives public funding, mostly in the form of Medicaid payments, federal health grants, and Title X funds, a program benefitting low-income Americans.

By law, federal tax dollars cannot fund abortions but can fund other services that Planned Parenthood provides. Pro-life advocates have argued that the money is fungible and frees up resources to perform more abortions.

Over 40 percent of the income of Planned Parenthood affiliates in fiscal year 2013 was public money, according to its records.

The organization has come under fire in recent months after videos were published showing its top doctors casually discussing the transfer of fetal tissue from aborted babies to harvesters for compensation.

One of the series of videos released by the citizen journalist group Center for Medical Progress was a secretly-recorded conversation with a Planned Parenthood doctor, who remarked that sometimes at clinics babies were born before an abortion procedure could be performed. Her remark left open the question of whether or not the babies were given the health care required by law that all born-alive infants who survive abortions must receive.

Although the bill passed the House, it is unlikely the president would sign it into law even if it passed the Senate. The White House announced the other week it would veto another House bill defunding Planned Parenthood.

Although the House successfully voted to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding in the wake of the controversy, the Senate has failed to do so. Both houses have passed a short-term Continuing Resolution that funds the government through Dec. 11 and continues funding Planned Parenthood. The funding resolution was passed in the House 277-151 on Sept. 30, with a large majority of Republicans voting against it.

The bill passed on Tuesday would direct Medicaid dollars away from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. It would do so by amending the Social Security Act, which currently orders state medical assistance programs to fund certain services offered by any qualified health care provider.

The bill would give states an opt-out and allow them to set the Medicaid criteria for health care providers that perform abortions. Thus, states could ensure their assistance programs don’t fund abortions, or health care providers that perform abortions, with Medicaid dollars.

“We absolutely support that,” said Kristen Day, speaking for Democrats for Life of America. “Planned Parenthood has really overstated their impact.”

The House vote came hours after a hearing on Planned Parenthood’s federal funding before the House Oversight Committee. The organization’s president Cecile Richards defended Planned Parenthood’s eligibility for Medicaid funds on the basis that their affiliates provide important health services for women like birth control and testing for sexually-transmitted diseases.

Planned Parenthood has also argued that if its funding dries up women will face a health provider shortage.

That claim is not true, Day said, noting that federal community health centers – which provide an array of services including mammograms, but not abortions – could fill the health care gap if Planned Parenthood clinics couldn’t take Medicaid dollars.

“You talk about defunding women’s health care? There is no less money. There is the same amount of money that goes to women’s health care,” Duffy, the bill’s sponsor, stated on the House floor on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood has also claimed that number of abortions will skyrocket if clinics have to close, Day noted, because women wouldn’t receive preventative care at its clinics.

However in Texas, which blocked state Title X funding of Planned Parenthood in 2012, the number of abortions in 2013 (63,849) continued its yearly rate of decline dating back to 2008 (81,591).

That shows they “either have no impact on the abortion rate” or that the defunding sped up the decline in abortions, Day said of Planned Parenthood.

In fact, in its Sept. 18 vote to defund Planned Parenthood, the House also voted to send an additional $235 million to federal community health centers, Day noted.

That pro-choice Democrats are largely intransigent on defunding Planned Parenthood speaks to their “unwillingness to deal,” she said.

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Man up! Phoenix bishop encourages, challenges Catholic men in new letter

by CNA/EWTN News • October 1, 2015

(Unsplash/Catholic News Agency)

Phoenix, AZ — Calling on all Christian men to take a stand in the Church’s spiritual battle, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix asked men in his diocese to courageously pursue their vocations as friends, fathers, and spouses.

“Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you,” the Phoenix bishop said in a Sept. 29 exhortation, saying that “this battle is occurring in the Church herself, and the devastation is all too evident.”

“Catholic men have not been willing to ‘step into the breach’ - to fill this gap that lies open and vulnerable to further attack,” he continued.

Bishop Olmsted spoke of the ways in which this spiritual battle is developing and how the Church is being attacked. Over the past 15 years, millions have left the faith, baptisms have decreased in both infants and adults, parochial religious education is declining, and fewer sacramental marriages have occurred.

In addition, he continued, the parents who promised to raise their children in the faith at baptism have devastatingly fallen short on their pledges, while the Catholics who do remain faithful to the Church’s teachings are often timid, practicing their religion in the shadows.

“I offer this Exhortation as an encouragement, a challenge, and a calling forth to mission for every willing man,” Bishop Olmsted asserted, saying that this call applies to all men – whether young or old, priests, married or single.

“I urge you to heed Jesus’ call and to let him form your mind and heart with the light of the Gospel for the purpose of being sent … I am hereby exhorting you to step into the breach - to do the work of Christ’s soldiers in the world today,” he said.

Modern complexities have threatened the authentic role of men in today’s world, the bishop said. He pointed to gender ideology as one of the breaches between the natural complementarity of men and women, creating unnecessary division and confusion while blurring the identity of genuine masculinity.

“Looking to what the secular world holds up as ‘manly’ is in fact to look at shadows - or even at outright counterfeits - of masculinity.”

In contrast, the bishop pointed to Jesus as the “fullness of masculinity,” saying that Christ displays genuine masculine virtue and strength.

Instead of looking at possessions, success, and worldly goods as the definition of manhood, Bishop Olmsted said, men should secure their identities in their Christian beliefs.

“Simply put, our identity is caught up in the identity of the eternal Son of God.”

The bishop also proposed that every Catholic man invoke the intercession of a patron saint, who can guide their journey through life. He offered examples including St. Joseph, Pope St. John Paul II, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and St. Michael the Archangel.

To practically live out this Christian manhood, he suggested daily prayer and examination of conscience, Mass as often as possible, scriptural reading, honoring Sundays for rest, frequent confession, and nurturing Catholic brotherhood in friendship.

Bishop Olmsted went on to explain how Catholic men should love, saying that “the true love of Christ is centered on willing the good of the other, on pouring oneself out in charity for others.”

“Each man is called to commit and give of himself completely,” Bishop Olmsted said, whether through marriage, priesthood, or service towards God.

If a man’s call is to marriage, then it must emulate Christ’s spousal love for the Church - a love so united that it “achieves the infinite and eternal character to which every love aspires.”

However, the bishop also noted that marriage holds the epicenter of the modern-day masculine battle, because it requires the virtue of chastity.

“Chastity allows us to master and properly live out this calling to be men of authentic communion,” he said, and a man must nurture chastity within the call to marriage by loving his wife as Christ loves the Church.

In addition to this definition of masculine love, he described three other outlets for men to love: as a friend, a husband, and a father.

The bishop advised every man to evaluate how he loves in each of these relationships. Are his friendships healthy and holy? Does he love his wife with dignity and fullness? Is his fatherhood responsible and faithful?

Furthermore, Bishop Olmsted stressed the importance of fatherhood, while cautioning against the modern-day notion of freedom from the commitment of a family.

“To fully live, all men must be fathers and live out their fatherhood” in some way, he said.

“If you do not embrace the spousal and fatherly vocation God has planned for you, you will be stuck in the impotence of the ‘seed’ that refuses to die and refuses to give life. Don’t settle for this half-life!”

Bishop Olmsted concluded his exhortation in hope all that all men “will take what is helpful in my message, bring it to the Lord in prayer, and go forward confidently in your vocation as men.”

“Our life in Christ is not one of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ but an adventure of authentic freedom,” he continued, urging Catholic men to “embrace that freedom in order to place your life at the service of Christ, beginning in your home and radiating into the world.”

The full text of Bishop Olmsted’s letter can be read here.

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U.S. NEWS

In wake of Pope Francis, bishops urge Congress to move on religious freedom

by CNA/EWTN News • October 1, 2015

The Senate chambers of the U.S. Capitol building. (CNA)

Washington, D.C. — Citing Pope Francis, the U.S. bishops are urging lawmakers act quickly to pass a bill that would reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, whose mandate expired yesterday.

“At a time when international religious freedom is increasingly imperiled, it is vital that USCIRF be reauthorized so that it can continue to highlight the need to protect those who are discriminated against, harassed and even killed for their faith,” said Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ international justice and peace commission.

The religious freedom commission dates back to 1998. It monitors the state of religious liberty and freedom of thought, conscience, or belief as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. The commission makes independent policy recommendations to the president, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

In December 2014, Congress passed a nine-month extension reauthorizing the commission, which then expired Sept. 30, 2015.

Now, the body is asking for a four-year extension through the Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2015, Bill S.2078, which was passed unanimously in the Senate yesterday.

In a Sept. 29 letter, Bishop Cantú lauded the bipartisan collaboration of Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on bill S. 2078, calling their reauthorization of the commission “a welcome sign” in the midst of “partisan division.”

“Protecting religious freedom is critical to the health of societies,” the bishop said, stating that over the years, the U.S. Bishops have been strong advocates for the protection of religious freedom worldwide.

During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis called religious freedom “one of America’s most precious possessions” during his address at the White House.

While in Philadelphia later in the week, the Holy Father called on Americans to defend religious freedom, “for it has been given to you by God himself.”

“In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and brutality, it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others,” he said.

Now the bill goes to a vote in the House of Representatives. If passed there, it will go to President Barack Obama for his signature before it goes into effect.

“In the wake of Pope Francis’ historic visit, I ask you to call for the protection of international religious freedom by passing S. 2078 to reauthorize USCIRF,” Bishop Cantú said.

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Dating apps could be leading to a rise in STDs – and Tinder isn’t happy about it

by CNA/EWTN News • October 1, 2015

(Danupol Noodam via shutterstock.com)

Denver, CO — A new billboard linking dating apps with an increase in sexually transmitted disease rates spurred one app – Tinder – to issue a cease and desist order against the group behind it.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which posted the billboard in Los Angeles, said they hoped to raise awareness about increasing STD rates, which have been linked to an increase in dating app use. The billboard featured four silhouettes of men and women with the words “Tinder, Chlamydia; Grindr, Gonorrhea,” and encourages people to get tested.

“Mobile dating apps are rapidly altering the sexual landscape by making casual sex as easily available as ordering a pizza,” Whitney Engeran-Cordova, a senior director at the foundation, said in a statement.

“In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bathhouse for millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away – as well as the next STD,” Engeran-Cordova said.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many people use Tinder – the company claims 8 billion – in the past few years, the app has become one of the most widely-used dating apps.

What sets Tinder apart in the online or mobile dating experience is speed and brevity. Based on a photo, first name, and age alone, users decide whether to swipe left (to pass) or right (to like). With GPS tracking, the app also tells users exactly how far away potential matches may be, making life even easier for those just looking for a quick hook-up.

However, Tinder contests that the new billboard unfairly smears the app.

“These unprovoked and wholly unsubstantiated accusations are made to irreparably damage Tinder’s reputation in an attempt to encourage others to take an HIV test by your organization,” Tinder attorney Jonathan Reichman said in the letter, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times.

But the problem of increased STDs with strong correlations to dating app use isn’t limited to California, and is not wholly unsubstantiated.

Throughout the country, health departments are reporting an uptick in sexually transmitted diseases in patients, who are also increasingly reporting that they met their partners through location-based online or mobile dating services.

In July 2015, the Rhode Island Department of Health found that rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were at a 10-year high in the state. While health officials did not have firm numbers as to how many of these cases came about because of a dating app, they said they were alarmed at the rate with which infected patients said they met their partners through apps like Tinder.

“We do not know how much social media has contributed to the rise in STDs, but we believe it is a contributing factor,” the Rhode Island health department said in a statement to the Globe.

A September 2015 report from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found a 56 percent increase in the number of early syphilis cases during January 1 to July 31 when compared to the same period in 2014.

Nearly half of all reported cases – 47 percent – reported that they had used dating apps to find sexual partners.

“So the state investigates each new case of syphilis and they ask people, ‘who do you think you got this from and where did you meet him or her?’ This particular syphilis outbreak, if you want to call it that, or trend, is mostly affecting men,” Dr. Sarah Rowan, Interim Director of HIV and Viral Hepatitis Prevention with Denver Public Health, said in an interview with Colorado Public Radio.

“Ninety-eight percent of the cases have occurred in men. So they ask men, ‘where do you think that you met your partner?’ and about 50 percent say they met them through an internet app – Grindr, SCRUFF, Craigslist – so those may be associated. In some ways, internet apps make it harder to do some contact tracing – so to say, ‘well, let me find this person and ask them to get tested and ask their partners as well.”

New York, Utah and Texas are also among the states reporting increased instances of syphilis and other STDs, with several health experts also linking these increases to dating apps.

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‘You are not alone’ - Oregon bishops, priests support a community in shock

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • October 2, 2015

Candlelight vigil for the victims of the Umpqua Community College shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, Oct. 1, 2015. (Michael Lloyd/Getty Images)

Portland, OR — In the wake of a mass shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, members of a local Catholic parish are reaching out to offer sympathy, comfort and hope.

“I think people are just in shock. In the small town of Roseburg … nothing like this has ever happened. We hear about it in the news throughout the United States but never hitting home, and now it has hit home,” said Fr. William Holtzinger.

After serving at the local Catholic parish, St. Joseph’s, from 2000-2002, Fr. Holtzinger now serves at a parish about an hour away from Rosenburg. As soon as heard about the shooting, he headed to Rosenburg to assist with Mass and to offer pastoral care to the grieving community.

As he offered care to the community, Fr. Holtzinger said he tried to remind people of the mercy and consolation God offers his people in times of tragedy.

“I’m sharing with people to be mindful if they are angry, to be aware of where that anger may come from, and be mindful that God is there to console us,” he told CNA.

He warned about the need for a proper response to the grief and anger that are natural consequences to a tragic situation.

“We need to be careful not to let anger become sin. It is just to be angry about an injustice, and an injustice has occurred, but also be mindful that we are all suffering from loss, and from loss can come lots of inappropriate anger.”

“As to why these things happen I don’t have a great answer, but we do know that God saves,” he said.

On October 1, a 26 year-old man left 10 dead and several others wounded after going on a shooting rampage at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, according to police.

After news broke of the tragedy, St. Joseph’s held a Mass to pray for the victims and their families. Portland Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith presided over the Mass. At the end, he repeatedly told attendees, “You are not alone,” stressing that the bishops and entirety of the archdiocese were grieving with them and offering support.

Several reports from witnesses at the scene describe the shooting as religiously motivated.

Stacy Boylan, told CNN that his daughter, who survived the shooting, described to him how the gunman asked his victims to state their religion before shooting them.

“‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them, ‘and if you are a Christian stand up,’” Boylan recalled, “because if you’re a Christian you’re going to see God in just about one second.”

Another survivor, Kortney Moore, gave a similar account to a local newspaper, The News-Review.

“Here are people who have professed their faith, and because of their profession, they were executed,” Fr. Holtzinger said.

“In my mind, those sound like martyrs to me.”

“And they may have been killed anyway, because (the shooter) then went on a rampage, but my question to myself is, what would I have done?” Fr. Holtzinger said.

“I hope I would have had the courage to stand up like these other individuals and to say, ‘Yes, I am a Christian.’”

Just before Mass, a family belonging to St. Joseph’s contacted the parish in a panic – their daughter attended Umpqua, and they still hadn’t heard from her. After Mass, Father Jose Manuel Campos Garcia, the pastor at St. Joseph’s, learned that his young parishioner was in fact among the dead, and left immediately to be with the family.

Fr. Holtzinger said he was also especially moved by how quickly Archbishop Alexander Sample and Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith offered support to Fr. Jose and the Roseburg community. Bishop Smith was able to attend the Mass, while Archbishop Sample immediately sent condolences and prayers.

“These terrible shooting tragedies are becoming far too common an experience in our contemporary society. They are always shocking and sobering events, but they are even more so when they strike so close to home,” Archbishop Sample said in an initial statement he posted on social media. “My prayers are with the victims of the shooting and their families. I can only imagine the trauma they are experiencing.”

“My prayers are also with the community at UCC and the wider community of Roseburg. As the Catholic shepherd of western Oregon, I wish to express my closeness to the people at this sad and tragic time.”

Not long after, Archbishop Sample sent out a letter to all the priests to be distributed around the Archdiocese of Portland, saying that he was “saddened beyond words” by the shooting and that his heart was “very heavy with sorrow as I grieve with all of you.”

“We must unite our suffering and the suffering of all those most directly affected by this tragedy with the cross of Jesus. In Christ, sorrow, death and loss are transformed by the glory of the resurrection. Jesus has conquered sin and death and opened the way to eternal life,” he said.

“Let us prayerfully commend our deceased brothers and sisters to the mercy of our loving Father. Let us also pray for healing and strength for all those who grieve the loss of loved ones and who care for the wounded.”

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FEATURES

‘The Intern’ offers something for everyone

by Carl Kozlowski • September 28, 2015

In a movie world awash in clichéd romantic comedies or raunchy sex romps, there’s something downright refreshing about the new movie “The Intern.” It’s a story about a friendship between a man and a woman – one that never threatens to be sexualized, and which shows that there can be great beauty and wisdom shared between the genders, and even more importantly between generations. Coming amid a week in which Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. is helping (among other things) draw attention to the dignity of the human spirit, this is a beautiful example of putting those values in action.

The movie stars Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway, both of whom have Oscar-winning pedigrees and who team up with writer-director Nancy Meyers to create a film that’s not only refreshingly clean in its values but also in its often hilarious comedic sense. Meyers has established herself as Hollywood’s greatest female director of comedies, thanks to modern classics like “Something’s Gotta Give,” “It’s Complicated” and “The Holiday,” and here she comes up with perhaps her biggest winner yet.

The movie follows a 70-year-old widower named Ben (Robert DeNiro), who is retired and lonely and has been filling the void in his life with a slew of classes and activities like tai chi. When a hip Web-based fashion company owned by a much younger married mom named Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) announces that it’s looking for senior citizens as interns as part of a community outreach, Ben applies and scores a position.

Yet while Ben quickly ingratiates himself with the 20somethings who dominate the staff, giving them valuable life lessons and the wisdom of his years, Jules is distant to him and barely gives him anything to do. She thinks that the internship is a dumb publicity stunt created by her partner, but when Ben takes over for her driver one day after he sees the man sneaking swigs of alcohol, Jules gets to know him well and realizes he’s magic.

Thus begins a fresh and wonderful friendship, in a series of incidents that alternate hilarious comic moments with touchingly tender ones. Along the way, Ben has to lead a break-in into Jules’ mom’s house so he and a trio of the young guys can find the mom’s laptop and delete a mean-spirited email from Jules before she gets home, and he also finds himself serving as Jules’ emotional lifeline when he discovers her stay-home-dad husband (Anders Holm) is having an affair. He also begins a sweet relationship with the company masseuse (Rene Russo).

“The Intern” sneaks up on viewers, at first appearing to be an almost-random series of events from the characters’ lives. But as they are drawn into their well-written and acted characters, audiences will find that they genuinely care about these people – even the goofy young-guy interns and the cheating husband – in a way that’s all too rare in today’s mainstream Hollywood movies.

One other bonus in “The Intern” is that writer-director Meyers has a lot of spot-on things to say about marriage, forgiveness, and what constitutes a real man in today’s Peter Pan culture. The young guys learn from Ben to spiff up their attire, appreciate briefcases, and truly talk to women rather than merely text or email them.

Meanwhile, Meyers shows Jules and her husband learning that switching traditional gender/parent roles can go too far, and stands up for a more traditional way of life. For a female director who’s drawn to creating strong female roles in her movies, Meyers has a surprisingly pro-masculine take on relationships both at work and at home.

With the savvy casting of two of our classiest current stars, “The Intern” literally has something for everyone young and old, male and female. And with its adultery plotline merely implied and discussed in non-graphic terms and just one F word constituting the reason for its PG-13 rating, it’s perfectly acceptable fare for any teen or adult who wants to see it.

Carl Kozlowski has been a professional film critic and essayist for the past five years at Pasadena Weekly, in addition to the Christian movie site Movieguide.org, the conservative pop culture site Breitbart.com Big Hollywood, the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant, and New City newspaper in Chicago. He also writes in-depth celebrity interviews for Esquire.com and The Progressive. He is owner of the podcasting site radiotitans.com, which was named one of the Frontier Fifty in 2013 as one of the 50 best talk-radio outlets in the nation by talkers.com and will be re-launching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

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FEATURES

The Moral Life and Human Choice

by Deacon Keith Fournier • September 29, 2015

Many people are looking for the path to happiness and freedom. It is a natural and supernatural longing. However, we live in an age which espouses a notion of freedom of choice as a power to do whatever one desires without reference to any evaluative or objective norm outside of a self-constructed individualistic compass. This view is evident in every behavior that treats the human person as some-thing to be used rather than some-one, a gift to be received. It does not free us, fulfill us or make us happy.

Catholic moral teaching offers a unique insight that has enormous potential to engage a culture which is deluded by just such a pursuit of self-fulfillment - but enslaved by making the kinds of choices which lead to emptiness, division and despair. It affirms that the very act of choosing and places the person in a relationship with the object, or the subject, chosen. That which is chosen not only changes the world around the chooser, but changes the person who makes the choice. In simple words, we become what we choose. As reiterated by St. John Paul in his seventh encyclical letter entitled On Social Concerns, the Church’s social doctrine “belongs to the field, not of ideology, but of theology and particularly of moral theology”.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa provided an insight concerning our choices in an ancient homily quoted approvingly by John Paul II in his masterful encyclical letter on the Moral Life, Veritatis Splendor which means in English, The Splendor of Truth and is cited in the section on the Moral Life in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “All things are subject to change and to becoming never remain constant, but continually pass from one state to another, for better or for worse. Now human life is always subject to change; it needs to be born ever anew. But here birth does not come about by a foreign intervention, as is the case with bodily beings; it is the result of free choice. Thus we are, in a certain sense, our own parents, creating ourselves as we will, by our decisions.”

What we choose determines who we become. Choosing what is good changes the chooser, empowering him or her to proceed along the pathways of virtue and develop the habitus - or habits - which promote Christian character. The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses human choice, action and freedom: The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin”. (Cf. Rom 6:17) (CCC#1733)

Saint John Paul’s Letter on the Moral Life, The Splendor of Truth, responded to the continuing call of the Second Vatican Council to re-root Catholic moral teaching within the Bible, which is the “soul of theology”. (Dei Verbum #24) In its first chapter, it provides an exegesis of the scriptures based on the Lord’s encounter with the rich young man within which it expounds a moral theology of choice. It was not the man’s possessions that made him choose to say no to the Lord’s invitation. It was his disordered relationship to them that impeded his freedom. They possessed him. He went away sad because he made the wrong choice. From this encounter the letter develops its teaching on choice and authentic human freedom, explaining the proper development and formation of conscience in relationship to objective truth. It issues a strong reaffirmation of the Natural Moral Law.

Two years after The Splendor of Truth, John Paul released another encyclical letter entitled Evangelium Vitae, The Gospel of Life, which continued his work of laying a firm foundation for a proper understanding of choice and the Moral Life. In that letter he responded to the myriad of threats against the dignity of human life caused by the redefinition of the word freedom with a prophetic urgency. He warned of what he called a “counterfeit notion of freedom”. He positioned this counterfeit as the root cause of what he labeled the culture of death. Under that phrase he coalesced all the current social evils; from abortion (which is always and everywhere intrinsically evil); to modern slaveries, (including pornography and drug addiction); to disdain for the poor and a cheapening of all life as well as the foreboding momentum toward a misguided use of new medical technologies; to active and passive euthanasia and the return of eugenics.

Finally, in considering the moral life and human choice we should note the clear moral character of the teaching compiled within the Catechism of the Catholic Church released on the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, October 11, 1992. Part Three of the Catechism, a section devoted specifically to a discussion of moral theology is entitled Life in Christ. The section treats the vocation of man to beatitude. It articulates a clear moral theology of choice by considering the morality of human acts, the role of the passions, the proper formation of the conscience and the cultivation of the virtues accompanied by the rejection of sin.

In its explanation of the morality of human acts, the Catechism offers a sobering insight concerning a wrong exercise of freedom: “Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself.” It properly insists that authentic Human Freedom cannot be realized in decisions made against God and against what is good because it is “patterned on God’s freedom.”

Patterned on God’s freedom, man’s freedom is not negated by his obedience to the divine law; indeed, only through this obedience does it abide in the truth and conform to human dignity. This is clearly stated by the Council: ‘Human dignity requires man to act through conscious and free choice, as motivated and prompted personally from within, and not through blind internal impulse or merely external pressure. Man achieves such dignity when he frees himself from all subservience to his feelings, and in a free choice of the good, pursues his own end by effectively and assiduously marshaling the appropriate means. (VS #42)

The New Testament is filled with examples of the connection between what we choose and who we become. Two will suffice. We become adulterers when we look at a woman with lust (Mt. 5:28); what comes out of our heart (The heart is the biblical center where freedom is exercised, human choices are made and character is formed through choice) is what makes us unclean (Mk 7:14-23). In short, freedom has consequences. The capacity to make choices is constitutive of our being human persons and reflects an aspect of the Imago Dei, the Image of God, present within us. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wrote in their document on the Mission of the Church: Authentic freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine image within man. (GS #17)

Thus, it can be said that freedom should be exercised within a moral constitution. Socially, that means it must be exercised in reference to the truth concerning the human person, the family, and our obligations in solidarity to one another and to the real common good. That is why the fullness of authentic human freedom is ultimately found only in a relationship with the God who is its source and who alone can set us free. St. John 8:32 records these words of Jesus concerning this connection between freedom and truth, “Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, ‘If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” When we choose the truth which He reveals we find the fullness of freedom.

In The Splendor of Truth, St. John Paul II warned of what he called the “death of true freedom”. (#40) This concern is also addressed repeatedly in The Gospel of Life where he writes of freedom’s “essential link with truth” and “inherently relational dimension.” (#19) In his later encyclical letter Faith and Reason, Fides et ratio, he wrote: It is not just that freedom is part of the act of faith: it is absolutely required. Indeed, it is faith that allows individuals to give consummate expression to their own freedom. Put differently, freedom is not realized in decisions made against God. For how could it be an exercise of true freedom to refuse to be open to the very reality which enables our self-realization? Men and women can accomplish no more important act in their lives than the act of faith; it is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth and chooses to live in that truth. (#13)

All of this invites us all to pause and reflect upon our own lives, and our own choices. What are we choosing and who are we becoming? How do we exercise our human freedom? Basil the Great was a monk, theologian, Bishop of the fourth century, and a friend of Gregory of Nyssa. He wrote a detailed Rule for Monks which contains another helpful insight into what we choose and who we become with which I will conclude:

Basil the Great: The ability to love is within each of us

Love of God is not something that can be taught. We did not learn from someone else how to rejoice in light or want to live, or to love our parents or guardians. It is the same - perhaps even more so - with our love for God: it does not come by another’s teaching. As soon as the living creature (that is, man) comes to be, a power of reason is implanted in us like a seed, containing within it the ability and the need to love. When the school of God’s law admits this power of reason, it cultivates it diligently, skillfully nurtures it, and with God’s help brings it to perfection.

For this reason, as by God’s gift, I find you with the zeal necessary to attain this end, and you on your part help me with your prayers. I will try to fan into flame the spark of divine love that is hidden within you, as far as I am able through the power of the Holy Spirit.

First, let me say that we have already received from God the ability to fulfill all his commands. We have then no reason to resent them, as if something beyond our capacity were being asked of us. We have no reason either to be angry, as if we had to pay back more than we had received. When we use this ability in a right and fitting way, we lead a life of virtue and holiness. But if we misuse it, we fall into sin.

This is the definition of sin: the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good; a use contrary to God’s commands. On the other hand, the virtue that God asks of us is the use of the same powers based on a good conscience in accordance with God’s command.

Since this is so, we can say the same about love. Since we received a command to love God, we possess from the first moment of our existence an innate power and ability to love. The proof of this is not to be sought outside ourselves, but each one can learn this from himself and in himself. It is natural for us to want things that are good and pleasing to the eye, even though at first different things seem beautiful and good to different people. In the same way, we love what is related to us or near to us, though we have not been taught to do so, and we spontaneously feel well disposed to our benefactors.

What, I ask, is more wonderful than the beauty of God? What thought is more pleasing and wonderful than God’s majesty? What desire is as urgent and overpowering as the desire implanted by God in a soul that is completely purified of sin and cries out in its love: I am wounded by love? The radiance of divine beauty is altogether beyond the power of words to describe.

(From the Detailed Rules for Monks by Basil the Great, 4th century).

Deacon Keith A. Fournier is Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Alliance. A member of the clergy, a Roman Catholic Deacon, he is also a constitutional/human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the nineteen nineties. He has long been active at the intersection of faith, values, and culture and currently serves as Special Counsel to Liberty Counsel. Deacon Fournier is also a Senior Contributing Writer for THE STREAM.

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FEATURES

Recapping the Papal Visit

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • September 30, 2015

Last week, Pope Francis held much of the nation riveted on his presence, words and gestures. Millions gladly stood for hours in long lines to see him pass by in his Fiat and pope mobile if only for a few seconds. Political leaders anticipated his reflections on global concerns. Children, families, the imprisoned, victims of sex-abuse, and those in consecrated life awaited his encouragement and consolation.

Cuba, Washington, New York City, and Philadelphia — four different places with four different responses. Liberals and conservatives interpreted his words as they wished. Though not a theologian by training, Francis used images and gestures in other ways to express a theology of God and a theology of God’s People. The handshake, the embrace and kiss, the blessings offered to the infirm — our young people will interpret them. The crushing schedule seemed to invigorate rather than exhaust him. It was a lovely week in Northeastern America.

The Papal Message

Pope Francis conveyed a few underlying themes during his visit. Cuba of course claimed his special attention, and he will pursue the Church’s interests there with focused concern. His overall message in this country proclaimed that God is our Creator, and we, his creatures. Not the other way round.

He spoke as much to skeptics, agnostics, and atheists as he did to believers. Perhaps even more so. “If you cannot pray for me,” he asked of them in caring tones, “then please wish me well.” Other faiths formed an integral part of his focus captured poignantly at the ecumenical prayer service at Ground Zero.

Pope Francis has enormous respect for the senses. See Christ, contemplate him in prayer. Do not speak about Christ; encounter him in prayer. Listen to God’s voice in the silence of your heart. If there was any doubt about his keen sense of touch, look at the pictures of this tactile person.

The pope rises at 4:30 a.m. and, before beginning the day’s activities, spends a few hours in prayer. For him, prayer is the power that drives his actions. We don’t see it, but we know it’s there. His actions return him to prayer. This is the delicate balance of prayer for the sake of the apostolate and action for the sake of prayer — the finding of God in all things.

He speaks of listening to others. It is the art of being present to the other as other. In the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius wrote of the three levels of being present to others: attentive respect, reverence, and devotion. This means recognizing that God is present and at work when we encounter the other. For St. Ignatius Loyola, the resolution of every human encounter should be the discovery of God’s presence.

Everyone is called to missionary discipleship. For most of us, it will not be that quiet companionship of the cloister or monastery but in the city. It is said that St. Benedict loved the valleys, St. Bernard, the mountain tops, St. Francis of Assisi, the towns, but St. Ignatius preferred the big cities. For him, God was everywhere but especially in the city — the city of God and the city of man. All of which leads to mission.

The Mission

Mission is the centerpiece of discipleship. I am impelled to go out and spread his message of mercy and love in whatever way if possible. People come before programs, and programs exist for the sake of people. Discipleship allows others to make demands on my time, energy, and patience.

A personal note. It is true that the corporal works of mercy are essential and prior to all else. Still, in the long run, the greatest service to the poor is to educate their minds that seek truth. It is the key to lift the poor out of poverty. The Cristo Rey Schools best demonstrate this fact.

The Golden Rule is the yardstick by which we will be measured. In the words of Pope Francis, the time to make the human condition better cannot be delayed. The time is not tomorrow but now in “the sacrament of the present moment” where God is always at work renewing the face of the earth.

We are to care not only for one another but also for all creation. The pontiff’s view of the environment is not a trendy cause but is rooted in a biblical theology where God enjoins on everyone to care for the blessings of the earth.

Conclusion

On the plane returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis noted the warmth, receptivity, and piety of the American Church. He reiterated his concerns for conscientious freedom and religious freedom. Victims of sex abuse and their victimizers shielded by the bishops greatly disturb him, and visibly so. “It is a terrible thing. God weeps,” he summarized.

On a number of occasions and not just on the plane, the pontiff praised women in consecrated life, and it is clear that their popularity in the American Church made an impression on him. There is widespread agreement that without the sisters and laywomen, the Church would effectively come to a halt. Smiling, he said that “the people of the United States love the sisters.” Women rarely receive credit for the work they do in the Church.

Pope Francis further reflected on the plane: Though priesthood for women is “still not a possibility, it is not because women don’t have the capacity.” From his dealings with sisters at the Vatican offices, he knows how efficiently they work.

His thoughts about women in the Church will hopefully translate into appointing religious sisters and laywomen to leadership positions with executive responsibility in every sector of the Church.

It was a lovely week in Northeastern America.

Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Brentwood, NY, holds degrees in philosophy (Ph.L.), musicology (Ph.D.), theology (M.A.), and liturgical studies (Ph.D.). She has taught at all levels of Catholic education and writes with a particular focus on a theology of beauty and the sacred arts. Her e-mail address is jroccasalvo@optonline.net.

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FEATURES

The Pope, The Congress, and a Trappist Monk

by Bishop Robert Barron • September 30, 2015

I had the extraordinary privilege last week of following the Pope’s pilgrimage at very close quarters. I had this access both as a bishop and as a commentator for NBC News. It was thrilling indeed to witness just how rapturously the American people received the Pope and how affected the Holy Father was by this reception. Many images stay vividly in my mind: the Pope kissing the forehead of the ten year old boy with cerebral palsy, the rabbi and imam praying together at the September 11th memorial, a little boy from a New York Catholic school showing the Pope how to maneuver his way around a Smart Board. But what stays most powerfully with me is the Pope speaking to a joint meeting of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C.

My first assignment for NBC last week was the Today Show’s coverage of the Pope’s arrival on the south lawn of the White House. As I sat on the platform with Matt Lauer and Maria Shriver, I looked across at the stately obelisk of the Washington Monument, and I remembered an extraordinary event from the mid- nineteenth century. Along with many other world leaders, Pope Pius IX had sent a block for the construction of the monument to the Father of our country, but an angry mob of anti-Catholic bigots took that piece of marble and threw it into the Potomac. This of course was not an isolated or purely egregious act of vandalism; rather, it partook of a widespread and deeply-rooted hatred of Catholicism that lasted in this country in fairly virulent form up to the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. That the Pope of Rome would be graciously received at the White House and welcomed to speak before the entire Congress of the United States would have struck most Americans, for much of our history, as simply unthinkable. And this is why (and I’ll confess it openly) my eyes filled with tears as I saw the Pope standing at the rostrum in the House of Representatives, the cheers of the gathered lawmakers washing over him.

And as I listened to the Pope’s words that day, I was even more astonished. As is his wont, Francis didn’t trade in abstractions. Instead, he focused his remarks on four outstanding figures from American history-Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton-each of whom spoke of some dimension of authentic freedom. Anyone familiar with my work over the years would know that all four of these people are heroes of mine. I have a photo of Lincoln over the desk in my office; I have written extensively on King and have done a number of videos on his life and legacy; Dorothy Day is featured prominently in my documentary CATHOLICISM (see Episode 2); and Thomas Merton is, quite simply, one of the major reasons that I entered the priesthood, and a photo of him is in eyeshot as I type these words.

I would love to explore the Pope’s analysis of each of these giants, but given the limited scope of this article, I will focus on the one I consider the most important, namely Merton. What Merton signaled for the Pope was the openness to dialogue with other religions to be sure, but also and more significantly, the contemplative openness to the reality of God, to a dimension that goes beyond the empirical world and the achievements of the individual ego. This is of supreme importance, for when a sense of God evanesces-as it has increasingly in our secularized Western world-all we have left for understanding human affairs are psychological and political categories. Armed only with these, we fall into the customary patterns of left and right, liberal and conservative, open to change and suspicious of change, etc. And this, furthermore, makes Catholic social teaching so confounding to the pundits and politicos. How can the Catholic Church simultaneously advocate against abortion and assisted suicide but for immigration reform and attention to the poor? How can it stand against the abuse of the environment and for the free market, against the death penalty, and for the family? With God out of the picture, it is indeed hard to make sense of such an array of opinions, but with God at the heart of things, the various positions of the Church fall into harmony, much like the medallions in a rose window. If God exists, then every individual person that he has created is a subject of rights, freedom, and dignity. If God exists, then no one is expendable and everyone is equally worthy of respect. It is none other than the contemplative attitude exemplified by Thomas Merton that reveals this deep consistency.

How wonderful and strange that a Pope would be addressing Congress at all, but how surpassing wonderful and strange it was that he should use the occasion to hold up before the lawmakers of the most powerful nation on earth the example of a Trappist monk who gave his life to the contemplation of God.

Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries (wordonfire.org). He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

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SUNDAY • OCTOBER 4, 2015

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 2:18-24; NRSVCE)

The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

for out of Man this one was taken.”

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Second Reading (Heb 2:9-11; NRSVCE)

Jesus for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Gospel Reading (Mk 10:2-16; NRSVCE)

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

MONDAY • OCTOBER 5, 2015

Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jon 1:1 – 2:1-2, 11; NRSVCE)

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”

The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.

Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Gospel Reading (Lk 10:25-37; NRSVCE)

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

TUESDAY • OCTOBER 6, 2015

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jon 3:1-10; NRSVCE)

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Gospel Reading (Lk 10:38-42; NRSVCE)

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

WEDNESDAY • OCTOBER 7, 2015

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

First Reading (Jon 4:1-11; NRSVCE)

When God did not carry out the evil he threatened against Nineveh, this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

Gospel Reading (Lk 11:1-4; NRSVCE)

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

THURSDAY • OCTOBER 8, 2015

Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Mal 3:13-20b; NRSVCE)

You have spoken harsh words against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, “How have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command or by going about as mourners before the Lord of hosts? Now we count the arrogant happy; evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape.”

Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.

Gospel Reading (Lk 11:5-13; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

FRIDAY • OCTOBER 9, 2015

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2; NRSVCE)

Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;

wail, you ministers of the altar.

Come, pass the night in sackcloth,

you ministers of my God!

Grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

Sanctify a fast,

call a solemn assembly.

Gather the elders

and all the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sound the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near —

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness spread upon the mountains

a great and powerful army comes;

their like has never been from of old,

nor will be again after them

in ages to come.

Gospel Reading (Lk 11:15-26; NRSVCE)

After Jesus had driven out a demon, some in the crowd said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? — for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

SATURDAY • OCTOBER 10, 2015

Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jl 4:12-21; NRSVCE)

Let the nations rouse themselves,

and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;

for there I will sit to judge

all the neighboring nations.

Put in the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.

Go in, tread,

for the wine press is full.

The vats overflow,

for their wickedness is great.

Multitudes, multitudes,

in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.

The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

The Lord roars from Zion,

and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

and the heavens and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people,

a stronghold for the people of Israel.

So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,

dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

and strangers shall never again pass through it.

In that day

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

the hills shall flow with milk,

and all the stream beds of Judah

shall flow with water;

a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord

and water the Wadi Shittim.

Egypt shall become a desolation

and Edom a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence done to the people of Judah,

in whose land they have shed innocent blood.

But Judah shall be inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem to all generations.

I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,

for the Lord dwells in Zion.

Gospel Reading (Lk 11:27-28; NRSVCE)

While Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”