VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7  •  APRIL 15, 2017

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Prayer vigil of the Holy Father Francis in preparation for the 32nd World Youth Day

Bishops seek input from youth ahead of 2018 synod

Celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

Pope prays for victims of attack on Coptic church in Egypt

Audience with the members of the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences

‘Pope Francis laundry’ service opens for homeless in Rome

Despite deadly attacks, Pope Francis will still go to Egypt

Meeting of the Pope with a group of children in the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome

Consistory announced to approve Fatima children’s canonization

Youth raise voices ahead of 2018 synod: We want to follow Christ

Bible scholar gives inside look at Vatican’s Stations of the Cross

Donate blood, get free admission to the Vatican Museums

General Audience: Hopes of the world and hope of the Cross

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis at Holy Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday

In new interview, Pope says to never give up hope for conversion

You can show God’s love even behind bars, Pope Francis tells inmates

Why did Pope Francis visit Benedict XVI? To say happy birthday!

Good Friday papal preacher: In a changing world, the cross remains the same

WORLD NEWS

Venezuelan religious call for autonomy among branches of government

South African bishops call on nation’s president to consider resigning

Global bishops unite in prayer following Egypt church bombings

South Sudanese bishop: It takes unity to achieve peace

West African bishops highlight challenges facing their nations

Egypt’s Christians to hold restrained Easter services in light of attacks

U.S. NEWS

What Catholic leaders had to say about U.S. missile strikes in Syria

Proposed Texas budget would defund abortion providers

U.S. bishops back religious freedom for adoption, foster care providers

It’s the law: Once again, states can stop funding Planned Parenthood

FEATURES

Movie review: ‘The Case for Christ’

Why married priests won’t really fix the shortage

Catholics shouldn’t totally reject human gene editing – but it still has ethical problems

‘The Case for Christ’ and a stubbornly historical religion

What Holy Week looks like in a remote Indian diocese

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • April 16, 2017

Monday • April 17, 2017

Tuesday • April 18, 2017

Wednesday • April 19, 2017

Thursday • April 20, 2017

Friday • April 21, 2017

Saturday • April 22, 2017

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Volume 3, Issue 7 • April 15, 2017

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VATICAN NEWS

Prayer vigil of the Holy Father Francis in preparation for the 32nd World Youth Day

The Holy See Press Office • April 8, 2017

Vatican City — At 18:30 this afternoon, in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, a prayer vigil was held in preparation for the 32nd World Youth Day, to be held tomorrow at diocesan level, on the theme, The Mighty One has done great things for me (Lk. 1:49).

The vigil was organized by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, in collaboration with the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life and with the dioceses of Lazio.

The encounter was preceded by hymns, readings and testimonies from young people of Rome and Lazio.

During the celebration, after the testimonies of a religious sister and a young person, the Holy Father addressed some off-the-cuff remarks to the young people present. The following is a full transcript of his address:

Holy Father’s address

Dear Young Friends,

Thank you for coming! This evening marks a double beginning. It is the beginning of the journey towards the Synod, which has a very long name – “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment,” but we can just call it the Synod of Young People. That way it is easier to understand! It is also a second beginning, the beginning of our journey to Panama. The archbishop of Panama is with us, and I greet him warmly.

We have listened to the Gospel, prayed, sung and brought flowers to the Madonna, our Mother. We also brought the World Youth Day cross, which has come from Kraków and will be handed over tomorrow to the young people from Panama. From Kraków to Panama, with the Synod in between. A Synod from which no young person should feel excluded!

Some people say: “Let’s hold the Synod for young Catholics, for those belonging to Catholic groups; that way it will be better.” No! The Synod is meant to be the Synod for and of all young people. Young people are its protagonists. “But even young people who consider themselves agnostics?” Yes! “Even young people whose faith is lukewarm?” Yes! “Even young people who no longer go to Church?” Yes! “Even young people who – I don’t know if there are any here, maybe one or two – consider themselves atheists?” Yes! This is the Synod of young people and we want to listen to one another. Every young person has something to say to others. He or she has something to say to adults, something to say to priests, sisters, bishops and even the Pope. All of us need to listen to you!

Let’s think back to Kraków; the cross is a reminder. There I said two things, perhaps some of you will remember. First, it is not good to see a young person already retired at twenty! Second, it is also not good to see a young person spending his or her life on a couch. Isn’t this the truth? We need young people who are neither retired nor couch potatoes! We need young people who are on the road and moving forward, at each other’s side but looking ahead to the future!

In the Gospel (cf. Lk 1:39-45) we heard how Mary receives that grace, that immense vocation of bringing God’s gift to us. The Gospel tells us that after hearing that her elderly cousin was expecting a child and needed help, Mary sets out in haste to help her. She hurries! The world today needs young people who “hurry,” who don’t get tired of hurrying. We need young people who feel a call, who feel that life offers them a mission. Young people who, as Maria Lisa (a young religious Sister) said so often in her testimony, are on the go. Maria Lisa shared her experience with us: it was an experience of being on the go. We need young people on the go. The world can change only if young people are on the go.

But this is the tragedy of the world today, and of young people today, that young people are often discarded. They don’t have work, they don’t have an ideal to pursue, they lack education and they lack integration. So many young people have to flee, to migrate to other lands. Young people today, it is painful to say, are often discarded. We cannot tolerate this! We have to hold this Synod to say: “We young people are here!” And we are going to Panama to say: “We young people are here, on the march, and we don’t want to be discarded! We have something of value to give!

While Pompeo was talking (in the second testimony), I was thinking that twice he was almost at the point of being discarded – when he was eight and again when he was eighteen. But he made it: he was able to pick himself up. Life, when we look up, always surprises us. Maria Lisa said this too. They both said this.

We are on the march, towards the Synod and towards Panama. And this march has its risks, but when young people don’t take risks, they are already old. We have to take risks.

Maria Lisa said that after receiving the sacrament of Confirmation she fell away from the Church. You all know that here in Italy the sacrament of Confirmation is called the “sacrament of farewell!” After Confirmation, people stop going to church. Why? Because so many young people don’t know what to do. But Maria Lisa never stopped, she kept walking: at times along dark ways, poorly-lit ways, without ideals or with ideals that she didn’t quite understand; but in the end she too made it. As young people, you have to take a risk in life. You have to prepare for tomorrow today. The future is in your hands.

In the Synod, the entire Church wants to listen to young people: to what they are thinking, to what they want, to what they criticize and to what they are sorry for. Everything. The Church needs lots more springtime, and springtime is the season of the young.

I want to invite you to make this journey, this march towards the Synod and towards Panama, and to make it with joy, with your aspirations, without fear, without shame, and to make it courageously. Courage is needed. But also the effort to appreciate the beauty of little things, as Pompeo said: the beauty of everyday life. Be grateful for life, don’t ever lose this ability. Be thankful for what you are: “This is how I am, thank you!” So often in life, we waste time asking ourselves: “Who am I?” You can keep asking, “Who am I?” for the rest of your lives. But the real question is: “For whom am I?” Like Our Lady, who could ask: “For whom, for what person, am I,” here and now? She answers, “For my cousin,” and off she goes. “For whom am I?,” not “Who am I?.” The answer to that second question comes later; it is a question that has to be asked, but first you have to ask why: why you do something, something for your entire life, something that makes you think, makes you feel makes you work. There are these three languages: the language of the mind, the language of the heart, and the language of the hands. Never stop moving ahead.

There is something else I want to tell you. The Synod will not be a “chat room.” World Youth Day will not be a chat room, or a form of entertainment, or a nice happy experience from which you can then move on. No! Concreteness! Life demands concreteness of us. In this liquid culture, we need concreteness, and concreteness is your vocation.

Now I would like to conclude … I had a written speech, but after seeing you, after listening to the testimonies, I thought I should say all the things I just told you. There are going to be times when you don’t understand, dark times, painful times, but also wonderful times, times of darkness and times of light … But I want to make one thing clear. We live in the present. At my age, people are getting ready to leave the scene … right? Who can be sure about life? Nobody. At your age, you have the future ahead of you. Life holds out a mission to young people today; the Church holds out a mission, and I would like to entrust you with this mission. It is to go back and talk to your grandparents. Today more than ever we need this bridge, this dialogue, between grandparents and grandchildren, between the young and the elderly. The prophet Joel makes this prophecy: “Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions” (2.28). In other words, the young will make things happen because of their vision. So this is the task I am giving you in the name of the Church. Talk to older people. You may say: “But it’s boring … They are always talking about the same things …” No! Listen to older people, talk to them, ask them questions. Make them dream, and from those dreams take what you need to move forward, so that you can have a vision and make that vision concrete. This is your mission today. This is the mission the Church gives you today.

Dear young friends, be courageous! You may say: “But Father, I have sinned, I fall so often!” I think of an Alpine song, a lovely song that mountaineers sing: “In the art of scaling a mountain, the important thing is not that you fall; it is that you get up and keep going!” Have you fallen? Get up and keep moving. But think about the dreams your grandfather or grandmother had, make them talk about them, take those things and build the bridge to the future. This is the task and the mission the Church is giving you today.

Thank you so much for your courage and now … off to Panama! I don’t know whether I will be there, but the Pope will be there! And the Pope in Panama will ask you this question: “Did you talk to older people? Did you take the dreams of the elderly and make them visions? Are you making them happen? This is your task. May the Lord bless you. Pray for me, and together let us prepare for the Synod and for Panama. Thank you.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Bishops seek input from youth ahead of 2018 synod

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • April 8, 2017

World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland on July 2016. (Jeff Bruno)

Vatican City — An international conference this week in Rome is seeking feedback from young people on the upcoming 2018 Synod of Bishops, as preparations are also underway for the 2019 World Youth Day in Panama.

The purpose of the April 5-9 conference, “From Krakow to Panama: The synod on the way with the young,” was primarily to de-brief on WYD in Krakow and to help with the planning and implementation of WYD Panama in January 2019.

A new aspect this year, however, the conference also dedicated two days to a presentation of the preparatory document for the 2018 Synod of Bishops, which will discuss “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.”

According to an April 6 statement, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, said it’s important to note that the upcoming synod is not being put on by young people or about them as subjects of study, but that it is for them, and that is why it is important they are included.

He also explained that the preparatory document is just the beginning of the process.

Bishop Fabio Fabene, Undersecretary of the Synod, also explained the document and the dynamics of how they are consulting with local Churches, learning about the situation of young people around the world, and involving youth throughout the process.

“We also want to talk to those who are distant and indifferent,” he said, “showing them a Church that is caring for their present and their future.”

The conference included 300 delegates from bishops’ conferences from 104 countries and from 44 different movements, associations, and communities, as well as a large number of youth.

Put on by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life and the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the meeting is leading up to the diocesan-level World Youth Day in Rome April 9.

Presentations throughout the week included testimony from youth on WYD Krakow and from Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama on the preparations for WYD Panama.

Delegates from various countries gave feedback on the preparatory document and the topic for the upcoming Synod, including the United States, which asked that the document be presented to young people in a creative manner, including social media.

Some countries, like Burundi and Colombia, face many challenges to the faith, but said they have high expectations for the outcome of the Synod.

In the afternoon on April 6, Alessandro Rosina, Professor of Demography and Statistics at the Catholic University of Milan and a Synod consultant, presented analysis on the situation of young people from the first part of the synod document.

Rosina said that “people are not young in the same way in all periods of history: the experience of being young today is unique and must be recognized as such. Furthermore, while the young share common traits throughout the world, there are also local features, and regions have their characteristics.”

The Church “must grow more attentive to the young and become a positive experience in their lives so that they may choose her,” he said. “We need audacious young people,” he continued, quoting Pope Francis, “who are aware that they are a value for the world.”

In addition to the working days, the conference included a Friday evening concert for youth put on by two musical groups of the Focolare Movment: Gen Rosso and Gen Verde, of which the latter is a musical group made up entirely of women of various nationalities.

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VATICAN NEWS

Celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord

The Holy See Press Office • April 9, 2017

Vatican City — At 10:00 today the Holy Father Francis presided, in St. Peter’s Square, at the solemn liturgical celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord.

In the center of the square, near the obelisk, the Pope blessed the palm and olive branches, and at the end of the procession to the forecourt of the Basilica, he celebrated Holy Mass of the Passion of the Lord.

The event, which took place on the occasion of the diocesan celebration of 32nd World Youth Day, on the theme The Mighty One has done great things for me (Lk. 1:49), was attended by young people from Rome and other dioceses.

The following is the homily the Pope pronounced after the proclamation of the Passion of the Lord according to Matthew.

Homily of the Holy Father

Today’s celebration can be said to be bittersweet. It is joyful and sorrowful at the same time. We celebrate the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem to the cries of his disciples who acclaim him as king. Yet we also solemnly proclaim the Gospel account of his Passion. In this poignant contrast, our hearts experience in some small measure what Jesus himself must have felt in his own heart that day, as he rejoiced with his friends and wept over Jerusalem.

For thirty-two years now, the joyful aspect of this Sunday has been enriched by the enthusiasm of young people, thanks to the celebration of World Youth Day. This year, it is being celebrated at the diocesan level, but here in Saint Peter’s Square it will be marked by the deeply moving and evocative moment when the WYD cross is passed from the young people of Kraków to those of Panama.

The Gospel we heard before the procession (cf. Mt 21:1-11) describes Jesus as he comes down from the Mount of Olives on the back of a colt that had never been ridden. It recounts the enthusiasm of the disciples who acclaim the Master with cries of joy, and we can picture in our minds the excitement of the children and young people of the city who joined in the excitement. Jesus himself sees in this joyful welcome an inexorable force willed by God. To the scandalized Pharisees he responds: “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (Lk 19:40).

Yet Jesus who, in fulfilment of the Scriptures, enters the holy city in this way is no misguided purveyor of illusions, no new age prophet, no imposter. Rather, he is clearly a Messiah who comes in the guise of a servant, the servant of God and of man, and goes to his passion. He is the great “patient,” who suffers all the pain of humanity.

So as we joyfully acclaim our King, let us also think of the sufferings that he will have to endure in this week. Let us think of the slanders and insults, the snares and betrayals, the abandonment to an unjust judgment, the blows, the lashes and the crown of thorns … And lastly, the way of the cross leading to the crucifixion.

He had spoken clearly of this to his disciples: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). Jesus never promised honor and success. The Gospels make this clear. He had always warned his friends that this was to be his path, and that the final victory would be achieved through the passion and the cross. All this holds true for us too. Let us ask for the grace to follow Jesus faithfully, not in words but in deeds. Let us also ask for the patience to carry our own cross, not to refuse it or set it aside, but rather, in looking to him, to take it up and to carry it daily.

This Jesus, who accepts the hosannas of the crowd, knows full well that they will soon be followed by the cry: “Crucify him!” He does not ask us to contemplate him only in pictures and photographs, or in the videos that circulate on the internet. No. He is present in our many brothers and sisters who today endure sufferings like his own: they suffer from slave labor, from family tragedies, from diseases … They suffer from wars and terrorism, from interests that are armed and ready to strike. Women and men who are cheated, violated in their dignity, discarded … Jesus is in them, in each of them, and, with marred features and broken voice, he asks to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved.

It is not some other Jesus, but the same Jesus who entered Jerusalem amid the waving of palm branches. It is the same Jesus who was nailed to the cross and died between two criminals. We have no other Lord but him: Jesus, the humble King of justice, mercy and peace.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

The Holy See Press Office • April 9, 2017

Vatican City — At the end of the solemn liturgical celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord, the Holy Father Francis recited the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The following is the Pope’s introduction to the Marian prayer:

The Holy Father’s words before the Angelus

At the end of this celebration, I cordially greet all of you here present, especially those who have participated in the International Assembly in preparation for the Synod on young people, promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Family and Life in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. I also extend this greeting to all the young people who today, with their bishops, celebrate Youth Day in every diocese in the world. It is another stage of the great pilgrimage, initiated by St. John Paul II, that last year has brought us together in Krakow, and calls us to Panama for January 2019.

Therefore, in a moment, the young Poles will pass the World Youth Day Cross to the young Panamanians, all accompanied by their pastors and civil authorities.

Let us ask the Lord that the Cross, united with the icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani, will make faith and hope grow where it passes, revealing Christ’s invincible love.

To Christ, Who today enters the Passion, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we entrust the victims of last Friday’s terrorist attack in Stockholm, as well as those who are still sorely tried by war, the scourge of humanity. And let us pray for the victims of the attack this morning in Cairo, in a Coptic church. To my dear brother, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, to the Coptic Church and to all the dear Egyptian nation I express my deepest condolences, I pray for the deceased and the injured, and I am close to their families and the entire community. May the Lord convert the heart of those who sow terror, violence and death, and also the heart of those who produce and traffic in arms.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Pope prays for victims of attack on Coptic church in Egypt

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 9, 2017

Pope Francis at The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 3, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — After a bomb blast killed over 20 people and wounded several others during Palm Sunday celebrations in Egypt, Pope Francis voiced his closeness to the Coptic nation, and prayed for those who perpetrate violence through the arms trade.

After celebrating Palm Sunday Mass April 9, Pope Francis prayed for victims of “the attack that unfortunately took place today near Cairo,” voicing his closeness to Coptic Patriarch Pope Tawardos II, to and to the entire death Coptic nation.

“I express my heartfelt sorrow,” he said, and prayed that the Lord would “convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and death, and those who make and traffic arms.”

The Pope’s words came shortly after a bomb attack took place on the Coptic Christian Church of Mar Gerges in the northern city of Tanta, Egypt.

Worshippers had already packed the area to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass when the bomb was detonated. According to the Associated Press, at least 26 were killed and around 70 others wounded in the blast.

A second blast took place shortly after outside of a Christian church in Alexandria, killing 11 and wounding around 25. The man, a suicide bomber, had tried to storm the entrance to the church before being stopped by police, three of whom died in the blast. ISIS has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The bombings took place just two weeks before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Egyptian captial of Cairo April 28-29 in what is largely a bid to foster greater Catholic-Muslim dialogue, particularly on the point of ending extremist violence.

Francis offered his words of sorrow before leading pilgrims in the traditional Angelus prayer after Mass.

In his brief words before the prayer, he offered a special greeting to all those participating in WYD and their bishops, particularly those from Poland and Panama, and the Church and civil authorities who accompanied them to the Mass.

He also prayed for victims of the terrorist attacks that took place Friday, April 7, in Stockholm, when a 39-year-old Uzbek-native drove a large lorry truck into a department store, killing four and wounding 10, including a child.

Francis offered prayers for the victims as well as the many who are “still strongly tried by war, the tragedy of mankind.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Audience with the members of the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences

The Holy See Press Office • April 10, 2017

Vatican City — At 11:15 this morning, in the Hall of Popes of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the members of the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the institution of the Committee at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The following is Pope Francis’ address to those present:

Holy Father’s Address

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I cordially welcome each of you and I thank the president, Professor Andrea Lenzi, for the kind words with which he introduced our meeting. I would like first to express appreciation for the work carried out by the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences in the 25 years since its establishment at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The themes and issues that your committee faces are of great importance for contemporary man, both as an individual and in the relational and social dimension, starting with the family and also in local and national as well as international communities, and in care for creation.

As we read in the book of Genesis, “the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (2:15). Culture, of which you are leading representatives in the field of science and technology of life, carries within it the idea of “cultivation.” It expresses well the tension of making grow, bloom and bear fruit, through human ingenuity, what God has placed in the world. We cannot however forget that the biblical text also invites us to “keep” the garden of the world. As I wrote in Laudato Si’, “‘tilling’ refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while ‘keeping’ means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature” (n. 67). Your task is not only that of promoting the harmonious and integrated development of scientific and technological research that relates to the biological processes of plant, animal and human life; you are also asked to predict and prevent the negative consequences that can result in a distorted use of knowledge and skills to manipulate life.

The scientist, like the technologist, is called to “know” and “know how” with increasing precision and creativity in his or her field of competence and, at the same time, to take responsible decisions on steps to be taken, and those before which it is necessary to stop and take a different road. The principle of accountability is an essential cornerstone of human action, and man must answer for his own acts and omissions before himself, others and ultimately God. Technologies, more even than sciences, put in the hands of man an enormous and growing power. The major risk is that citizens, and sometimes even those who represent them and govern them, do not fully realize the seriousness of the challenges that arise, the complexity of the problems to be solved, and the danger of misusing the power that sciences and the technologies of life put in our hands (see Romano Guardini, The end of the modern era, Brescia 1987, pp. 80-81).

Then, when the interplay between technological power and economic power becomes closer, interests can condition lifestyles and social trends in the direction of the profit of certain industrial and commercial groups, to the detriment of the populations and the poorest nations. It is not easy to arrive at a harmonious composition of the different scientific, productive, ethical, social, economic and political interests, promoting sustainable development that respects the “common home.” This harmonious composition requires humility, courage and openness to the comparison between the different positions, in the certainty that the witness given by men of science to truth and the common good contributes to the maturation of social conscience.

At the conclusion of this reflection, let me remind you that the sciences and technologies are made for man and for the world, not the man and the world for science and technology. They are at the service of a dignified and healthy life for all, now and in the future, and make our common home more livable and supportive, more careful and guarded. Finally, I encourage the efforts of your Committee to initiate and sustain processes of consensus among scientists, technologists, business people and representatives of the institutions, and to identify strategies to enhance public awareness of the issues raised by developments in the life sciences and biotechnology.

May the Lord bless each one of you, your families and your valuable work. I assure you of my remembrance in prayer and I trust that you will pray for me too. Thank you!

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

‘Pope Francis laundry’ service opens for homeless in Rome

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • April 10, 2017

The new Pope Francis Laundry for the homeless in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood on April 10, 2017. (Apostolic Charities)

Vatican City — On Monday the latest Pope Francis-inspired initiative for the poor opened up in Rome – a new laundromat, with washing, drying and ironing services for those without a home or a fixed living situation.

“The Pope’s Laundry,” as it is being called, is organized by the Office of Papal Charities, in partnership with the Community of Sant’Egidio, and will be run by volunteers who will wash, dry and iron the clothes and blankets of those who otherwise can’t clean their belongings.

The initiative was born out of an invitation from Pope Francis in his apostolic letter Misericordia et misera, “to give a ‘concrete’ experience of the grace of the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” an April 10 communique from the Vatican stated.

As Francis wrote at the end of the Year of Mercy, the announcement said, “To want to be close to Christ demands to be near to our brothers, because nothing is more pleasing to the Father than a concrete sign of mercy. By its very nature, mercy is made visible and tangible in concrete and dynamic action.”

The service, located in an old hospital in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, now called the “People of Peace Center,” includes six brand-new washers and dryers, donated by Whirlpool. Irons, detergent and other products needed for the service have also been donated.

The laundromat joins services to welcome and assist the poor already in place at the location for more than 10 years.

In the next few months, they plan to also add a barber, free clothing, medical clinics, and the distribution of necessities to the Center.

The laundry service follows a string of special initiatives by Pope Francis to serve the homeless in Rome.

In 2015, Francis established showers, bathrooms and a barber shop inside the Vatican to serve the homeless population.

Later in the same year, he opened up a new homeless shelter for men, just around the corner form the Vatican in Via dei Penitenzieri, furnished by the Papal Office of Charities and donations, and run by sisters from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

With enough space to house 34 men, the shelter brought the Vatican’s total capacity for housing the homeless up to 84.

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has also invited homeless men and women to the Vatican, whether to see the Sistine Chapel, to dine with him, or for special events, showing his continued commitment to put into practice his charge to the Church to go out to the “peripheries.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Despite deadly attacks, Pope Francis will still go to Egypt

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • April 10, 2017

Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience on Sept. 21, 2016. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — The Vatican confirmed Monday that Pope Francis’ trip to Egypt at the end of the month will go on as planned, despite terrorist attacks which killed more than 43 people during Palm Sunday celebrations in the country.

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke, told journalists April 10 that “the Pope’s trip to Egypt proceeds as scheduled.” The Pope himself also confirmed that the trip will take place, according to Franciscan Fr. Marco Tasca.

During a meeting April 10 with General Ministers of the Franciscan Order, Francis “very firmly confirmed his trip to Egypt,” Fr. Tasca said, adding that he is “very informed.”

Pope Francis plans to visit the Egyptian capital of Cairo April 28-29, in what is largely a bid to foster greater Catholic-Muslim dialogue, particularly on the point of ending extremist violence.

The first of Sunday’s attacks, a bomb at the Coptic Christian church of Mar Gerges in the northern city of Tanta, Egypt killed 27 people and wounded at least 71 more, according to BBC News.

A second blast took place shortly after outside of a Christian church in Alexandria, killing 17 and injuring another 35. The man, a suicide bomber, had tried to storm the entrance to the church before being stopped by police, three of whom died in the blast. ISIS has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The attack in Alexandria narrowly missed harming the Coptic Patriarch Pope Tawadros II, who was participating in Mass inside the church.

After celebrating Palm Sunday Mass April 9, Pope Francis prayed for victims of “the attack that unfortunately took place today near Cairo,” voicing his closeness to Coptic Patriarch Pope Tawadros II, to and to the entire Coptic nation.

“I express my heartfelt sorrow,” he said, praying that the Lord would “convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and death, and those who make and traffic arms.”

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II is one of the religious leaders Pope Francis plans to meet with while in Cairo at the end of April. His schedule will also include a meeting with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyeb.

The Pope will leave Rome at 10:45 am, April 28, arriving in Cairo around 2:00 pm.

After a brief welcoming ceremony and visit with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam will each give a speech at an international conference on peace.

Francis will then meet with state authorities and with the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II.

On Saturday, April 29, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in the morning, followed by a meeting with Egypt’s bishops over lunch. Pope Francis was invited to visit Egypt by Coptic Catholic bishops during their ad limina visit at the Vatican Feb. 6, during which they also gave a report on the state of the Church in their country.

In the afternoon Francis will meet with priests, religious and seminarians followed by a farewell ceremony before boarding the papal plane, which is scheduled to leave Cairo at 5:00 pm, arriving in Rome at 8:30 pm.

For a community already suffering from an attack which killed 30 at a church connected to the main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo in December 2016, Sunday’s attacks have given rise to even greater concern over the security in Egypt.

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VATICAN NEWS

Meeting of the Pope with a group of children in the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome

The Holy See Press Office • April 11, 2017

Vatican City — Yesterday afternoon, in the study next to the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Francis met with a group of children and young people, in-patients in the “Bambino Gesù” Pediatric Hospital in Rome, accompanied by their parents and by the doctors who are treating them. The patients – aged between 5 and 18 years – are the protagonists of a television series produced by the RAI, “I Ragazzi del Bambino Gesù.” The meeting was attended by, among others, the director of the Pediatric Hospital, Mariella Enoc, and the director general of the RAI, Antonio Campo Dall’Orto.

The following is a transcript of the Pope’s words during the meeting.

Words of the Holy Father

(The Pope, after presentations and photographs with the children, reads the text of a note they have given him).

“Dear Francis, thank you for meeting with us. We are happy to be here, because you give us hope and courage for tomorrow. We love you – thank you! The children of Bambin Gesù.”

(Applause)

Thank you for these photographs, for this book, also for the dedication …

There are many stories. Each one of you is a story. Not only the sick children, but also the doctors, the nurses, those who visit, the families …

I will say two things that come to mind now.

One is something I noticed when you came … two months ago? … 15 December last. I greeted you and there was Dr. Enoc who accompanied me in the greetings, with some doctors, and she introduced the people to me. They all knew everyone’s names: “This one is fighting this disease … .” They also knew what was happening in their lives. And I perceived – I said it to you too, and then I will repeat what you said – I perceived that more than a hospital this is a family, that is one of the words you said. The most important thing was the name, the person, and only at the end was the disease mentioned, but almost incidentally, a secondary matter. It is a family, isn’t it?

And then the other thing we saw, no? You were a bit ashamed of getting up and not looking good in front of the camera, and the director, who is a bit like a mother, came up to you and said, “Come,” and she encouraged you. This is the beauty of a family, this is beautiful. … Entering in a hospital always makes us afraid, and I see his when I come up to some children, not all but some, very little ones, and they see me in white, and they begin to cry; they think it is a doctor who has come to give them a vaccine, and they cry and are afraid. I stroke them a few times and they calm down. Because there is always the function of the hospital … one must do this .. and there is the danger, the risk of forgetting the most important medicine that only a family can give: caresses! It is a form of medicine that is too costly, because to have it, to be able to do this, you must give everything, you must give all your heart, all your love. And you give them this affection, the caresses of the doctors, the nurses, the director, everyone.

Bambin Gesù has grown a lot lately, and has become a family. … The child, the patient finds a family there. Family and community, two words that you have said and repeated, and I wish to thank you for this, because Bambin Gesù offers witness, human witness. Human. It is a Catholic hospital, and to be Catholic first you must be human, and you give human witness today. Please, continue always on this path, grow in this way.

Thank you, and before greeting you one by one, because in a family we must all be polite and greet one another, I will ask Dr. Enoc to say something about the projects, about Syria …

(Address by Dr. Enoc)

You have seen that the Vatican heliport has been taken over by her (laughs), and when there are children who must arrive urgently at the hospital, they arrive by helicopter here and pass from the other side. She knows how to go ahead, and not only her, because this spirit is contagious, and she too has received this from you, and you pass this to each other. You are a family! Who is the most important person in a family? The mother, the father, the older brothers, the grandparents, the children … each person is the most important and you are all important, but always together.

Now, before greeting you one by one, I will ask the Lord to bless you.

(Pope’s blessing)

And please, pray for me! Do not forget. Thank you.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Consistory announced to approve Fatima children’s canonization

CNA/EWTN News • April 11, 2017

Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto. (Public domain)

Vatican City — Pope Francis will hold an ordinary public consistory on April 20, where the cardinals of the Church are expected to pave the way for the canonization of the Fatima visionaries.

There are five causes of canonization waiting for approval by the cardinals. Most prominent is the cause of Francesco and Jacinto Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the 1917 Marian apparitions at Fatima.

The cardinals’ approval at the consistory is the final step in the process leading up to canonization. Pope Francis has already given approval for the causes to move forward. Following the consistory, canonization dates will be set.

It has been widely speculated that Pope Francis will canonize the Fatima visionaries during his trip to Fatima for the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there. That trip will take place May 12-13.

Francisco, 11, and Jacinta, 10, were the youngest non-martyrs to be beatified in the history of the Church.

The brother and sister, who tended to their family’s sheep with their cousin Lucia Santo in the fields of Fatima, Portugal, witnessed the apparitions of Mary, now commonly known as Our Lady of Fatima.

During the first apparition, which took place May 13, 1917, Our Lady asked the three children to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices, offering them for the conversion of sinners. The children did, praying often, giving their lunch to beggars and going without food themselves. They offered up their daily crosses and even refrained from drinking water on hot days.

In October 1918, Francisco and Jacinta became seriously ill with the Spanish flu. Our Lady appeared to them and said she would to take them to heaven soon.

Francisco died April 4, 1919. Jacinta died the following year, Feb. 20, 1920.

Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta May 13, 2000, on the 83rd anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima.

The canonization cause for Sister Lucia Santo – the third Fatima visionary – is currently underway. Sr. Lucia lived to the age of 97, much longer than the other two visionaries, and the Vatican is currently examining information about her life that has been collected over the past eight years since her cause was officially opened.

In addition to the Fatima children, other causes of canonization set for approval at next week’s consistory are Cristóbal, Antonio, and Juan, young martyrs of Mexico in 1529; Fr. Faustino Míguez, the Spanish priest who founded the Calasanzian Institute of the Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess; Fr. Angelo da Acri, an Italian Capuchin priest who died in October 1739; and Fr. Andrea de Soveral, Fr. Ambrogio Francesco Ferro, Matteo Moreira, and their 27 companions, martyrs of Natal, Brazil in 1645.

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VATICAN NEWS

Youth raise voices ahead of 2018 synod: We want to follow Christ

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 11, 2017

Panamanian youths attend a prayer vigil at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome on April 8, 2017. (Lucia Ballester/CNA)

Vatican City — At a prayer vigil with youth this weekend, Pope Francis said the Church needs to listen to the voice of young people, and some of them have responded saying they want to let the world know they are not tired of following Christ.

“There are a lot of young people who feel like the Church is difficult, that it is far off, that it’s something for adults and for serious people,” Nicole Espino, 18, told CNA. But the Pope, she said, “helps us to understand that we are important and that we are part of the Church.”

“We feel included and like we are part of the Mass. We feel important, and he makes us feel that the youth count and that we belong to the Church,” she said.

Espino was one of some 300 Panamanian youths who came to Rome to receive the official World Youth Day cross from Polish young people during Pope Francis’ Palm Sunday Mass April 9.

The Mass coincided with the 32nd WYD, themed “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name,” and is the first step in preparing for the global 2019 WYD in Panama.

The youths were present along with Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama and Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan of David. Their itinerary included not only Mass with the Pope, but a prayer vigil the night before and meetings with the organizers of WYD and the upcoming 2018 synod of bishops on “Faith, Young People and the Discernment of Vocation.”

In a prayer vigil held April 8 in anticipation of this year’s diocesan-level WYD celebration, Pope Francis told the thousands of young people gathered in the Basilica of St. Mary Major to be protagonists in the preparation process for the two events, because the Church needs to hear their voice.

Espino said that for her, what she would tell the Church, particularly priests, is that “the youth are very important and that it’s an honor that the Pope chose Panama (for WYD).” She said she would also tell them that as youth “we are ready to give everything to give the best possible and to give face to our country.”

Similarly, Paul Tijerino, 24, who was present at the prayer vigil along with a number of other Panamanian youth, said his message to the Church would be that “we do not get tired of following God, of always following his example, of being humble in what we do.”

“We are aware of what we can be the only Gospel that a person reads,” he said, and voiced his hope that “our actions reflect this living Christ and when people see us, they see Christ, and not only that they see Christ, but see that we are guided by Mary.”

Tijerino was one of two youths to shake hands with Pope Francis at the prayer vigil as the Roman Pontiff was leaving, and all he could say about it was “wow!”

For him, Pope Francis is “a model of life, an example to follow in humility, simplicity and in everything that he represents.”

“He has turned the Church,” the young man said, explaining that what impacted him most about the Pope’s message to young people at the prayer vigil was “the message he gave on the synod … because it helps us a lot to know what it is that we want to do in our lives.”

“I feel that this is what young people should look for,” he said. “To know what is the plan that God has for us in order to be able to prepare it.”

“We are waiting for them with open arms,” he said, explaining that he plans to prepare with a lot of prayer and community events, by trying to make his life “an example for others” and by trying “to follow the Pope gives us.”

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, said WYD – which will be held in Panama Jan. 22-27, 2019 – needs to be prepared in tandem with the synod on youth “because WYD is for the youth. WYD has a history and a tradition, and now we’re having the first synod on the youth.”

Speaking to journalists during an April 9 meeting on synod and WYD preparations, he said that “We need to prepare with consultation from the youth,” explaining that at nearly 70 years old, “I don’t think like the youth do,” so there is a need to speak with them as well as the priests and bishops who are closer to their reality.

And this means speaking not just with youth who are constant Church-goers, but also those who are perhaps atheists or who no longer go to Church, he said, referring to comments Pope Francis had made on this point during the prayer vigil.

Perhaps the most difficult part of preparing, he said, will be to “enter into contact with the youth, but it needs to be done (and) we need to change the system that we use.” Rather than just sending out letters to bishops, Cardinal Farrell said the dicastery is looking to develop ways for youth to contribute online.

“We need to do what Pope Francis says: go out, go beyond the doors of the Church and of all the organizations” in order to reach especially those who are far off.

For his part on the diocesan level in Panama, Cardinal Lacunza said that at this point, things are already moving forward and “there’s no going back.”

“We remain with the task of raising awareness, to make everyone see that they should participate and that everyone can open their doors to welcome pilgrims so that no one feels like a stranger,” he said, explaining that since the country is so small, part of their preparations involve asking locals to open the doors of their homes to those who come for the global event.

To have the synod on youth happen just before WYD, he said, “is another blessing from God.” On the journey from Krakow to Panama “you pass through the synod,” he said, explaining that for him, the synod will be an opportunity for WYD to be “even more meaningful and impactful.”

While there are only a few months in between the October synod and the WYD gathering in January, Cardinal Lacunza said that “if the Pope proposed it and insists, it can be done and it will be a wonderful opportunity to deliver to WYD the result of the synod.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Bible scholar gives inside look at Vatican’s Stations of the Cross

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • April 11, 2017

(Zwiebackesser via Shutterstock)

Vatican City — Pope Francis chose French biblical scholar, Anne-Marie Pelletier, to write the meditations for this year’s annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum.

A recipient of the Ratzinger Prize in 2014, as well as a wife and mother, Pelletier’s meditations follow her own scripturally-based Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, based on the 14 biblical stations used by St. John Paul II in 1991.

Because the Stations of the Cross do not have a “binding form,” Pelletier told Vatican Radio, “I chose those moments that seemed particularly significant.”

Her stations are not significantly different from the traditional 14 stations followed by pilgrims walking the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, though the biblical stations don’t include the three falls of Jesus or Veronica wiping the face of Jesus as in the traditional devotion.

She also begins with Jesus’ condemnation, rather than his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.

Using more than just the accounts of Christ’s Passion in the Gospels, Pelletier’s reflection weaves in Scripture and biblical references from both the Old and New Testaments as she reflects on how the entire life of Christ has been leading him, and us, to his ultimate sacrifice.

Pelletier’s meditations also reflect significantly on the perspective of the women along Jesus’ path, especially his mother, Mary.

An important scholar of contemporary French Catholicism, Pelletier has taught biblical studies at the European Institute of Religious Sciences and served as vice-president of the Jewish-Christian Documentation Information Service in Paris. She is the first woman to win the Ratzinger Prize.

The Ratzinger Prize was begun in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Benedict XVI.

The prize is awarded by the Ratzinger Foundation, which was founded in 2010 with Benedict XVI’s approval to study and promote his writings as a theologian, as a cardinal in charge of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and as Pope.

Pelletier opens the stations with Jesus’ condemnation before the members of the Sanhedrin, who “did not need a lengthy discussion to come to a decision,” she wrote. “The matter had long been settled. Jesus must die!”

Showing how at each point of his life Jesus faced enemies, she wrote that “our recollection must go back even further,” to Bethlehem, to Jesus’ very birth, when “Herod had decreed that he must die.”

Jesus escaped that time, but “already his life hung in the balance. In the sobbing of Rachel mourning her children who are no more, we hear a prophecy of the sorrow that Simeon will foretell to Mary (cf. Mt 2:16-18; Lk 2:34-35),” she writes.

In the fourth station, when Jesus is crowned with a crown of thorns, draped in a purple cloth and mocked with the words, “Hail, King of the Jews!” the paradox of Jesus’ kingship is revealed to us “as a love that seeks only the will of his Father and his desire that all should be saved.”

In this station she prays, “Lord our God, on this holy day that brings your revelation to fulfillment, we ask you to tear down every idol in us and in our world. You know the sway they have over our minds and our hearts. Tear down in us every deceitful illusion of success and of glory.”

When Jesus meets the mourning women of the daughters of Jerusalem, at the seventh station, Pelletier reflects on the gift of tears Jesus bestows upon them, asking them not to weep for him, but for the world.

The tears “fall silently down their cheeks. And undoubtedly, even more often, they fall unseen in the heart, like the tears of blood spoken of by Catherine of Siena,” she writes. “Not that women alone should weep …” she emphasizes, though it is their grief that “embraces all those tears shed quietly and without fanfare in a world where there is much to weep for.”

The eleventh station is devoted to Jesus and his mother Mary. Throughout her son’s life, Pelletier writes, Mary had entrusted each event “to the great patience of her faith” and today, the day of his crucifixion “is the day of fulfilment.”

“The sword that pierced her Son’s side pierces her own heart. Mary too plunges into that bottomless trust whereby Jesus lives to the full his obedience to the Father. Standing there, she does not desert him. Stabat Mater. In the darkness, but with certainty, she knows that God keeps his promises.”

The reflection on the tender faithfulness of women continues in the final station, as Jesus is laid in the tomb and the women prepare to anoint his body the following morning at daybreak, after the Sabbath has ended.

“Grant too that we, who have accompanied you along this path of love to the very end, together with the women of the Gospel, may remain in expectant prayer,” Pelletier concludes.

“For we know that our prayers will be answered by the resurrection of Jesus, which your Church now prepares to celebrate in the joy of Easter night.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Donate blood, get free admission to the Vatican Museums

CNA/EWTN News • April 12, 2017

A view of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Oct. 29, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — A new initiative in Italy will allow blood donors to receive a free ticket to the Vatican Museums.

“Without blood, there is no life. Without art, life would be empty and sad,” said Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums.

The initiative is the product of a partnership between Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital and the blood donor group “Francesco Olgiati,” in collaboration with the Vatican Museums.

Seeking to encourage the donation of blood, which can be life-saving for patients who need transfusions, the agreement allows people who donate blood to receive a voucher, which is valid for entrance into the Vatican Museums without waiting in line. The vouchers, which are worth 4 euro each, must be used by the end of 2017.

Gemelli University Hospital distributes more than 17,000 units of blood and blood components, which are used in treating patients with a variety of conditions.

Such initiatives, Jatta said, allow the Vatican Museums to be “a living cultural institution, an integral part of the social fabric … just as Pope Francis has hoped.”

“We hope that many will take advantage of this opportunity: it benefits both themselves and others.”

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VATICAN NEWS

General Audience: Hopes of the world and hope of the Cross

The Holy See Press Office • April 12, 2017

Vatican City — This morning’s General Audience took place at 10:00 in St. Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father Francis met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and all over the world.

In his address in Italian the Pope focused on the theme “Hopes of the world and hope of the Cross” (cf. John 12:24-25).

After summarizing his catechesis in several languages, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the groups of faithful present.

The General Audience concluded with the recital of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.

Catechesis of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Last Sunday we recalled the entry of Jesus in Jerusalem, amid the joyous cheers of the disciples and of the crowd. Those people placed many hopes in Jesus; many expected miracles and great signs of Him, manifestations of power and even freedom from enemy occupiers. Who among them would have imagined that shortly after Jesus would have been humiliated, condemned and killed on the cross? The earthly hopes of those people fell down before the cross. But we believe that is it precisely in the Crucified that our hope is reborn. It is a hope that is different from those of the world. What type of hope is this?

We can be helped to understand this by what Jesus says after entering Jerusalem: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John, 12:24). Let us imagine a grain or a little seed that falls on the ground. If it remains closed up in itself, nothing happens; if instead it breaks, it opens, and then gives life to an ear of grain, a bud, and then to a plant, and the plant will bear fruit.

Jesus has brought in the world a new hope, and He did so in the same way as the seed: He made Himself very small, like an ear of grain; He cast aside His heavenly glory to come among us, and He “fell to the ground.” But it still was not enough. To bear fruit, Jesus had to experience love to its limit, allowing Himself to be broken by death like a seed lets itself be broken under the ground. Right there, at the most extreme point to which He was lowered, which is also the highest point of love, hope germinated. If someone among you were to ask, “How is hope born?” “From the cross. Look at the cross, look at the Crucified Christ and from there you will arrive at the hope that never disappears, the one that lasts up to eternal life.” And this hope germinated precisely from the strength of love: because the love that “hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor.,13:7), the love that is the life of God has renewed everything it has reached. In this way, at Easter, Jesus took upon Himself and transformed our sin into forgiveness, our death into resurrection, our fear into trust. This is how there, on the cross, our hope was born and is reborn always; this is why with Jesus our darkness can become light, every defeat can become victory, every disappointment can become hope. Every one: yes, every one. Hope overcomes everything, because it is born of the love that Jesus made of Himself, like the grain of wheat in the ground that died to give life, and from that life full of love comes hope.

When we choose the hope of Jesus, gradually we discover that the winning way of living is that of the seed, that of humble love. There is no other way for defeating evil and giving hope to the world. But you might ask me, “No, it is a loser’s logic!” It may seem that way, that it is a losing logic, because he who loves loses power. Have you ever thought that? He who loves loses power, he who gives loses possession of something, and love is a gift. In reality that logic of the seed that dies, of humble love, is the way of God, and only this bears fruit. We see it in ourselves too: possessing drives us always to want something else: I have obtained something for me, and immediately I want another, bigger, and so on, and I am never satisfied. That is an ugly thirst! The more you have, the more you want. Those greedy are never satiated. And Jesus said this clearly: “Whoever loves his life loses it” (John 12:25). You may be greedy and try to have many things but … you will lose it all, even your life, so that he who loves his own life and lives for his own interests is full of himself only, and loses. Instead, he who accepts and is willing to serve, lives according to God; and so he is victorious, he saves himself and others. … Perhaps we will tire! But life is like this, and the heart fills with joy and hope. This is love and hope together: serving and giving.

Certainly, this true love passes through the cross of sacrifice, as for Jesus. The cross is the obligatory passage, but it is not the destination, it is a passage: the destination is glory, as Easter shows us. And here another beautiful image comes to our aid, that Jesus left to the disciples during the Last Supper. He says, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (John 16:21). There: giving life, not possessing it. And this is what mothers do: they give another life, they suffer, but then they are joyful, happy because they have brought to light another life. It gives joy: love brings life to light, and at even makes sense of pain. Love is the motor that makes our hope carry on. And each one of us might ask: “Do I love? Have I learned to love? Do I learn to love more every day?,” because love is the motor that makes our hope carry on.

Dear brothers and sisters, in these days, days of love, let us allow ourselves to be surrounded by the mystery of Jesus Who, like a grain of wheat, died to give us life. He is the seed of our hope. Let us contemplate the Crucified, the wellspring of hope. Gradually we will understand that to hope with Jesus is to learn to see already the plant in the seed, Easter in the cross, life in death. Now I would like to give you some homework. It is good for all of us to pause in front of the Crucified – you all have one at home – to look at him and to say, “With You, nothing is lost. With You I can always hope. You are my hope.” Let us imagine the Crucified now, and let us all say to the Crucified Jesus three times, “You are my hope.” All of us: “You are my hope.” Louder! “You are my hope.” Thank you.

Greetings in various languages: English

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly the groups from England, Nigeria, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. I offer a particular greeting to many student groups present. May this Lenten journey bring all of us to Easter with hearts purified and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. God bless you!

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis at Holy Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday

The Holy See Press Office • April 13, 2017

Vatican City — The following is the Pope’s homily from the Holy Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday:

Homily of the Holy Father

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk 4:18). Jesus, anointed by the Spirit, brings good news to the poor. Everything he proclaims, and we priests too proclaim, is good news. News full of the joy of the Gospel – the joy of those anointed in their sins with the oil of forgiveness and anointed in their charism with the oil of mission, in order to anoint others in turn.

Like Jesus, the priest makes the message joyful with his entire person. When he preaches – briefly, if possible! – , he does so with the joy that touches people’s hearts with that same word with which the Lord has touched his own heart in prayer. Like every other missionary disciple, the priest makes the message joyful by his whole being. For as we all know, it is in the little things that joy is best seen and shared: when by taking one small step, we make God’s mercy overflow in situations of desolation; when we decide to pick up the phone and arrange to see someone; when we patiently allow others to take up our time …

The phrase “good news“ might appear as just another way of saying “the Gospel.” Yet those words point to something essential: the joy of the Gospel. The Gospel is good news because it is, in essence, a message of joy.

The good news is the precious pearl of which we read in the Gospel. It is not a thing but a mission. This is evident to anyone who has experienced the “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing” (Evangelii Gaudium, 10).

The good news is born of Anointing. Jesus’ first “great priestly anointing” took place, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of Mary. The good news of the Annunciation inspired the Virgin Mother to sing her Magnificat. It filled the heart of Joseph, her spouse, with sacred silence, and it made John leap for joy in the womb of Elizabeth, his mother.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to Nazareth and the joy of the Spirit renews that Anointing in the little synagogue of that town: the Spirit descends and is poured out upon him, “anointing him with the oil of gladness” (cf. Ps 45:8).

Good news. A single word – Gospel – that, even as it is spoken, becomes truth, brimming with joy and mercy. We should never attempt to separate these three graces of the Gospel: its truth, which is non-negotiable; its mercy, which is unconditional and offered to all sinners; and its joy, which is personal and open to everyone. Truth, mercy and joy: these three go together.

The truth of the good news can never be merely abstract, incapable of taking concrete shape in people’s lives because they feel more comfortable seeing it printed in books.

The mercy of the good news can never be a false commiseration, one that leaves sinners in their misery without holding out a hand to lift them up and help them take a step in the direction of change.

This message can never be gloomy or indifferent, for it expresses a joy that is completely personal. It is “the joy of the Father, who desires that none of his little ones be lost” (Evangelii Gaudium, 237). It is the joy of Jesus, who sees that the poor have the good news preached to them, and that the little ones go out to preach the message in turn (ibid., 5)

The joys of the Gospel are special joys. I say “joys” in the plural, for they are many and varied, depending on how the Spirit chooses to communicate them, in every age, to every person and in every culture. They need to be poured into new wineskins, the ones the Lord speaks of in expressing the newness of his message. I would like to share with you, dear priests, dear brothers, three images or icons of those new wineskins in which the good news is kept fresh – for we have to keep it fresh – never turning sour but rather pouring forth in abundance.

A first icon of the good news would be the stone water jars at the wedding feast of Cana (cf. Jn 2:6). In one way, they clearly reflect that perfect vessel which is Our Lady herself, the Virgin Mary. The Gospel tells us that the servants “filled them up to the brim” (Jn 2:7). I can imagine one of those servants looking to Mary to see if that was enough, and Mary signaling to add one more pailful. Mary is the new wineskin brimming with contagious joy. Without her, dear priests, we cannot move forward in our priesthood! She is “the handmaid of the Father who sings his praises” (Evangelii Gaudium, 286), Our Lady of Prompt Succor, who, after conceiving in her immaculate womb the Word of life, goes out to visit and assist her cousin Elizabeth. Her “contagious fullness” helps us overcome the temptation of fear, the temptation to keep ourselves from being filled to the brim and even overflowing, the temptation to a faint-heartedness that holds us back from going forth to fill others with joy. This cannot be, for “the joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus” (ibid., 1)

A second icon of the good news that I would like to share with you today is the jug with its wooden ladle that the Samaritan woman carried on her head in the midday sun (cf. Jn 4:5-30). It speaks to us of something crucial: the importance of concrete situations. The Lord, the Source of Living Water, had no means of drawing the water to quench his thirst. So the Samaritan woman drew the water with her jug, and with her ladle she sated the Lord’s thirst. She sated it even more by concretely confessing her sins. By mercifully shaking the vessel of that Samaritan women’s soul, the Holy Spirit overflowed upon all the people of that small town, who asked the Lord to stay with them.

The Lord gave us another new vessel or wineskin full of this “inclusive concreteness” in that Samaritan soul who was Mother Teresa. He called to her and told her: “I am thirsty.” He said: “My child, come, take me to the hovels of the poor. Come, be my light. I cannot do this alone. They do not know me, and that is why they do not love me. Bring me to them.” Mother Teresa, starting with one concrete person, thanks to her smile and her way of touching their wounds, brought the good news to all. The way we touch wounds with our hands, our priestly way of caressing the sick and those who have lost hope. The priest must be a man of tender love. Concreteness and tenderness!

The third icon of the good news is the fathomless vessel of the Lord’s pierced Heart: his utter meekness, humility and poverty which draw all people to himself. From him we have to learn that announcing a great joy to the poor can only be done in a respectful, humble, and even humbling, way. Concrete, tender and humble: in this way our evangelization will be joyful. Evangelization cannot be presumptuous, nor can the integrity of the truth be rigid, because truth became flesh, it became tenderness, it became a child, it became a man and, on the cross, it became sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21). The Spirit proclaims and teaches “the whole truth” (cf. Jn 16:3), and he is not afraid to do this one sip at a time. The Spirit tells us in every situation what we need to say to our enemies (cf. Mt 10:19), and at those times he illumines our every small step forward. This meekness and integrity gives joy to the poor, revives sinners, and grants relief to those oppressed by the devil.

Dear priests, as we contemplate and drink from these three new wineskins, may the good news find in us that “contagious fullness” which Our Lady radiates with her whole being, the “inclusive concreteness” of the story of the Samaritan woman, and the “utter meekness” whereby the Holy Spirit ceaselessly wells up and flows forth from the pierced heart of Jesus our Lord.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

In new interview, Pope says to never give up hope for conversion

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 13, 2017

Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his March 11, 2015 General Audience in St. Peter’s Square. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis has given an interview ahead of his Holy Thursday visit to a prison, warning, among other things, against the hypocrisy of viewing inmates only as criminals beyond hope who deserve to spend their lives in jail.

“At times a certain hypocrisy pushes us to see in prisons only people who have done wrong, for whom the only path is that of the prison,” the Pope said in the interview, published April 13, Holy Thursday.

However, as he often has before, the pontiff stressed that “we all have the possibility of making mistakes. All of us in one way or another have erred. And hypocrisy makes it so you think there is no possibility of changing one’s life.”

Francis lamented that there often seems to be a lack of trust in rehabilitation and the ability for prisoners to be reinserted into society. With this mentality, “one forgets that we are all sinners and, often, that we are also prisoners without realizing it.”

“When we stay closed in our prejudices, or are enslaved by idols of a false wellbeing, when we move within ideological schemes or make absolute market laws that crush people, in reality you doing nothing other than stand between the narrow walls of the cell of individualism and self-sufficiency.”

In doing this one is “deprived of the truth that creates freedom,” he said, cautioning that “to point your finger at someone who has done wrong cannot become an excuse for hiding one’s own contradictions.”

Pope Francis gave his interview to Paolo Rodari of Italian newspaper La Repubblica. It was published to coincide with the Pope’s Holy Thursday visit to a prison on the outskirts of Rome for former members of the mafia, where he will wash the feet of 12 men and women serving various sentences, and who are both Christian and Muslim.

The interview focused largely on the Pope’s many visits to prisons as part of Holy Week and during international trips, as well as his preference for the “discarded” and the rising danger of modern war and conflicts.

He said the idea of visiting prisons came largely through the example of the late Cardinal Secretary of State, Agostino Casaroli, who passed away in 1998 and would frequently spend his Saturday nights at youth prisons on Rome’s Via Casal del Marmo.

Francis, who has washed the feet of inmates on Holy Thursday in both 2013 and 2015, said the reason he is choosing to do so again is because of Christ’s declaration that “I was a prisoner and you visited me.”

“The mandate of Jesus goes for each one of us, but above all the bishop, who is the father of everyone,” the Pope said, noting that when some inmates express their guilt to him, he responds by telling them: “let whoever is not guilty throw the first stone.”

“Let us look inside and try to find our faults. Then, the heart will become more human,” he said, explaining that priests and bishops must always be disposed to serve others.

When asked about his attention to those who are discarded, Pope Francis turned to the Gospel episode of the hemorrhaging woman who touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed.

This scene, he said, reflects the fact that “Jesus gives health and freedom to the socially and religiously discriminated … Jesus’ heart is always for them, for the excluded, as among other things the woman was perceived and represented then.”

Although the woman was afraid to be seen, Jesus admired her faith and in meeting her gaze, he didn’t chastise her, but rather welcomed her with mercy and tenderness, seeking a personal encounter that gives her dignity.

The same thing goes for each of us when we feel “discarded” by our sins, the Pope said, explaining that “we must have the courage to go to him, to ask for forgiveness for our sins and to go forward. With courage, like this woman did.”

When it comes to war and conflict, Francis said that in his opinion sin today “manifests itself with all its strength of destruction in wars, in the different forms of violence and mistreatment, in the abandonment of the most fragile.”

Echoing similar statements that he frequently makes, the Pope noted that it’s the poor and vulnerable that are the first to pay the price.

When faced with these situations in the midst of Holy Week, the Pope said the only thing that comes to his mind “to ask with more strength for peace for this world subjected to arms traffickers who earn with the blood of men and women.”

Looking back at the violence of the past century, marred by two World Wars and numerous other conflicts, Francis said it’s hard to tell whether or not the world is more violent now than it was then, or if thanks to modern communications technologies we are simply “more aware of violence or more addicted to it.”

He stressed the importance of not responding to violence with violence, saying “violence is not the cure for our shattered world.”

Responding to violence with violence leads “at best” to forced migration and suffering, an imbalance in the distribution of resources, and difficulties for youth, families in hardship, elderly and the sick.

“In the worst case,” he said, “it brings the death, both physical and spiritual, of many, if not all.”

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VATICAN NEWS

You can show God’s love even behind bars, Pope Francis tells inmates

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 13, 2017

Pope Francis kisses the feet of an inmate at Paliano prison during Holy Thursday Mass on April 13, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis spent Holy Thursday washing the feet of inmates, telling them in a brief homily that God is someone who loves until the end. He urged them to imitate this love even while in prison.

“Having loved his people who were in the world, he loved them to the end. God loves like this, to the end,” the Pope said April 13. “He gives life to each one of us and he boasts of this because he has love, and to love until the end isn’t easy.”

“We are all sinners and we all have limits and defects,” he said. While we all know how to love, “we are not like God who loves without looking at the consequences.”

He encouraged the inmates to imitate the love Jesus showed in washing the feet of his disciples, saying they didn’t need to get up and take their shoes off, but “if you can act as a help, do a service, here in prison, do it. Because this is love, it’s like washing the feet.”

Pope Francis visited the maximum security facility of Paliano prison in the south of Rome. It houses former mafia collaborators.

The Paliano prison is famous for being the only institution in Italy reserved specifically for “collaborators of justice,” that is, criminals who choose to come clean and collaborate with the police in exchange for police protection and, at times, compensation from the State. As of April 1, there were 70 detainees in the prison.

The visit marks the Pope’s third Holy Thursday visit to a prison since he became pontiff in 2013.

After arriving around 4 p.m. local time, Pope Francis met with the inmates before celebrating the Mass that marks Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with his disciples.

During the celebration, the Pope washed the feet of 12 inmates. Three of these were women and one was a Muslim who will be baptized in June.

All of them were Italians apart from one Argentinian and one Albanian. They are serving sentences for various crimes. And apart from two who have life sentences, the rest are expected to be released between 2019 and 2073.

About 60 collaborators of justice were present for the Mass. Two of them, a man and a woman, were from solitary confinement. The Pope met with these two privately just before he celebrated Mass.

He also greeted each inmate personally.

In his brief homily, the Pope noted that even though Jesus knew his hour had come and that he would be “betrayed and handed over” by Judas, he still chose to love.

“He who was the head, who was God. He washed the feet of his disciples,” he said, explaining that washing the feet of guests was a custom at that time. Since there were no paved streets, people would frequently arrive full of dust.

According to the custom, “the slaves did this,” he said, adding that “Jesus knew and he did it.”

Pointing to how Peter in the Gospel initially doesn’t want Jesus, the Master, to stoop and wash his feet, Pope Francis said that in the moment Jesus explained “that he came into the world to serve and to serve us. To make himself a slave for us. To love until the end.”

The Pope said that although the Pope is the head of the earthly Church, the true head of the Church is Jesus: “The Pope is only the figure of Jesus and I would like to do the same that he did and the priest washes the feet of his faithful.”

“Whoever is greatest must do the work of a slave,” the Pope said, recalling the Gospel scene where the disciples were fighting among themselves about who was the greatest.

On that occasion, “Jesus said: whoever wants to be the most important must make himself the smallest,” the Pope said, adding that “all of us are poor, but he loves us as we are.”

The washing of the feet, he said, is not “a folk ceremony.” Rather, it is “an act to remember what Jesus did. Let us think of the love of God alone today.”

Inmates at the prison have access to various activities provided by the prison’s institutional projects, such as opportunities for work, education, cultural and recreational activities, religious and sporting events, and meetings with family members.

Some of the courses available to inmates include iconography classes, ceramics, a pizzeria and kitchen for sweets, a carpentry workshop and an agricultural area with organic farming and a zone blocked off for breeding goats, rabbits, chickens and pigs, and for producing honey.

According to an April 13 communique from the Vatican, prison director Nadia Cersosimo has said these efforts are “initiatives that avoid idleness, reduce distances, fight prejudices and open the path to reinsertion.”

The prisoners offered Pope Francis a handmade cross and a buffet prepared with products from their gardens.

The Pope’s decision to visit isn’t surprising given the attention Pope Francis has often given both to prisoners, and to condemnations of mafia activities.

He has often condemned the violence of organized crime. He has made a point to visit prisons in nearly all of the international trips he takes, as well as local trips within Italy.

Right after his election in March of 2013 Francis decided to offer his Holy Thursday Lord’s Supper Mass at the Casal del Marmo youth detention center in Rome. He washed the feet of young men and women, both Christians and Muslims, detained there.

In 2014, Pope Francis said the Holy Thursday Mass at the Don Gnocchi center for the disabled. In 2015 he visited another prison, celebrating Mass at Rome’s Rebibbia prison.

For Holy Thursday in 2016 Pope Francis visited a center for asylum seekers in Castelnuovo di Porto, a municipality just north of Rome. He washed the feet of refugees, who included Muslims, Hindus, and Coptic Orthodox Christians.

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VATICAN NEWS

Why did Pope Francis visit Benedict XVI? To say happy birthday!

CNA/EWTN News • April 13, 2017

Pope Francis with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Monastery of Mater Ecclesiae in Vatican City on June 30, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Early Easter greetings and birthday wishes were the reason for Pope Francis’ visit with Pope emeritus Benedict XVI on Wednesday.

Following his annual custom, Francis visited his predecessor at Vatican City’s Mater Ecclesiae monastery on April 12 to extend his greetings ahead of Easter Sunday. The Vatican Press Office said the visit had “a double celebratory character” given that Benedict XVI’s 90th birthday, April 16, falls on Easter this year.

Benedict XVI sends birthday greetings to Pope Francis every Dec. 17. Last December, on Pope Francis’ 80th birthday, the Pope emeritus sent a “very affectionate” written message that was “particularly appreciated” by the current pontiff, the Holy See press office said.

That December day, the Pope emeritus also sent three small gifts and made a personal phone call to his successor.

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VATICAN NEWS

Good Friday papal preacher: In a changing world, the cross remains the same

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • April 14, 2017

Pope Francis prostrates himself before the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica at the opening of the Good Friday liturgy on March 25, 2016. (Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA)

Vatican City — Even as sinful people in a society filled with violence and increasing secularism, we have hope because Christ’s cross perdures, the papal preacher said at the Vatican’s Good Friday Service.

“The cross, then, does not ‘stand’ against the world but for the world: to give meaning to all the suffering that has been, that is, and that will be in human history,” Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., said April 14.

He gave the homily during the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica. Fr. Cantalamessa also gave the homilies at Mass at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta on Fridays throughout Lent.

Today, we are constantly hearing about death and violence, he said. “Why then are we here to recall the death of a man who lived 2,000 years ago?”

“The reason is that this death has changed forever the very face of death and given it a new meaning,” he said.

Fr. Cantalamessa preached: “The cross is the living proclamation that the final victory does not belong to the one who triumphs over others but to the one who triumphs over self; not to the one who causes suffering but to the one who is suffering.”

He explained how the Carthusian monks have adopted a coat of arms that hangs at the entrance to their monastery. It has a globe of the earth with a cross above it, and written across it: “Stat crux dum volvitur orbis,” or “The cross stands firm as the world turns.”

He described a painting by Salvador Dali, called “Christ of St. John of the Cross.” It depicts Christ on the cross as if you are looking from above. Beneath him are clouds, and below that, water.

In a way, the water beneath Christ in this image, instead of earth, is a symbol of the lack of firm foundation of values in our current society, he explained. But even though we live in this very “liquid society,” there is still hope, because “the cross of Christ stands.”

“This is what the liturgy for Good Friday has us repeat every year with the words of the poet Venanzio Fortunato: ‘O crux, ave spes unica,’ ‘Hail, O Cross, our only hope.’”

The point of Christ’s Passion, however, is not an analysis of society, he said. “Christ did not come to explain things, but to change human beings.”

In each of us, to varying degrees, is a “heart of darkness,” he said. In the Bible, it is called “a heart of stone.”

“A heart of stone is a heart that is closed to God’s will and to the suffering of brothers and sisters, a heart of someone who accumulates unlimited sums of money and remains indifferent to the desperation of the person who does not have a glass of water to give to his or her own child; it is also the heart of someone who lets himself or herself be completely dominated by impure passion and is ready to kill for that passion or to lead a double life,” he said.

He explained that even as practicing Christians we have these hearts of stone when we live fundamentally for ourselves and not for the Lord.

Quoting God’s words through the prophet Ezekiel, Fr. Cantalamessa said: “I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.”

He went on to explain how in Scripture we are told that at the moment of Christ’s death, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.”

This description, using apocalyptic language and signs, indicates “what should happen in the heart of a person who reads and meditates on the Passion of Christ.”

“The heart of flesh, promised by God through the prophets, is now present in the world: it is the heart of Christ pierced on the cross, the heart we venerate as the “Sacred Heart,’” he said.

We believe that though he was slain, because Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, his heart has also “been raised from the dead; it is alive like the rest of his body.”

And when we receive the Eucharist, we “firmly believe” that the very heart of Christ has come to “beat inside of us” as well, he explained.

“As we are about to gaze upon the cross, let us say from the bottom of our hearts, like the tax collector in the temple, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ and then we too, like he did, will return home ‘justified.’”

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WORLD NEWS

Venezuelan religious call for autonomy among branches of government

CNA/EWTN News • April 8, 2017

Violence during anti-government protests in Venezuela. (Diariocritico de Venezuela via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Caracas, Venezuela — A group of religious men and women in Venezuela have expressed their concern over the country’s political crisis and the lack of autonomy of the branches of the federal government.

“As consecrated religious , we invite and accompany our people to demonstrate their will, joined with sound judgement and non-violence, but with forcefulness, so that the arbitrariness leading us to a situation of dictatorship is corrected,” the Conference of Religious Men and Women of Venezuela (CONVER) said in an April 4 statement.

Venezuela’s crisis sharpened last week after the nation’s Supreme Court announced it would assume the functions of the National Assembly, but quickly made an about-face and revised its ruling.

The government and supreme court are in the hands of the Socialist Party, while the opposition gained control of the legislature in 2015. The supreme court’s move last week was denounced both domestically and abroad as a coup, and despite the court’s reversal large protests have been held in the capital Caracas this week.

The religious criticized the “lack of autonomy” among the five branches of Venezuela’s government: the executive, legislative, judicial, electoral, and citizen branches.

They thus showed their support for the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, which on March 31 pointed out that the Supreme Court rulings were “morally unacceptable decisions and therefore reprehensible.”

They also criticized “the indolence of the national government in face of the critical situation our people are going through, demonstrating once again that they’re only interested in the struggle to stay in power with no concern for the price or the consequences of ignoring the voice of the people who are crying out for assistance, food, medicine, security, education and a healthy coexistence in peace.”

“We call on them to take the firm steps necessary to allow the country to return to normality, guaranteeing democratic processes which will redound to the good of the inhabitants of Venezuela,” CONVER stated.

Before concluding, the religious asked God to “bless our suffering people, and may the Virgin of Coromoto, who knows the sentiments of the Venezuelan people, be the mother who accompanies her children who are beaten down with suffering and bewilderment by the destructive policies that simply impoverish the nation in exchange for the unscrupulous enrichment of the politicians of the day.”

Venezuela’s socialist government, in power since 1999, is widely blamed for Venezuela’s economic crisis. The world’s highest inflation rates (expected to pass 1,600 percent his year), price controls, and failed economic policies have resulted in severe shortages of basic necessities like medicines, milk, flour, toilet paper, and other essentials.

The shortages have their roots in policies enacted by Hugo Chavez in 2003 that control the price of nearly 160 products such as flour, milk, oil, and soap. While these products are affordable at the government listed price, they are in short supply and fly off the shelves, ending up on the black market at much higher rates.

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WORLD NEWS

South African bishops call on nation’s president to consider resigning

CNA/EWTN News • April 10, 2017

South African president Jacob Zuma at a Nov. 10, 2015 meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. (360b via Shutterstock)

Pretoria, South Africa — The bishops of South Africa have called on the country’s embattled president, Jacob Zuma, to consider stepping down as part of an effort to fight corruption.

Marches protesting Zuma have been held across cities in South Africa after he reshuffled his cabinet, replacing a respected finance minister at the end of March, which resulted in the country’s credit rating being cut to junk status by Standard & Poor’s.

The sacked minister, Pravin Gordhan, is regarded as an opponent of government corruption.

“We respectfully remind President Zuma that he has been elected to serve all South Africans,” read the April 4 letter from the South African bishops’ conference, signed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town.

“It appears that he has lost the confidence of many of his own closest colleagues, as well as that of numerous civil society organizations. He should earnestly reconsider his position, and not be afraid to act with courage and humility in the nation’s best interests.”

However, the bishops’ letter also noted that while they “noted and respect” the calls for Zuma to resign, “such as step would not in itself be a complete solution, as corruption at every level must to be rooted out.”

Zuma has been South Africa’s president since 2009, and his term of office is not due to end until 2019. He is also leader of the African National Congress, which has ruled the country since 1994.

Though some elements in the ANC, as well as several of its allied parties, are calling on Zuma to resign, the party’s National Working Committee has reiterated its support for him.

In their April 4 statement, the bishops wrote that “the leadership of the ANC must make serious and strenuous efforts to end corruption and patronage at all levels of governance.”

“In the present state of anxiety and uncertainty it is of utmost importance that Parliament be reconvened urgently. There is an enormous obligation on our public representatives … to exercise their duty of holding the Executive arm of government to account.”

“We hope that Members of Parliament will be guided by the welfare of our country and its people, and not by narrow loyalties or factional interests,” they added.

The bishops concluded by stating: “We have confidence in the leaders of the two noble institutions, Parliament and the ANC, and we trust that they will rise to the occasion and give decisive, fearless and honest leadership.”

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WORLD NEWS

Global bishops unite in prayer following Egypt church bombings

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • April 10, 2017

(Grey World via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Washington D.C. — Following the murder of Christians in Egypt through two bombings during Palm Sunday liturgies, bishops around the world joined Pope Francis in prayer.

“We also pray for our Coptic Orthodox sisters and brothers who continue to be resilient in the face of ongoing and escalating attacks, and who resist the urge to react vengefully or reciprocally,” said Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom.

Two Egyptian Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria and Tanta, in the north of the country, were bombed during their Palm Sunday services. The attacks killed at least 44 and injured more than 100, Reuters reported. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the bombings.

In Tanta, an explosion rocked Mar Gerges Coptic Orthodox church during the Palm Sunday liturgy. A state investigation said it was a suicide bombing. A bomb had been found and disabled at the church a week before, a police official told Reuters.

Shortly afterward, a suicide bomber rushed the outside of the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria where Tawadros II, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, was celebrating the liturgy, and detonated his explosives. Security details had reportedly been placed outside of both churches.

The attacks came only weeks before Pope Francis plans to visit Egypt to promote peace and dialogue between Christians and Muslims in the country. Pope Francis, after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square, decried the violence and asked God to “convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and death, and those who make and traffic arms.” He also expressed solidarity with Tawardos II.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared a state of emergency in Egypt following the attacks. Sunday’s atrocities follow a months-long spike in anti-Christian violence in Egypt, particularly in the country’s Sinai region.

In December, 29 died in a bombing of a chapel next to St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo, where ISIS took credit for the attack.

Then several Christians were attacked and killed in their homes and villages by ISIS affiliates in the Sinai region in the following months. Hundreds fled their homes as a result of the violence. In total, 40 were reported killed in the bombing and in the ensuing three months.

The advocacy group In Defense of Christians voiced their “solidarity with Egypt, particularly Egypt’s Christian community,” and senior advisor Andrew Doran stated that “we call on Egypt’s government to use all necessary means to make places of worship in Egypt safe, especially those systematically targeted by terrorists.”

Bishops in the U.S. also condemned the bombings and declared their solidarity with Christians in Egypt.

“They were at Church. They were praying. And in the midst of what should be peace, horrible violence yet again,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston-Galveston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Sunday.

“Our Holy Father has pointed out – and it’s something that the statisticians have pointed out in recent years – that there are more Christians dying for the faith today than ever happened under the Roman authorities at the time of the pagan empire,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. said at the end of Palm Sunday Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington.

Ultimately, the greatest thing Christians can do for their brothers and sisters in Egypt is pray, especially during Holy Week, the bishops said.

“May Our Lady, Queen of Peace, intercede for us as we pray for an end to all violence,” Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington reflected on Sunday.

“So I would ask you today, and during this Holy Week when you are lifting up your hearts in prayer, to remember them [the Coptic Christians],” Cardinal Wuerl emphasized.

“They have no voice. They have no one to speak for them. They have no one to stand up for them. But we can at least remember them as part of the Body of Christ being crucified in our day today. We pray for them.”

Cardinal DiNardo joined in Pope Francis’s prayers for the victims, the perpetrators, and those trafficking in weapons.

“I also pray for the nation of Egypt, that it may seek justice, find healing, and strengthen protection for Coptic Christians and other religious minorities who wish only to live in peace,” he said.

Bishop Angaelos viewed the suffering of Egypt’s Christians through the mysteries of Holy Week and Easter Sunday

“As we celebrate Palm Sunday today and Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, we now also mark the entry of those who have passed today into the heavenly Jerusalem,” he said of the bombings. “As we continue into the Holy Week of our Savior, we share in the pain and heartbreak of their families and of all those affected by today’s incidents.”

“As we celebrate the Feast of the glorious Resurrection at the end of this week, we are reminded that our life here on earth is a journey often filled with pain, at the end of which is a promised glorious and eternal life void of such suffering and evil.”

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South Sudanese bishop: It takes unity to achieve peace

CNA/EWTN News • April 11, 2017

Children in South Sudan. (John Wollwerth via Shutterstock)

Juba, South Sudan — The president of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on leaders in South Sudan’s Bahr El Ghazal region to fight segregation and division, uniting to work for peace in the violence-ridden country.

Achieving peace, said Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, “demands of all of us that we act with real respect for human life. It demands that those who still sponsor anger, hate, segregation and violence against one another end such meaningless projects or ideas.”

On April 6, Bishop Kussala published “An Open Letter of Hope and Peace to the Elders of Greater Bahr El Ghazal.”

His letter marked one month since the death of Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak of the Catholic diocese of Wau, which is part of the Bahr El Ghazal region of South Sudan. The 76-year-old bishop died March 6 at a relative’s house in Siegburg, Germany, where he was awaiting an operation that had been scheduled for the following week.

“The wound inflicted by his death remains deep and raw and so, as we pray for him, we carry in prayer those for whom his death has left a painful void,” Bishop Kussala said.

He appealed to the elders of the greater Bahr El Ghazal area to work for peace and alleviate suffering in Bishop Deng’s memory.

“The best gift we can give him forever is being part of the reconstruction, reconciliation, and reintegration, regeneration of our country, ravaged by the war waged by us and against ourselves.”

Working to change the spiral of suffering, revenge killings, hatred and displacement is a difficult task, Bishop Kussala acknowledged.

“It demands new initiatives to move Greater Bahr El Ghazal and our country forward to freedom as quickly as possible. With this letter I am indeed consulting leaders of civil society, religious leaders, community organizations, business, cultural and other leaders in Greater Bahr El Ghazal to seize an opportunity on such initiatives.”

South Sudan has been embroiled in civil war since December 2013, when South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. The war has been fought between their supporters, largely along ethnic lines, and peace agreements have been short-lived.

The conflict has created more than 2.5 million refugees. At present some 4.5 million people face severe food insecurity, a number expected to rise one million by July.

“At the core of the crisis within South Sudan’s war-affected communities and regions is the desire to acquire power and secure resources for one group of elites or one ethno-national group at the expense of others,” Bishop Kussala said.

This has created tension and division, and “has undermined the social fabric of our society or nation,” even affecting neighboring countries as refugees seeking the escape the conflict flee to other nations.

“In all of these cases, violence has led to the breakdown of our beloved homes,” Bishop Kussala continued. “Human lives have been lost. Infrastructure has been destroyed, education and health services have suffered, and the environment has been damaged. The ties that link people together … have been broken, social solidarity has collapsed and political tension has been highly generated.”

These conflicts arise from self-interested elites who take advantage of past divisions, the bishop said. However, peace is possible, as evidence by the “relative peace, development and economic growth after our national independence shortly in 2011.”

In an efforts to restore this stability, Bishop Kussala called on the elders of Greater Bahr El Ghazal to “engage all stakeholders” in seeking peace, allowing for dialogue and supporting genuine efforts aimed at reconciliation and healing.

He urged the elders to publically and unequivocally condemn revenge killings, violence against civilians and the use of hate speech which fosters tribal division.

In addition, he said, they should “call urgently for immediate robust humanitarian intervention for the starving people in and outside Wau,” pushing for roads to be opened to aid workers delivering food for the hungry population.

Efforts are needed both to prevent further killings and to foster reconciliation and healing in society, the bishop said. He also recommended an independent investigation into atrocities against the community, in order to hold perpetrators accountable.

In solving these problems, it is important to remember the role of culture, Bishop Kussala said.

“People derive their sense of meaning from their culture … Cultural attitudes and values … provide the foundation for the social norms by which you as a people exist and live,” he noted. “Through internalizing and sharing these cultural attitudes and values with fellow community members, and by handing them down to future generations, societies can – and do – re-construct themselves on the basis of a particular cultural image.”

Achieving peace in Wau State will require an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, repentance and an offering of forgiveness, the bishop said. It will also require “a way for members of these communities to ‘re-inform’ themselves of their rich history of co-existence with a cultural logic that emphasizes sharing and equitable resource distribution.”

“The people of Greater Bahr El Ghazal should draw their strength from each other as one people,” he emphasized. “You have common humanity, heritage, history and you are socially interwoven.”

“For Wau State to live and prosper, we must come together!”

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WORLD NEWS

West African bishops highlight challenges facing their nations

CNA/EWTN News • April 11, 2017

A church in Sierra Leone. (Aid to the Church in Need)

Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast — The regional conference of West African bishops has commended a regional economic union for its efforts to promote peaceful transfers of power, while also noting areas of concern, including religious intolerance and youth unemployment.

The bishops of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa met March 28-31 in Ivory Coast to discuss their role in the prevention, mediation, resolution, and transformation of conflicts.

The conference includes the bishops of 15 countries, covering the Atlantic coast from Mauritania to Nigeria, as well as Cape Verde, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

The bishops sent a message to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) April 4 highlighting ways in which the two organizations can collaborate.

They noted positively the “democratic transfer of power in many of our countries and the relative peace we are witnessing in our region.”

Noting that economic growth has been a boon to their citizens, the bishops added that nevertheless, “we are at pains to observe some significant challenges within our region which need to be addressed.”

The bishops first listed political transition and instability as a concern; several of the nations in West Africa have experienced coups d’etat or civil war in recent years.

“Political transitions of power in some countries are characterized by the disregard for the rule of law, weak institutions, shrinking space for political participation by all, frequent human rights violations and tortures,” the bishops observed.

“We are also worried about political leaders who employ extra-democratic means to remain in power for life, we appeal to our political authorities to respect the democratic tenets of their countries.”

A dangerous level of unemployment for the youth has also raised concern from the bishops. They said a majority of youths in the region are unemployed “and therefore highly exposed to trafficking, drug abuse, violence and forced migrations. As long as they remain without jobs after their graduation and move about in our sub-region, they are easy preys to warlords and political criminals, who may recruit them for violent crimes and terrorism.”

They urged “putting in place appropriate measures and incentives to create gainful employment opportunities for our youth” to reverse this trend.

Turning to religious intolerance and extremism, the bishops stated that “the desire of religious extremist groups to forcefully ‘islamize’ countries in our region poses a serious threat to the right of every citizen to freely choose and practice the religion of his or her choice.”

Most of the nations in the West African bishops’ conference have a majority- or plurality-Muslim population, and some governments or extremist groups have turned to persecution of Christians and other religious groups.

The bishops commended ECOWAS for its recent intervention in The Gambia, whose president of 22 years, Yahya Jammeh, refused to accept the results of a December 2016 election in which he was defeated.

This resulted in a constitutional crisis and a military intervention by ECOWAS to install the newly-elected president.

“We also wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for the efficiency with which you managed the situation in The Gambia,” the bishops wrote. “We congratulate you on the firm position you took … which led to the constitutional transfer of power to the rightfully elected President. With this, you sent a strong and clear signal to all political actors and leaders in our region.”

The bishops also noted that The Gambia had been declared an Islamic Republic by Jammeh in December 2015, but that the new president, Adama Barrow, had reversed this: “we are happy that this matter has been reversed with the current leadership,” they commented. “We strongly appeal that this situation should not be repeated in any country in our region.”

“Whenever government adopts a particular religion as a state religion, the rights of other citizens to freedom of conscience and worship is infringed upon,” the West African bishops wrote.

The bishops also expressed their concern over the herdsmen who have menaced local communities – particularly the Fulani in Nigeria.

“The recurrence of natural and man-made disasters such as floods, storms, desertification, food insecurity, forced migration, and other humanitarian crises related to climate change have become a serious threat to human and animal survival. Of particular concern is the environmental and social havocs wrecked by the herdsmen who move their cattle across communities and national borders in the region,” they wrote.

“These herdsmen, often armed with dangerous weapons, are associated with rape, murder, destruction of farms, kidnaping and conflicts. While there is freedom of movement of people and goods in our region, we appeal to our authorities to effectively address this particularly destructive activity.”

The bishops concluded by reminding ECOWAS that they are willing to mediate in “governance and political issues” that may arise in the region.

They have created liaison offices with national parliaments, and “monitor public policies and their implementation in order to promote good governance and the common good in public affairs.”

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WORLD NEWS

Egypt’s Christians to hold restrained Easter services in light of attacks

CNA/EWTN News • April 12, 2017

A Coptic church. (Oleg Shishkov via Shutterstock)

Minya, Egypt — After two bomb attacks on worshippers at Coptic Orthodox churches on Sunday, the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of Minya has announced it will celebrate Easter without the typical festive accoutrements.

The observance of Easter in the Minya Coptic Orthodox archdiocese will be limited to liturgical services “without any festive manifestations” in mourning for the nearly 45 Coptic Orthodox faithful who were killed in attacks on Sunday, the AP reports.

Two Coptic Orthodox churches were the targets of Islamic State bombings on April 9, Palm Sunday. The attack on St. George’s in Tanta, nearly 60 miles north of Cairo, killed 28. Shortly after, another bomb went off outside St. Mark’s cathedral in Alexandria, killing 17.

The attacks came only weeks before Pope Francis plans to visit Egypt to promote peace and dialogue between Christians and Muslims in the country. Pope Francis, after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square, decried the violence and asked God to “convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and death, and those who make and traffic arms.” He also expressed solidarity with Tawardos II, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency following the attacks.

Sunday’s atrocities follow a months-long spike in anti-Christian violence in Egypt, particularly in the country’s Sinai region.

In December 2016, 29 died in a bombing of a chapel next to St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Egyptian society was also profoundly shocked by the beheading in Libya of 20 Coptic Orthodox faithful and a companion by Islamic State militants in February 2015.

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U.S. NEWS

What Catholic leaders had to say about U.S. missile strikes in Syria

by Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • April 7, 2017

The destroyer USS Porter conducts strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea on April 7, 2017. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ford Williams)

Washington, D.C. — The Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo expressed regret and disappointment at Thursday’s U.S. missile strikes in Syria, saying he hoped for “a political solution.”

“We were very sorry,” Melkite Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo responded to Thursday’s night’s missile strike by the United States on a Syrian government airbase near Homs, in retaliation for what the U.S. said was a chemical attack conducted by government forces on civilians.

The archbishop had hoped the U.S. “would have done something toward peace and reconciliation and a political solution” in Syria, and would first have investigated to prove that forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were indeed responsible for the use of chemical weapons.

The U.S. launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat Syrian airbase near Homs on Friday morning (local time), destroying several warplanes and killing six. Several civilians were injured, but all of those killed and seriously injured were soldiers. The missiles were launched from two destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea.

President Trump said the attack was in response to the deaths of dozens of Syrians from poison gas on Tuesday following a bombing in the Idlib province by Syrian government forces.

About 98 have died so far from the gas and over 5,000 are injured, a doctor on the ground in the area, Dr. Ahmad Dbais from the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, told CNA. They showed symptoms of exposure to sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent, and not chlorine, he said.

Trump blamed Assad and his forces for conducting a chemical weapons attack – a violation of international law and a war crime. Assad for his part has denied the culpability of Syrian forces in the deaths, and his Russian allies said that Syrian bombs had hit buildings where Syrian rebels were manufacturing chemical weapons, spreading the gasses.

The Syrian airbase used for Tuesday’s bombing was targeted on Thursday by U.S. forces, President Trump noted.

“Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children,” the President stated from Mar-a-Lago, Fla. on Thursday night. “Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council.”

Russia’s military was informed of the strike in advance, the Pentagon has said.

Leading U.S. bishops called Friday for a political solution to the conflict in Syria. The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, and the head of the International Justice and Peace Committee, Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, issued the joint statement.

“The use of internationally banned indiscriminate weapons is morally reprehensible,” they stated of the chemical attacks. “At the same time, our Conference affirmed the call of Pope Francis to attain peace in Syria ‘through dialogue and reconciliation.’”

“The longstanding position of our Conference of Bishops is that the Syrian people urgently need a political solution. We ask the United States to work tirelessly with other governments to obtain a ceasefire, initiate serious negotiations, provide impartial humanitarian assistance, and encourage efforts to build an inclusive society in Syria that protects the rights of all its citizens, including Christians and other minorities.”

In late 2012 and throughout 2013, several reports came out of Syria alleging the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against the Syrian people. In September 2013, UN chemical weapons inspectors confirmed that sarin was used in one of the attacks taking place Aug. 21, 2013. Estimated death tolls from these attacks range from at least 300 to as many as 1,500 killed. Over 3,600 people were wounded in the attacks.

On September 7, 2013, Pope Francis held a vigil for peace in Syria and other conflicts around the world. “Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace,” Pope Francis said of the vigil.

After criticism of the attacks from the United States and the international community, U.S. and Russian delegations helped to strike an agreement in September 2013 requiring Syria to disclose its chemical weapons and facilities to the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The organization moved to shut down and dispose of the facilities and weapons, and by the end of 2014, Syria’s chemical weapons were declared destroyed, along with 24 of the 27 chemical weapons production facilities.

However, U.S. intelligence reports indicated that Syria had not disclosed the entirety of its program to inspectors. Furthermore, reports kept surfacing of continued use of chemical agents in attacks against civilian targets in 2014, 2015, and 2016. In 2015 and 2016, the OPCW and UN partners conducted a fact-finding investigation into some of these attacks.

The group concluded it had “sufficient evidence” that the Assad regime targeted civilians with chlorine gas – a chemical weapon that was not specifically required for destruction by the previous agreement, but which is nevertheless banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW and UN panel also concluded that the Islamic State had used a “sulphur-mustard” chemical weapon in Syria in 2014 and 2015.

Archbishop Jeanbart expressed his wish that the U.S. had investigated first to ensure who were the perpetrators of Tuesday’s deaths by gas before taking military action.

“Of course, if the government in Syria has used the gas and chemical weapons, we agree that he shouldn’t do [this] and he must be punished,” he told CNA. “But I am afraid they didn’t have time to check and to make sure that he [Assad] did it himself.”

“What is making us unhappy and sad is that this strike has come too quickly,” he added. “They would have been able to do it any time later. They would have been able, in this situation, to ask Russia make pressure on the government to withdraw, and perhaps it could have been a reason to impose and oblige Bashar Assad to step out.”

“But I do not understand what happened, and it has been more destruction and more sadness and more terror coming to our people.”

By citing the responsibility borne by those in positions of political authority, Pope Francis “expects some kind of political response,” Dr. Joseph Capizzi, a professor of moral theology at the Catholic University of America, explained to CNA of Pope Francis’s appeal to the conscience of political leaders responsible for Tuesday’s atrocities.

Pope Francis was probably looking for the international community to “exert some pressure” on the perpetrators, he added, and this could include the proportional use of force.

Thursday night’s missile strike showed a “judicious use of force,” he said. Action was needed “to enforce international law and international treaties” on the use of chemical weapons.

While “one would prefer” that there be “international concerted action” instead of one world power – in this case, the U.S. – taking action, some variables could have prompted a unilateral action here, he explained.

First, the response to the use of chemical weapons – an attack on an airbase used to launch bombings in the region – needed to be swift and a surprise in order to be successful, he said, and an international action would have taken time to form – if it formed at all.

Also, he noted, the world was watching – in particular, North Korea and China. Amid North Korea’s ballistic missile test launch this past week, the Trump administration showed that it may act “in a more decisive manner” when international interests are at stake, Capizzi said.

With Chinese president Xi Jingping visiting the White House this week, Thursday’s attack could function as a message to China to hold North Korea in check.

However, there must be measures taken to prevent Thursday’s attack from morphing into a greater military struggle in the region, Capizzi acknowledged, especially as the situation in Syria has grown more complex in recent years with the involvement of Russia.

As history has shown, “small, limited uses of force on the international level can expand,” he reflected.

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U.S. NEWS

Proposed Texas budget would defund abortion providers

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • April 10, 2017

(American Life League via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Austin, TX — The Texas House passed a budget on Friday that strips Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers of funding through any state program.

“Rather than chasing, kind of reactively, after Planned Parenthood, this is a comprehensive budget policy and ethic that pro-life Texans don’t want to subsidize abortion providers,” Emily Horne, legislative associate with Texas Right to Life, explained to CNA.

The budget proposal, passed by the Texas House and Senate, now moves to a joint conference committee which will be made up of members of both chambers. They will then finalize the budget.

Texas Right to Life has warned that although the budget has passed both chambers with pro-life provisions, those provisions could be removed by the committee, and so they will be fighting to ensure the provisions stay intact.

Although past efforts were successful to block funding of abortion providers in certain state health programs, there were still funds going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers through community assistance and HIV screening programs, Horne said.

She compared the funding to a “whack-a-mole game” where if abortion providers were defunded in one state program, another source of funding would be intact. So the wording in the budget is broad, to “apply this logic and ethic to the whole budget,” she said.

The budget proposal also increases funding for the “Alternatives to Abortion” program by $20 million – a “huge increasing in funding” that was “very needed,” Horne said.

The program provides resources, hotlines, and referrals to pregnancy centers for expectant mothers, but also funds adoption agencies and maternal health providers – basically “funding all the alternatives” to abortion, Horne said.

There are also parenting classes offered under the program, and 10 hours of these classes would be required for mothers to receive certain assistance like diapers and formula, Horne said. The program also provides career development for working mothers, such as interview prep and resume-building classes.

It’s the “social side of trying to support women,” she said.

The U.S. Congress has also worked to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding – mostly from Medicaid reimbursements and Title X family planning grants.

The U.S. House has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, after undercover videos surfaced in 2015 showing doctors and officials discussing prices for fetal tissue from aborted babies with actors posing as prospective tissue harvesters. The House has also voted to let states choose not to fund Planned Parenthood through disbursement of Title X funds.

Defunding of Planned Parenthood was also included in the American Health Care Act, the recent health care bill that failed to make it to the House floor for a vote.

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops back religious freedom for adoption, foster care providers

CNA/EWTN News • April 12, 2017

(Natalia Lebedinskaia via Shutterstock)

Washington D.C. — Three chairmen of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference have voiced strong support for a measure that would restore certain religious freedoms to child welfare providers.

The recently introduced Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2017 would prevent the federal government, and any state receiving federal funds for child welfare services, from taking adverse action against a provider that, for religious or moral reasons, declines to provide a child welfare social service.

Under the previous administration, several faith-based child welfare providers in multiple states including in Massachusetts, Illinois, California, and the District of Columbia, have been forced to shut down their adoption and foster care services because of beliefs that children should be placed with a married mother and father.

In the case of Illinois, more than 3,000 children were displaced after religiously affiliated adoption and foster care services had to close their doors. Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois decided to cut ties from their affiliated Catholic diocese and operate as a separate Christian non-profit in order to maintain consistent services for the children.

Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, and Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln expressed their support for the Inclusion Act in letters to Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) in the U.S. Senate, who introduced the bill.

“The Inclusion Act would remedy this unjust discrimination by enabling all providers to serve the needs of parents and children in a manner consistent with the providers’ religious beliefs and moral convictions,” the bishops said.

“Our first and most cherished freedom, religious liberty, is to be enjoyed by all Americans, including child welfare providers who serve the needs of children. The Inclusion Act protects the freedom of all child welfare providers by ensuring they will not be discriminated against by the government because of their religious beliefs or moral convictions,” they wrote.

The Bishops also stressed that the Inclusion Act respects the religious freedom of parents who are looking to place their children into adoption or foster care services.

“Women and men who want to place their children for adoption ought to be able to choose an agency that shares the parents’ religious beliefs and moral convictions. The Inclusion Act recognizes and respects this parental choice.”

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U.S. NEWS

It’s the law: Once again, states can stop funding Planned Parenthood

CNA/EWTN News • April 13, 2017

Ultrasound image of unborn child. (Jim Gathany/CDC, Public domain)

Washington D.C. — Pro-life leaders applauded President Donald Trump for signing a repeal of what they called President Obama’s “parting gift to the abortion industry.”

“Today we thank President Donald Trump for restoring states’ freedom to direct taxpayer dollars away from abortion providers in favor of supporting community health centers that deliver comprehensive women’s care, and already outnumber abortion providers 20 to 1,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said Thursday.

In December, President Barack Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule that states could not deny federal funds to health clinics simply on the grounds that they provided abortions.

The funding program, Title X, consists of “family planning” grants for services like contraception, pregnancy testing, and infertility treatments.

Those federal grants, dispersed by the states, had to go to clinics that provided the “family planning” services, HHS said, and could not be denied to any clinic that provided those services.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) introduced H.J. Res. 43 to the U.S. House of Representatives, which nullified the HHS rule. The measure passed the House easily and then passed the Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence as the tie-breaking vote.

President Trump signed the resolution into law April 13.

Susan B. Anthony List thanked Rep. Black and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), saying they “led this effort in Congress.” When the measure was introduced, Rep. Black had said that her state of Tennessee had tried to stop giving Title X grants to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in order to redirect those grants to other health providers.

The HHS had explained that the rule was created in reaction to states that tried to stop funding abortion providers.

Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser added that “prioritizing funding away from Planned Parenthood to comprehensive health care alternatives is a winning issue.”

She pushed for Congress to take up more legislation to strip Planned Parenthood and abortion providers of other federal funds like Medicaid reimbursements. She said they should “redirect” federal funds to other health providers that do not perform abortions.

“The resolution signed today simply ensures that states are not forced to fund an abortion business with taxpayer dollars,” Dannenfelser said ahead of the signing of the bill.

“Rather, states have the option to spend Title X money on comprehensive health care clinics that better serve women and girls,” she said.

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FEATURES

Movie review: ‘The Case for Christ’

by Carl Kozlowski • April 7, 2017

There has been an explosion in Christian-themed films over the past decade since Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” made more than $600 million at the box office, proving there is an audience hungry for films about faith. One of the most successful was “God’s Not Dead,” which came seemingly out of nowhere to be a big hit despite often seeming preachy and heavy-handed in its storyline of a Christian college student who fights for his faith against an atheist college professor who declares that God doesn’t exist.

The studio behind that film, Pureflix, is back this week with “The Case for Christ,” a much more compelling and subtler film that tells the story of Lee Strobel, a top investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune in the 1970s and ‘80s who was a passionate skeptic about the existence of God. When his wife Leslie, a lifelong agnostic, suddenly embraced Christianity, he convinced his editors to let him launch an investigation to disprove the Resurrection truly occurred – only to find that the evidence could point in no other direction.

The movie opens with a montage of 1970s-era home-movie clips showing Lee (Mike Vogel) and Leslie (Erika Christensen) meeting as teens and marrying at 19, ready to take on the world. Lee’s doing just that at the Tribune, working to prove that a police informer named James Dixon (Renell Gibbs) shot an allegedly heroic cop.

Lee’s content life nearly takes a tragic turn one night while dining out with his family, when his daughter Alison (Haley Rosenwasser) nearly chokes to death in a restaurant. A devoutly Christian nurse named Alfie (L. Scott Caldwell) saves her life, and when Leslie goes to thank her, Alfie tells her that she felt that God led her to be there that night.

Shaken by this thought, Leslie agrees to go to church with Alfie, and finds herself drawn to belief for the first time in her life. Lee scoffs at this revelation, calling her crazy, and decides to debunk and angrily asks his editor for the right to do an investigation disproving the resurrection of Christ – a story the editor knows is controversial, but allows him to engage in.

He meets with a Catholic theologian who shows him that Jesus is cross-referenced in other ancient texts, and informs him that more than 5,000 authenticated original-era copies of the New Testament have been found – more than four times as many as that classic Greek work. He also has a fascinating encounter with a pathologist who backs an American Medical Association study that explored the effects of crucifixion on the human body, showing that it was impossible to survive it under natural circumstances.

As the evidence mounts in favor of Christ, Lee also finds that he has unfairly jumped to conclusions in an article that left Dixon with no choice but to plead guilty and go to prison even though he is actually innocent. Faced with his dual challenges to his core beliefs, Lee is forced to soul-search for a way to admit his wrongs and set things right again.

“Case” blends these two investigations together effectively to create suspense even in a film where the title basically gives away the ending, and it offers viewers several strong arguments along the way that can help in any debate over the truth of Christ’s story. But it also has a touching human aspect to it, as the film shows the incredible strain Lee’s determination to prove Leslie wrong has on their marriage.

Lee also has to contend with his own conflicted relationship with his father (Robert Forster), who was distant to him as a child but is wishing to make amends now. These personal conflicts lend an emotional weight that takes this beyond being just a procedural investigation, and the movie is the richer for it.

These emotional dilemmas help turn Strobel’s best-selling book of the same name, which focused on his investigation into the Resurrection itself, into a personal journey that is perfectly timed for all who seek to know the truth about Christ. With moving performances, fun period touches throughout with pagers, corded landline phones, Lee’s ridiculously shaggy hairdo, and a powerful message of faith, “The Case for Christ” makes a strong case for visiting the theatre during this holiest of seasons.

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’s 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

Why married priests won’t really fix the shortage

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • April 9, 2017

(Wideonet via Shutterstock)

Denver, CO — In 1970, there was one priest for every 800 Catholics in the United States.

Today, that number has more than doubled, with one priest for every 1,800 Catholics.

Globally, the situation is worse. The number of Catholics per priest increased from 1,895 in 1980 to 3,126 in 2012, according to a report from CARA at Georgetown University. The Catholic Church in many parts of the world is experiencing what is being called a “priest shortage” or a “priest crisis.”

Last month, Pope Francis answered a question about the priest shortage in a March 8 interview published in the German weekly Die Zeit. The part that made headlines, of course, was that about married priests.

“Pope Francis open to allowing married priests in Catholic Church” read a USA Today headline. “Pope signals he’s open to married Catholic men becoming priests” said CNN.

But things are not as they might seem. Read a little deeper, and Pope Francis did not say that Fr. John Smith at the parish down the street can now ditch celibacy and go looking for a wife.

What the Holy Father did say is that he is open to exploring the possibility of proven men (‘viri probati,’ in Latin) who are married being ordained to the priesthood. Currently, such men, who are typically over the age of 35, are eligible for ordination to the permanent diaconate, but not the priesthood.

However, marriage was not the first solution to the priest shortage Pope Francis proposed. In fact, it was the last.

Initially, he didn’t even mention marriage.

Pressed specifically about the married priesthood, the Pope said: “optional celibacy is discussed, above all where priests are needed. But optional celibacy is not the solution.”

While Pope Francis perhaps signals an iota more of openness to the possibility of married priests in particular situations, his hesitance to open wide the doors to a widespread married priesthood is in line with his recent predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as well as the longstanding tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

So why is the Church in the West, even when facing a significant priest shortage, so reticent to get rid of a tradition of celibacy, if it is potentially keeping away additional candidates to the priesthood?

Why is celibacy the norm in the Western Church?

Fr. Gary Selin is a Roman Catholic priest and professor at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. His work Priestly Celibacy: Theological Foundations was published last year by CUA press.

While the debate about celibacy is often reduced to pragmatics – the difficulty of paying married priests more, the question of their full availability – this ignores the rich theological foundations of the celibate tradition, Fr. Selin told CNA.

One of the main reasons for this 2,000 year tradition is Christological, because it is based on the first celibate priest – Jesus.

“Jesus Christ himself never married, and there’s something about imitating the life our Lord in full that is very attractive,” Fr. Selin said.

“Interestingly, Jesus is never mentioned as a reason for celibacy. The next time you read about celibacy, try to see if they mention our Lord; oftentimes he is left out of the picture.”

Christ’s life of celibacy, while compatible with his mission of evangelization, would not have been compatible with marriage, because “he left his home and family in Nazareth in order to live as an itinerant preacher, consciously renouncing a permanent dwelling: ‘The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,’” Fr. Selin said, refering Matthew 8:20.

Several times throughout the New Testament, Christ praises the celibate state. In Matthew 19:11-12, he answers a question from his disciples about marriage, saying that those who are able by grace to renounce marriage and sexual relations for the kingdom of heaven ought to do so.

“Of the three manners in which one is incapable of sexual activity, the third alone is voluntary: ‘eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs [emphasis added].’ These people do so ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven,’ that is, for the kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming and initiating,” Fr. Selin explained.

Nevertheless, it took a while for the “culture of celibacy” to catch on in the early Church, Fr. Selin said.

Christ came to earth amid a Jewish people and culture who were instructed since their first parents of Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28, 9:7) and were promised that their descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (Gen. 22:17). Being unmarried or barren was to be avoided for both practical and religious reasons, and was seen as a curse, or at least a lack of favor from God.

The apostles, too, were Jewish men who would have been a part of this culture. It is known that among them, at least St. Peter had been married at some time, because Scripture mentions his mother-in-law (Mt. 8:14-15).

St. John the Evangelist is thought by the Church fathers to be one of the only of the 12 apostles who was celibate, which is why Christ had a particular love for him, Fr. Selin said. Some of the other apostles likely were married, in keeping with Jewish customs, but it is thought that they practiced perpetual continence (chosen abstinence from sexual relations) once they became apostles for the rest of their lives. St. Paul the Apostle extols the celibate state, which he also kept, in 1 Corinthians 7:7-8.

Because marriage was such an integral part of Jewish culture, even for the apostles, early Church clergy were often, but not always, married. However, evidence suggests that these priests were asked to practice perfect continence once they had been ordained. Priests whose wives became pregnant after ordination could even be punished by suspension, Fr. Selin explained.

Early on in the Church, bishops were selected from the celibate priests, a tradition that stood before the mandatory celibate priesthood. Even today, Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, most of which allow for married priests, select their bishops from among celibate priests.

As the “culture of celibacy” became more established, it increasingly became the norm in the Church, until married men who applied for ordinations had to appeal to the Pope for special permission.

In the 11th century, St. Gregory VII issued a decree requiring all priests to be celibate and asked his bishops to enforce it. Celibacy has been the norm ever since in the Latin Rite, with special exceptions made for some Anglican and other Protestant pastors who convert to Catholicism.

A sign of the kingdom

Another reason the celibate priesthood is valued in the Church is because it bears witness to something greater than this world, Fr. Selin explained.

Benedict XVI once told priests that celibacy agitates the world so much because it is a sign of the kingdom to come.

“It is true that for the agnostic world, the world in which God does not enter, celibacy is a great scandal, because it shows exactly that God is considered and experienced as reality. With the eschatological dimension of celibacy, the future world of God enters into the reality of our time. And should this disappear?” Benedict XVI said in 2010.

Christ himself said that no one would be married or given in marriage in heaven, and therefore celibacy is a sign of the beatific vision (cf. Mt 22:30-32).

“Married life will pass away when we behold God face to face and all of us become part of the bridal Church,” Fr. Selin said. “The celibate is more of a direct symbol of that.”

Another value of celibacy is that it allows priests a greater intimacy with Christ in more fully imitating him, Fr. Selin noted.

“The priest is ordained to be Jesus for others, so he’s able to dedicate his whole body and soul first of all to God himself, and from that unity with Jesus he is able to serve the church,” he said.

“We can’t get that backwards,” he emphasized. Often, celibacy is presented for practical reasons of money and time, which aren’t sufficient reasons to maintain the tradition.

“That’s not sufficient and that doesn’t fill the heart of a celibate, because he first wants intimacy with God. Celibacy first is a great, profound intimacy with Christ.”

A married priest’s perspective: Don’t change celibate priesthood

Father Douglas Grandon is one of those rare exceptions - a married Roman Catholic priest.

He was a married Episcopalian priest when he and his family decided to enter the Catholic Church 14 years ago, and received permission from Benedict XVI to become a Catholic priest.

Even though Fr. Grandon recognizes the priest shortage, he said opening the doors to the married priesthood would not solve the root issue of that shortage.

“In my opinion, the key to solving the priest shortage is more commitment to what George Weigel calls evangelical Catholicism,” Fr. Grandon told CNA.

“Whether you’re Protestant or Catholic, vocations come from a very strong commitment to the basic commands of Jesus to preach the Gospel and make disciples. Wherever there’s this strong evangelical commitment, wherever priests are committed to deepening people’s faith and making them serious disciples, you have vocations. That is really the key.”

He also said that while he’s “ever so grateful” that St. John Paul II allowed for exceptions to the celibate priesthood in 1980 – allowing Protestant pastor converts like himself to become priests – he also sees the value of the celibate priesthood and does not advocate getting rid of it.

“… We really do believe the celibate vocation is a wonderful thing to be treasured, and we don’t want anything to undermine that special place of celibate priesthood,” he said.

“Jesus was celibate, Paul was celibate, some of the 12 were celibate, so that’s a special gift that God has given to the Catholic Church.”

Fr. Joshua J. Whitfield is another married priest, who resides in Dallas and is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He recently wrote about his experience as a married priest, but also said that he would not want the Church to change its celibacy norm.

“What we need is another Pentecost. That’s how the first ‘shortage’ was handled. The Twelve waited for the Holy Spirit, and he delivered,” Fr. Whitfield told CNA in e-mail comments.

“Seeing this crisis spiritually is what is practical. And it’s the only way we’re going to properly solve it … . I’m simply not convinced that the economics of (married priesthood) would result in either the growth of clergy or the Church.”

A glance at what the priest shortage looks like in the United States

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the largest diocese in the United States, clocking in at a Catholic population of 4,029,336, according to the P.J. Kenedy and Sons Official Catholic Directory.

With 1,051 diocesan and religious priests combined, the archdiocese has one priest for every 3,833 Catholics – more than double the national rate.

Despite the large Catholic population, which presents both “a great blessing and a great challenge,” Fr. Samuel Ward, the archdiocese’s associate sirector of vocations, told CNA he doesn’t hope for or anticipate any major changes to the practice of priestly celibacy.

“I believe in the great value of the celibate Roman Catholic priesthood,” he said.

He also sees great reason for hope. Recent upticks in the number of seminarians and young men considering the priesthood seems to be building positive momentum for vocations in future generations.

The trend is a national one as well – CARA reports that about 100 more men were ordained to the priesthood in 2016 than in 2010. Between 2005 and 2010, there was a difference of only 4.

In the Archdiocese of New York, the second largest diocese in the United States, there is a Catholic population of 2,642,740 and 1,198 diocesan and religious priests, meaning there is one priest for every 2,205 Catholics.

“I think we’re probably like most every other diocese in the country, in that over the past 40-50 years, the number of ordinations have not in any way kept pace with the number of priests who are retiring or dying,” said Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the archdiocese.

It’s part of the reason why they recently underwent an extensive reorganization process, which included the closing and re-consolidation of numerous parishes, many of which had found themselves without a pastor in recent years.

“Rather than wait for it to hit crisis mode we wanted to be prudent and plan for what the future would look like here in the Archdiocese of New York,” Zwilling said.

Monsignor Peter Finn has been a priest in New York for 52 years, and as rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary for six years in the early 2000s, he has had several years’ experience forming priests. While he admits there is a shortage, he’s not convinced that doing away with celibacy would solve anything.

“After 52 years of priesthood I’m not really sure it would make any big difference,” he told CNA.

That’s because the crisis is not unique to the vocation of the priesthood, he said. The broader issue is a lack of commitment – not just to the priesthood, but to marriage and other vocations of consecrated life.

Fr. Selin echoed those sentiments.

“It goes deeper, it goes to a deep crisis of faith, a rampant materialism, and also at times a difficulty with making choices,” he said.

So if marriage won’t solve the problem, what will?

Schools, seminaries, and a culture of vocations

The Archdiocese of St. Louis, on the other hand, has not experienced such a drastic shortage. When compared with other larger dioceses in the country (those with 300,000 or more Catholics), the St. Louis Archdiocese has the most priests per capita: only 959 Catholics per priests, in 2014.

John Schwob, director of pastoral planning for the archdiocese, said this could be attributed to a number of things – large and active Catholic schools, a local diocesan seminary, and archbishops who have made vocations a pastoral priority.

“… Going back to the beginning of our diocese in 1826, the early bishops made repeated trips to Europe to bring back religious and secular priests and religious men and women who built up strong Catholic parishes and schools,” he told CNA. “That has created momentum that has continued for nearly 200 years.”

These three things also ring true for the Diocese of Lincoln, which has a smaller population and a high priest-to-Catholic ratio: one priest for every 577 Catholics, which is less than one third of the national ratio.

As in St. Louis, Lincoln’s vocations director Fr. Robert Matya credits many of the diocese’s vocations to Catholic schools with priests and religious sisters.

“The vast majority of our vocations come from the kids in our Catholic school system,” Fr. Matya said.

“The unique thing about Lincoln is that the religion classes in all of our Catholic high schools are taught by priests or sisters, and that is not usually the case … the students just have greater exposure to priests and sisters than a kid who goes to high school somewhere else who doesn’t have a priest teach them or doesn’t have that interaction with a priest or a religious sister.”

The diocese also has two orders of women religious – the Holy Spirit Adoration sisters (or the Pink Sisters) and discalced, cloistered Carmelites – who pray particularly for priests and vocations.

Msgr. Timothy Thorburn, vicar general of the Lincoln diocese, said that when the Carmelite sisters moved to the diocese in the late ‘90s, two local seminaries sprang up “almost overnight” - a diocesan minor seminary and a seminary for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.

“Wherever priests are being formed the devil is going to be at work, and cloistered religious are what we would consider the marines in the fight with the powers of darkness, they’re the ones on the frontlines,” Msgr. Thorburn told CNA.

“So right in the midst of the establishment of these two seminaries, the Carmelite sisters … asked if they could look at building a monastery in our diocese.”

A commitment to authentic and orthodox Catholic teaching is also important for vocations, Msgr. Thorburn noted.

“I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s and ‘80s, and many in the Church thought if we just became more hip, young people would be attracted to the priesthood and religious life … and the opposite occurred. Young people were repelled by that,” he said.

“They wanted to make a commitment, they wanted authentic Catholic teaching, the authentic Catholic faith, they didn’t want some half-baked, watered down version of the faith; that wasn’t attractive to them at all. And I’d say the same is true now. The priesthood will not become more attractive if somehow the Church says married men can be ordained.”

Pope Francis’ solutions: Prayer, fostering vocations, and the birth rate

Pope Francis, too, does not believe that the married priesthood is the solution to the priest shortage. Before he even mentioned the married priesthood to Die Zeit, the Pope talked about prayer.

“The first [response] – because I speak as a believer – the Lord told us to pray. Prayer, prayer is missing,” he told the paper.

Rose Sullivan, director of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors, and the mother of a seminarian who is about to be ordained, agrees with the Pope.

“We would not refer to it as a ‘priest shortage’ or a ‘vocation crisis.’ We would refer to it as a prayer crisis. God has not stopped calling people to their vocation, we’ve stopped listening; the noise of culture has gotten in the way,” she said.

“Scripture says: ‘Speak Lord for your servant is listening.’ So the question would be, are we listening? And I would say we could do a much better job at listening.”

Another solution proposed by Pope Francis: increasing the birth rate, which has plummeted in many parts of the Church, particularly in the west.

In some European countries, once the most Catholic region of the world, the birth rate has dipped so low that governments are coming up with unique ways to incentivize child-bearing.

“If there are no young men there can be no priests,” the Pope said.

The vocations of marriage and priesthood are therefore inter-related, said Fr. Ward.

“They compliment each other, and are dependent upon one another. If we don’t have families, we don’t have anything to do as priests, and families need priests for preaching and the sacraments.”

The third solution proposed by Pope Francis was working with young people and talking to them directly about vocations.

Many priests are able to trace their vocation back to a personal invitation, often made by one priest, as well as the witness of good and holy priests that were a significant part of their lives.

“A former vocation director took an informal poll, and he asked men, ‘What really got you thinking about the priesthood?’ And almost all of them said ‘because my pastor approached me,’” Fr. Selin related.

“It was the same thing with me. When a priest lives his priesthood with great joy and fidelity, he’s the most effective promoter of vocations, because a young man can see himself in him.”

Msgr. Thorburn added: “There is no shortage of vocations.”

“God is calling a sufficient number of men in the Western Church, who by our tradition he gives the gift of celibacy with the vocation. We just have to make a place for those seeds to fall on fertile ground.”

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Catholics shouldn’t totally reject human gene editing – but it still has ethical problems

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • April 11, 2017

CRISPR-CAS9 gene editing complex from Streptococcus pyogenes. (molekuul_be via Shutterstock)

Washington D.C. — Recent American guidelines for human gene modification have raised important ethical questions, especially with regard to modifying the genes of unborn children and of reproductive cells.

The National Academy of Sciences in February released a 261-page report on guidelines for editing the human genome to treat diseases and other applications. The report covers a wide array of topics, from the editing of adult cells for therapies such as cancer treatment, to the editing of embryos and germ cells (reproductive cells, i.e. ova and sperm), to the question of human enhancement.

John DiCamillo, an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, spoke to CNA about the perils and the promises of gene editing, as well as the oversights contained in the National Academy of Sciences’ report.

“Gene editing generally can be morally legitimate if it has a directly therapeutic purpose for a particular patient in question, and if we’re sure we’re going to limit whatever changes to this person,” DiCamillo explained. In this regard, the report’s guidelines for laboratory treatment of somatic – or non-reproductive – cells and human trials of somatic cell treatments were reasonable, he noted.

DiCamillo pointed to upcoming clinical gene therapy trials for cancer and proposed gene therapy treatments for disorders such as sickle cell disease. However, it’s important to limit these trials to non-embryonic persons, to ensure that the modifications – intended as well as unintended – are not carried in the patient’s reproductive cells.

While this would mean that patients treated for inheritable diseases “could still transmit it to their children,” any children who then developed the disease could themselves be treated through the same process.

The question of transmission to descendants opens up two more points discussed in the National Academy of Sciences report: the modification of ova and sperm, as well as edits to the genomes of embryos. Both of these changes would mean that people would maintain these edits in all of their cells for all of their lives – and could pass on these edited genes to new generations.

“There could be limited situations that could exist where the germ line could be legitimately edited. In other words, making changes to sperm, to eggs, or to early embryos as a way of potentially addressing diseases – inheritable diseases and so forth,” DiCamillo stated.

However, permitting edits to germ line cells could also be “very dangerous on multiple levels,” he warned.

There are considerable, and not yet fully controllable, risks to genetic manipulation. A person conceived with edited genes could experience a range of “unintended, perhaps harmful, side effects that can now be transmitted, inherited by other individuals down the line.” An embryo who experiences gene modification could also carry and pass on edited genes, particularly if edits were performed before his or her reproductive cells began to differentiate themselves.

The National Academy of Sciences’ regulations surrounding germ cells and embryos are also problematic for what they overlook, DiCamillo commented.

Manipulating sperm and ova requires removing them from a person’s body; if conception is achieved with these cells, it is nearly always through in vitro methods. This practice of in vitro fertilization is held by the Church to be ethically unacceptable because it dissociates procreation from the integrally personal context of the conjugal act.

In addition, scientific researchers rarely differentiate between experimentation on sperm or ova – which are cells that come from a human subject – and embryos, which are distinct persons with their own distinct genomes, DiCamillo noted.

The National Academy of Sciences’ guidelines reflect this lack of distinction between cells and embryos. “That’s very misleading because embryos are not germ line cells; they are new human beings,” DiCamillo said.

For research on embryos to be ethical, he continued, therapies should be ordered to treating and benefitting that “that particular embryo, not just for garnering scientific knowledge or seeing what’s going to happen.” DiCamillo condemned policies that see destruction of embryonic persons as a back-up if research does not go as planned, as well as current policies that require destruction of embryos as standard procedure.

“We’d be in that area of very dangerous exploitation of human life and destruction of human life,” he warned.

While the guidelines stumble across ethical roadblocks in regards to gamete and embryo research, the new report’s rules regarding human enhancement are strong, DiCamillo said.

The ability to edit genomes could also be used for purposes other than medical treatment. A whole host of human traits could be enhanced or changed, such as vision, intelligence, or abilities. “There’s any number of things that we could do to change the qualities of human beings themselves and make them, in a sense, super-humans … this is something that would also be an ethical problem on the horizon,” he warned.

The existence of these gene altering therapies raises a question of how much modification and enhancement is permissible. DiCamillo praised the report for its recommendation “entirely against enhancement efforts and that these should not be allowed.”

Currently, gene editing of both germ cells and somatic cells is legal in the United States, including on embryos. However, various US government institutions have policies in place prohibiting federal funding of such research efforts on germ cells and on embryos.

Furthermore, Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit gene modification on viable human embryos – meaning that human embryos who receive gene modification are always destroyed.

The new guidelines from the National Academy of Sciences are significant because they lay a groundwork for future policy on human gene modification. They cautiously welcome the use of gene therapy on human embryos who are not later targeted for destruction after experimentation concludes.

DiCamillo recalled, however, that “they are merely guidelines – they are advice from the National Academy of the Sciences to the government in regards to future policy. This is not itself a new regulation or policy that the government has established.”

The ethics of gene editing has been questioned for several years – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed the issue in Dignitas personae, its 2008 instruction on certain bioethical questions. It has become more pressing recently, however, because a new technique known as CRISPR is easier to use and less expensive than previous means of gene editing.

Although the ethical questions surrounding gene modification are many and there are a number of problematic applications of these technologies, DiCamillo cautioned Catholics not to renounce completely human gene modification: “We don’t want to be hyper-reactive to the dangers. We have to realize there’s a great deal of good that can be done here.”

He pointed again to the kinds of modifications that can treat deadly genetic diseases and treatments that can be done in an ethical manner, with full respect to the dignity of human persons.

“We do need to be attentive to where the dangers are,” he warned, “but we don’t want to … automatically consider any kind of gene editing to be automatically a problem.”

This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 23, 2017.

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‘The Case for Christ’ and a stubbornly historical religion

by Bishop Robert Barron • April 11, 2017

The Case for Christ is a film adaptation of Lee Strobel’s best-selling book of the same name, one that has made an enormous splash in Evangelical circles and beyond. It is the story of a young, ambitious (and atheist) reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who fell into a psychological and spiritual crisis when his wife became a Christian. The scenes involving Lee and his spouse, which play out over many months of their married life, struck me as poignant and believable — and I say this with some authority, having worked with a number of couples in a similar situation. In some cases, a non-believing spouse might look upon his partner’s faith as a harmless diversion, a bit like a hobby, but in other cases, the non-believer sees the dawning of faith in his beloved as something akin to a betrayal. This latter situation strongly obtained in the Strobel’s marriage.

In order to resolve the tension, Lee used his considerable analytical and investigative skills to debunk the faith that was so beguiling his wife. The focus of his inquiry was, at the suggestion of a Christian colleague at the Tribune, the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus didn’t rise, his friend explained, Christianity crumbles like a house of cards. The narrative unfolds, then, as a kind of detective story, Strobel hunting down leads, interrogating experts, asking the hard questions.

I liked this for a couple of reasons. First, at its best, Christianity is not fideist, that is to say, reliant upon a pure and uncritical act of faith on the part of its adherents. Rather, it happily embraces reason and welcomes critical questions. Secondly, and relatedly, Christianity is a stubbornly historical religion. It is not a philosophy (though it can employ philosophical language), nor is it a spirituality (though a spirituality can be distilled from it); rather, it is a relationship to an historical figure about whom an extraordinary historical claim has been made, namely, that he rose bodily from the dead.

Now especially in recent years, many attempts have been made to mitigate the scandal of this assertion. Jesus was a great moral exemplar, a powerful teacher of spiritual truth, an inspiring man of God — and it doesn’t particularly matter whether the reports of resurrection are factually accurate. Indeed, it is probably best to read them as mythic or symbolic. To all of that, classical Christianity says no. It agrees with Lee Strobel’s colleague: if the resurrection didn’t happen, Christianity should be allowed to fall onto the ash heap of history. Therefore, watching our intrepid investigator go about his work is, for a true Christian, thrilling, precisely because the questions are legitimate and something is very really at stake.

So what were his inquiries? First, he wondered whether the resurrection stories were just fairy tales, pious inventions meant to take away our fear of death. But he learned that, in point of fact, many people claimed to have seen Jesus after his crucifixion, including five hundred at once. Moreover, most of the leaders of the early Church went to their deaths defending the legitimacy of what they taught. Would anyone do that for a myth or a legend of his own invention?

But another question came to his mind: might they all have been victims of a mass hallucination? A psychologist patiently explained that waking dreams are not shared by hundreds of people at different times and different places. “If hundreds of individuals had the same hallucination, that would be a greater miracle than the resurrection,” she informed him with a smile.

But what about the reliability of the Christian texts themselves? Weren’t they written long after the events described? A Catholic priest, who is also an archeologist and specialist in ancient manuscripts, told him that the number of early copies of the Christian Gospels far surpasses that of any other ancient text, including the Iliad of Homer and the Dialogues of Plato.

What about the “swoon theory,” according to which Jesus did not really die on the cross but only lost consciousness, only to be revived sometime later? A Los Angeles based physician detailed for him the brutal process of a Roman execution, which resulted in the victim slowly bleeding to death and asphyxiating. The swoon theory, the doctor concluded, “is rubbish.”

At each stage of the process, Strobel continued to wonder, question, balk, and argue, all the time maintaining the default position that Christianity is bunk. Nevertheless, it was becoming clear that the relentlessness of the counter-arguments and their stubborn congruence with one another was wearing him down. This made me think of John Henry Newman’s famous account of how we come to religious assent. It is very rarely by virtue of one clinching argument, Newman said, but rather through the slow, steady confluence of inference, hunch, intuition, experience, the witness of others, etc. This convergence of probabilities, under the aegis of what Newman called the “illative sense,” customarily leads the mind to assent.

In the course of their conversation, Strobel’s priest-archeologist interlocutor showed the skeptical journalist a reproduction of the Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial cloth of Jesus. Gazing into the eyes of the image, Strobel asked, “What would have made him go through all of this?” The priest responded, “That’s easy: love.” As the arguments were jostling in his head, Strobel remembered that image and that explanation — and the filmmakers insinuate that this is what finally pushed him over into belief.

The Case for Christ is interesting for any number of reasons, but I think it is particularly compelling for its subtle portrayal of the psychological, spiritual, and intellectual dynamics of evangelization.

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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What Holy Week looks like in a remote Indian diocese

by Carl Bunderson (CNA/EWTN News) • April 13, 2017

Priests concelebrate at the Miao diocese Chrism Mass on March 27, 2015. (Catholic Diocese of Miao)

Miao, India — In the Diocese of Miao, located in India’s northeasternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh, Bishop George Pallipparambil does not stay quietly in his cathedral for Holy Week, but rather holds services across the diocese in an effort to better serve his people.

“What we’re trying to do is to reach to as many places as possible. I’m not confining myself to the main church in Miao,” the bishop told CNA in a 2015 interview. “I’ll be there only for the Easter Sunday Mass.”

“I finished today in one place, tomorrow I’ll be in a big community called Khonsa, and for Good Friday I’ll be in another district headquarters. For the [Easter] Vigil I’ll be in another place, and then for Sunday Mass I’ll be in Miao.”

The Miao diocese covers a vast area of nearly 17,000 square miles, and it is home to the easternmost portions of the Himalayas.

The terrain ranges “from the very low plains to the high snow-covered Himalayan peaks,” Bishop Pallipparambil explained. “Some of the biggest rivers in the world are in this region, coming down from the Himalayas flowing down to the plains.”

Mountainous terrain coupled with a lack of infrastructure explains why the diocese held its Chrism Mass entirely outside of Holy Week, that year on March 26.

The Chrism Mass is traditionally said on the morning of Holy Thursday, and it gathers all the priests of a diocese together with their bishop to emphasize their common ministry. The bishop blesses three kinds of oil – chrism, oil of the catechumens, and oil of the sick – which are distributed to the priests and used in sacramental anointings throughout the following year.

However, the Diocese of Miao has had to change this practice to adapt to its needs. The diocese was established in 2005, and Bishop Pallipparambil is its first ordinary.

“The first year we had [Chrism Mass] on Tuesday of Holy Week, and we found many of the priests could not reach back to their own places for Holy Thursday,” he explained. “So, we started in the last eight years to have the Chrism Mass in the previous week.”

Bishop Pallipparambil himself is sometimes beset by travel difficulties: in 2015, heavy rains had made the road to Kulagaon village extremely muddy, and on his way to Holy Week services there, he had to get out and push his jeep along with passersby.

Another adaptation: the Chrism Mass was not held in the cathedral at Miao, but rather in Minthong parish in the Longding district.

“It is one of the decisions we made when the diocese was created,” Bishop Pallipparambil said.

He explained that “having the Chrism Mass in the cathedral, at least for me, didn’t make sense,” because each year, the same people would attend and carry the holy oils back to the distant villages and parishes, where the local people “just don’t know what it is.”

“(W)hereas if the Chrism Mass is held in their place, they come to know because it is always done in their language, and so they know what it is. And when it’s time to have an anointing, whether it be for baptism or confirmation or another occasion, they know the sacredness of this oil.”

He added that “it brings all the priests and religious to pray together with the people the whole day before the Mass, so that also has a positive catechetical influence.”

That year, the Chrism Mass was the occasion for Bishop Pallipparambil to present the first translation of the entire New Testament into the Wancho language.

At the bishop’s request, Father T.J. Francis spent three years working with Wancho leaders in preparing the translation, which will serve the 60,000 Wancho people who live in the Longding and Tirap districts.

Fr. Francis’ work “must inspire many of us to take up a similar responsibility to translate the Message of the Gospel to the language of the people we serve,” Bishop Pallipparambil said at the Mass. The Miao diocese is home to more than 100 distinct tribes, many of which have their own language.

Bishop Pallipparambil told CNA that the Wancho, of whom 95 percent are Christian, now have printed in their own language only the Bible and a few prayer and hymn books.

As the language had no written form, it also lacked its own script, the bishop noted, and Fr. Francis wrote the works with Latin letters. The priest has also produced a Wancho grammar.

Despite lacking access to written Scripture until now, many of the Wancho have converted “just by hearing and seeing” the Gospel.

“Some of their children in the ‘80s and ‘90s travelled outside their area and attended Christian schools, and when they got knowledge of Christianity they helped by teaching Bible in their own language,” he explained. The diocese also hold four to five-day Bible camps in which biblical stories and the catechism are explained.

Asked if the diocese hopes that the Old Testament will now be translated into Wancho, Bishop Pallipparambil affirmed “yes, we want to do it by all means at the earliest.”

This article was originally published on CNA April 3, 2015.

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SUNDAY • APRIL 16, 2017

Easter Sunday

First Reading (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; NRSVCE)

Peter began to speak: “The message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; NRSVCE)

R: (24) This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

R: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;

the right hand of the Lord is exalted.

I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the Lord.

R: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

R: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Second Reading (Col 3:1-4; NRSVCE)

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Gospel Reading (Jn 20:1-9; NRSVCE)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

MONDAY • APRIL 17, 2017

Monday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 2:14, 22-33; NRSVCE)

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know — this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,

‘I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;

therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

moreover my flesh will live in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let your Holy One experience corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,

‘He was not abandoned to Hades,

nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11; NRSVCE)

R: (1) Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord.”

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

you hold my lot.

R: Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

I keep the Lord always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

R: Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;

my body also rests secure.

For you do not give me up to Sheol,

or let your faithful one see the Pit.

R: Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

You show me the path of life.

In your presence there is fullness of joy;

in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

R: Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

Gospel Reading (Mt 28:8-15; NRSVCE)

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

TUESDAY • APRIL 18, 2017

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 2:36-41; NRSVCE)

Peter said to the Jews, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22; NRSVCE)

R: (5b) The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

For the word of the Lord is upright,

and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

R: The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

to deliver their soul from death,

and to keep them alive in famine.

R: The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

he is our help and shield.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.

R: The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Jn 20:11-18; NRSVCE)

Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

WEDNESDAY • APRIL 19, 2017

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 3:1-10; NRSVCE)

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9; NRSVCE)

R: (3b) Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

R: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

R: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

R: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

He is mindful of his covenant forever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac.

R: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Gospel Reading (Lk 24:13-35; NRSVCE)

On that same day two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

THURSDAY • APRIL 20, 2017

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 3:11-26; NRSVCE)

While the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished. When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you. And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.’ And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days. You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9; NRSVCE)

R: (2ab) O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

O Lord, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them?

R: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

and crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet.

R: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

All sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

R: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Gospel Reading (Lk 24:35-48; NRSVCE)

The two disciples of Jesus told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

FRIDAY • APRIL 21, 2017

Friday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 4:1-12; NRSVCE)

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is

‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;

it has become the cornerstone.’

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118:1-2 and 4, 22-24, 25-27a; NRSVCE)

R: (22) The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Let those who fear the Lord say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

R: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

R: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!

O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

We bless you from the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God,

and he has given us light.

R: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

Gospel Reading (Jn 21:1-14; NRSVCE)

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

SATURDAY • APRIL 22, 2017

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

First Reading (Acts 4:13-21; NRSVCE)

When the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118:1 and 14-15ab, 16-18, 19-21; NRSVCE)

R: (21a) I thank you that you have answered me.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

The Lord is my strength and my might;

he has become my salvation.

There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.

R: I thank you that you have answered me.

“The right hand of the Lord is exalted;

the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”

I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the Lord.

The Lord has punished me severely,

but he did not give me over to death.

R: I thank you that you have answered me.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

R: I thank you that you have answered me.

Gospel Reading (Mk 16:9-15; NRSVCE)

After he rose early on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”