Vatican City, Dec 6, 2016 / 07:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday the Vatican announced that Bishop Wilfredo Pino Estévez, who has led the Cuban diocese of Guantánamo-Baracoa for the past 10 years, will now be taking over as the new Archb... Read more

Vatican City, Dec 6, 2016 / 06:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors launched a new website Tuesday, which is designed to help inform the public about their work, and includes resources for Church leaders on saf... Read more

Vatican City, Dec 6, 2016 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For the first time, the works of Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn will be displayed at the Vatican. Organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Swedish Embassy, the art show falls about a month after Pope Francis’ visit to Sweden marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The display, entitled “Rembrandt at the Vatican: Images from Heaven and Earth,” is an extension of that same ecumenism and desire for Christian unity, Arnold Nesselrath, curator of the Vatican Museums, told Rome Reports. "Sweden is a particularly Protestant country. Holland is a particularly Protestant country. So if you want to set an ecumenical sign through creating events as we've seen on the 31st of October, this is what we wanted to contribute to with this exhibition,” he said. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Silvia of Sweden were both present at the launch of the exhibit, which opened with a speech by Queen Silvia. Also present was the director of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, who described Rembrandt as a Protestant travelling “to the heart of Roman Catholicism. This happens under the papacy of Francis, who made the unity of Christians one of his goals.” The son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother, Rembrandt’s works contain both Catholic and Protestant elements, as he understood the two very well. There seems to be no evidence that the 17th century artist ever officially joined a church, but he tended towards Protestantism and baptised his children in Protestant communities. One of his main sources of artistic inspiration was the Bible, and some of his best known works are his biblical scenes such as “The Raising of the Cross” or “Christ Healing the Sick.” Having never travelled to Italy in his life, Rembrandt’s only Italian artistic influence was from fellow artists who had travelled to Rome or were inspired by Italian artists. He is a renowned visual artist in three media – painting, drawing, and printmaking. The Vatican exhibition, which contains 53 of Rembrandt’s etchings from the Zorn Museum in Mora, Sweden, will be on display through February 26. Read more

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2016 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis endorsed a recent conference dedicated to the conservation and restoration of art and heritage within the Middle East, as a means to defend the rights of the human person.  The Pope gave his support for the Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage Conference, which occurred at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, on Dec. 2-3. Supported by UNESCO, France and the UAE set up the conference in hopes of protecting the heritage of the countries torn by war within the Middle East.  Identifying the theme as “unfortunately starkly current,” the Pope said that “the protection of cultural treasures constitutes an essential dimension in the defense of what it is to be human.” In countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, and Syria – each exposed to centuries of war – looting, destruction to cultural monuments, and illicit trading are commonplace. Within these cultures, all of which extend over a millennium back, many culturally significant pieces and property have already been damaged or obliterated. National Geographic has reported on specific pieces which have faced or are facing extinction, including the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and the toppled statues of the Mosul Museum in Iraq by ISIS militants.  Both the president of France, François Hollande, and the crowned prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have organized the conference with over 40 representatives from other countries.  The conference is supported by UNESCO, an organization within the UN dedicated to protecting and rehabilitating damaged art, cultural monuments, and natural wonders. Since its establishment in 1945, UNESCO has retained significant art and nature all over world. Having already helped restore the Old Walled City of Shibam, Yemen and even Yellowstone National Park within the US, UNESCO will be an important piece in enforcing and organizing the restoration.  “This will be a historical initiative to pass down our legacy of tolerance and value of heritage,” said the organization's chairman of tourism, Mohammad Khalifa Al Mubarak, who added that the project would need to raise $100 million in order to do so.  Partnering with UNESCO and relying on their previous expertise, countries will look to establish the Global Fund for Culture in order to reconstruct places like Nimrud or Palmyra. France and a few other countries have also shown interest in housing artifacts until it is safe for their return. For the countries of the Middle East under violence and constraints to religious freedom, the Pope trusts this conference will bring about a greater concern for the human person. “I hope that this event marks a new step in the process of the implementation of human rights,” he said.  Read more

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2016 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As Christmas approaches, don't downplay your sins, Pope Francis said. Instead, name them honestly in the Sacrament of Confession, open your heart, and ask the Lord to heal you from within. If we merely say: “yes, yes, I have some sins; I go, I confess…and then I go on as before,” we don't allow ourselves to be recreated by the Lord, the Pope said Dec. 5. It's as if we've applied “two coats of paint” on our heart, believing that is good enough. “No!” he said. What we should do instead is name our sins carefully, saying: “I've done this, and this, and this, and I am ashamed at heart. And I open my heart,” asking the Lord to “recreate me!” Doing this is what will give us the courage to go towards Christmas with “true faith,” Francis said. It often happens that we want “to hide the gravity of our sins,” he said, but when we attempt to “diminish,” instead of acknowledge our sins, they become “very ugly,” like “the venom of a serpent” that seeks to destroy others. Referring to the day's reading from the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus first forgives the sins of the paralytic man before physically healing him, Francis focused on the great importance of seeking out Christ’s spiritual healing in our own lives. What Jesus did in the Gospel, he said, “was not only change things from ugly to beautiful, from wicked to good: Jesus made a transformation.” It’s not a solution of “cosmetics” or “make-up,” Pope Francis noted. “He changed everything from the inside!” The message of the Gospel is that before healing the paralytic man, Jesus first forgave his sins, “recreating him” and making him “totally new.” Just as the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah is also about renewal, the Pope encouraged everyone to seek out renewal by going to the “root” of our sins. We must “get to the bottom of our sins and then give them to the Lord, so that He will cancel them and help us go forward with faith,” he said. “We are all sinners,” but if we go to the root of our sins and invite God there, he will come and make us a “new man” or a “new woman.” Just as Mary Magdalene did not have a physical ailment, but “a wound within,” we are all sinners in need of healing, the Pope said. Mary Magdalene recognized that Jesus could heal not only physical sickness, but spiritual as well. “This is what the Lord is asking of us today,” he said. “'Courage! Give me your sins and I will make you a new man, a new woman.' May the Lord give us faith to believe this.” Read more