Vatican City, Oct 4, 2016 / 09:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his latest prayer video Pope Francis dedicates the month of October to praying for journalists – specifically that their work would always be motivated by strong ethics and respect for the truth. The video, released Oct. 4, opens showing scenes of a television studio, recording studio, writing desks and satellites, which flash across the screen as the Pope speaks. Addressing viewers in his native Spanish, the Pope says he often wonders, “How can media be put to the service of a culture of encounter?” “We need information leading to a commitment for the common good of humanity and the planet,” he said, and, as the faces of different journalists around the Vatican flashed across the screen, asked if viewers would join him in praying for those who work in the field of communication. Specifically, he prayed “that journalists, in carrying out their work, may always be motivated by respect for the truth and a strong sense of ethics.” The video closes with the Pope asking viewers if they can help him with the request, a question to which the journalists featured each respond one by one saying, “yes.” Among the journalists featured in the video is Alvaro de Juana, a Rome correspondent for CNA’s sister-agency ACI Prensa. Originally from Spain, he has been working as a journalist for 12 years. In comments to CNA, de Juana said having strong ethics and a high respect for the truth are always important, but moreover carry special weight in today’s society. “For years there has been talk of an economic crisis, but the Church and concretely Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have said on many occasions that there is also a crisis of values,” he noted. Within this crisis, “ethics and morality have been forgotten and have been discarded in many environments and in important questions,” de Juana said, explaining that because of this, a journalist “has the duty to respect ethics and morality.” “There is no journalism without ethics,” he said, explaining that if ethics were removed from the equation, “it would be to dirty and undermine this profession that has the truth as its foundation.” Communication also plays a fundamental role in evangelization, he said, noting that “the Church is universal and we could say that communication is, too.” Christ used words and actions to make God’s love known to the people, and in doing so communicated, de Juana said, adding that communication is “a very important instrument” that can be used to reach those far from the Church. When asked how journalists themselves can collaborate with the Pope in helping to ensure his prayer is answered, de Juana said the answer is simply “being faithful to this principle of the truth” and by carrying out one’s work with the conviction that “not everything goes.” “The Pope asks that all journalists and people who work in communication to be faithful to these principals,” regardless of whether or not they are Catholic or not. The theme Pope Francis chose for 2017's World Day of Communications was released late last month, and is titled “'Fear not, for I am with you' (Is 43:5): Communicating hope and trust in our time.” In the communique published alongside the theme, the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications said the theme was “an invitation to tell the history of the world and the histories of men and women in accordance with the logic of the 'good news.'” Shortly before the announcement of the theme, Pope Francis had a Sept. 22 audience with journalists, during which he reflected on the importance of respect for human dignity, telling them that their profession can never be used as a destructive weapon, nor should it be used to nourish fear. “Certainly criticism is legitimate, and, I would add, necessary, just as is the denunciation of evil, but this must always be done respecting the other, his life and his affect. Journalism cannot become a 'weapon of destruction' of persons or even nations,” the Pope said at the Vatican's Clementine Hall. “Neither must it nourish fear in front of changes or phenomena such as migration forced by war or by hunger,” he said. An initiative of the Jesuit-run global prayer network Apostleship of Prayer, the Pope’s prayer videos are filmed in collaboration with the Vatican Television Center and mark the first time the Roman Pontiff’s monthly prayer intentions have been featured on video. The Apostleship of Prayer, which produces the monthly videos on the Pope’s intentions, was founded by Jesuit seminarians in France in 1884 to encourage Christians to serve God and others through prayer, particularly for the needs of the Church. Since the late 1800s, the organization has received a monthly, “universal” intention from the Pope. In 1929, an additional missionary intention was added by the Holy Father, aimed at the faithful in particular. While there are two intentions, the prayer videos are centered on the first, universal intention. His intentions this year have so far focused on themes he speaks out about frequently, such as interreligious dialogue, care for creation, families in hardship, the elderly and marginalized, and respect for women. Francis’ prayer intentions for the rest of the year are listed on the organization’s website and center on other themes close to Francis’ heart, such as prayers for countries receiving migrants and refugees, and an end to child-soldiers. Read more

Vatican City, Oct 4, 2016 / 05:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has tapped two active bishops to head new dioceses, naming Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne as the new Archbishop of Anchorage, and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh as Bishop of Arlington. Announced in an Oct. 4 communique from the Vatican, the appointments came as the former bishops of Anchorage and Arlington go into retirement, after having reached the age limit. Archbishop-elect Paul D. Etienne, 57, is an Indiana outdoorsman with many relatives also in the priesthood or religious life. Born in Philadelphia in 1959, the bishop grew up as one of six children to parents who have been married more than 50 years. Two of his brothers are priests, and his sister is a religious. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas/St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. with a degree in Business Administration before studying at the North American College in Rome and receiving a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. Following his priestly ordination in 1992 for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Fr. Etienne worked as an associate pastor and assistant vocation director before returning to Rome to receive his License in Spiritual Theology. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1995, he served as the vocation director for the archdiocese, vice-rector of the Bishop Simon Brute College Seminary in Indianapolis and as a parish priest. He also served as a member of the Council of Consultors and Council of Priests for the diocese before being appointed as Bishop of Cheyenne in 2009. No date has yet been announced for when he will take over as Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, 59 and who until now has served as the bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina, will be present in Arlington, Texas to announce his appointment as the fourth Bishop of the diocese. Born June 16, 1957, he attended Catholic grade schools and graduated from Cardinal O'Hara High School, Springfield, PA, in 1975. He then entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by John Cardinal Krol in 1984. The bishop holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Masers in Theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, as well as a Masters in Education Administration from Villanova University. He also holds a doctorate in Education from Immaculata College. He served as a parish priest for St. Bernard Church in Philadelphia before being named to the faculties of, successively, Cardinal O'Hara High School, Archbishop Wood High School and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he also served as Dean of Students until 1992. In 1992 he was named Administrative Secretary to Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, a role that he held until 1999. A year earlier, he was made Honorary Prelate to Pope John Paul II, receiving the title of Monsignor. He then served as Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary until 2004. Bishop Burbidge was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia in 2002, and in 1006 was named the fifth Bishop of Raleigh. The bishop currently serves as Chair of the USCCB Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, which he has been a member of since 2007. He is also a member of the Administrative and Communications Committees, and is an advisor for the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors. The bishop is also a current member of the Board of Trustees for The Catholic University of America, and has recently completed a 5-year term as Co-Chair of the International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, which is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. In an initial Oct. 4 statement on his appointment as the new Bishop of Arlington, Burbidge said serving in Raleigh has been a “profound pleasure,” and that he has never forgotten the “warmth and love” he was welcomed with. He thanked the priests, deacons, religious and lay people for their support and kindness, and voiced his certainty that he will be welcomed to Arlington with “the same joy and love” he found in his former diocese. Read more

Amatrice, Italy, Oct 4, 2016 / 03:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis made an unannounced private visit to the small Italian city of Amatrice to offer support  areas devastated by a massive earthquake in August, where he offered a message of comfort and hope. “I let a bit of time pass, so that some things could be repaired such as the school, but from the first moment I felt that I had to come to you. Simply for nothing more than to pray. I pray for you,” the Pope said during his Oct. 4 visit. He said that “closeness and prayer” were the offering he brought, and prayed that the Lord would bless those affected, and that the Virgin Mary would “comfort you in this moment of sadness, pain and trial.” “Go forward, there is always a future, there are many loved ones who have left us. They have fallen here, let us pray to the Virgin for them. Let us do it together.” After arriving to Amatrice at 9:10 in the morning, the Pope, accompanied by Rieti’s Bishop Domenico Pompili, went directly to the city’s school, where he offered his brief words, comforted survivors and asked the children to join him in praying the Hail Mary. He later visited the “red zone” of the city, which is where the majority of the destruction took place and is closed off due to reasons of security. Piles of rubble that have yet to be cleared away and half-destroyed buildings are still visible.   Pope and Pastor#PapaFrancesco greets a man who lost his wife and two children in the earthquake pic.twitter.com/7rxgE00Mci — Greg Burke (@GregBurkeRome) October 4, 2016   On Sunday while on board his return flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Rome, Pope Francis said that three dates had been proposed to him, and that while he didn’t remember the first two, one was the first Sunday of Advent, and that he needed “to choose” the date he wanted to go. Regardless of the day, Francis said he wanted to make the visit “privately, alone, as a priest, as a bishop, as Pope, but alone, that's how I want to do it. I would like to be close to the people.” Close to 300 people were killed when a 6.2-magnitude quake hit the town of Norcia Aug. 24, at 3:36a.m. with several strong aftershocks following. Out of those who died, more than 230 were from Amatrice. At one point after the initial quake, the mayor of Amatrice, one of the worst-hit areas, said “the town is gone.” The day of the earthquake Pope Francis was scheduled to hold his weekly general audience, however, instead of giving his usual catechesis, he put the speech aside and led those present in praying a rosary for the victims of the earthquake. In his Aug. 28 Angelus address, the Pope expressed his “spiritual closeness to the inhabitants of Lazio, delle Marche and Umbria, which have been greatly affected by the recent earthquake.” He offered special closeness to the people of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata and Pescara del Tronto and Norcia, telling them that “the Church shares their suffering and their concern.” Rumors have circulated in the media saying that Pope Francis could stop in Assisi while on his way back to the Vatican to mark the Oct. 4 feast his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, but it has yet to be confirmed. Read more