Vatican City, Jun 6, 2016 / 11:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Meekness of heart is not foolishness, Pope Francis said Monday, but rather “the capacity to be deep and to understand the greatness of God, and worship Him.” The Pope reflected during ... Read more
Washington D.C., Jun 5, 2016 / 04:44 pm (CNA).- As the federal government considers regulating the infamous “payday loan” industry, Catholics are already acting to help borrowers saddled with loan debt. “I think that, from a social j... Read more
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2016 / 11:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, June is a month dedicated to praying for a demographic he frequently brings up in his speeches and homilies: the elderly, sick and marginalized, particularly for solidarity for th... Read more
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2016 / 04:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary and St. Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad are key examples of how to unite oneself to Jesus’ Passion and death, as well as the power of his resurrection, Pope Francis said Sunday, after canonizing the two. “In the Passion of Christ, we find God’s response to the desperate and at times indignant cry that the experience of pain and death evokes in us,” the Pope said June 5. Jesus, he said, tells us that “we cannot flee from the Cross, but must remain at its foot, as Our Lady did. In suffering with Jesus, she received the grace of hoping against all hope.” “This was the experience of Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, and Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, who today are proclaimed saints. They remained deeply united to the passion of Jesus, and in them the power of his resurrection was revealed.” Pope Francis spoke to the thousands of pilgrims gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square for the canonization of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary and St. Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, the first to be proclaimed Saints during the Jubilee of Mercy. The dates of their canonization were announced March 15 alongside that of Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who will be canonized Sept. 4, and Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio, who will be canonized Oct. 16 alongside Argentine Bl. Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero. Born in the small village of Faglavik, in Sweden’s western coast province of Alvsborg June 4, 1870, St. Maria Elisabeth was a nurse and a Lutheran convert to Catholicism. After her conversion, she went on to found a new order of Bridgettines, called the Most Holy Savior of Saint Bridget. She died in Rome April 24, 1957, and was beatified April 9, 2000, by St. John Paul II. Maria Pilar, a Bridgettine nun from Spain, told CNA June 5 that the canonization of their foundress is not only a recognition of her sanctity, but also gives publicity to “the example of a person who lived for God and sought the truth since she was a child – she was Lutheran and sought the truth as a young girl.” St. Maria Elizabeth “was called to offer a lot in the ecumenism of the Church, so that all religions would be one in Christ, not just in Spain,” she said, and prayed on behalf of her order that the Church would be “one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.” Similarly, Ulf Silverling, a layman from Stockholm, said the canonization means a lot to the local Catholic community in Sweden since “normally the Catholic Church is described as some exotic experience from immigrants.” However, “this is a Swedish Saint, and it's the second Swedish Saint officially in history. She's a follower of St. Bridgette, who was also Swedish, so it's a restoration of the Catholic history in Sweden, actually.” With nearly 300 people in his group alone, including non-Catholics such as Lutherans, Pentecostals and one Syrian-Orthodox priest, Silverling said the event also serves as a strength for the faith of immigrants, who live “in one of the most secularized countries in the world.” The second Saint canonized by Pope Francis was Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczynski, a Polish priest born in 1631 and beatified by Benedict XVI in 2007. Often referred to as the “Father Founder,” St. Stanislaus is known for his writings and constant encouragement to contemplate God’s mercy and to turn to Mary Immaculate for guidance and protection. In addition to founding the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the saint also experienced visions of Holy Souls in Purgatory, and urged penance and prayers on their behalf. In his homily for their canonization Mass, the Pope pointed to the images of death and resurrection in both the day’s first reading from the First Book of Kings and the Gospel of Luke. The day’s first reading recounted how the prophet Elijah journeys to the house a widow and her only son, who becomes ill and dies during Elijah’s stay. Elijah’s words to the widow “give me your son” after his death are significant, Francis said, because they tell us something about our own death when and however it comes. Rather than saying “hold on to it; sort it out yourself,” the prophet says “give it to me” before fighting with God about the “absurdity of that death” and returning the widow’s son to her alive. Similarly, in the day’s Gospel passage from Luke, Jesus has compassion on a widow from Nain that he saw accompanying the procession of her adolescent son to his burial. “God’s tenderness is fully revealed in Jesus,” who draws close to the widow, stops the procession and likely caresses the grieving mother’s face, Francis said. “Jesus asks to takes our death upon himself, to free us from it and to restore our life,” he said, noting how immediately after telling the widow not to weep, her son woke up “as if from a deep sleep” and began to speak. The Pope stressed that Jesus “is no wizard,” but rather “it is God’s tenderness incarnate; the Father’s immense compassion” which is at work in Jesus. Pope Francis said the same thing can be said of St. Paul, who went from being a fierce persecutor of Christians to a great witness of the Gospel. “The experience of the Apostle Paul was also a kind of resurrection,” he said, noting how God the Father not only revealed his son to Paul, but in Paul, “impressing as it were in his own person, flesh and spirit, the death and resurrection of Christ.” Because of this, the apostle was not just a messenger, but a witness, Francis said, explaining that this is the case with each and every sinner. “Jesus constantly makes the victory of life-giving grace shine forth…He takes our sins upon himself, takes them away and gives us back alive to the Mother Church,” he said. Pope Francis closed his homily noting that the saints canonized “are exemplary witnesses to this mystery of resurrection,” and prayed that all would join the saints in singing the day’s responsorial psalm, “I will extol you, Lord, for you have raised me up.” After concluding Mass, Francis greeted the official delegations who traveled to Rome for the canonizations, including those from both Poland and Sweden. The Polish delegation was led by the country’s president, Andrezej Duda. He then greeted pilgrims present from various other countries around the world before leading them in the Angelus. Read more
Washington D.C., May 26, 2017 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As military veterans and victims of violence are treated for psychological trauma, the emotional wounds of missionaries and military chaplains might be overlooked, but are just as present. And with mass shootings, suicides, and acts of terrorism on the rise, more and more first responders like policemen, firemen, hospital workers, and clergy will “continually bear the brunt” of experiencing these horrors. That's according to Monsignor Stephen Rosetti, a psychologist and former president of the St. Luke Institute, who spoke to CNA. “The priests are helping others, and the question is who helps them?” he asked. Monsignor Rosetti led the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md., an organization that provides psychological care for priests and religious in need of treatment for mental illness, addiction, and other disorders. Part of the institute’s ministry is helping military chaplains and missionaries who have served in war-torn areas, but also religious who have ministered to victims of trauma at home – amidst events like natural disasters and mass shootings. Military chaplains suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or other mental illnesses related to their ministry shared their struggles with the Washington Post last year. Repeatedly serving as a listening ear for the dark problems of soldiers, combined with experiencing the horror of battlefield combat and seeing the dead bodies of friends, can take its toll on a priest’s psyche. “Just about all” priests and religious returning from a war-torn areas will need “some sort of support,” Monsignor Rossetti noted, like a “detoxing” in their transition from a stressful environment to life back in the U.S. However, a few will require special attention, he said. These are cases where someone has experienced a particularly appalling atrocity or ongoing violence or stress, “almost too much for the human soul to bear.” “I think especially of missionaries who are in violent areas,” he said, those who have witnessed “mass murders” or “unbelievable poverty and disease.” For any clergyman traveling to a poor or war-torn area, “we try to train them as best we can to deal with such trauma” before they depart, the monsignor said, “but sometimes the situation is just so horrible that there’s a real human toll to it.” Trauma – inflicted especially through acts of terrorism, mass shootings, and suicides – is on the rise, he said. The suicide rate in the U.S. is the highest in decades; the number of mass shootings are also on the rise. Catholics cannot act as if the first responders like parish priests or military chaplains won’t be affected, he insisted. We must “help train them” to deal with trauma, he said, noting the need for “qualified laypeople” in fields like psychology. Also, he added, “I think we shouldn’t isolate our chaplains.” Rather, we should be working to connect “first responders” like police, emergency medical technicians, hospital nurses and priests, who can talk about their experiences with each other and “support each other,” he said. Tragedies can make or break someone’s faith, he added. If a person who has experienced trauma is treated with professional psychological care and a network of support, it can help sustain one’s faith and not break one’s spirit. “Unspeakable sufferings do challenge our faith, and in times when our faith is a little bit too glib, it kind of bashes that and challenges it,” he admitted. “So these kind of events really challenge us to move deeper into the Lord’s passion and eventually, hopefully, His resurrection.” “It can build up your faith in a new, deeper way, or sadly sometimes people lose their faith.” This article was originally published on CNA June 5, 2016. Read more
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2016 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis asked judges, prosecutors and magistrates gathered at the Vatican for a summit on human trafficking this week to remember that the victims always come first. “The victims are th... Read more
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2016 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis asked judges, prosecutors and magistrates gathered at the Vatican for a summit on human trafficking this week to remember that the victims always come first. “The victims are th... Read more
Quebec City, Canada, Jun 4, 2016 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Days before Canada’s assisted suicide bill was originally supposed to take effect, lawmakers’ stark disagreements on religious freedom protections and the inclusion of minors cou... Read more
Vatican City, Jun 4, 2016 / 11:43 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has approved the institution of a new Vatican department dedicated to the family, the laity, and life. According to a set of statutes released Saturday, the new department will promote “the pastoral care of the family, maintain the dignity and basic good of the Sacrament of marriage, favor the rights and responsibilities of the Church in civil society.” This will be so “that the family institution may always fulfill its proper functions both within the Church and society.” The Vatican department – which is also known as a dicastry – will also will pay “special attention to the particular mission of the lay faithful to permeate and perfect the order of temporal reality,” the statute continues. The new dicastry on the family, laity, and life will take effect Sept. 1, 2016, at which point both the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and the Pontifical Council for the Family will be dissolved. The Pontifical Academy for Life will be connected to the new entity according to its competence. Last October, at the end of the Synod on the Family, the Holy Father announced his intent to create the new dicastery, and his creation of a special commission tasked with delineating canonically its competencies. Francis approved the statues for the newest dicastry “ad experimentum” on the proposal of the Council of Cardinals in charge of the study of the reform of the Roman Curia, according to a June 4 statement from the Holy See press office. The new Vatican body will be tasked with projects relating to the apostolate of the laity, the institution of marriage, and the family within the life of the Church. It will deal with matters regarding the promotion of life, the apostolate of the laity, the pastoral care and of the family, and “its mission, according to God's design, to support human life,” according to statutes which the Pope approved Saturday. The heads of the dicastry for family, laity, and life will include a prefect, who will be assisted by a secretary which, the statutes say, could be a lay person, along with three lay undersecretaries. Members of the department will include lay persons, men and women, celibate and married, working in different fields of activity and coming from different parts of the world. One of the tasks will be to promote the analysis of doctrine on themes and questions pertaining to lay persons. The dicastry will also “establish aggregations of faithful and lay movements which have and an international character, and will approve their statutes, save the competence of the Secretary of State.” Another focus will be the “deepening of the doctrine of the family,” and promoting it through catechesis, especially with regard to the spirituality of marriage and the family. Other programs will include formation of engaged couples and young people, supporting adoption, and care for the elderly. In addition, the department will support and coordinate “initiatives to encourage responsible procreation, as well as for protection of human life from its conception until its natural end, taking into account the needs the person in the different evolutionary phases.” These initiatives will include efforts to offer support to women experiencing difficult pregnancies so they do not resort to abortion, as well as programs for post-abortive mothers. The dicastry for family, laity, and life will be directly linked to the Pontifical John Paul II institute for Marriage and the Family. Read more
Vatican City, Jun 4, 2016 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis issued an edict on the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, in which he said that negligence on the part of a bishop can constitute removal from office. Entitled “Like a loving mother,” the edict -- officially called a motu proprio – contributes to existing norms in place with regard to abuse cases. It particularly pertains to bishops, eparchs, or religious superiors who are deemed guilty of negligence in such cases. In a statement, Holy See press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, drew attention to two points in the motu proprio. The first is that a bishop can be guilty of lacking in diligence even in the absence of “grave moral culpability on his part.” The second point is, in cases pertaining to the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults, “it is sufficient for the lack of diligence be grave” for a bishop to be removed from office. In other cases, a “very grave” lack of diligence is necessary for a bishop's removal. Canon law already makes provisions for the removal of bishops “for grave reasons,” as is noted in the motu proprio. The document states that diocesan bishops and eparchs, whether permanent or temporary, can be subject to removal on account of negligence -- either through "committed or omitted acts" -- if such failure resulted in “physical, moral, spiritual, or patrimonial” harm to an individual or a community as a whole. Investigations into the conduct of bishops will be carried out by four “competent Congregations,” Fr. Lombardi's statement reads. Fr. Lombardi said the congregations charged with investigations are: the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for The Evangelisation of Peoples, the Congregation for Oriental Churches, and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. If, after investigations, this team of congregations determine it is necessary to remove the bishop, they will decide whether to remove him immediately, or give him fifteen days to resign. If the bishop does not resign in the allotted period, the congregations can decree his removal from office. The decision made by the congregation must be submitted for approval by the Pope, “who will be assisted by a special college of lawyers, duly assigned.” The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will not be involved in these cases because they pertain to negligence, not abuse, Fr. Lombardi said in the statement. “Like a loving mother,” Pope Francis writes, in reference to the title of the motu proprio, “the Church loves all her children, but cares for and protects the smallest and most defenseless with a very particular affection: it is a task which Christ himself entrusted to the entire Christian community as a whole.” For this reason, the Pope writes, the Church pays “vigilant attention to the protection of children and vulnerable adults.” While it is the responsibility of the entire Church to protect minors and vulnerable adults, bishops, eparchs, and those with responsibilities in a particular Church, must be extra diligent, Francis writes. “With the present letter, I intend to clarify that, among the said 'grave reasons,' is included negligence of bishops in exercising their office, in particular as regards cases of sexual abuse committed against minors and vulnerable adults, envisaged by the [motu proprio] Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, promulgated by St. John Paul II, and amended by my beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI. Read more
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