Quito, Ecuador, Jul 8, 2015 / 06:23 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Everyone at the Vatican is praying for the fruits of the Pope’s apostolic visit to Latin America, but there is one person with a special insight into the papal trip. Sister Andrea Romero... Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 8, 2015 / 12:33 am (CNA).- Among the members of civil society Pope Francis met with in Quito was an Italian who helped build a banking system to aid the poor in rising from poverty, anticipating in practice what Pope Francis’ ... Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 7, 2015 / 05:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an address at the San Francisco church in Quito, Ecuador Pope Francis told political and social policy makers of the country to look to the family as their model for solidarity and subsidiarit... Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 7, 2015 / 04:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Tuesday challenged Ecuador’s educators to form their students to engage in modern-day issues with innovation and in solidarity with the poor. “As a university, as educational institutions, as teachers and students, life itself challenges us to answer this question: What does this world need us for? Where is your brother?” Pope Francis said, in reference to the Genesis account of God asking Cain about his brother Abel. “Again and again we sense the urgency of the question which God put to Cain, “Where is your brother?” But I wonder if our answer continues to be: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”” Pope Francis met on Tuesday with representatives of schools and universities at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. He strayed briefly from the text a few times, at one point lamenting that when a bridge collapses, it is a global scandal, but when an elderly person dies from the cold, it does not make it into the newspapers. He challenged his audience: “Are you your brothers’ keepers?” In his address, the Pope described academia as a fertile soil that, if cultivated and protected, can enrich civic and cultural life. He also said education shapes the future of a society and lays the groundwork for generations to come. “We need to ask ourselves about the kind of culture we want not only for ourselves, but for our children and our grandchildren,” Pope Francis said, before citing his recent encyclical on the environment. “We would do well to ask ourselves: “What kind of world do we want to leave behind? What meaning or direction to we want to give our lives? Why have we been put here? What is the purpose of our work and all our efforts?” With these questions, Pope Francis challenged educators to fully engage students in the realities of the world. He said this honest engagement with the world will help students develop critical thinking skills that can lead to humane, alternative solutions to modern-day crises. The Pope mentioned one modern-day crisis that educators and students must address: the globalization of a technocratic paradigm. He said this paradigm “tends to believe “that every increase in power means an increase of progress itself, an advance in security, usefulness, welfare and vigor: … and assimilation of new values into the stream of culture, as if reality, goodness and true automatically flow from technological and economic power as such”.” Pope Francis also addressed the environment. He told educators that care for the environment is no longer a recommendation, but a requirement - and care for the environment is fundamentally linked to care for the human person. “There is a relationship between our life and that of mother earth, between the way we live and the gift we have received from God,” he said. “Just as both can “deteriorate”, we can also say that they can “support one another and can be changed for the better”.” “This reciprocal relationship (between the environment and the human person) can lead to openness, transformation and life, or to destruction and death,” he continued. The Pope turned his attention to students, whom he described as Ecuador’s present and future. He asserted that education is a privilege and challenged students to grow in solidarity with the uneducated. He told the students their education gives them more responsibility to the poor in their community and to care for the environment. “Personal initiatives are always necessary and good,” Pope Francis said. “But we are asked to go one step further: to start viewing reality in an organic and not fragmented way, to ask about where we stand in relation to others, inasmuch as 'everything is interconnected.'” Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 7, 2015 / 10:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his second homily while visiting Ecuador, Pope Francis spoke on Tuesday of the importance of fostering unity through evangelization, which he said is not done by preaching at people, but rather by being a joyful witness to the Gospel we have received. “We evangelize not with grand words, or complicated concepts, but with the joy of the Gospel, which fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus,” the Pope said July 7. "Evangelization does not consist in proselytizing, proselytizing is a caricature of evangelization; rather, evangelization is attracting by our witness those who are far off, humbly drawing near to those who feel distant from God and the Church, drawing close to those who feel judged and condemned from the start by those who feel they're perfect and pure, drawing near to those who are fearful or indifferent." Pope Francis’ Mass took place in Quito on the second full day of his apostolic journey to his home continent of South America. The July 5-13 tour will also include stops in Bolivia and Paraguay. Set in Quito’s Bicentennial Park, the Mass followed a casual meeting with Ecuador’s bishops earlier that morning. The park commemorates the 1809 Ecuadorian call for independence from Spain – the first of its kind in Latin America – which he noted “arose from being conscious of a lack of freedom, of exploitation and despoliation.” In his homily, which was packed with references to his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis centered on Christ's prayer in John 17:21 that his disciples “be one … so that the world may believe.” Referring to the “cry” of Christ to his Father and the Ecuadorians' early cry for independence, he said that “I would like to see these two cries joined together, under the beautiful challenge of evangelization.” “We who are gathered here at table with Jesus are ourselves a cry, a shout born of the conviction that his presence leads us to unity.” Even though Christ was experiencing “the worst of this world” in his own flesh at the moment of his prayer, he didn’t back down or complain. Rather, he welcomed his task and calls us to the do the same, the Pope said. “We too encounter daily a world torn apart by wars and violence … But is it precisely this troubled world into which Jesus sends us,” he said, explaining that we shouldn’t respond to this call “with nonchalance, or complain we do not have the resources to do the job, or that the problems are too big. Instead, we must respond by taking up the cry of Jesus and accepting the grace and challenge of being builders of unity.” Pope Francis remarked that “there was no shortage of conviction or strength in that cry for freedom which arose a little more than two hundred years ago. But history tells us that it only made headway once personal differences were set aside, together with the desire for power and the inability to appreciate other movements of liberation which were different yet not thereby opposed.” “Evangelization can be a way to unite our hopes, concerns, ideals and even utopian visions,” he said, noting that “the desire for unity involves the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, the conviction that we have an immense treasure to share, one which grows stronger from being shared, and becomes ever more sensitive to the needs of others.” He stressed that from this comes “the need to work for inclusivity at every level, to avoid forms of selfishness, to build communication and dialogue, to encourage collaboration.” “Our unity can hardly shine forth if spiritual worldliness makes us feud among ourselves in a futile quest for power, prestige, pleasure or economic security,” he said. Pope Francis then turned to the Church’s salvific mission, saying that part of her identity is to embrace all nations on earth without discrimination. Using a phrase he frequently repeats in Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope said that becoming a “missionary Church” means constantly striving to foster communion, since mission implies more than “outreach alone.” “We also need to be missionaries within the Church, showing that she is a mother who reaches out, a welcoming home, a constant school of missionary communion.” Francis then noted the importance of maintaining a spiritual life based on a personal encounter with Christ. “This encounter leads us in turn to encounter others, to become involved with our world and to develop a passion for evangelization.” He stressed that the unity to which Christ calls us is not a mere uniformity, but rather implies living in harmony amid our differences. Unity is not something “we can fashion as we will, setting conditions, choosing who can belong and who cannot,” he said, adding that “none is excluded.” Such a “religiousity of the elite is not what Jesus proposes,” the Pope added. Nor, he reflected, does unity mean we all have the same tastes or gifts. “We are brothers and sisters because God created us out of love and destined us, purely of his own initiative, to be his sons and daughters … that is the salvation which God makes possible for us, and which the Church proclaims with joy: to be part of the divine ‘we.’” The Pope concluded his homily by praying that Ecuadorians would be a sign and witness of fraternal communion for the world by caring for one another. When we give ourselves in service to others, “we discover our true identity as children of God in the image of the Father and, like him, givers of life; we discover that we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, to whom we bear witness,” the Pope said. “This is what it means to evangelize; this is our revolution – for our faith is always revolutionary – this is our deepest and most enduring cry.” Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 7, 2015 / 10:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his second homily while visiting Ecuador, Pope Francis spoke on Tuesday of the importance of fostering unity through evangelization, which he said is not done by preaching at people, but rather by being a joyful witness to the Gospel we have received. “We evangelize not with grand words, or complicated concepts, but with the joy of the Gospel, which fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus,” the Pope said July 7. “Evangelization does not consist in proselytizing, but in attracting by our witness those who are far off, in humbly drawing near to those who feel distant from God and the Church, those who are fearful or indifferent.” Proselytizing, he said, is but a “caricature” of evangelization. Pope Francis’s Mass took place in Quito on the second full day of his apostolic journey to his home continent of South America. The July 5-13 tour will also include stops in Bolivia and Paraguay. Set in Quito’s Bicentennial Park, the Mass followed a casual meeting with Ecuador’s bishops earlier that morning. The park commemorates the 1809 Ecuadorian call for independence from Spain – the first of its kind in Latin America – which he noted “arose from being conscious of a lack of freedom, of exploitation and despoliation.” In his homily, which was packed with references to his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis centered on Christ's prayer in John 17:21 that his disciples “be one … so that the world may believe.” Referring to the “cry” of Christ to his Father and the Ecuadorians' early cry for independence, he said that “I would like to see these two cries joined together, under the beautiful challenge of evangelization.” “We who are gathered here at table with Jesus are ourselves a cry, a shout born of the conviction that his presence leads us to unity.” Even though Christ was experiencing “the worst of this world” in his own flesh at the moment of his prayer, he didn’t back down or complain. Rather, he welcomed his task and calls us to the do the same, the Pope said. “We too encounter daily a world torn apart by wars and violence … But is it precisely this troubled world into which Jesus sends us,” he said, explaining that we shouldn’t respond to this call “with nonchalance, or complain we do not have the resources to do the job, or that the problems are too big. Instead, we must respond by taking up the cry of Jesus and accepting the grace and challenge of being builders of unity.” Pope Francis remarked that “there was no shortage of conviction or strength in that cry for freedom which arose a little more than two undred years ago. But history tells us that it only made headway once personal differences were set aside, together with the desire for power and the inability to appreciate other movements of liberation which were different yet not thereby opposed.” “Evangelization can be a way to unite our hopes, concerns, ideals and even utopian visions,” he said, noting that “the desire for unity involves the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, the conviction that we have an immense treasure to share, one which grows stronger from being shared, and becomes ever more sensitive to the needs of others.” He stressed that from this comes “the need to work for inclusivity at every level, to avoid forms of selfishness, to build communication and dialogue, to encourage collaboration.” “Our unity can hardly shine forth if spiritual worldliness makes us feud among ourselves in a futile quest for power, prestige, pleasure or economic security,” he said. Pope Francis then turned to the Church’s salvific mission, saying that part of her identity is to embrace all nations on earth without discrimination. Using a phrase he frequently repeats in Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope said that becoming a “missionary Church” means constantly striving to foster communion, since mission implies more than “outreach alone.” “We also need to be missionaries within the Church, showing that she is a mother who reaches out, a welcoming home, a constant school of missionary communion.” Francis then noted the importance of maintaining a spiritual life based on a personal encounter with Christ. “This encounter leads us in turn to encounter others, to become involved with our world and to develop a passion for evangelization.” He stressed that the unity to which Christ calls us is not a mere uniformity, but rather implies living in harmony amid our differences. Unity is not something “we can fashion as we will, setting conditions, choosing who can belong and who cannot,” he said, adding that “none is excluded,” not even migrants. Nor does unity mean we all have the same tastes or gifts, the Pope said. “We are brothers and sisters because God created us out of love and destined us, purely of his own initiative, to be his sons and daughters … that is the salvation which God makes possible for us, and which the Church proclaims with joy: to be part of the divine ‘we.’” The Pope concluded his homily by praying that Ecuadorians would be a sign and witness of fraternal communion for the world by caring for one another. When we give ourselves in service to others, “we discover our true identity as children of God in the image of the Father and, like him, givers of life; we discover that we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, to whom we bear witness,” the Pope said. “This is what it means to evangelize; this is our revolution – for our faith is always revolutionary – this is our deepest and most enduring cry.” Read more

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Jul 7, 2015 / 12:32 am (CNA).- “Why in the world is the Vicar of Christ coming to me?” said Father Paquito, when asked how he would receive Pope Francis when he visits him in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The Jesuit priest who ... Read more