Turin, Italy, Jun 22, 2015 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met on Monday with members of the Waldensian movement, an ecclesial community which suffered persecution from Catholic authorities from the 12th to 17th centuries. He apologized for the Church's “non-Christian attitudes and behavior” towards the Waldensians during that period. “Reflecting on the history of our relations, we can only grieve in the face of strife and violence committed in the name of faith, and ask the Lord to give us us the grace to recognize we are all sinners, and to know how to forgive one another,” the Pope said June 22 at a Waldensian temple in Turin. “I ask forgiveness for the non-Christian – even inhuman – attitudes and behaviors which, through history, we have had against you. In Jesus Christ's name, forgive us!” Monday's encounter marks the first meeting between a Pope and the Waldensian community. Founded in Lyon in the late twelfth century, it is currently centered in Italy's Piedmont region, which Pope Francis visited June 21-22. The movement was founded by Peter Waldo, and embraced evangelical poverty and lay preaching, and believed there were only two sacraments. The movement's ideas were condemned as early as the Third Lateran Council, in 1179. Beginning in the early 1200s, many Waldensians were executed on account of heresy. One of the largest killings took place in 1545, during which soldiers killed scores of Waldensians in the French city of Mérindol, although the extent of casualties is disputed by historians. Currently consisting of tens of thousands of members, the Waldensian community is headquartered in the Piedmont region, of which Turin is the capital. Pope Francis told the community, “On behalf of the Catholic Church, I ask for your forgiveness.” During the meeting, the Roman Pontiff praised  ecumenical advancements which have been made among those united in baptism and belief in Christ. “This tie is not based on simple human criteria, but on the radical sharing of founding experience of Christian life: the encounter with the love of God who reveals to us Jesus, and the transformative action of the Holy Spirit who helps us on life's journey.” Pope Francis noted that this communion “is still on a journey, which, with prayer, with continual personal and communal conversion, and with the help of the theologians, we hope, trusting in the action of the Holy Spirit, can become full and visible communion in truth and charity.” He added that unity, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is not the same as uniformity. “In fact, our brethren are united by a common origin but are not identical to one another.” The Holy Father cited the scriptures, which speak of different charisms and gifts. However, wars often break out when these do not accept these differences of others, he said. Pope Francis thanked God that the relationship between Catholics and Waldensians continue today to be ever more rooted in “mutual respect and fraternal charity.” The Pope said he is also encouraged by the various ecumenical steps that have been taken between the Church and the Waldensians, and reiterated the call to continue forward together. There are various areas where the Church and the Waldensians could work together, he said, one being evangelization. Another field of collaboration is working with those who suffer: the poor, the sick, and migrants, he added. “The differences on important anthropological and ethical questions, which continue to exist between Catholics and the Waldensians, do not prevent us from finding ways of collaborating in these and other fields. If we walk together, the Lord helps us live this communion which preexists every conflict.” Pope Francis concluded by saying a“new way of unity begins with seeing the “grandeur of our shared faith and life in Christ and the Holy Spirit,” before taking into account the differences which exist. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Waldensian community gifted Pope Francis with a copy of the first Bible translated into French, dating from the 16th century. Read more

Turin, Italy, Jun 21, 2015 / 06:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A group of teenagers at a Salesian-run professional school in Italy have restored a motorbike as a gift for the Pope. The motorbike, an Itom 50 model that dates back to the 1960s, was present i... Read more

Swansea, United Kingdom, Jun 21, 2015 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of the highly anticipated Synod on the Family in October, many dioceses and Catholic media producers are finding new ways to ramp up their resources on marriage and family life. Saint Anthony Communications, a Catholic media company in the United Kingdom, is looking to do just that with its latest project, “Marriage: God’s Design for Life and Love,” a DVD which addresses the Church’s teachings on marriage, sexuality, and family life. “I think that so much of what is contained within the DVD has, for a large extent, not been taught in Catholic parishes, certainly across the Western world,” Christian Holden, director and co-founder of Saint Anthony Communications, told CNA June 11. “I think for most people, they would know sort of the outlines of what the Catholic Church teaches; in brief what the church opposes, perhaps, but they wouldn’t necessarily be able to articulate why the Church upholds certain things, or why it opposes certain things like contraception and cohabitation,” he observed. With the collaboration of the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, Saint Anthony Communications was able to give a copy of the DVD to each parish in the United Kingdom, and 1,000 copies were sent to Australia and distributed there through the local Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. The DVD will soon be sent throughout the parishes of Ireland. Just a few months ago, in March, hundreds of priests in the U.K. sensed that confusion among the laity about Church teaching on marriage was so rampant that they signed an open letter to the Synod fathers, stating their firm commitment to “unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.” And in May, historically-Catholic Ireland became the first country to ratify gay marriage by popular vote. Amid this confusion, Holden said he hopes the film will showcase Church teaching in a way that is “gentle and charitable, and always upholding the dignity of the human person.” “I think the Church’s vision for marriage and sexuality and the family is such a beautiful, wholesome vision, but it’s so little known,” Holden said. “I think some people perhaps have the perception that the church is imposing a whole series of rules – you shall not, you shall not.” He urged that there is, however, a different way of considering the matter – that the Church “is teaching the design of God for our lives, for the fullness in our lives, for our growth in holiness.” “And it is only by living that fully, that we will find the happiness we truly seek.” Besides the U.K. and Ireland, Saint Anthony Communications hopes to find opportunities within the United States and Canada to similarly distribute the project. “We realize it’s a big project, it’s beyond our means. We need someone else, someone in the States who really sees the value and importance of this project, and be willing to roll with it,” Holden explained.   He has called the film “a chance to set out the often hidden Catholic teaching in a simple and accessible way. The DVD explains why we teach what we teach, to offset confusion caused by inadequate and diluted teaching in the past, and offer hope for the future.” The 43-minute film, which is divided into three sections, manages to cover a wide range of topics, including marriage, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, contraception, children and family life, and same-sex attraction. Featured in the film are Cardinal Raymond Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury. Interviews also feature Fr. Marcus Holden; Fr. Andrew Pinsent; Louise Kirk of Alive to the World; Fiona Mansford of Jericho Tree; and Edmund Adamus, director of the Westminster archdiocese's office for marriage and family. The purpose of the film is three-fold: to be used in marriage preparation courses; as an additional catechetical resource for religious education; and as a tool for the new evangelization. The first section, titled God’s Design for Marriage, explains how marriage is a natural, procreative union that has occurred throughout history and was elevated by Christ to become for Christians a sacrament, making it indissoluble. Holden, who has been married for ten years and has five children, believes the biggest struggles facing young people today regarding marriage and sexuality include a society that “breeds in people a mentality of selfishness,” the “contraceptive mentality,” and the “lack of commitment to God.” “For anyone thinking of a call to the vocation of marriage, it is a beautiful gift,” Holden said. “Each and every day brings something new – new challenges, new beautiful moments: in particular having children come into your life and then raising them.” “Perhaps my best piece of advice that I could offer anyone thinking of entering and growing in holiness through a vocation to marriage, is to enter it in the spirit of sacrifice, of sacrificial love, of self-giving, in total self-giving to your spouse. And I think the more one gives of themselves in their marriage, the more they will gain, the more they will grow, and flourish. On the second strand of that, keep faith: keep God at the very center of their marriage at all times.”   The second section of the film, Challenges to Marriage, tackles contemporary society's misunderstandings of sexuality, including its promotion of contraception, cohabitation, and divorce and remarriage. It also discusses natural family planning, and same-sex attraction. The contraceptive mentality “affects so much … in the way we live and love, and the way we treat other people,” Holden stated. “Particularly, it becomes more destructive within the bond of marriage, in that with contraception we change the nature of the sexual act,” he said, reflecting that once the unitive and procreative aspects of the act ruptured, “we lose the proper order of both.” “When sexual pleasure has primacy in our lives, we can quickly justify all kinds of other things, and so I think that’s very dangerous.” The film's third section, The Family and the Future, highlights faith in the family, growing together in holiness, and hope for the future. “It’s beautiful. All sorts of things go on in daily life – the trials, the arguments, the fighting of the children – but lots of beautiful moments, as well,” Holden reflected. “Gems of self-giving that you see in them, gems of kindness that they show to each other, or in their prayer – beautiful little utterances in their prayer life.” During an interview for the film, Cardinal Burke acknowledged that people are now “living in very difficult times,” but that we should not dismay. “We can’t permit ourselves to be discouraged, because we know that Christ is always at work in the lives of those who have entered marriage with sincerity and is very strongly at work in these families that are striving to live their vocation as fully and perfectly as possible.” The film has been produced in the interim between the extraordinary and ordinary Synods on the Family, the latter of which will be held in October. A spokesman for the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy said it “responds to the call of the Holy Father to support marriage and the family, currently challenged and misunderstood.” “The content is just basic Catholic teaching which everyone has a right to hear,” the spokesman continued. “It is a clear, unambiguous and bold presentation, but always given with charity and without polemics. Now is not the time for hiding the true and beautiful vision of marriage and the family for the healing of our societies.” “Marriage: God's Design for Life and Love” is available from Saint Anthony Communications on DVD, in a multi-region format that can be played on both US and UK players, for GBP 9.95 ($15.80). Saint Anthony Communications is now in its 20th year of creating and providing Catholic catechesis, providing a selection of DVDs, CDs, and books that explore faith, life, and culture.  Read more

Turin, Italy, Jun 21, 2015 / 12:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has challenged Christians to seek safety in God’s transformative power, and not in the world. “Do we believe that the Lord is faithful?” the pontiff said to thousands at Mass in Turin’s Piazza Vittorio. “How do we live the newness of God who transforms us every day? How do we live the steadfast love of the Lord, who puts up a secure barrier against the waves of pride and false newness?” “The spirit of the world is always in search of newness, but only the fidelity of Jesus is capable of true newness, of making us into new men,” he said. The June 21 Mass was one of the major events of Pope Francis’ two-day visit to the northern Italian city. The visit coincides with two events: a rare exposition of the Shroud of Turin, the relic reputed to be the burial cloth of Jesus; and the bicentenary of the birth of the city’s beloved saint, St. John Bosco. In his homily, the Pope reflected on the Psalm from the day’s readings, which invites the faithful to give thanks to the Lord whose “love is everlasting.” “It is a love which does not disappoint, (and) which never fails,” the pontiff said. Jesus, who incarnates this love, “never tires of loving us, of supporting us, of forgiving us, and thus accompanies us on the journey through life.” It was out of love that Jesus became man, died and was risen, and is always with us through good times and difficulties, the Pope said. “Jesus loves us always, until the end, without limit or measure.” Pope Francis turned to the day's second reading from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, which discusses how God’s love “re-creates everything” and makes “all things new.” The Pope explained that by recognizing our limitations and weakness, we allow ourselves to be open to God’s forgiveness, whereby we can be “re-created.” “Salvation is able to enter into the heart when we open ourselves to the truth and recognize our mistakes, our sins,” he said, recalling how Jesus did not come for the healthy and the righteous, but for the sick and the sinners. Pope Francis turned his reflection to the day’s Gospel reading, in which St. Mark recounts Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. “God’s love is stable and secure, like the rocky cliffs which protect against the violence of the waves,” he said.   The disciples were afraid, the Pope recounted, but Jesus “opened their hearts to the courage of faith.” “How often do we feel as though we cannot do it anymore! But he is next to us with hand outstretched and heart opened.” Pope Francis challenged the faithful to ask themselves if they are secure on this “rock” of God’s love, or if fear of the future drives them to seek safety that is ultimately impermanent. “Even we Christians run the risk of allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by fear of the future, and look for security in things which pass, or in a closed model of society which tends to exclude more than include.” Recalling the witness given by the saints and blesseds who accepted God’s love, the Pope said we can follow their example, living the joy of the Gospel by practicing mercy. “We can share the difficulties of many people, of families, especially those who are most fragile and marked by the economic crisis,” he said, echoing his remarks earlier in the day to a group of workers from Turin. “Families need to feel the maternal caress of the Church in order to go forward in the conjugal life, in the education of children, in caring for the elderly, and in the transmission of faith to young generations.” He added that God’s peace is “for everyone, as well as for our many brothers and sisters fleeing war and persecution in search of peace and freedom.” Pope Francis concluded with a Marian prayer and a mention of the local feast for Turin’s Sanctuary for the Virgin of the Consolation, which took place June 20. “We entrust our ecclesial and civil journey to our Mother: She helps us to follow the Lord in being faithful, to allow ourselves to remain steadfast in love.” Read more

Turin, Italy, Jun 21, 2015 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has encouraged workers not to blame their economic troubles on migrants, who are themselves often victims of injustice and treated like merchandise rather than human beings. &ldquo... Read more

Turin, Italy, Jun 21, 2015 / 07:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis prayed before the Shroud of Turin on Sunday and reflected on the role the reputed burial cloth of Jesus Christ can play in Christian spiritual life. “The Shroud attracts (us)... Read more