Vatican City, Jun 14, 2015 / 02:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an address on Sunday, Pope Francis asked parents if they believed in the beauty of the love God gives to a man and a woman, and told them to make sure their children see this love in little signs of affection. “God calls men and women to be parents who believe in love, who believe in its beauty,” the Pope said June 14. “I want to ask you, do you believe in the beauty of love? Do you believe in the greatness of love? Do you have faith in this? This is a daily faith.” The Pope’s words were addressed to the parents of communicants and confirmation candidates participating in the convention of the Diocese of Rome alongside the priests and catechists leading their formation.  In his address, the Pope said there is need for a “moral and spiritual rebirth” in the city of Rome, which he said has become subject to relativism and a destructive “ideological colonization” being pushed by schools and the secular society. He reminded the parents that they are the first ones responsible for their children’s education, and should correct the “strange ideas” children are frequently subjected to in their classes or reading material. Francis also spoke on different aspects of married life, specifically highlighting the vocation of parents, the communion of a married couple and the family, and the family’s mission. To be a father and a mother is a call from God, he said, explaining that the way marriage mirrors God’s eternal love is a “mystery, but providence wanted to entrust it particularly to man and woman, called to love each other without reservation.” The special love shared between spouses is not simply limited to feelings of passion or even an initial enthusiasm that might pass, but is rather founded on “the beauty of love, and this must be discovered every day.” He said that it is a beautiful testimony for children when they see their parents make peace after a fight, and when they express their love through little caresses or kisses. “Don't ever forget that your children are always watching you, and when they see that a father and mother love each other, children grown in an air of love, in happiness, also in security, because they know that they are safe in the love of their father and mother,” the Pope continued. Francis also warned against the damage done to children when they see their parents fighting, insulting or even beating each other every day.  “When you fall into these sins, think that the first victims are your own children. Your own flesh,” he said, explaining that children are constantly “scrutinizing” their parents “to see if it's possible to be good and to see if reciprocal love can overcome every difficulty.” Pope Francis then turned to the differences between men and women, saying that parenthood is founded on the complimentarily of men and women, as the Bible reminds us.  The Pope said that when engaged couples come to him and tell him they want to get married, he always tells the man that his vocation is to make his wife “more of a woman,” and tells the woman that her vocation is to make her husband “more of a man.” Communion in marriage comes from this “handcrafted work” of learning to love each other in one’s differences, he said.  This complimentarily of spouses also helps children mature in their own identity when comparing the different ways their fathers and mothers love. “Through the feminine figure we men learn to encounter in life the extraordinary beauty of women, and women (bring) similar things learning from the masculine figure that man is different, and has his way of feeling, thinking and living,” the Pope noted. Francis then spoke about families that are separated, and lamented that in modern society such scenarios “seem inevitable.” Even though parents have been separated due to wounds or problems, “the Church carries you in her heart, and your educative role is not interrupted,” he observed. He encouraged parents in separations to collaborate and look for agreements rather than resort to fighting, so as to ensure the happiness of their children. “Please, don't use your children as hostages!” the Pope said, explaining that “it does so much damage” to children when their parents speak badly about one another.  To do this “is terrible, because that child, that boy or girl, grows up with a tension that they don't know how to resolve and they learn the ugly path of hypocrisy, to say…Never, never speak badly about each other, never!” Forgiveness is an essential aspect to every marriage, the Pope said, and is something that must be practiced every day in order to carry out the family’s mission of being collaborators in the work of the Holy Spirit. The Pope then turned to the role of grandparents, noting that the elderly constitute a fourth of Rome’s population. Grandparents have a place of “dignity” in the family, and are a source of wisdom and memory, Francis said.  He noted that in many countries when practicing the faith was prohibited, it is the grandparents who have passed it on by teaching children prayers and taking them to be baptized in secret. Instead of putting them in nursing homes, “don't be ashamed of grandparents! Don't be ashamed of the elderly,” Pope Francis said. “They give us wisdom, prudence, which help us a lot.” He closed his address by encouraging spouses to deepen in their love for one another, and to always show their affection for each other, because it does their children good to see it. Read more

Vatican City, Jun 14, 2015 / 06:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Sunday that his coming encyclical on the care of creation is not just for some, but is addressed to all, and serves as an invitation to pay more attention to environmental destruction and recovery. In his comments to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his June 14 Angelus address, Pope Francis noted how his upcoming encyclical on the care of creation, “Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home,” will be published this Thursday, June 18. “This encyclical is addressed to all,” he said, and invited the world to participate in its publication “with a renewed attention to environmental degradation, but also to recovery” of one's own territory. “Let us pray so that everyone may receive (the encyclical’s) message and grow in responsibility toward the common home God has entrusted to us.” Francis made his comments on the encyclical after leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, which he does every Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Before leading those gathered in the Angelus prayer, the Pope reflected on the day’s scripture readings, particularly the Gospel, which focused on two parables using the image of seeds planted in the ground. On the image of the mustard seed presented by Jesus in the day’s Gospel from Mark, Pope Francis noted how despite being the smallest of all seeds, once planted it grows into “the largest of all plants” in the garden. He said that the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed since it is often viewed as “a humanly small and apparently irrelevant reality.” “To enter and become a member one needs to be poor in heart; not trusting in their own abilities, but in the power of the love of God; not acting to be important in the eyes of the world, but precious in the eyes of God, who prefers the simple and the humble,” Francis explained. If we live according to these criteria, then the power of God “bursts through us and transforms what is small and modest into a reality that leavens the whole mass of the world and of history,” he continued. Francis turned to a second parable offered in the Gospel, which tells of a man who plants seeds on his land that grow without his effort, and who then cuts the crop when the harvest comes. The man could be either awake or asleep and the seed would still grow on its own because the man trusted in both the seed’s own capacities as well as the fertility of the soil, the Pope said. In the Gospel the seed is seen as a symbol for the Word of God, he noted, and explained that just as the “humble seed” grows in the ground, so God’s Word stirs and works in the heart of those who hear it. “God has entrusted his Word to our land, that is, to each of us with our concrete humanity. We are able to be fruitful, because the Word of God is a creative word” that leads to a full harvest, the Pope continued. Francis stressed that it is always God himself who makes his kingdom grow since only he can make it take root and mature. Man, he said, is God’s “humble collaborator, who contemplates and rejoices in the creative divine action and waits patiently for the fruits.” Pope Francis closed his reflections by saying that although our own “weak” efforts might seem small when faced with the complexity of the world’s current problems, we have no reason to fear difficulties if we unite our work with Christ. “The victory of the Lord is secure: his love will sprout and make every seed of goodness grow on the earth. This opens us to trust and hope, despite the dramas, injustices and the sufferings we meet,” he said. After leading pilgrims in the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims present from around the world, and gave special mention to a group coming from Houston, Tx., before wishing everyone a good lunch and asking for prayers. Read more

Vatican City, Jun 14, 2015 / 06:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Sunday that his coming encyclical on the care of creation is not just for some, but is addressed to all, and serves as an invitation to pay more attention to environmental destruction and recovery. In his comments to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his June 14 Angelus address, Pope Francis noted how his upcoming encyclical on the care of creation, “Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home,” will be published this Thursday, June 18. “This encyclical is addressed to all,” he said, and invited the world to participate in its publication “with a renewed attention to environmental degradation, but also to recovery” of one's own territory. “Let us pray so that everyone may receive (the encyclical’s) message and grow in responsibility toward the common home God has entrusted to us.” Francis made his comments on the encyclical after leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, which he does every Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Before leading those gathered in the Angelus prayer, the Pope reflected on the day’s scripture readings, particularly the Gospel, which focused on two parables using the image of seeds planted in the ground. On the image of the mustard seed presented by Jesus in the day’s Gospel from Mark, Pope Francis noted how despite being the smallest of all seeds, once planted it grows into “the largest of all plants” in the garden. He said that the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed since it is often viewed as “a humanly small and apparently irrelevant reality.” “To enter and become a member one needs to be poor in heart; not trusting in their own abilities, but in the power of the love of God; not acting to be important in the eyes of the world, but precious in the eyes of God, who prefers the simple and the humble,” Francis explained. If we live according to these criteria, then the power of God “bursts through us and transforms what is small and modest into a reality that leavens the whole mass of the world and of history,” he continued. Francis turned to a second parable offered in the Gospel, which tells of a man who plants seeds on his land that grow without his effort, and who then cuts the crop when the harvest comes. The man could be either awake or asleep and the seed would still grow on its own because the man trusted in both the seed’s own capacities as well as the fertility of the soil, the Pope said. In the Gospel the seed is seen as a symbol for the Word of God, he noted, and explained that just as the “humble seed” grows in the ground, so God’s Word stirs and works in the heart of those who hear it. “God has entrusted his Word to our land, that is, to each of us with our concrete humanity. We are able to be fruitful, because the Word of God is a creative word” that leads to a full harvest, the Pope continued. Francis stressed that it is always God himself who makes his kingdom grow since only he can make it take root and mature. Man, he said, is God’s “humble collaborator, who contemplates and rejoices in the creative divine action and waits patiently for the fruits.” Pope Francis closed his reflections by saying that although our own “weak” efforts might seem small when faced with the complexity of the world’s current problems, we have no reason to fear difficulties if we unite our work with Christ. “The victory of the Lord is secure: his love will sprout and make every seed of goodness grow on the earth. This opens us to trust and hope, despite the dramas, injustices and the sufferings we meet,” he said. After leading pilgrims in the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims present from around the world, and gave special mention to a group coming from Houston, Tx., before wishing everyone a good lunch and asking for prayers. Read more

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2015 / 10:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis spoke to members of an Italian judiciary council about their responsibility to protect man's dignity, and said a culture rooted in Christian values is necessary for keeping crimes and corruption at bay. “Globalization itself,” the pontiff said, “carries with it aspects of possible confusion and disorientation, such as when it becomes a vehicle for introducing customs, ideas, even standards, foreign to a social fabric with consequential deterioration of cultural roots.” In light of this “profound shock” to cultural roots, he added it is important for public authorities and those in the judiciary field to use their office to “give stability and resistance to the foundations of human society through the recovery of fundamental values.” The Pope said the true foundation for these values is found in Christianity: “the love of God, which is inseparable from the love of neighbor.” Such a foundation, he said, can serve to block the spread of criminal activity and the “plague of corruption,” which are also present in developed democracies.  Pope Francis made these remarks during a Jun. 13 audience at the Vatican with members of the Italian Superior Council of the Magistrature, a political entity which aims to ensure autonomy and independence for judiciaries from other branches of the Italian government. One way of criminal activity and corruption, the pontiff told the judiciaries, is through the education of new generations in an “anthropology and way of life” which responds to the “lofty and profound inspirations of the human soul.” For this reason, institutions should work toward the promotion of the “human person and of peaceful coexistence,” he said.  “Justice is not done in the abstract, but always considers man in his true value, as a being created in the image of God, and called to achieve, here on earth, His likeness.”  Pope Francis also observed the how the interventions made by judiciaries in the face of violations against the law not only affect individuals, but communities.  “Rightly,” he said, there is placed “particular emphasis on the theme of human rights, which constitutes the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of essential human dignity.” The Holy Father warned against abuses which, “instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, actually threaten or even violate it.” The Pope concluded by remembering the former vice president of Catholic Action, judge and politician Vittorio Bachelet, who was assassinated in 1980 by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades).  “May his witness as a man, a Christian, and a jurist continue to animate your commitment to the service of justice and the common good.” Read more

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2015 / 09:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis spoke to members of an Italian judiciary council about their responsibility to protect man's dignity, and said a culture rooted in Christian values is necessary for keeping crimes and corruption at bay. “Globalization itself,” the pontiff said, “carries with it aspects of possible confusion and disorientation, such as when it becomes a vehicle for introducing customs, ideas, even standards, foreign to a social fabric with consequential deterioration of cultural roots.” In light of this “profound shock” to cultural roots, he added it is important for public authorities and those in the judiciary field to use their office to “give stability and resistance to the foundations of human society through the recovery of fundamental values.” The Pope said the true foundation for these values is found in Christianity: “the love of God, which is inseparable from the love of neighbor.” Such a foundation, he said, can serve to block the spread of criminal activity and the “plague of corruption,” which are also present in developed democracies.  Pope Francis made these remarks during a Jun. 13 audience at the Vatican with members of the Italian Superior Council of the Magistrature, a political entity which aims to ensure autonomy and independence for judiciaries from other branches of the Italian government. One way of criminal activity and corruption, the pontiff told the judiciaries, is through the education of new generations in an “anthropology and way of life” which responds to the “lofty and profound inspirations of the human soul.” For this reason, institutions should work toward the promotion of the “human person and of peaceful coexistence,” he said.  “Justice is not done in the abstract, but always considers man in his true value, as a being created in the image of God, and called to achieve, here on earth, His likeness.”  Pope Francis also observed the how the interventions made by judiciaries in the face of violations against the law not only affect individuals, but communities.  “Rightly,” he said, there is placed “particular emphasis on the theme of human rights, which constitutes the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of essential human dignity.” The Holy Father warned against abuses which, “instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, actually threaten or even violate it.” The Pope concluded by remembering the former vice president of Catholic Action, judge and politician Vittorio Bachelet, who was assassinated in 1980 by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades).  “May his witness as a man, a Christian, and a jurist continue to animate your commitment to the service of justice and the common good.” Read more

Vatican City, Jun 12, 2015 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on ecology will draw from decades of Catholic social thought on God’s creation in light of new perspectives on environmental problems, a prominent magazine has ... Read more

Vatican City, Jun 12, 2015 / 11:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said today that he is planning to travel to Africa in November, specifically to the Central African Republic, Uganda, and possibly Kenya. During a meeting with hundreds of priests from around the world participating in the Third World Priests Retreat in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope responded to the question from an African priest asking when he planned to come to Africa. “God willing, I will be in Africa in November. In the Central African Republic first and then Uganda,” he responded. The pontiff added that it “is possible” that he may also go to Kenya, but said this is not certain, because of organizational challenges. He also noted that the trip will come “before the presidential transition in the Central African Republic, and Uganda after the 50th anniversary of the martyrs, though a little late.” The Pope had already announced his intention to travel to Africa – specifically the Central African Republic and Uganda – during a press conference while returning from a trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January. In September 2014, the bishops of Uganda invited the pontiff to their country to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the martyrs of Uganda. The 22 Ugandan Martyrs were killed by the king in the 1880s for refusing to recant their faith. They were canonized Oct. 18, 1964 by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's Basilica. The Church of Uganda has already begun preparations for the celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the canonization with a diocesan conference on the 22 saints. Pope Francis’ other destination – the Central African Republic – has been gripped by violence since December 2012. The country's conflict began when Seleka rebels, loosely organized groups that drew primarily Muslim fighters from other countries, ousted the president and installed their own leader in a March 2013 coup. In September 2013, after 10 months of terrorism at the hands of the Seleka, anti-balaka self-defense groups began to form. The conflict in the nation took on a sectarian character, as some anti-balaka, many of whom are Christian, began attacking Muslims out of revenge for the Seleka’s acts. The conflict has died down since the presence of international peacekeepers was enlarged in late 2014, but the nation remains unstable. On May 15, Pope Francis met with bishops from the Central African Republic. He told them that they “must play an indispensable prophetic role during the current institutional transition, recalling and reflecting the witness of the fundamental values of justice, truth and honesty, which are the foundation of any renewal, promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence between members of different societies and ethnicities, thus encouraging reconciliation and social cohesion, which is the key to the future.” The Pope also stressed to the bishops that “Christian formation and a deepening of the faith” must be priorities so that “the Gospel permeates the life of the baptized, for the good not only of the Christian communities, but also the whole of Central African society.” Instructing them “to form the conscience of the faithful, and indeed that of all the people, as your voice is heard and respected by all,” the Holy Father explained that “(i)t is in this way that you should take your rightful place in current developments, avoiding direct involvement in political quarrels,” he said.   Read more