Rome, Italy, Mar 15, 2015 / 06:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis lamented today’s terrorist attacks against two Christian churches – one of them Catholic – in Pakistan, and prayed that such violence will stop. “With suffering, with much suffering, I have learned of today's terrorist attacks against two churches in the city of Lahore, Pakistan, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square March 15. Francis noted how both of the churches targeted, only a few meters apart, “are Christian churches, the Christians who are persecuted,” and grieved how “our brothers shed their blood solely because they are Christians.” In addition to praying for the victims and their families, Francis implored God “for the gift of peace and harmony for that country, and that this persecution against Christians – which the world tries to hide – will end, and that there will be peace.” Francis’ words came after what police believe to be two suicide bombers interrupted Sunday services at St. Joseph Catholic Church and Anglican Christ Church in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Aljezeera news agency reports that at least 14 people were killed and 70 injured in the attacks, which are believed to have been timed during Sunday services to cause maximum damage. Jamatul Ahrar, an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, is said to have claimed responsibility for the attacks. Witnesses say there was a scuffle at the entrance gate of one of the churches between a security guard and another man, who blew himself up when he couldn’t get through to enter the church. Reports state that after hearing of the attacks, Christians in other areas of Pakistan took to the streets in protest, and killed two men they believed were behind the attacks. Before leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, Francis directed their attention to the day’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” These words of Jesus are reminiscent of his death on the cross, and when we listen to them “we feel within ourselves that God loves us, truly loves us and loves us so much!” the Pope said. A simple expression that sums up the whole of the Gospel, faith and theology, he said, is that “God loves us freely and without limits.” Although God didn’t need man, he created him in order to have someone on whom he could bestow his goodness, Francis said, noting that the love of God is expressed in the first act of creation, and culminates in the Cross of Christ. The crucifixion and death of Jesus “is the supreme proof of God's love for us: Jesus loved us ‘unto the end,’ that is, not only until the final moment of his earthly life, but until the extreme limit of love,” he said. “If the Father proved his boundless love in creation by giving us life, he gave us the proof of proofs in the Passion of his Son: he came to suffer and die for us.” Pope Francis then pointed to the Holy Spirit as and additional pouring-out of God’s love. As a gift to man, the Spirit is a living memory of Christ, and works both inside the Church and out in order to foster authentic human values. He turned to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, saying that it is “the holiest and most effective sign of this love,” and noted how each in each Mass the Church relives Jesus’ death on Calvary, which he said is “the summit of the love story between God and his people.” Francis then turned to Mary, Mother of Mercy, as the woman capable of assuring man that he is loved by God, and led those present in the Angelus prayer. Read more

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 01:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis reminded lay men and women of their place in the “front lines” in spreading the Gospel, living as Christian witnesses in the secular world. Being “immersed in the world,” the Pope said Saturday, lay persons are called to permeate their surroundings with Christian values through their witness, whereby they can encounter “persons in concrete situations.” The pontiff encouraged the laity, through their various professions and states in life, to be on the “front lines” in the Church's mission, guiding people in the “spirit of the Gospel” through their witness of faith, hope, and charity. Pope Francis was speaking with members of the lay movement Seguimi – “Follow me” – during a private audience at the papal palace to mark the 50th anniversary of their founding. There is the temptation to believe that a good Christian is one who simply does social and charitable works, the Pope said. Rather, “the sap which carries life and transforms hearts is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ,” he said, calling those present to allow the Lord to “occupy” the center of their heart and work. By being then “firmly united” too Christ, the faithful can then “go to the peripheries of the world.” Established in 1965, Seguimi helps its members to find their maturity in Christ, both in community and in professional spheres. Its initiatives include Christian and human formation, working with the elderly and disabled, and offering support for families and single mothers. Officially recognized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1984, the Seguimi lay movement offers “a form of evangelical life” to be practiced in “the context of secularism and freedom,” the Pope said, offering a plan whereby Christian lay persons have “an effective way of walking in the world.” Pope Francis encouraged the fraternity of its members – married and celibate alike – that they may remain vigilant in their “spiritual journey,” helping one another to be “true witnesses of the Gospel.” “Celibate and married, each in his own state of life, encounter one another and share an enriching experience of complementarity,” he said.   Read more

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 01:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has called on teachers to engage with the peripheries within their own classrooms, loving their students for their limitations as well as their potential. “Indeed, the duty of a good teacher - all the more for a Christian teacher - is to love his or her more difficult, weaker, more disadvantaged students with greater intensity,” the Pope said, according to Vatican Radio's translation. The educational relationship of the teacher must be such that each student feels “loved for what he or she is, with all of their limitations and potential,” he added. Professional associations of Christian teachers are “called to engage in the peripheries of the school, which cannot be abandoned to marginalization, exclusion, ignorance, crime.” Pope Francis was speaking to members of the Unione Cattolica Italiana Insegnati, Dirigenti, Educatori, Formatori (UCIIM), a Catholic Italian association of educators, to mark the 70th anniversary of their founding. The Pope also stressed the importance of teaching values, in addition to content, in order to promote harmony in the world. “You must not teach just content, but the values and customs of life,” he said. “A computer can teach content,” but only a teacher can show “how to love, how to understand which values and customs create harmony in society.” During the audience, Pope Francis acknowledged the beauty of the teaching profession, decrying how badly teachers are paid considering the time spent in school, in preparation, and with the individual students. Similar to parenthood, at least in a spiritual sense, the Pope stressed that teaching “allows us to see the people who are entrusted to our care grow day after day.”   Pope Francis went on to remind teachers that they are never alone, joined as they are with “the entire educational community to which they belong.” UCIIM was founded Professor Nosengo Gesualdo, a Catholic religion teacher, in Italy, 1944, while World War II was still under way. Remarking on this anniversary, Pope Francis noted how far Italian schools have come through the aid of the Association. “Over the past 70 years Italy has changed, schools have changed, but there are always teachers willing to engage in their profession with that enthusiasm and willingness that faith in the Lord gives us,”  he said. More than simply a job, Pope Francis said, teaching is “a relationship in which each teacher must feel fully involved as a person, to give meaning to the educational task towards their students.” Read more

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 10:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the church prepares for the 2015 Synod on the Family, one of the newly-named advisers to the synod of bishops' general secretariat is a scholar from the John Paul II Institute on marriage and the family – representatives of which were notably absent during last year's gathering on the same subject. Vice-president and professor of sacramental theology at the JPII Institute, Fr. José Granados, was listed in a Mar. 14 Vatican statement as one the advisers – known as “consultors” -- tasked with advising the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.  Representatives from the pontifical institute were absent from the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization,” noteworthy for the fact that marriage and the family are at the core of its study.  JPII institute scholars have openly opposed proposals made by some to grant reception of Holy Communion to divorced persons who have remarried without obtaining an annulment, a topic which received much media attention during the 2014 Synod. This year's Synod on the Family, to be held on Oct. 4-25, will be the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the church and the modern world.” A preparatory document for the Synod on the Family, formally known as the Lineamenta, was sent to bishops' conference in Dec. 2014. The 2014 synod has been criticized in some circles for a lack of transparency, because in previous synods the interventions, or speeches, of the participants were made public. Last year's gathering, overseen by Cardinal Baldisseri, did not publicly release the texts of the interventions. Founded in 1981 by St. John Paul II, the Pontifical JPII Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family is centrally based at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University. It also has institutes in twelve other cities worldwide, including Melbourne, Australia; Changanacherry, India; and Washington, DC's Catholic University. Consultors are tasked with assisting the various Vatican departments – formally known as dicasteries – in their work.  Read more

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2015 / 04:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The infant moments of Francis’ papacy deeply signified what his future mission would be like, reflected Catholics who were present for his election two years ago. After white smoke wafted up from the Sistine Chapel signaling a new pope, the crowd in St. Peter’s Square was jubilant with expectation. “The Holy Spirit was palpably present,” related Kathryn Jean Lopez, founding director of Catholic Voices USA. “It had been raining for days,” she said. “There was something Lenten, penitential and appropriate, reflecting the season and the pope-lessness of the moment.” About an hour later, Pope Francis stepped onto the balcony above St. Peter’s Basilica and gave the crowd – and the world – his first Urbi et Orbi blessing – “to the city and the world.” The Italians were ecstatic when his papal title “Francis” was announced, said Kim Daniels, senior advisor to Catholic Voices USA. “‘Francesco! Francesco!’ they kept saying,” Daniels said. “St. Francis [of Assisi] is so important to all of us, and especially to Italians.” And Pope Francis has followed the example of his patron saint. Firstly, he puts his faith into concrete action and “interacts with people directly,” Daniels said. St. Francis also preached love of peace and care for the environment. “I think it’s clear that Pope Francis is pointing in that direction as well, as we look forward to the ecology encyclical coming out this summer,” she continued. With the crowd at fever pitch, the new pope asked for silence and prayer. That was an “extremely powerful moment,” Daniels described. “The silence really spoke something about the humility at the heart of our faith and reminded us that we find God in silence.” Pope Francis then summoned his audience to accompany him and each other on the “camino” or “journey,” one of “fraternity, of love, of trust among us.” This language of “journey” was also significant. “An important key to his papacy has been that he seeks to walk with God’s holy, faithful people,” Daniels said. He “consistently focuses on the concrete situations faced by real people including especially the poor and forgotten, instead of pointing to abstract ideas.” Other Catholics related how Pope Francis has influenced them personally. “He has also not neglected to remind us, day in and day out, of the importance of our families and how each one is a domestic church, where we learn generosity and fidelity from one another,” said Grazie Christie of The Catholic Association. Francis catches everyone “off guard” but this challenges them in a good way, her colleague Ashley McGuire explained. Whether it be his “trading in the papal palace for a humble apartment” or “choosing to ride in a Ford Focus,” Francis has laid out “a pattern to be followed and at the same time mercifully reaches us where we are, at a level we can understand, take to heart, and turn into action that brings Christ to our world.” On Friday, Francis announced a Holy Year for Mercy, an extraordinary jubilee year that will begin Dec. 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. “God had mercy on us in giving us Pope Francis,” Lopez responded. “It's the same Church, but it's one where the first pope from the Americas pleads with us to meet Jesus, know Jesus, share Jesus. To be the people of the Sermon on the Mount already.”   Read more