Vatican City, Dec 13, 2014 / 09:13 am (CNA).- The Knights of Columbus have donated $1.6 million to the Pope’s personal charities, and are giving an additional $400,000 to assist the Holy See’s relief efforts in the Middle East. Supreme K... Read more

Vatican City, Dec 13, 2014 / 04:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis addressed the increasing challenges caused by violence in the Middle East with members of the Syriac Catholic Church, urging them to work alongside other churches to find solutions. “Many have fled to seek shelter from an inhumanity that throws entire populations out into the streets, leaving them without any means of survival,” the Pope observed in his Dec. 12 address. Together with other churches, he said, “seek to coordinate your efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs, whether of those who remain in their homelands or of those who have sought refuge in other countries.” Pope Francis gave his speech to His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patriarch of the Syro-Catholic Church, as well as the other syro-catholic bishops gathered in Rome for their Dec. 8-10 annual synod. In the meeting, which took place in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, the Pope greeted the entire Syro-Catholic community, and offered his particular support for those coming from Syria and Iraq. These communities, the Pope noted, “are living moments of great suffering and fear in the face of violence. And I accompany these sentiments of solidarity and compassion with remembrance and prayer.” He commended the bishops and patriarch for their ongoing efforts to reform their Divine Liturgy, which he said requires an “intense appreciation” for tradition, as well as a great amount of thoughtful discernment. “The difficult situation in the Middle East provoked and continues to provoke in your Church the displacement of faithful to eparchies in the diaspora, and places you before new pastoral demands,” Pope Francis observed.   It is a challenge, he said, to on the one hand remain faithful to their origins, and at the same time insert themselves into different cultural contexts in order to save souls and work for the common good. By moving to other countries considered to be safer, the Christian presence in the Middle East is “impoverished,” the pontiff noted, explaining that it has always been a “land of the prophets, of the first preachers of the Gospel, of the martyrs and of many saints, cradle of the hermits and of monasticism.” This history requires each of them to reflect on their own eparchies, the Pope observed, “which need zealous pastors, as well as courageous faithful, capable of witnessing to the Gospel when in discussions – sometimes not easy – with people of different religions and ethnicities.” He encouraged them work together with other churches of the Middle East in addressing and finding solutions to the current humanitarian crisis, and urged them make a pastoral commitment to serving in “the ministry of hope.” “I invite you to bring to all the expression of my closeness and of my prayer to the Lord,” Pope Francis said, and entrusted the Syro-Catholic Church to the protection of Mary, the Mother of God, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Ephrem. Read more

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2014 / 01:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis praised Our Lady of Guadalupe on Friday as “a great missionary” who brought the faith to Latin America, as he called on Christians to see her prayers as an introduction to... Read more

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2014 / 12:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Following the reception of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by two south Asians this week, Pope Francis has praised Nobel laureates' efforts for peace but chose not to meet with the Dalai Lama, who won the prize in 1989. The Pope likely declined to meet with Tenzin Gyatso, who is the 14th Dalai Lama, so as not to complicate the Vatican's relations with the People's Republic of China. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, sent a message to the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates stating Pope Francis is “deeply grateful for the commitment of the summit participants to promoting peace and fraternity among peoples, and for their efforts in finding solutions to the conflicts of our day.” Cardinal Parolin wrote that “Pope Francis prays that all present may be renewed and encouraged in their urgent work, and that their labours may bear an abundant harvest of peace for the world.” On Wednesday, Pakistani education activist Malala Yousefzai, who is 17, and Indian child rights' campaigner Kailash Satyarthi were awarded this years Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, and the world summit of laureates is currently being held in Rome. The Dalai Lama is participating in the summit, and requested a meeting with the Pope. Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Holy See press officer, said the Pope “is not meeting any of the Nobel laureates,” but “obviously has very high regard for the Dalai Lama.” The leader of Tibetan Buddhism has lived in exile from mainland China since 1959, and Pope's decision not to meet with him suggests a wish not to exacerbate relations between the Holy See and Beijing. With his dream of being the first Pope to visit China, Pope Francis has pursued warmer relations with the country under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who became president the day following Francis' election as Bishop of Rome. Xi signalled he is open to a thaw in relations when he, the first Chinese president to do so, responded in written form to the wishes Pope Francis sent him after his election. After that, for the first time in history, China allowed a papal flight  to utilize its air space, in the route to South Korea, which the Pope visited Aug. 13-18. The Vatican and China are at odds over the situation of the Church in the Peoples' Republic. It is split between the Patriotic Association, an official organization which answers to the country's communist party, and an “underground Church” faithful to the Pope, which is persecuted and whose episcopal appointments are often not acknowledged by Chinese authorities. In the press conference he held on his flight back from South Korea, Pope Francis showed his wish to visit China, affirming he would have gone there “even tomorrow morning.” Pope Francis also mentioned the letter Benedict XVI sent in 2007 to Catholics in China, describing it as a “milestone.” The letter opened a way for dialogue with the authorities, while maintaining firmness on the principles of the Church’s pastoral autonomy: after its publication, there had been signs of thaw between the Holy See and Beijing which led to priestly ordinations with the twofold approval of Rome and Beijing. Relations have, however, fluctuated in the course of the years, and now that they have seemingly come to a sort of interlocutory phase, Vatican diplomacy is very attentive to any gestures that would distance the two parties again.   It is noteworthy that Dalai Lama had his last meeting with a Pope in October 2006, when he met Benedict XVI in a private audience. Then, Benedict XVI had sent the letter to the Chinese Catholics in 2007, and the relations with China began fluctuating. The Dalai Lama was back in Rome in 2007 and 2009, and on both the occasions he sought another meeting. The Secretariat of State declined the requests, presumably for the same reasons it has not consented this time. Read more

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2014 / 02:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sister Cristina Scuccia, the Ursuline religious who won The Voice Italy earlier this year, greeted Pope Francis on Wednesday and gave him a copy of her new album, "Sister Cristina." The encounter took place at the conclusion of the Holy Father's General Audience in St. Peter's Square on Dec. 10. Interviewed by DPA in November, the 26 year-old nun had said she hoped to meet Francis and give him "the first copy" of her album. "It is a dream for me to meet him to give him the first copy of my album and receive his blessing," Sister Cristina said. The album went on sale Nov. 11 on the Universal record label. Sister Cristina won the Italian edition of The Voice in June. Immediately after the results were announced, she asked the entire studio audience to join her in praying the Our Father. With more than 66 million visits, Sister Cristina's audition video for the program in which she sang Alicia Keys' "No One," is among the most viewed YouTube videos of the year. The Italian religious renewed her vows on July 29 of this year. The first single from her album is a cover of Madonna's “Like a Virgin.”Catholic cultural commentator and Hollywood screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi suggested to CNA in an October interview that the nun's decision to cover the song, while well intentioned, shows “radical impropriety” which wrongly ignores the original song’s intent to undermine the Virgin Mary and Catholic morals. Nicolosi added that the choice of Madonna’s risqué song “reflects the lack of thought, seriousness and decorum that is predictable of so much of our societal and ecclesial life today.” She noted the original song’s music video and its use of Catholic imagery was “widely condemned” among Catholics. “It was clear that Madonna was ridiculing the Church’s reverence for the Blessed Virgin and so many lay people and clergy came out to speak against Madonna and the piece.” “That's another reason why this is a weird piece for a Catholic nun to try and re-purpose,” Nicolosi stated. Sister Cristina told L'Avvenire that while she knew she would be criticized, she does not intend to “provoke or scandalize anyone.” "If you read the lyrics and avoid any influence from the original, you discover that it is song about the capacity to love, about making people new, about rescuing them from their past,” Sr. Cristina claimed. “And that's how I wanted to interpret it. For this reason we transformed it from a pop song into a romantic ballad (...) to something more like a lay prayer than a pop song.” Sister Cristina said she “sometimes” regrets going on The Voice because of “the almost morbid curiosity of the media. Some photographers have chased me everywhere. I have even taken ‘mortal leaps’ to get to Mass without them seeing me.” She explained that in response to the media coverage, “I closed myself in here in the community. I have kept silent and prayed a lot. I have concentrated because I had to renew my temporary vows. I have cared for the most important part of me: my spiritual life.” In accord with her vow of poverty, Sister Cristina said, the funds from the sale of her record “will be used to finance the charitable projects of the congregation, for our home in Brazil but also for a project in my own land of Sicily, where there is no lack of poverty. I would also like to help other associations.” Read more

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2014 / 12:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Efforts to reform the Roman Curia have moved forward with the latest round of Vatican meetings and will continue next year, said Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office. &l... Read more

Vatican City, Dec 11, 2014 / 09:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis briefly met Wednesday with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the Internaional Monetary Fund, an organization which intends to foster international trade and sustainable economic growth. The Holy See press office announced the Dec. 10 meeting without discussing the contents of the leaders' conversation. According to sources from the International Monetary Fund, Lagarde praised Pope Francis’ calls against the growing inequality between rich and poor. It is probable that Lagarde also told Pope Francis of some criticisms she has expressed of the two speeches the Pope delivered Nov. 25 at the European Parliament and at the Council of Europe. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2, Lagarde said she wanted to press the Pope to explain what “he exactly meant” by describing Europe as “a grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant,” in a speech to the European Parliament. She also added that she thinks that Pope Francis “wanted to give a little kick and say…‘I’m challenging you, you cannot be that haggard grandmother, there’s something in that belly of the Europeans that can be stirred to a good fire.’” On his part, Pope Francis may have expressed his criticisms of the world economic system, which he already described as unjust in several speeches and in his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium.” For example, Pope Francis had expressed his concern in a speech given June 16 to the participants of the conference “Investing in the Poor: how impact investing can serve the Common Good in Light of the Evangelii Gaudium.” “It is important that ethics once again play its due part in the world of finance” and that markets “serve the interests of people and the common good of humanity,” the Pope said at the June conference. Read more