05/19/2013VATICAN Pope to Movements: The action of the Spirit is newness, harmony, mission At Mass for Pentecost, along with movements and lay associations, Francis asks believers not close in on themselves for fear the 'God’s surprises', defending ourselves " barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness." The harmony of the Spirit brings unity, not exclusivism or standardization. "The Holy Spirit ... saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself" and " drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ." The final thanks of the Pope: "You are a gift and a treasure for the Church." Vatican City
(AsiaNews) - The action of the Spirit is the bearer of the newness, not a "search for something new to relieve
our boredom," but for
"the surprises of God" of which we must not be afraid; his action creates
the diversity of gifts, but also the harmony and unity of the...
05/19/2013VATICAN Pope to Movements: man is in crisis. No to a church closed in on itself, but a Church that goes out, At the Vigil for Pentecost, Pope Francis pushes Christian witness in a world that has become the enemy of man, where the collapse of financial markets makes the news, but not the death of workers or child hunger. A great event for the Year of Faith, 200 thousand people are present: from CL and Renewal in the Spirit, to the Neocatechumenal Way, Focolare, Sant'Egidio, international associations. The testimony of John Waters, an Irish journalist, and Paul Bhatti, former minister for minorities in Pakistan. The Pope invites all to pray every day for persecuted Christians and to work for religious freedom. The Church is not an efficient NGO. Her main contribution is "to live the Gospel."
05/17/2013VATICAN The life of the Church and of the Churches is the mission, pope says In meeting the national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Francis focuses on the duty to bring the Gospel to the world, which includes "educating every Christian, from childhood, to have a genuinely universal and missionary spirit," and giving "special attention to the young Churches, which often operate in a climate of difficulty, discrimination, and persecution, so that they might be sustained and assisted in witnessing the Gospel in word and in deed."
05/16/2013VATICAN Pope: Church does not need lukewarm, "backseat" Christians In this morning's Mass, Francis spoke about Saint Paul's apostolic zeal. "Paul is a nuisance. He is a man who, with his preaching, his work, his attitude irritates others, because he bears witness to Jesus Christ". We can ask the Holy Spirit "to give us all this apostolic fervour to be nuisance in the Church's comfort zones and the grace to reach the outer edges of existence."
05/16/2013VATICAN Pope: Money must serve and not rule Addressing a group of ambassadors, Francis criticizes the role that economics and finance have on people and society today, reducing humanity to being consumers and consumer goods. The rejection of God and ethics "considered counterproductive as too human, because it relativizes money and power, as a threat, because it rejects the manipulation and submission of the person."
05/15/2013VATICAN Pope: Pray for priests and bishops so they do not yield to temptation of money and careerism During Mass celebrated this morning, Francis comments on the phrase of St. Paul that exhorts the "elders" of the Church of Ephesus to be vigilant of themselves and their flock, shepherds attentive to the "ravenous wolves." "When a priest, a bishop goes after money, the people do not love him and that's a sign. But he ends up badly." "And when a bishop, a priest travels the road of vanity, enters into the spirit of careerism - which hurts the Church so much – he ends up being ridiculous, he boasts, he likes to be seen, all powerful ... And the people did not love that. "
05/15/2013VATICAN Pope: you cannot be a “part-time” Christian, "at certain moments, circumstances, choices" At the general audience Francis talks about the truth that the Holy Spirit helps us to get know and that "always and totally involves our daily lives." In an era marked by relativism, Jesus is the answer to the question: is there "the" truth? "The truth does not grab you like an object, the truth is encountered. It is not a possession, it is an encounter with a Person." In his greetings in Italian he announces his desire to visit, Cagliari, Sardinia, "probably in September”, and in particular the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, connected to the founding of Buenos Aires.
05/14/2013THAILAND The Thai monarchy celebrates rice, engine of the national economy by Weena Kowitwanij Ploughing Ceremony Day was held yesterday in the Royal Palace, a festival of hope for a plentiful harvest. The cereal is one of the most important national products and is one of the symbols of tradition. Buddhist religious: "It is a national glory". Environmentalist warns: safeguard nature to preserve crops.
05/13/2013VATICAN Growth in number of Catholics worldwide, number of priests and seminarians also increase The data from the Statistical Yearbook of the Church. The faithful of Rome have passed, from 1196 in 2010 to 1214 million in 2011, up 1.5%. Asia remains a religiously vibrant continent: number of faithful and priests rise, as do the number of professed religious who are not priests, seminarians, and in contrast to the world's data, the number of nuns.
05/13/2013VATICAN Pope: the Holy Spirit, the "unknown of our faith," is "God reminding us" of our salvation During the Mass celebrated this morning, Francis reflects on the remarks of a group of Christians from Ephesus: "we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Even today, "many Christians do not know who the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit is." The Spirit is "God active in us," a "God who helps us remember" who "awakens our memory." Jesus himself says to the Apostles before Pentecost: the Spirit that God will send in my name, "will remind you of everything I have said."
05/12/2013VATICAN Pope: Fidelity to Christ even unto martyrdom and in mission, as witness of charity During Mass in St Peter's Square, Francis canonises the 800 martyrs of Otranto slaughtered by the Turks in 1480; Sister María Laura Montoya Upegui, the first Colombian saint, teacher and evangeliser of the poor and the Indians; Sister María Guadalupe García Zavala, a Mexican apostle of the poor and the sick. Martyrdom and mission are born from love of God and express themselves in the witness of charity. "[L]let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, at this time in many parts of the world, continue to endure violence, and give them the courage of fidelity to respond to evil with goodness." Speaking ad-lib, the pope also said, "Individualism eats away at the Christian community and our hearts . . . . How much damage does the easy life and the embourgeoisement of the heart do?" Serving the sick and the abandoned means "touching Christ's flesh." The "sick, the poor, the dying are the flesh of Christ." The pope pleads on behalf of life in the womb and the rights of embryos.
05/11/2013THAILAND Thai Catholics celebrate marginalised and disenfranchised ethnic groups by Weena Kowitwanij The Church has set aside tomorrow, 12 May, as a special day for ethnic groups, some of whom have been denied citizenship. Following in the footsteps of popes Francis and Benedict XVI, caring for the needy becomes a sign of "love and mercy." Media and progress are endangering the Karen ethnic and cultural identity.
05/10/2013VATICAN - EGYPT Pope: an "ecumenism of suffering" shared by Coptic Orthodox and Catholics in Egypt Francis meets Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, welcoming the establishment of the National Council of Christian Churches "it is an important symbol of the will of all believers in Christ in everyday life to develop more and more fraternal relations and to place themselves in service of the entire Egyptian society of which they are an integral part. "
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