Franco Pisano

Francis releases a video message with his intention of prayer for May. in it, the pontiff says: “financial speculation must be carefully regulated. Speculation. I want to underline that term. May finance be a form of service, and an instrument to serve the people, and to care for our common home!”

Faithful contact AsiaNews after learning the news that Francis will celebrate a mass for the community from Myanmar residing in Rome.

The planned announcement in today's ordinary public consistory for the canonization of the blessed. Francis in the encyclical Fratelli tutti indicates him as heir to the legacy and dream of Francis of Assisi.

The prayer marathon that involves 30 Marian shrines around the world began today in the Vatican Basilica. Francis entrusted “the minds” of scientists to the Virgin, asking her to bring comfort to “those who are lost and weeping for their dead loved ones”.

"In the unbridled race to posses, career, honors or power, the weak and the little ones are often ignored and rejected, or considered as useless, indeed they are considered as waste material". "The pandemic has destroyed many projects, it has asked everyone to deal with the unexpected. Welcoming the unexpected, rather than ignoring or rejecting it, means remaining docile to the Spirit ".

Vatican directors and administrators cannot have been convicted or on trial for tax offenses, cannot have assets of any kind in tax havens and cannot receive gifts worth more than 40 euros.

The event will be centred on 30 shrines in accordance with Pope Francis’s wish. The prayer will be conducted for “the various categories of people most affected by the plight of the pandemic: for those who have not been able to say goodbye to their loved ones, for all health care personnel, for the poor, the homeless and those in economic difficulty and for all the deceased.”

"Especially in the voracious Western world, people seek meditation because it represents a high barrier against the daily stress and emptiness that is everywhere". But "we must always remember that the method is a road, not a goal. Any method of prayer, if it is to be Christian, is part of that sequela Christi [following Christ] which is the essence of our faith".

The prayer marathon, which will involve 30 shrines around the world, is aimed at encouraging the faithful, families and communities to recite the Rosary.

Francis released a video message on the day of the climate summit. He urges leaders to “act boldly, conduct themselves with justice and always tell people the truth, so that they know how to protect themselves from the destruction of the planet, [and] how to protect the planet from the destruction that we very often cause.”

“The words we speak take us by the hand; in some moments they restore appetite and awaken even the sleepiest of hearts; they stir memories of forgotten feelings. And above all they are the only ones, in a sure way, that direct the questions that He wants to hear to God”.

The Day will be celebrated on 25 July. In announcing it, Francis said that grandparents “remind us that old age is a gift and that grandparents are the link between generations, passing on the experience of life and faith to the young.”