One of the great signs of the pontificate that ended this morning with the death of Pope Francis is his care for the peripheries of the world. The archbishop of Hyderabad, the first Dalit called to join the College of Cardinals in 2022, pays tribute to the late pontiff who “looked each person in the eye, not as a number, but as a soul beloved by God.”
The pontiff died suddenly this morning at 7:35 am. Card Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity and Camerlengo of the Church, made the announcement. “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized.” His last Urbi et Orbi message came yesterday.
From the loggia of St. Peter's, Francis gave his blessing with a voice weakened by illness. In his Urbi et Orbi message, read by the master of papal ceremonies, his gaze turms to armed conflicts and trade wars, but also at lives wounded in their mothers' wombs, the elderly and migrants. ‘May the ceasefire be a sign of hope for Myanmar’.
The convalescing pontiff wrote meditations for this evening's rite at the Colosseum, which he will follow from Casa Santa Marta. “The steps you take as you leave the city can foreshadow our own exodus to a new land,” the pope writes. Some of the evils of a world that call for redemption are an economy ruled by the cold logic of algorithms, crocodile tears, and divisions within the Church. Joseph of Arimathea is an icon of the boldness of hope.
Card Domenico Calcagno read the text of the homily of the Chrism Mass in St Peter's Basilica. In the afternoon, the convalescent pontiff is expected to make a brief visit to the inmates in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison. Francis made a financial contribution to the people of Myanmar affected by a recent earthquake.
In today's catechesis, released in written form, Francis began a new series of reflections on parables: "They provoke us." Speaking about the story of the father and his two sons, the pope notes that even if “we are lost, God comes looking for us!” His love welcomes, like the embrace depicted by Rembrandt. This morning Francis met with the staff of the Gemelli Hospital. His health is improving.
Francis appeared in front of 25,000 people without nasal cannula for oxygen, thanking them “for your prayers,” which help him feel “the Lord’s tenderness even more”. In the Angelus, he renewed his plea for peace in Sudan, Lebanon, Ukraine and the Middle East. In the homily read by Card Sandri, Francis said that, “Faced with the appalling injustice of evil, we never carry the cross of Christ in vain”.
This week’s catechesis was centred on the encounter between Jesus and the "rich man". As it has done for weeks, the Holy See Press Office released the written text of the catechesis.
Francis among those taking part in the Jubilee of the Sick, in a wheelchair and with oxygen: ‘I wish everyone a good Sunday! Thank you so much’. During the Angelus another appeal: ‘Let there be silence among the weapons, let dialogue resume’. He prayed for peace in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and other places of conflict, where ‘civilian victims, including many children’ are present. He thanked healthcare workers and invited the faithful to trust in God, who ‘does not abandon’ even in sickness.
AsiaNews director spoke today in Rome at the conference “The Spirit knows where he takes us” organised by the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute. The “triple dialogue” refers to the path of interiority, the commitment to freedom and justice, and the telling of the story of Jesus: the faces of the reception of Vatican II in the East.
Pope Francis has approved his canonisation, together with that of Archbishop Ignatius Maloyan, killed in the Armenian genocide. A lay catechist, To Rot was killed in 1945 for defending marriage against the Japanese who, in order to ingratiate themselves with local tribes, promoted polygamy.
During the Angelus, the pope expressed "concern" for South Sudan, where the 2018 peace agreement has collapsed. He calls on all sides to “put aside our differences”. Meanwhile, in Sudan, where an "appalling humanitarian catastrophe" persists, the international community must "increase efforts". Francis called for peace in Ukraine, Palestine and Myanmar, “which is also suffering so much from the earthquake. He told the Missionaries of Mercy that “forgiveness is the source of hope.”
Today’s weekly general audience was dedicated to Jesus’s meeting with the Samaritan woman. While the pope recovers at Casa Santa Marta, his catechesis notes that Jesus is waiting for us “at the crossroads in our life” where we least expect him.
Francis appeared in public after 37 days in hospital, greeting the faithful before his departure. Weak and tired, he gave his blessing and thanked everyone in a faint voice. During the Angelus prayer he praised the ‘patient trust’ of the doctors. Sadness for the Israeli bombings: a ‘definitive’ ceasefire and a ‘resumption of dialogue’ have been requested. Satisfaction for the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The pontiff released his weekly catechesis from the Gemelli Hospital, with a commentary on the Gospel passage about Nicodemus, opening a new chapter in his reflections on Jesus Christ our hope. In his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocation, he urges young people to make their life a “gift of love”.
The pontiff writes from the Gemelli Polyclinic to the editor of the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. In illness, ‘war appears even more absurd,’ he reiterates. Human frailty ‘has the power to make us more lucid about what lasts and what passes’. To information professionals: ‘Feel the full importance of words’. Peace is built with ‘commitment, work, silence, words’.
Francis’s conditions are stable at the Rome hospital where he has been treated since 14 February. “I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me,” he says in today’s Angelus. He devotes once more thoughts to “countries wounded by war”.
Established by the FABC, the commission is tasked with facilitating collaboration among Asian Churches to translate the path indicated by Pope Francis in their own context. It includes religious and lay people who took part in the Synod in Rome.
Francis shows “slight improvement.” Angelus text speaks of Lent as a “penitential itinerary” and calls for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prey to new violence. Today the Jubilee of the volunteer world, 30,000 in attendance. In the homily read by Card. Czerny, to volunteers, "Serve your neighbor without serving your neighbor."
The Holy See Press Office released the message of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue to Islamic communities for the Islamic holy month and the feast of Eid al-Fitr. It reads, “in a world in search of hope [. . .] Do we want to be simple co-workers for a better world, or genuine brothers and sisters, bearing common witness to God’s friendship with all humanity?”
Card De Donatis led the imposition of ashes, reading the Pope’s homily sent from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. In it the pontiff warns against conflicts, identity politics, exploitation of the land and violence, which are “fine dust” that pollute the world. Instead, the hope of Easter allows us not to “fall into sadness and desolation.” Meanwhile, the pontiff's health conditions remain stable but critical.
Pope Francis's Angelus text was released this Sunday from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. "I feel in my heart the blessing that is hidden within fragility, which teaches us even more to trust in the Lord,” it reads. While his clinical condition remains stable, the pontiff is grateful for the closeness expressed by the faithful around the world. Commenting on today’s Gospel, he urges people to care for and say honest things to others.
In a letter released by the Catholic charity, 124 faith leaders call on the finance ministers of the richest countries in the world to take concrete steps to end the scandal of poor countries spending more on debt repayment than on health and education. The goal is to set up a UN Debt Convention and a public global debt registry.
The pope’s health conditions remain stationary at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. The text for his general audience was released today, from the Gospel passage about the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the figures of Simeon and Anna, two elderly people who were able to “rekindle hope”.
Pope Francis has approved the promulgation of the decree on the “offering of life” of Fr Emil Joseph Kapaun, a priest from Kansas who died in 1951 in a North Korean POW camp.
In a statement, the Gemelli Hospital reported “a slight improvement” in the pope’s conditions The Vatican released the pope’s message for the path towards Easter, titled this year “Let us journey together in hope”.
While the world is concerned for his health after yesterday's respiratory crisis, in a text released for the Angelus, Francis invites us to remember the victims of all conflicts and to pray for peace. The pontiff thanks the people around the world who are close to him.
The Catholic communities throughout Asia are close to the pontiff, hospitalised at the Gemelli Polyclinic. He has been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, which has required a change in treatment. In the Philippines, the Rappler website has invited readers to share their prayers for Francis in a chat room.
The pontiff is currently in stable conditions in a Rome hospital for bronchitis. For this reason, he did not recite the Angelus today; however, the written text was released. Francis greeted participants in the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, and issued a new appeal for peace. He also thanked all those who are close to him at this time of poor health. The Beatitudes “overturn our worldly mentality,” he said, while “Artists are called to take part in this revolution.”
The pontiff spoke this morning at the end of the Wednesday general audience, despite a bronchitis. “May paths of peace be found,” he said, in Ukraine, Palestine, Myanmar, South Sudan and in the “many countries that are at war”. The catechesis, read by a Vatican official, focused on the visit by the “malodorous” shepherds to the manger, men who “practice the occupation by which God himself makes himself known to his people.”
