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Vatican Weekend for January 15th, 2017 features our weekly reflection on the Sunday Gospel reading, “There’s More in the Sunday Gospel than Meets the Eye,” plus our resident Vatican watcher Joan Lewis reviews the past week’s events in the Vatican.Listen to this programme produced and presented by Susy Hodges:
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the members of the General Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican of the Italian State Police (Polizia di Stato) in a traditional new year meeting on Friday. Although Vatican City State has its own police force – the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps – this force cooperates closely with its Italian counterparts, and the Italian police help patrol St. Peter’s Square.In his address, Francis expressed his gratitude to all of them for their generous service, not without difficulties and risks. “I know that you run risks”, he said. “You are, in a certain sense, the ‘guardian angels’ of St. Peter’s Square. Indeed, every day you keep watch over this peculiar centre of Christianity, and other relevant areas of the Vatican, with great care, professionalism and a sense of duty. And especially in these recent times, you have shown competence and courage in facing the many challenges and various ...
(Vatican Radio) Due to the extreme cold in Rome, the St. Egidio Community has kept the Church of St. Callixtus in Trastevere open since 7 Jan as a refuge from the cold for homeless people who have no other place to keep warm.A communique from the Office of the Papal Charities said the church will remain open as long as cold temperatures persist.There are around 30 people – Italians and foreigners – who sleep rough in the area and have been welcomed into St. Callixtus so they may stay the night out of the low temperatures.The communique said guests are offered dinner at St. Egidio’s nearby soup kitchen before being allowed into the church to sleep. Their needs are looked after by volunteers.St. Callixtus and its annexes are extraterritorial property of the Holy See. Though the current church building dates from the 17th century, it was built upon an ancient Roman church, built around the well in which Pope St. Callixtus I was martyred in 222.
Australia's poor treatment of refugees in offshore detention camps is "draconian" and is causing lasting damage to refugees and to Australia's reputation as a rights-respecting country, Human Rights Watch said on Friday. Conditions in the camps are abusive and detainees "regularly endure violence, threats and harassment", Human Rights Watch said in the Australian chapter of its annual global report. Under Australian rules, anyone intercepted while trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps in the Pacific Island nation of Nauru and at Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea (PNG). They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia.A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration, asked about the report before its release, declined to comment but referred to earlier department assertions that conditions at the camps were adequate and were the responsibility of Nauru and PNG. Those governments did not immediately respo...
(Vatican Radio) Ireland’s ambassador to the Holy See says Pope Francis’ speech to the diplomatic corps on Monday, serves as a reminder that we should always be thinking about peacebuilding.Ambassador Emma Madigan, who was giving her reaction to the Pope’s annual discourse also said that it offered a message of hope despite a year that saw conflicts and terror attacks around the world.Listen to Lydia O’Kane's interview with the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, Emma Madigan Ambassador Madigan who has been Ireland’s representative to the Vatican, since September 2014 noted that, “it is perhaps an anxious time to be living in the world today and to have someone like the Pope, a moral authority, a moral leader being very visible on this and saying…we want peace and we want to continue to strive for peace; I think that was very important.”Hope in troubled timesSpeaking about the aspect of hope contained in the speech, the Ambassador ...
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Friday announced preparations for a Synod of Bishops on the theme of young people, as Pope Francis published a personal letter addressed to the youth of the world. In October 2018 bishops from across the globe will come to Rome for the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, focused on “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment”.In the Vatican press office, a young Cape Verdean man and a young Italian woman joined Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Bishop Fabio Fabene to present the Synod’s preparatory document and to discuss their hopes and expectations for the event.Philippa Hitchen reports.Listen: 24 year old Federica and 21 year old Elvis, both students at Rome’s Sapienza University, spoke clearly about their desire to be part of the process of building “a younger, fresher Church”. A Church which is less rigid, more welcoming, and open to discussions, debates and encounters. They wan...
Washington D.C., Jan 13, 2017 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Congress took its first step toward blocking D.C.’s doctor-prescribed suicide law on Thursday, but the action will need the support of both houses of Congress and the President.“America must be a nation that supports and cherishes human life, no matter the age, ethnicity or health of that life,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) stated Jan. 12 after introducing a resolution in the Senate that opposes Washington, D.C.’s “Death With Dignity Act of 2015.” The law had legalized doctor-prescribed suicide in the District.D.C.’s law, Lankford said, “would erode our culture’s respect for life, and possibly lead to the mistreatment and exploitation of the disabled and most vulnerable among us.”The city council of Washington, D.C. had passed the “Death With Dignity Act” in 2015, with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) signing it in December.Congress has 30 legislative days to re...
Vatican City, Jan 13, 2017 / 06:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With the 2014-2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family barely falling out of sight, the preparatory document for the next synod dedicated to youth has been released, indicating that young people will play an active role in both the preparation and the discussion.“Through every phase of this Synod, the Church wants again to state her desire to encounter, accompany and care for every young person, without exception,” a preparatory document for the 2018 synod read.“The Church cannot, nor does she wish to, abandon them to the isolation and exclusion to which the world exposes them.”The theme for the 2018 50th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “Young People, the Faith and the Discernment of Vocation,” was announced Oct. 6, 2016.According to the document, in choosing this specific theme, the Church wanted to not only ask herself “how she can lead young people to recognize and accept the ca...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob RollerBy Dennis SadowskiWASHINGTON(CNS) -- New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said the Scripture passage he choseto read at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president -- Wisdom chapter9 in which King Solomon prays for wisdom to lead Israel according to God's will-- was an easy one to make."Ipray it all the time," he told Catholic News Service and joked that"the Lord still hasn't answered the prayer."Jokesaside, Cardinal Dolan said that Solomon's prayer has been one offered to God forcenturies.In theprayer, Solomon acknowledges that God made humankind "to govern the worldin holiness and righteousness and to render judgment in integrity ofheart." The king continues by asking God for wisdom, "the consort atyour throne, and do not reject me from among your children."Solomonalso pleads with God to send wisdom "that she may be with me and work withme, that I may know what is pleasing to you." He asks that his "deedswill be acceptable and I will judge yo...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob RollerBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis asked young people to tell him, their bishops andpastors about their hopes and struggles and even their criticisms.Inpreparation for a meeting of the Synod of Bishops focused on youth, the popewrote a letter to young people, saying the church wants "to listen to yourvoice, your sensitivities and your faith, even your doubts and your criticism.""Makeyour voice heard," the pope told young people. "Let it resonate incommunities and let it be heard by your shepherds of souls."Thepope's letter was released Jan. 13 along with the preparatory document for thesynod. The document includes a series of questions to be answered by nationalconferences of bishops and other church bodies. The responses, along with inputfrom young people themselves, will form the basis of the synod's workingdocument.PopeFrancis chose "Young people, faith and vocational discernment" as thetheme for the synod gathering, which will be...
