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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday appealed to all religious authorities to join in “reaffirming unequivocally that one can never kill in God’s name,” saying the world is “dealing with a homicidal madness which misuses God’s name in order to disseminate death, in a play for domination and power.”The Holy Father was giving his annual address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See. “Fundamentalist terrorism is the fruit of a profound spiritual poverty, and often is linked to significant social poverty,” – the Pope said – “It can only be fully defeated with the joint contribution of religious and political leaders.”Click here for our report on the Pope's address.The full text of the Holy Father's address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See may be found in official English translation below*********************************************************ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS ...
(Vatican Radio) Christian life is simple; a Christian does not need to do strange or difficult things, but put Jesus at the center of his or her daily choices.This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily on Monday during morning Mass.Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: Resuming the daily Santa Marta Mass after the Christmas break, the Pope remarked on the fact that we have begun a new liturgical season in ordinary time, highlighting however that Jesus is always at the center of Christian life:"Jesus Christ manifested himself; we are invited to get to know him, to recognize him in our lives and in so many circumstances of life” he said.The Pope also explained that Saints and apparitions are important, but without Jesus, he said, they would not exist. Hence, he said, we must ask ourselves the question: “is Jesus Christ at the center of my life? And what is my relationship with Jesus Christ? "Thus, the Pope continued, we have thr...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday called on people of every religious tradition to join in condemning the misuse of God’s name to justify acts of violence.Speaking in the Apostolic Palace to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See during the traditional exchange of New Year’s greetings with the diplomats, Pope Francis said, “[O]ne can never kill in God’s name,” adding that the world is, “dealing with a homicidal madness which misuses God’s name in order to disseminate death, in a play for domination and power.”Pope Francis also said, “Fundamentalist terrorism is the fruit of a profound spiritual poverty, and often is linked to significant social poverty.”Click below to hear our report “It can only be fully defeated with the joint contribution of religious and political leaders,” he continued.Security and peace were the twin focal points of the Holy Father’s broad-ranging address, which...
Hours before tens of thousands of barefoot Filipinos joined Monday’s annual procession of the Black Nazarene, the Archbishop of Manila celebrated a midnight Mass calling his countrymen to unselfish love. Reflecting on the Baptism of Jesus, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, in his homily at the capital’s Quirino Grandstand stressed that in order to love as Jesus did, one must turn away from selfishness and focus on serving others. “That is the love that will promote unity in our families, the parish, in our barangay, in our country, and in the whole world,” he said. According to him, these are the keys to love that the country needs for the sake of unity. He also said division among people is often the effect of prejudice.According to him, these are the keys to love that the country needs for the sake of unity. He e According to him, these are the keys to love that the country nee...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ prayer intention for January is for Christians serving the challenges facing humanity, in which he asks that full ecclesial communion be restored in order to serve the challenges facing humanity.The Apostleship of Prayer has produced the Pope’s Video on this prayer intention.The full text of the Pope’s Video is below:In today’s world, many Christians from various churches work together to serve humanity in need, to defend human life and its dignity, to defend creation, and to combat injustice. [1]This desire to walk together, to collaborate in service and in solidarity with the weakest and with those who suffer, is a source of joy for us all. [2]Join your voice to mine in praying for all who contribute through prayer and fraternal charity to restoring full ecclesial communion in service of the challenges facing humanity. [3]_____________________[1] Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to participants in the plenar...
Pope Francis Monday revealed that the number of ambassadors accredited to the Holy See has grown. In his annual address to members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, it also emerged that in the course of last year, the number of African countries that signed or ratified bilateral Agreements with the Holy See had increased. The establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a month ago, brings to 182 countries and entities that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See in the world.In his annual address to the diplomats, Pope Francis named the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Benin as African countries that signed or ratified agreements aimed at recognising the Catholic Church’s juridical status, last year.Speaking to Pope Francis on behalf of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, the Dean, His Excellency Armindo Fernandes do Espírito Santo Vieira, of Angola, tha...
(Vatican Radio) Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See has welcomed Pope Francis’ words to the diplomatic corps, saying that Monday’s speech offers a practical “prescription” for peacemaking around the globe.Ambassador Sally Axworthy officially took up her post last September as Britain’s new representative to the Vatican, one of the 182 nations which enjoy full diplomatic relations with the Holy See.Just after the Pope’s traditional New Year encounter with the ambassadors, she talked to Philippa Hitchen about her impressions and about his invitation for closer cooperation with the Holy See….Listen: The ambassador notes that the Pope has spoken about global peace and security many times before but in this speech “he takes some of those themes a little further”. An example, she says, is his words about ending conflicts through negotiations, adding that she understands his focus on non-violence to mean that the Holy Se...
IMAGE: CNS/ReutersBy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At the start of a new year, PopeFrancis laid out a laundry list of suggested resolutions for religious andpolitical leaders for making a joint commitment toward building peace.No conflict exists that is "a habit impossible tobreak," the pope said, but he underlined that kicking such a habitrequires greater efforts to rectify social injustice, protect religiousfreedom, jump-start peace talks, end the arms trade and cooperate in respondingto climate change and the immigration and refugee crises.In a 45-minute speech Jan. 9 to diplomats accredited tothe Vatican, the pope underlined what he saw as the real "enemies ofpeace" and the best responses that could be made by today's religious andpolitical leaders."One enemy of peace," he said, is seeing thehuman person as a means to an end, which "opens the way to the spread ofinjustice, social inequality and corruption."The waste, "greedy exploitation" andinequitable distribution of the w...
IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore RomanoBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Parents are charged with guardingthe faith given to their children at baptism and helping them become truewitnesses by example rather than just rules, Pope Francis said. By asking the church for faith for their children through the sacramentof baptism, Christian parents have the task of helping their children to growso that they "may be witnesses for all of us: also for us priests, bishops,everyone," the pope said during a Mass in the Sistine Chapel.During the Mass Jan. 8, the feast of the baptism of theLord, Pope Francis baptized 28 infants -- 15 boys and 13 girls. "Faith is not reciting the 'Creed' on Sunday when wego to Mass: It is not only this," the pope said. "Faith is believingthat which is the truth: God the father who has sent his son and the Spirit which gives us life."The pope's brief homily centered on the meaning of faith,which he described as a lifelong journey that "is lived" and leadsto beco...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church is "veryfar" from a situation in which the pope is in need of "fraternalcorrection" becausehe has not put the faith and church teaching in danger, said Cardinal Gerhard Muller,prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Interviewed Jan. 9 on the Italian all-news channel, TGCom24,Cardinal Muller said Pope Francis' document on the family, "Amoris Laetitia," was"very clear" in its teaching.In the document, the cardinal said, Pope Francis askspriests "to discern the situation of these persons living in an irregularunion -- that is, not in accordance with the doctrine of the church on marriage-- and asks for help for these people to find a path for a new integration intothe church according to the condition of the sacraments (and) the Christianmessage on matrimony."In the papal document, he said, "I do not see anyopposition: On one side we have the clear doctrine on matrimony, and on theother th...
