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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected, Pope Francis baptized 16 infants, who, he said, "give us the witness of how to receive the faith: with innocence and with an open heart."Celebrating the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jan. 7, the pope baptized seven girls and nine boys, including one set of twins, during a morning Mass with fewer than 300 people in the chapel. Afterward, he led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with about 12,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square.While Pope Francis led the baptismal prayers and poured the water over the heads of the infants -- many of whom were squirming and a few of whom cried loudly -- he was assisted in anointing the babies by Cardinals Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, and Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the commission governing Vatican City State.Thanking the parents for bringing their children to be baptized, Pope Francis assured them -- as he usually does during baptisms -- that they should ...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Instead of splitting into ideological groups, members of the Catholic Church need to put God front and center, not their own personal ideas and plans, Pope Francis said."We need to let go of ecclesiastical ideologies in order to find the meaning of the Holy Mother Church" and to support its true vocation, he said."Let us set out anew from God; let us seek from him the courage not to lose heart in the face of difficulties, the strength to surmount all obstacles, the joy to live in harmonious communion," the pope said Jan. 6, celebrating Mass on the feast of the Epiphany."We need to let ourselves walk in friendship with the Lord, we need his love to sustain us, and the light of his word to guide us, like a star in the night," he said in his homily. Pope Francis gives the homily during Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)"We need to set out on this journey, so that our faith will not be red...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Help "de-weaponize" the way language is used in the media by being respectful to others and fostering greater understanding and peace between people, Pope Francis told a group of Catholics journalists from Germany."How many conflicts today, instead of being extinguished by dialogue, are fueled by fake news or inflammatory statements spread through the media!" he said in a text handed to participants."Therefore it is even more important that you, steadfast in your Christian roots and the faith you live out daily, with hearts 'demilitarized' by the Gospel, support the disarmament of language," the pope wrote. Pope Francis poses for a group photograph with a delegation representing the Society of Catholic Journalists in Germany during a private audience at the Vatican Jan. 4, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)The pope gave his text to a delegation representing the Society of Catholic Journalists in Germany during a private audience at the Vatican Jan. 4. While he d...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While bishops may take a cautious approach to the Vatican's guidance on blessing same-sex or other unmarried couples, they should not deny their priests the possibility of discerning and imparting blessings on people who ask for them, the Vatican doctrinal office said."Prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different methods of application, but not a total or definitive denial of this path that is proposed to priests," said a press release issued Jan. 4 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.Each bishop has a responsibility to discern the local application of the declaration "Fiducia Supplicans" ("Supplicating Trust") on "the pastoral meaning of blessings," signed by Pope Francis and published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith Dec. 18, but a bishop should not deny priests the ability to bless people who come to them, the press release said.Signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of t...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Temptation -- a constant in spiritual life -- is an opportunity for Christians to remember that Jesus is close to them, supports them and lifts them up when they fall, Pope Francis said."We all have experienced this: that a bad thought comes into your head, a desire to do something, to speak ill of someone," the pope said Jan. 3 at his weekly general audience. "We are all tempted, and we must fight to not fall into these temptations."The pope asked the people packed into the Vatican audience hall: "If any of you don't have temptations, say so, because it would be something extraordinary.""We all have temptations, and we all have to learn how to move forward in this situation," he said.At his first general audience of 2024, the pope spoke off-the-cuff often and cut short much of his prepared remarks, but he talked without difficulty and enthusiastically.Continuing a new catechesis series on vices and virtues, which he had begun the previous week, Pope Francis sa...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the new year begins, Pope Francis will be the oldest reigning pope since the early 1900s and the third oldest in history.Having celebrated his 87th birthday in mid-December, Pope Francis' initial calendar for 2024 had just the essentials.A full slate of the usual papal liturgies and meetings are scheduled; bishops will continue making "ad limina" visits; Argentina will have its first female saint; the Synod of Bishops on synodality will conclude in October; and the jubilee year opens at the year's end.While doctors convinced the pope to cancel his scheduled trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in December, he has continued to speak confidently about at least three countries he has on his wish-list for papal trips in 2024. Pope Francis answers a question from a journalist aboard his flight back to Rome from Marseille, France, in this file photo from Sept. 23, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)The pope told the Mexican news outlet N+ that a trip to Belgium is alre...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The world and the Catholic Church must respect and defend women and foster a motherly care for others to end dehumanizing cycles of violence, Pope Francis said. "The church needs Mary in order to recover her own feminine face, to resemble more fully the woman, virgin and mother, who is her model and perfect image, to make space for women and to be 'generative' through a pastoral ministry marked by concern and care," the pope said during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and World Peace Day Jan. 1.The world too, he said, "needs to look to mothers and to women in order to find peace, to emerge from the spiral of violence and hatred, and once more see things with genuinely human eyes and hearts."In his homily, Pope Francis called on all societies to "accept the gift that is woman, every woman" and to "respect, defend and esteem woman in the knowledge that whoever harms a single woman profanes God, who was born of a woman."The Mass ...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On New Year's Eve, believers and non-believers alike give thanks for all they have received in the last 12 months and express their hopes for the coming year, but Christians are called to cultivate their gratitude and hope following the example of Mary, Pope Francis said. "Faith enables us to live this hour in a way different than that of a worldly mindset," the pope said during an evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 31. "Faith in Jesus Christ, the incarnated God, born of the Virgin Mary, gives a new way of feeling time and life."Pope Francis said that while many people express thanks and hope on New Year's Eve, in reality, they often "lack the essential dimension which is that of relationship with the Other and with others, with God and with brothers and sisters." With a worldly mentality, gratitude and hope are "flattened onto the self, onto one's interests," he said. "They don't go beyond satisfaction and optimism."Pope Francis encouraged Chr...
As we enter the new year, humanity stands before vast and scarcely mapped oceans of technological augmentation. AI and burgeoning algorithmic systems are already woven into the fabric of our being, influencing how we understand our world and the people around us.In his message for World Peace Day, "Artificial Intelligence and Peace," Pope Francis promotes the pursuit of holistic and inclusive innovations in science and technology as a pathway to peace. In a rapidly evolving world, the pope recognizes the transforming impact of science and technology, particularly artificial intelligence, on all human endeavors including the pursuit of peace. AI offers both promises and perils, so ethical innovation is urgently needed to guide its development from now on.Pope Francis embraces the progress and positive transformations that science and technology have brought and that AI is bringing. From addressing once-insurmountable challenges to revolutionizing communication, education and personal...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' 2023 was a year of important trips made or postponed, a predecessor's funeral and his own 10th anniversary as pope, a call to the world to act on climate change and a call to the Catholic Church to strengthen its mission by learning "synodality."The Argentine pope, who was born Dec. 17, 1936, was to finish the year as an 87-year-old.As the oldest reigning pope in the last 120 years, Pope Francis' year was punctuated with hospitalizations, breathing difficulties and ongoing mobility challenges. The last pope to serve at his age was Pope Leo XIII, who died at the age of 93 in 1903.For Pope Francis, the year began with mourning Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and died Dec. 31, 2022. Pope Francis touches the casket of Pope Benedict XVI at the conclusion of his funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Jan. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)Pope Francis spent the week after his death speaking about his predecessor, lauding his "wisdom, t...
