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Father Nicéforo Obama from Equatorial Guinea was able to be trained as a priest thanks to the Pontifical Mission Societies. / Credit: OMPACI Prensa Staff, Apr 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).On Sunday, April 21, in addition to celebrating the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the Catholic Church in Spain also celebrates what it calls "Native Vocations Day," to support and provide formation for those who feel called to the priesthood and consecrated life in other countries so that no one is prevented from pursuing a vocation due to lack of resources.The Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle is in charge of this effort, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies that in different ways provides the resources to maintain 725 seminaries around the world.In Asia, these seminaries (152 minor, 13 preparatory, and 62 major) serve more than 15,000 candidates for the priesthood. In Africa, more than 67,000 seminarians attend the 225 minor, 116 preparatory, and 142 major seminaries. In ...
Jaroslaw Kaczynski (front, center), leader of the Law and Justice political party (PiS) in Poland, takes part in the voting on four draft projects on abortion rights at the Polish Parliament (SEJM) on April 12, 2024, in Warsaw, Poland. / Credit: Omar Marques/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Catholic bishops in Poland are asking the faithful to make Sunday a "day of prayer" for unborn children after the country's lawmakers advanced four pro-abortion bills in the heavily Catholic country on Friday."I warmly encourage you to make the coming Sunday a day of special prayer in defense of the unborn," Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, the chair of the Polish Episcopal Conference, said in a statement."I ask that in all churches in Poland, at every holy Mass, we pray for this intention," Wojda said.Lawmakers on Friday advanced four pro-abortion bills to be considered by a special committee in the Sejm, which is Poland's lower legislative body. This was t...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Though the global situation risks plunging people into pessimism, Christians are called to pursue their vocation of becoming "men and women of hope," Pope Francis said."As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges," the pope wrote in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations April 21.Global challenges such as war, migration, rising poverty rates and climate change, in addition to personal difficulties encountered daily, "risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism," the pope wrote in the message released March 19. He encouraged Christians to instead "cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God's kingdom of love, justice and peace."To be "pilgrims of hope and builders of peace" means "to base our lives on the rock of Christ's resurrecti...
Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Mar 19, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Tuesday released his message for the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, reflecting on the Christian pilgrimage as a synodal journey that is rooted in hope and aimed toward discovering God's love. The theme for the this year's World Day of Prayer for Vocations, "Called to Sow Seeds of Hope and to Build Peace," reflects the universal Christian call to "base our lives on the rock of Christ's resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out will never be in vain," the pope said. This year the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on April 21."This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily," the pope observed. "Even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters is beginning to bring about God's d...
Indian Catholics bishops pray at the closing of the their Feb. 7, 2024, conference. / Credit: Anto AkkaraBangalore, India, Feb 12, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).The Catholic Church in India has called for observing March 22 as a "day of prayer and fasting for peace and harmony in the country.""There is an unprecedented religious polarization which is harming the cherished social harmony in our country and endangering democracy itself," said a statement released at the conclusion of the 36th biennial assembly of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) in Bangalore."There is an apprehension that divisive attitudes, hate speeches, and fundamentalist movements are eroding the pluralistic ethos which has always characterized our country and its constitution. The fundamental rights and minority rights guaranteed by the constitution should never be undermined," the statement read.Hindu flags raised on churches and mosquesThe unusually critical statement from the Indian Church was see...
null / Credit: 271 EAK MOTO/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Feb 9, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).Any day of the year more than 50 million people are enslaved in the world according to the latest estimate published in a joint report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and Walk Free, a human rights group that seeks the eradication of modern slavery in all its forms. Many of the people affected by trafficking are in Latin America, where 90% of the victims are women, especially girls, destined for sexual exploitation and where many of the countless migrants who cross the continent are prey for human traffickers and those facilitating illegal immigration.The Catholic Church dedicated Thursday as a Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking.Fifty million people in servitude means that 1 out of every 150 people in the world is enslaved. Of those, 35% are boys and girls, according to the 2022 Global Report of the Uni...
Talitha Kum members hold a sculpture of St. Josephine Bakhita in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 6, 2022. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Feb 8, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).On the 10th International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, Pope Francis urged people to take concrete actions to "combat this global scourge.""Let us help one another to be more responsive, to open our lives and hearts to our sisters and brothers who even now are being bought and sold as slaves. It is never too late to take action," Pope Francis said in a message published Feb. 8."Let us pray fervently and work proactively for this cause, the defense of human dignity, whether by prayer and action as individuals and families, or as parish and religious communities, as ecclesial associations and movements, and also in the various spheres of social and political life."The pope's comments came as Catholics from more than 50 countries across the world rallied together virtually as part of an...
A bronze sculpture of St. Josephine Bakhita, patron of trafficking victims. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAACI Prensa Staff, Feb 2, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA)."Journeying in Dignity: Listen, Dream, Act" is the theme of the International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking to be held on Feb. 8, a date established by Pope Francis on the feast of St. Bakhita, an African woman who before becoming a nun was enslaved and who is a symbol in the Church of the fight against this scourge, which affects millions of people.St. Josephine Bakhita, Sudanese by birth and naturalized Italian citizen, experienced firsthand the horrors of slavery for much of her life. The name "Bakhita" means "fortunate" and was given to her when she was 9 years old by slave traders, while the name "Josephine" was given to her 12 years later when she was baptized.A press release from the organizers explained that "human trafficking is the process by which people are coerced or lured by false prospects, r...
Pope Francis speaks at a Mass on the World Day of Consecrated Life, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, on Feb. 2, 2024, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Feb 2, 2024 / 13:55 pm (CNA).On the 28th World Day of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of cultivating "an intense spiritual life" that is nourished by Eucharistic adoration, intercessory prayer, and silence.Pope Francis presided over Mass on Feb. 2 for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, a feast that coincides each year with a day of prayer established by John Paul II for men and women with consecrated vocations in the Church."Ours is a world that often runs at great speed, that exalts 'everything and now,'" Francis said."In such a context, where silence is banished and lost, waiting is not easy, for it requires … the courage to slow our pace, to not be overwhelmed by activities, to make room within ourselves for God's action."Pope Fra...
WASHINGTON - Consecrated persons advance the mission of the Gospel in the Church today by bringing the light of the Gospel to those they encounter, said Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing. In preparation for the celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life by the Catholic Church on February 2, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations (CCLV) commissioned a study on newly professed men and women religious through the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The survey, Women and Men Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life: The Profession Class of 2023, commissioned annually since 2010 provides valuable insight into the demographics, family background, education history, occupational and ministerial experience, and vocational discernment of religious who professed perpetual vows in the past year.Bishop Boyea serves as chairman of the CCLV committee: "In their work, ministry, and c...
