Pope Francis greets Verónica Cantero winner of Elsa Morante award in children section. Photo Credit: ACI Prensa. Thirteen-year-old Veronica Cantero Burroni fulfilled a dream on Wednesday, when she got to see Pope Francis, who offered her a warm embrace at the end of his general audience.
Photo: Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, April 13, 2016. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA. Vatican City, May 17, 2016 / 09:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a new interview focused heavily on migration and dialogue with Islam, Pope Francis touched on growing concerns surrounding the hot-button topic of religious freedom.
by Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, May 21, 2014. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
“We must carry this witness every week: Christ is with us; Christ has gone up into Heaven, and is with us; Christ is alive!” the Pope said during his May 8 Regina Caeli address to the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Pope Francis called for all the faithful everywhere to pray for persecuted Christians on Sunday. Speaking to pilgrims and tourists gathered beneath the window of the Papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, which overlooks St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father recalled the beatification in Barcelona on Saturday of Bl. Federico da Berga and his 25 Companions, who were martyred during the course of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. “They were,” said Pope Francis, “priests, young professed friars awaiting ordination, and lay brothers belonging to the Capuchin Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans): let us entrust to their intercession the many of our brothers and sisters who, sadly still today, in many different parts of the world, are persectuted because of their faith in Christ.” Pope Francis also asked the faithful to pray for the success of his upcoming visit to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, which begins this Wednseday, Nov. 25. "I ask you all to pray for this voyage," he said, "that it might be for all our brothers and sisters in those lands, and also for me, a sign of closeness and of love." Ahead of the Angelus on Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, with faithful pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the focus of the Holy Father’s remarks was the nature of Christ’s kingship: a kingship that opposes itself to the worldly logic that prizes ambition and rewards ruthlessness, expressing itself in humility and selflessness, and affirming itself silently but efficaciously with the force of truth. “The kingdoms of this world sometimes build themselves on arrogance, rivalry, oppression; the kingdom of Christ is ‘a kingdom of justice, love and peace’,” he said. The Holy Father went on to say, “[T]o reign as He does means to serve God and the brethren – a service that flows from love: to serve for love’s sake is to reign: this is the regality of Jesus.” Pope Francis concluded, saying, “Before so many lacerations in the world, and the too many wounds in the flesh of men, we ask the Virgin Mary to sustain us in our commitment to imitating Jesus, our King, making present His Kingdom with acts of tenderness, compassion and mercy.” (from Vatican Radio)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday condemned the violence and hatred behind the terror attacks in France which left 129 people dead and several hundred others injured. Speaking to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus address, the Pope said he wished to express his deepest condolences to the French President and especially to all those whose family members were killed or wounded in the multiple attacks on Friday night. Responsibility for the bombings and shootings at a stadium, a concert hall and several bars and restaurants has been claimed by so-called Islamic State extremists. Pope Francis said such barbarity leaves us stunned as we wonder how human hearts can think up and carry out such atrocities which “have shocked not only France but the whole world”. The Pope stressed again that “the way of violence and hatred does not resolve the problems of humanity”, adding that whoever uses God’s name to justify that path is guilty of blasphemy. Pope Francis invited all those listening to his words to join him in prayer, entrusting to God’s mercy the innocent victims of this tragedy. Leading the faithful in the recitation of the Ave Maria, he prayed that Mary, the Mother of Mercy, would inspire all our hearts with wisdom and peace. (from Vatican Radio)