Church in the U.S. donates more than $10 million for humanitarian and church projects
In 2023, the Church in the United States will allocate funds of more than 10 million dollars to apostolic, humanitarian and rescue projects within the USA and worldwide. This was announced on July 20 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
During their spring meeting in June 2023, the North American bishops approved allocating the funds raised during the second national collections to subsidize various projects of the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, the Church in Latin America, the Church in Africa and for domestic emergencies caused by natural disasters. Each of these second national collections were collected in all the churches of the country on different Sundays in 2022.
"St. Paul wrote that when one Christian suffers, all Christians suffer because we are all part of one Body of Christ," said Msgr. James S. Wall, Bishop of Gallup and chairman of the National Collections Committee for the USCCB. "That unity is at the heart of these collections, which bring faith, hope and love to people in need and reach out to the most intricate and remote places on the planet. It also helps victims of disasters in our own nation," the prelate said.
Aid for the Church in Africa
Resources for the Church in Africa1.1 million will be used, among other projects, to train young Ethiopian Catholics as peace promoters in Ethiopia's Catholic schools. Ethiopia has been living under armed conflict for three generations, and there is therefore a need to promote peace in all sectors. The funds for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, amounting to US$5.1 million, will be allocated to 196 apostolate projects, including humanitarian aid initiatives in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, where evangelization is permitted only within churches. The Karaganda diocese will use the grant to host free music concerts at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima.
During the pandemic, these events were an opportunity to talk about the faith and build ties of dialogue with those who do not profess Catholicism.
Grants for Latin America
For the Church in Latin America, 122 grants totaling US$2.65 million will be awarded for projects ranging from the reconstruction of buildings that collapsed during earthquakes to the education of novices. In the Moyobamba region of Peru, the funds will be used to train 130 lay formators in 110 rural communities. Finally, funds set aside for national emergencies will be awarded for rebuilding parishes in the Diocese of Venice, Florida, which was hit by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. Whether for peace efforts, or for aid to victims of war or natural disasters, "each of these collections responds to Jesus' call to care for him in the person of our suffering neighbor," said Bishop Wall.
Kazakhstan, a model country of multi-faith coexistence
In the Kazakh nation, relations between the various religious denominations are very good, and both Pope St. John Paul II, when he was in Astana in 2001, and Pope Francis, wanted to highlight this positive aspect of religious tolerance, which can also serve as a model in other countries.
Carlos Lahoz-July 24, 2023-Reading time: 5minutes
On July 17, 2023, the Supplementary Agreement to the Bilateral Treaty between the Holy See and the Holy See entered into force. Kazakhstan. An agreement that will have as its main effect the obtaining of residence permits for Catholic pastoral agents who request them. Although the second article of the Treaty signed in 1998 already foresaw that Catholic missionaries coming from abroad would have the possibility of obtaining visas to enter and live in the country, it did not contemplate the possibility of obtaining a residence permit, which can last up to 10 years and is renewed almost automatically.
Relations between the country's authorities and the Catholic Church are very good. As a result of this good understanding, this long-awaited news has come as a gift from heaven, since the Nunciature has been working along these lines for about 5 years, and had intensified its efforts in the last few years.
A work of years
The priests who work in this great Asian country owe much to the efforts of Bishop Francis Chulikatt, Nuncio to the Holy See. Kazakhstan until October 1. The signing of this agreement is the fruit of his constancy in dealing with the authorities of the country, and taking advantage of the favorable situation provided by the visit of Pope Francis in mid-September 2022. The document was in fact signed on September 14, while Pope Francis was still in Astana.
The first section defines more precisely the structures of the Catholic Church present in the country (dioceses, parishes, etc.); and the second section opens the door to obtaining a residence permit for Catholic pastoral workers who have a long-term appointment in one of these structures.
Until now, the priests and nuns present in this former Soviet republic had a visa, called missionary visa, which lasts 180 days and can be renewed without leaving the country. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the legislation made it compulsory to go to the country of residence every year to obtain a new visa. There was the unusual case of Argentinean priests who went to Brazil (since there is no Kazakhstan consulate in Argentina) to get their visa: 14,000 kilometers one way and as many kilometers back, to be able to serve the Kazakh Catholic faithful, in addition to the cost of the plane tickets and the fatigue of the trip.
Also the economic cost of the current visa is high for the possibilities of the priests and religious: 400 euros each year, not a negligible amount if we take into account that we are dealing with more than 200 people, including priests and nuns. For all these reasons, the recent news of access to a residence permit has been received with great joy and gratitude by all the Catholic pastoral agents of the country.
In addition to the visa, missionaries must receive an annual permit from the local authorities in order to carry out their ministerial work. Certainly this requirement is also required for representatives of other religions, including the Muslim religion, which is the majority religion in the country, comprising more than 70 % of the population.
A country of multi-faith coexistence
Relations between the various religious denominations are very good, and both Pope St. John Paul II, when he was in Astana in 2001, and Pope Francis, have wanted to highlight this positive aspect of religious tolerance, which can also serve as a model in other countries.
At the governmental level, an eMeeting of the leaders of different religions in Astana. It was precisely to this meeting that Pope Francis attended last September. The highest leaders of each religion are invited, and when they themselves cannot come, they send their representatives. On the part of the Catholic Church, it is usually the Cardinal who heads the Congregation for Interreligious Dialogue, accompanied by a good group of collaborators, the Nuncio in Kazakhstan and several bishops of Kazakhstan.
At the local level, city councils organize meetings with representatives of the various denominations, with the aim of getting to know each other and thus improving relations. In Almaty, the city in which there are more religious denominations represented, there has been an evolution: initially the meetings were organized by the city council, and took place at its headquarters: they often took the form of a round table, with topics such as religious tolerance, young people and faith, relations between the various religions, the contribution of the denominations to peace.
In recent years, a more flexible and less formal model has been adopted: the municipality hires an agency in charge of organizing events, and this agency, with a lot of imagination, is the one that invites the guests. While there is no shortage of more solemn events, such as the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Kazakhstan (May 1) or the Day of Religious Concord (October 18), they also bring together representatives of various religions for sports and recreational activities, such as family outings to the most picturesque sites, indoor soccer, chess and ping-pong tournaments, song contests, and garden clean-up days. These meetings allow not only the clergy to get to know each other, but also the faithful, thus bridging gaps that might otherwise have created a rift between them.
It is customary that at the end of Ramadan, the chief imam of the Main Mosque of Almaty invites to eat in a yurt (tent of Kazakh nomads, which was used as a dwelling by many people until a few tens of years ago) planted at the foot of the mosque. Other Protestant pastors also take the initiative of inviting people to Bible exhibitions or simply to have lunch in their church. Recently, the pastor of the Orthodox Cathedral, a temple of extraordinary architectural beauty, invited us to see the remodeling work he had done months ago.
Friendly treatment
Personal contact has facilitated friendship. During the pandemic, it was common for the various clergy to help each other, providing medicine or food to people in emergency situations. And more recently, they have successfully united our voices to ask the Almaty City Council not to give its premises to a musical group whose songs and performances harm young people.
From my personal experience, I can say that Kazakhs are very respectful of all religions, and even if they are not Catholic, when they see a priest they feel a certain reverence for a person of God. On one occasion, when I finished shopping for groceries in a store, a young man who was present asked me if I was a priest, and when I answered in the affirmative, he asked me to let him carry my shopping bags to my car so that - he said - he could pay for his sins in this way.
As a quick historical overview, it is worth remembering that the arrival of Catholicism in Kazakhstan in the 20th century occurred in an unusual way: as a consequence of the deportations to this country by Stalin during the Second World War. Many Polish, German, Lithuanian and Korean deportees were Catholics, and they managed to survive with the help of the country's inhabitants. In addition, some priests were sent to concentration camps in the Kazakh steppes, and once they had served their sentences they continued to exercise their priestly ministry in a hidden way in private homes. In this way the faith was maintained, and later, when it became possible to practice it in the open, priests arrived from many places, especially from Poland. Today, more than half of the Catholic clergy is composed of Polish priests.
Kazakhstan was the first republic of the former USSR to begin diplomatic relations with the Holy See in the now distant year of 1994, that is, only 3 years after declaring its independence. It was also the first to sign a bilateral treaty, in 1998, despite the fact that the number of Catholics in the country is only 1%, that is, less than 200,000.
The authorCarlos Lahoz
Almaty, (Kazakhstan)
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The "Istituto per le Opere di Religione" (IOR), known as the Vatican bank, provides some financial and fund transfer services to the Catholic Church in all its branches.
The "Institute for the Operations of Religion"(IOR), known as the Vatican's bank, although not really a bank, offers some financial and fund transfer services to the Catholic Church in all its branches: the Holy See, related entities, religious orders, Catholic institutions, clergy, accredited diplomatic corps and employees of the Holy See. Most of the Institute's clients are engaged in charitable works in institutions such as schools, hospitals or refugee camps.
While banks such as Citybank have hundreds of millions of customers with offices in hundreds of countries, the IOR has less than 13,000 customers, with only one office, in Vatican City, in Torrione Niccolò V and 117 employees.
The sad events of the 1980s and 1990s
A series of sad events in the 1980s and 1990s marked the management of Vatican finances, from the time of Msgr. Marcinkus onwards, including the bankruptcy of the Ambrosiano Veneto bank, the Enimont case and several other controversial events, to say the least.
The change of course
The turning point came with Pope Ratzinger and his Motu Proprio of December 30, 2010, on the subject of financial transparency, the fight against money laundering, the creation of the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF today ASIF) and the adaptation of the IOR to international transparency standards.
This "legislation - declared at the time the spokesman for the Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi - responds, therefore, as a whole to the need to maintain effective operations for entities operating in the economic and financial field (...) and - before that - to the moral requirement of 'transparency, honesty and responsibility' that in any case must be observed in the social and economic field (Caritas in veritate, 36)".
"The implementation of the new regulations will certainly require a lot of effort," Lombardi added, and in fact the transformation of the IOR has already led to the change of authorities, from presidents Gotti Tedeschi, Hermann Schiitl, Ernst von Freyber, to Jean Baptiste de Franssu, who has been in office since 2014, in addition to many officials.
With this document, the monetary agreement signed with the European Union on December 17, 2009 came into force on April 1, 2011 and the controls resulted in the closure of hundreds of accounts of entities or individuals that were not eligible and a series of strict control rules.
The IOR today with Pope Francis
The purpose of the Institute - as the Pope reaffirmed in a chirograph dated 2023 - is to "lend to the custody and administration of movable and immovable goods" for a precise purpose: "destined for works of worship or charity".
Today the IOR, after a path towards transparency, is subject to a precise regulatory framework and supervised by the Financial Information and Supervisory Authority (ASIF), which is part of the Egmont GroupThe Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the global forum that currently brings together financial intelligence units from 152 countries and jurisdictions for international collaboration and exchange of information against money laundering and crime.
The Vatican boasts of being fully included in the SEPA circuit, Single Euro Payments Area,can issue "Tertium millennium" debit cards of the VISA circuit, and in the Vatican City it is also possible to pay with cards of the international circuits.
The itinerary of Pope Francis
Following the guidance indicated by Pope Benedict XVI, on June 24, 2013 the Holy Father Francis erected the Pontifical Commission Concerning the IOR, in order to achieve complete and recognized transparency in its work.
It was followed by the Motu Proprio of July 11, 2013 to delimit the competence of the judicial bodies of the Vatican City State in criminal matters and the chirograph of July 18, 2013 to institute COSEA (Pontifical commission for study and guidance on the organization of administrative power). economy).
Also in 2013, on August 8, the Holy See's Financial Security Committee for the prevention and fight against money laundering was formed to bring the IOR in line with all international standards.
And then, on November 15, 2013, the Financial Information Authority (AIF, today ASIF), created by Benedict XVI with a Motu Proprio of December 30, 2010, was consolidated.
In addition, with the Motu Proprio of February 24, 2014 (Fidelis dispensator et prudens) Pope Bergoglio erected the Secretariat for the Economy and the Council for the Economy, replacing the Council of 15 Cardinals, with the task of harmonizing control policies.
Among the results of transparency, on November 18, 2014 the Italian State released funds blocked in September 2010 as a preventive measure.
In line with transparency, since 2013 the IOR has published its annual accounts on the internet, according to IAS-IFRS international accounting criteria, with €29.6 million of profit in the management of 2022.
Also indicative of these changes are the actions taken by the IOR on December 1, 2017 against some employees, and that on February 6, 2018 the Civil Court of Vatican City State recognized that two former long-term IOR managers were responsible for mismanagement.
In 2021, the fruits of this turnaround mean that Moneyval, the Council of Europe body that oversees the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, after a lengthy "inspection," has given the Holy See five "substantial" effectiveness judgments, six "moderate" effectiveness judgments, and in no case a "low" effectiveness judgment.
The Institute's assets, as of December 31, 2022, clientele consisted of religious orders (49 %), dicasteries of the Roman Curia, offices of the Holy See and Vatican City State and apostolic nunciatures (26 %), episcopal conferences, dioceses and parishes (91 %), cardinals, bishops and clerics (71 %), employees and retirees of the Vatican (71 %), foundations and other entities governed by canon law (21 %)
Deposits amounted to EUR 1.8 billion, managed portfolios amounted to EUR 2.9 billion and portfolios under custody and administration amounted to EUR 477.7 million for total deposits of EUR 5.2 billion.
A Vatican source questioned by OMNES on how transparent the IOR is currently in financial matters, on a scale of one to ten, answered without hesitation "ten" and added that according to an internal evaluation, the Vatican City State would be approximately eighth in the world ranking for the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The IOR was established by Pius XII on June 27, 1942, its origins go back to the "Commission ad pias causas" instituted by Leo XIII in 1887 and today the Supervisory Commission of Cardinals is made up of five cardinals appointed for five years by the Pope, with the possibility of a second term.
The authorHernan Sergio Mora
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Almost all theologians of the twentieth century were fascinated by the depth with which the mysteries of freedom and grace, sin and redemption through charity appear in Dostoevsky. That is why Dostoyevsky, although he died in 1881, can almost be considered a theologian of the 20th century.
In the winter between 1920 and 1921, in the midst of the Russian revolution, Nicolay Berdiaev, always bold and unpredictable, gave a course on Dostoevsky at the Free Academy of Spiritual Culturewhich he founded in 1919.
At that time, Western thought and theology were beginning to discover and admire Dostoevsky's enormous genius. And Berdiaev's book would provide clues. Berdiaev (1874-1948) had always been a radical and indomitable spirit, with an ecstatic side. He had been a Marxist and revolutionary, and tasted the Tsarist prisons and banishments, but he had also been interested in German mysticism and came into contact with the tradition of Soloviev, and he was revolted by Bolshevik totalitarianism. The title of his Free Academy of Spiritual Culture was a declaration of principles, a challenge and a provocation. And indeed, after several arrests, he was interrogated for one night by the terrible founder of the Soviet cheka, Dzerzhinsky, before whom he exhaustedly defended himself and was let go, as Solzhenitsyn recalls in his Gulag Archipelago.
From Moscow to Paris
But in communist Russia there was no place for a free and spiritual culture. He was put on the famous "philosophical ship" ("Philosophers' ship"1922) and disembarked with the clothes on his back and 48 years old in Stettin, then a German port. He was accompanied by some philosophers and theologians, friends of his, such as Sergei Boulgakov, and the Losskys: the father, Nicolay, historian of Russian philosophy, and the son, Vladimir, who would shine as the most important Russian Orthodox theologian of the 20th century. He tried to found an Academy of Russian thought in Berlin, but it proved impossible in the harsh conditions of the German post-war period.
So, like other Russian intellectuals and families, he ended up in Paris, where he would spend the rest of his life. Berdyayev was from a noble and military family, on his father's side. And he had French ancestry on his mother's side. At home they spoke French, the language in vogue at the time. Russia of the 19th century. He already knew France and arrived at a time of intellectual effervescence, also Christian, in which he would participate very actively. All his life he was a great organizer of conferences, gatherings and dialogues.
He has a very extensive oeuvre. He feels he is the depositary of the Russian spirit and, in particular, of the "spirit of Dostoevsky", which for him would be a fascinating discovery and a great light. Writing was like another way of speaking, and an extension of his conferences, gatherings and dialogues. Much of his work has been translated into Spanish. His most outstanding works are Spiritual autobiography (1949), Dostoevsky's Creed (1923), The meaning of history (1923), Christianity and the problem of communism, y Kingdom of the spirit, kingdom of Caesarhis latest book.
A dizzying spirit and big questions
Berdiaev always had a whirlwind of ideas in his head, which he took notes of, and then put down in writing, vertiginously, building his books as if in waves, without going back and without correcting. This is how he remembers it. Everything made him think, and he had vividly raised the great questions about the meaning of human life, the mystery of freedom and the "eschatological question", which run through his life.
He was interested in Russia, with its tense history and paradoxical spirit. He was interested in the revolution, in which he saw a terrible Christian heresy based on the distortion of hope and an unearthly eschatology. He was especially interested in the mystery of human freedom and its clash with the abysses of personality, so well reflected in Dostoevsky's novels; and he felt it in his own flesh, for he was a passionate spirit, mystical in his own way, and also choleric. All very Russian, if we add to it a deep sense of mercy in the face of human abysses.
Spiritual Autobiography
He tells all this in this broad and passionate spiritual portrait, less concerned with biographical anecdotes than with the characteristics and evolutions of his spirit. He begins by describing the traces of his temperament, at once sanguine and melancholic, with a curious "repugnance to the physiological aspect of life." (Miracle, Barcelona 1957, 42), which seems vulgar to him, especially the smells.
He continues with his discoveries: "Between my adolescence and my youth, I was agitated by the following thought: 'It is true that I do not know the meaning of life, but the search for such meaning already confers a meaning to life and I will devote my whole life to this search for its meaning'." (88-89).
She recounts the various steps in the process of her conversion and approach to Christianity, also provoked by her marriage. Although he will feel spiritually distant from a Church that is too established or routine, a bad sign of the strength of the tremendous realities it represents. He does not feel comfortable with an orthodox Church that, at times, seems to him uneducated and too inclined to command or organize life. At this point he perceives all the tragedy that appears in the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor. By contrast he will appreciate the vital signs of piety and charity, which he also perceives in Catholicism.
He resents what he feels as too organized in any field. And, after the idealistic wave that has reached him through Marxism, he is a determined enemy of abstraction, of the objectification of reality. In this he connects with other personalist authors, such as Gabriel Marcel. He calls himself an existentialist, and develops a keen sensitivity to theorists, to those who like to replace the real with the theoretical or the "objective", which is largely an abstraction of the real and a reconstruction made by the spirit. He also appreciates this in the materialistic pretensions of the modern sciences. And, in an eminent way, in the Marxist ideology, which calls itself "scientific".
He feels himself a determined researcher of human freedom, with all its personal and social contradictions, with its historical expressions and pretensions, with its renovating and revolutionary impulses, with its ecstasies and its vertigo. But also with the great personal transforming force when freedom is a force at the service of the Truth that is eternal. The book ends: "The fundamental contradiction of my life is constantly manifesting itself again: I am active, apt for the struggle of ideas, and at the same time, I feel a terrible anguish and dream in another world, in a world totally different from this one. I still want to write another book on the new spirituality and the new mysticism. The main nucleus will be constituted by the basic intuition of my life about the creative, theurgical act of man. The new mysticism must be theurgical". (316).
The spirit of Dostoevsky
The lectures of the 1920 winter course were brought on the ship, and were published in Russian in 1923, and later in French. In 1951 there was a Spanish translation directly from Russian (ed. Apolo) and there is a more recent reprint (Nuevo Inicio). The book is not wasted and, as usual in Berdiaev's style, there are apodictic sentences that are sparks of brilliance.
In the first chapter, The spiritual portrait of Dostoevskyhe declares: "He was not only a great artist, but also a great thinker and a great visionary. He is a formidable dialectician and the best of Russian metaphysicians." (9). "Dostoevsky reflects all the contradictions of the Russian soul, all its antinomies [...]. Through him one can study the very peculiar structure of our soul. Russians, when they express the most characteristic lines of their people, are either 'apocalyptic' or 'apocalyptic' [...]. [as Berdiaev himself]. or 'nihilists'. This indicates that they cannot remain in a fair middle of soul life and culture, without their spirit moving towards the ultimate and towards the maximum limit." (15-16). "Dostoevsky has made a profound study of both tendencies - apocalyptic and nihilistic - of the Russian spirit. He has been the first to discover the history of the Russian soul and its extraordinary inclination to the diabolical and possessed." (18). "In his works he presents us with the Plutonian eruption of man's subterranean spiritual forces." (19). "Dostoevsky's novels are not proper novels: they are tragedies." (20).
And this marks a great contrast with the other great novelist Tolstoy, moderate, restrained, formal, more finished but less profound. The Apollonian versus the Dionysian, but also the Christian rationalized and devoid of its tragedy versus the paradoxes of the annihilation of sin and the cross and the gleams of resurrection and redemption.
In the end, he declares: "Dostoevsky has been able to reveal to us the most important things about the Russian soul and the universal spirit. But he has not known how to reveal to us the case in which the chaotic forces of the soul take hold of our spirit." (140).
What Dostoevsky has yet to tell us
"All Christianity must be resurrected and renewed spiritually. It must be a religion of future times, if it is to be eternal [...]. And the baptism of fire that Dostoevsky makes in the souls, facilitates the path of the creative spirit, the religious movement and the future and eternal Christianity. Dostoevsky deserves to be considered a religious reformer more than Tolstoy. Tolstoy overthrew religious values and groped for the creation of a new religion [...]. Dostoevsky did not invent a new religion, but remained faithful to the Eternal Truth and the eternal traditions of Christianity." (245).
"For a long time European society has remained on the periphery of Being, content to live on the outside. It has pretended to remain eternally on the surface of the earth but, even there, in 'bourgeois' Europe, the volcanic terrain has revealed itself and it is inevitable that the spiritual abyss will arise in it. Everywhere a movement must be born that goes from the surface to the depths, even if the events preceding that movement are purely superficial, such as wars and revolutions. And amid their cataclysms, listening to the voice that calls them, the peoples of Europe will turn to the Russian writer who has revealed the spiritual depth of man and prophesied the inevitability of the world catastrophe. Dostoevsky represents precisely that priceless value which constitutes the reason for the existence of the Russian people and which will serve for their apology on the Day of Judgment." (247).
This is how the book ends. It is worth considering that the situation in Europe has moved away from the tragic sensations of the post-war period and, wrapped in a shell of commercial propaganda, it moves away every day from the tragedies in which a great part of humanity lives, while it unravels with a generational and demographic problem caused by the trivialization of sex. Dostoevsky remains a way out, a landing in reality, for the spirits that do not want to get stuck in consumerism and the new politically correct single thought.
Theological impact
In the 1930s and 1940s, Berdiaev was a close friend of the Russian theologians who emigrated to Paris (Boulgakov, Lossky) and dealt with Congar, Daniélou, De Lubac, and the group of Espritby Mounier. In his eyes, Berdiaev represented the spirit of Dostoevsky, at a time when the Christian depth of the great Russian novelist was being discovered, and there was a desire to know his biography, his context and his soul.
De Lubac dedicated half of The drama of atheistic humanism Dostoevsky, described as a Christian "prophet", in the face of the nihilism that tries to impose itself in a society that wants to separate itself from God. On the advice of Max Scheler, Guardini dedicated to Dostoevsky's characters his first course on the Weltanschauung Christian (worldview) in Berlin, Dostoevsky's religious universe. Charles Moeller used Dostoevsky's works to show the contrast between Christian and Greek culture, on essential themes, in Greek wisdom and Christian paradox.
Almost all theologians of the twentieth century were fascinated by the depth with which the mysteries of freedom and grace, sin and redemption through charity appear in Dostoevsky. That is why Dostoevsky, although he died in 1881, can almost be considered a theologian of the 20th century, such has been his impact. And that is also why, The spirit of DostoevskyBerdiaev's book was and still is a reference book.
Intergenerational covenant, Africans, climate and peace on Pope's mind
On the III World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis called for a "new alliance" between young and old, combining the wisdom of some and the hope of others, and "not to marginalize" the elderly. Then, at the Angelus, he urged to limit polluting emissions, appealed to the rulers to stop the deaths in the Mediterranean, and prayed for peace in Ukraine.
Francisco Otamendi-July 23, 2023-Reading time: 4minutes
The Holy Father Francis has taken advantage of the III World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly to open the heart. First of all, he urged the homily of the Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, with about eight thousand grandparents and seniors, to "a new alliance between young and old", because from this "fruitful exchange we learn the beauty of life, we realize a fraternal society, and in the Church we allow the encounter and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit".
Subsequently, during the recitation of the AngelusCommenting on the parable of the wheat and the tares, he encouraged to realize examination of conscience and look into our hearts, and also, in the wake of "extreme weather events," he has urged to do "something more concrete to limit polluting emissions, an urgent and unpostponable challenge," he said, "Let's protect our common home!"
In this last part, the Pope also spoke of "the drama" of migrants in the northern part of Africa. Thousands of them have been suffering for weeks, abandoned, the Pope recalled, before appealing to the European and African Heads of State so that "help, aid and assistance be given to these brothers and sisters. May the Lord arouse feelings of fraternity, solidarity and welcome", he prayed.
Before giving the Blessing, the Pontiff revealed as he usually does, that "we continue to pray for peace, in a special way for dear Ukraine, which continues to suffer destruction, as unfortunately happened in Odessa."
"Patience with others, merciful pedagogy."
One of the Pope's ideas in the homily at the Mass The question of how to proceed when we see that wheat and tares live side by side in the world. "What should we do and how should we behave? In the story, the servants would like to pull up the tares at once (cf. v. 28)." "It is an attitude animated by good intentions, but impulsive, even aggressive," the Pope pointed out, (...) "Let us listen instead to what Jesus says: 'Let the good wheat and the tares grow together until the time of harvest' (cf. Mt 13:30)."
"How beautiful is this gaze of God, his merciful pedagogy,who invites us to have patience with others, to welcome - in the family, in the Church and in society - frailties, delays and limitations: not to get used to them with resignation or to justify them, but to learn to intervene with respect, carrying out the care of the good grain with gentleness and patience. Always remembering one thing: that the purification of the heart and the definitive victory over evil are essentially the work of God".
"Let's grow together"
Following the parable of the mustard seed, during the Eucharistic celebration of the III World Day The Holy Father referred to grandparents: "How beautiful are these leafy trees, under which children and grandchildren build their own 'nests', learn the atmosphere of the home and experience the tenderness of an embrace".
He went on to say: "It is a matter of growing together: the leafy tree and the little ones who need the nest, grandparents with their children and grandchildren, the elderly with the youth. Brothers and sisters, we need a new alliance between young and old (...). Today the Word of God is a call to be vigilant so that in our lives and in our families we do not marginalize the elderly".
"Let us take care that our crowded cities do not become 'concentrations of loneliness'; let it not happen that politics, called to attend to the needs of the most fragile, forgets the elderly, allowing the market to relegate them to 'unproductive waste'. Let it not happen that, by dint of chasing at full speed the myths of efficiency and performance, we are unable to slow down to accompany those who struggle to keep up. Please, let us mingle, let us grow together," the Pontiff encouraged.
At the Angelus, already from his window, the Pope asked for a round of applause for a grandmother and a grandson who accompanied him: "Today, while many young people are preparing to leave for World Youth Day, we celebrate the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. That is why I am accompanied by a grandson and a grandmother, and we applaud them both! May the proximity between the two Days be an invitation to promote a covenant between the generations, which is very necessary, because the future is built together, in the exchange of experiences and in the mutual care between young and old, and let us not forget them. Let's not forget them, and let's applaud all the grandfathers and grandmothers! Good luck!
Among the Pope's final greetings were those addressed to pilgrims from Italy and from many countries, especially those from Brazil, Poland, Uruguay... There are many of them! Also to the students of Buenos Aires and to the faithful of the Diocese of Legnica, in Poland".
Seniors present the Pilgrim's Cross (WYD) to youths
At the end of the Mass, the presentation of the Pilgrim's Cross from the World Youth Day (WYD) 2023, by grandparents and elders, such as Sister Martin de Porres, an 82 year old Indian nun, or Australian grandmother Philippa, a young participants at the Lisbon Meeting, has visualized these ideas of Pope Francis.
The elders who have delivered the Cross have been:
- Sr. Martin de Porres, an Indian missionary of Charity, 82 years old, lives in the Regional House of San Gregorio al Celio in Rome. Sr. Martin de Porres prays daily for the young people leaving for WYD, reports the Holy See Press Office.
- Gebremeskel, Eritrean, 76, is a veteran member of the Eritrean Catholic community in Rome. He has lived in Italy for 50 years.
- America, a Peruvian, has lived alone in Rome for 23 years and is 70 years old. She is part of a wide network of friends who live as if they were her family.
- Michele, 67 years old, is from Rome and a member of the Italian Catholic Action. He is the grandfather of 2 grandchildren.
- Philippa, Australian. Married to an Italian, she is 81 years old and grandmother of 4 grandchildren.
For their part, the young recipients have been these:
- Ambrose, the last of 8 siblings, is from Uganda and is 27 years old. A missionary from Udinese, he will leave for Lisbon where he will participate in WYD with his group.
- Koe (Australia), of Filipino origin, 22 years old. The pilgrimage to Lisbon of his Australian Youth Ministry group stopped in Rome yesterday before continuing on to Portugal.
- Aleesha, 22 years old. Of Indian origin, she lives in Bologna, where she is studying Pharmacy. She is attending WYD with a group of 25 young Indian Catholics.
- Mateja, a 29-year-old Croatian, lives in Rome and is a volunteer at the Centro Internazionale.
St. Lawrence International Center, which hosts the WYD Cross and welcomes thousands of pilgrims every year. Mateja will go to Lisbon with young people from the St. Lawrence Center.
- Fabiola, a 27-year-old Mexican, also a volunteer at the St. Lawrence Center, will go to WYD with Mateja.
The authorFrancisco Otamendi
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Grandparents and seniors celebrated in Rome and around the world
The III World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, which the Church celebrates this July 23, will focus on the Holy Mass of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica, with 6,000 grandparents and the elderly present, but also in the dioceses of the world, which the Vatican invites to celebrate the elderly. In Rome they will symbolically hand over the WYD Pilgrim Cross to young people leaving for Lisbon, signifying the transmission of the faith.
Francisco Otamendi-July 23, 2023-Reading time: 2minutes
The Catholic Church, through the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, has recently renewed the invitation to celebrate the III World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly this Sunday, July 23, in all the dioceses of the world, with a Mass dedicated to them and by visiting grandparents and the elderly who are alone.
In addition, the following will be granted plenary indulgence to those who perform these gestures, in accordance with a decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary, released on July 5, has informed the official Vatican agency.
The Vatican Dicastery encourages all dioceses to promote various initiatives to commemorate this feast, instituted by the Holy Father Francis in 2021. One example of such celebrations, among the many that will take place around the world, is that of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference, which has organized the celebration of a Mass and various activities with the elderly at the Sanctuary of Aparecida (Brazil), as transmitted by the Dicastery.
In the same vein, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a video inviting young people to visitto the elderly in nursing homes. Likewise, the Local Organizing Committee of WYD Lisbon has joined the invitation of Pope Francis, launching two initiativesPromote a prayer chain of grandparents and elders to accompany the young people leaving for Lisbon, and a challenge on social networks inviting all young people to visit their grandparents before the day and take a photo or video with them.
The Pope at St. Peter's with 6,000 grandparents and the elderly
The heart of this World Day of Grandparents and the ElderlyThis year's theme, "His mercy extends from generation to generation" (Lk 1:50), will be the Holy Mass presided by Pope Francis at 10:00 a.m. inside St. Peter's Basilica.
The Mass will be attended by more than 6,000 people, including many elderly people from all over Italy: grandparents accompanied by their grandchildren and families, elderly people living in residences, as well as many elderly people involved in parish, diocesan and associative life, according to the note made public.
Transmission of faith from elders to youth (WYD)
At the end of the celebration, five older people - representing the five continents - will symbolically present the Pilgrim Cross of World Youth Day (WYD).WYDW) to five young people leaving for Lisbonmeaning the transmission of faith "from generation to generation"..
The gesture of sending also represents the commitment that the elderly and grandparents have accepted, at the invitation of the Holy Father, to pray for the young people who are leaving and to accompany them with their blessing.To all the participants in the celebration at St. Peter's, the Diocese of Rome will deliver the prayer of the III World Day and the message of Pope Francis to the grandparents and the elderly.
In its message for this year's World Youth Day, Pope Francis invites to make some concrete gesture to embrace the grandparents and the elderly. "Let us not leave them alone, their presence in families and communities is precious, it gives us the awareness of sharing the same heritage and of being part of a people in which the roots are preserved," writes the Holy Father.
World Youth Day, the Pope's meeting with thousands of young people from all over the world, is approaching and will take place this year in Lisbon from August 1 to 6. Omnes interviewed some of the young participants to learn about their expectations and experiences at previous WYDs.
Laura belongs to a parish in Madrid, where she has been a catechist for teenagers for several years. She will go to the WYD Lisbon with the group of pilgrims from his parish. In this interview with Omnes, he tells us with a lively faith about his experience in a previous WYD and his wishes for the next one.
Have you been to a WYD before? What was your experience?
I was alone at WYD 2011, in Madrid, I was 17 years old. I remember a very nice moment. During a prayer we sat next to pilgrims from another language. It was a very hot day, we were thirsty and hungry, and they said to us: "Do you want some cake? It's a super small gesture, but I thought: "These people don't know us at all and they are offering us from their table". We started snacking with them and talking, as much as the language allowed. I found it very nice to see that language was not a barrier to sharing with each other, and to see how we had everything in common. It reminded me of the gospel of the first Christians, who put everything in common.
Our interviewee, Laura
Another thing that impressed me a lot was how many people from Madrid who did not have faith approached us and asked us questions when we were on the bus or walking along the streets. The testimony of the Christians, seeing so many groups, the joy, challenged the people of Madrid who did not live the faith. The simple fact of living, of being together, of bringing His joy was already questioning for others.
Then I also remember that I was impressed by the echo it had in my family, who, although they don't go to the parish very often, started to welcome pilgrims. In fact, we still have a relationship with the pilgrims we welcomed at home. To see in my family that generosity, that welcome, how they took care of them, was also a testimony for me, to see that they were open to welcome those whom God sends.
I also remember the moment in Cuatro Vientos, when we were next to the fence and the police were there, there were whirlwinds that carried away the mats and with the storm several towers fell down. The police at the fence were astonished, they told us: "It is unthinkable that this meeting would take place in any other circumstances. It is obvious that you are Christians. For any other event with the same number of people we would have needed four times more police equipment".
Then, they exposed Jesus, the Holy Hour began, and suddenly we all knelt down and that moment of anguish, of uncertainty, calmed down. His peace was experienced very strongly. It reminds me of the gospel of the calm storm, Christ was present there, in that monstrance. We all knelt down and it was like feeling his peace.
My greatest desire is to welcome the seed that He wants to plant in me. It is a moment in which I feel that Jesus is going to pour out His grace, and He is going to plant seeds, with the generosity that characterizes Him. I want to have the soil open to be able to welcome His word and what He wants to tell me through the Church, prayer and the simple events of the pilgrimage. And then I also have a great desire to live it in community with the young people of the parish. May Christ be the center and may He be the one who truly unites us to one another.
I think WYD can be an opportunity. There are many young people who do not normally come to the parish and have signed up because their cousin, their friend is coming... Or young people who used to come some time ago and have stopped coming. I really want them to meet Jesus, to get to know him, to be able to transmit his love to them, and that what has changed my life will also change theirs. For me the parish has been the place where I have had my relationship and my life with Jesus, and I would like to be able to open the Church to others, so that others may experience that the Church is a mother and that there they may encounter Life in capital letters.
How are you preparing for WYD?
The Gospel of the sower is coming to me very well, I am praying a lot with it. Because Christ sows on the roadside, on stony ground... His generosity is such that he sows everywhere, but it is up to us to take care of that land. If I really want to welcome his Word, great, but I will have to take care of the land, remove the weeds, oxygenate it, fertilize it... And that is a daily work, it is not going to WYD to take that seed, but already today I want to live like that, taking care of that relationship with Jesus and widening my heart.
I am also praying a lot with Gethsemane, I have it very present, and I was amazed reading the Gospel of Luke that there is a moment in which it says: "Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives, as was his custom". As it was customary! He doesn't say, "Okay, it's the time of the betrayal, I'm going to the Mount of Olives." No, He was going to the Mount of Olives as usual. That moment of surrender is the culmination of a daily surrender. Praying with this Gospel, Jesus said to me: "Laura, I live this moment of surrender, of prayer, of abandonment to the Father every day". I want this "as usual" of Jesus to be my "as usual".
Catholic Match, "faith as a point of connection" in couples
Catholic Match is the world's most popular Catholic online dating service. Its goal is to help Catholic singles who feel called to marriage meet each other, an activity that Catholic Match does with respect and security.
Catholic Match is an online Catholic dating service. Currently, it is the most popular in the world and has many success stories, some of which it shares in its web page.
The goal of this service is to enable Catholic singles from all over the world who feel called to marriage to meet each other. This work is done with respect and the Catholic Match team guarantees security and respect for privacy.
In addition to helping people find each other, the website has content to help couples in their relationship, reflections on singleness and discernment, or marriage advice.
In this interview with Omnes, Mariette Rintoul, director of community experience at Catholic Match, talks about the services offered by this platform, the changes dating has undergone today, and the challenges they face in ensuring that virtual connections are not dehumanizing.
Mariette Rintoul, director of community experience, Catholic Match
How did Catholic Match start?
- Brian and Jason, our co-founders, felt there was a great need for a Catholic-specific service after meeting and becoming friends at a church picnic in 1999. Shortly thereafter they founded CatholicMatch, and we've been growing rapidly ever since.
How has dating changed in our era?
- Dating in our "swipe right" culture has become increasingly superficial compared to earlier times. Many are not looking for a genuine, lasting commitment, and the standard for determining whether someone is worth getting to know is based on how attractive they look in a photo you see for a few seconds.
What is the difference between Catholic Match and other dating apps?
- We introduce our faith as the main point of connection, along with carefully crafted profiles that really help to present other members as complete and unique individuals.
We have a matching feature, but we also encourage members to use our search feature, featured members section, and other areas of the app to explore who is out there and to connect based on shared interests and values.
People have a lot of trust issues when it comes to online dating, how do you help them overcome that?
- We try to help with trust issues in several ways. We teach our users basic safety guidelines for both in-app messaging and in-person encounters, as well as red flags to watch out for. This is helpful for anyone who is concerned about safety.
We also offer members several opportunities to connect face-to-face. We offer video chat within our app and website so you can see the other person and have a great conversation without having to exchange any contact information off-site. In addition, this fall we will again be offering live video speed dating, which also allows you to make great connections with other real people, in real time.
Finally, we have a great collection of success stories that are incredibly encouraging to read on CatholicMatch Plus. Seeing so many other people who have found their match on the site helps if anyone is feeling a little uncomfortable about meeting people online.
You also publish content related to dating relationships, what are the basics Catholics should know about dating?
- I think it is vital for Catholics to remember that each person is unique, and we should not obsess over a dream list of what our perfect person will look like when we date.
Our success stories are full of people who found love with someone whose location, age, education level, profession, parental status and more were not what they were initially open to. There has to be a balance between knowing what things are important to you, being open to each person's particular situations and allowing yourself to be pleasantly surprised as you get to know people.
How can we keep a relationship that starts on the Internet personal?
- We encourage people to thoroughly complete profiles with multiple photos so they can get to know each other early on. Our video chat feature helps people make a real connection without having to wait to meet in person. (I met my own husband on the site and the video chat made it much more "real" for me than when we were just emailing or even calling each other on the phone).
Our live speed dating allows you to connect more organically with other members as if you were at an in-person event, and we will be adding other live events such as trivia nights and happy hours so members can mingle with other singles face-to-face.
Towards the birth of the state of Israel. Jewish settlements and Arab nationalism
Ferrara continues with this third article a series of four interesting cultural-historical summaries to understand the configuration of the State of Israel, the Arab-Israeli question and the presence of the Jewish people in the world today.
Jews who emigrated to Palestine founded cities (e.g., Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city, was founded in 1909 near the city of Jaffa, which today is a district of the city) and agricultural villages of two distinct types.
The kibbutzim and moshàv
- Kibbùtz (from the Hebrew root kavatz, "to gather," "to group"), a type of agricultural (in some cases also fishing, industrial, or artisanal) farm whose members voluntarily associate and agree to submit to strict egalitarian rules, the best known of which is the concept of collective ownership. Within the kibbùtz, profits from agricultural (or other) work are reinvested in the settlement after members have received food, clothing, housing, and social and medical services. Adults have private accommodation, but children are usually housed and cared for as a group. Meals are always communal and the kibbùtz (the first was founded in Deganya in 1909) are usually established on land leased from the Jewish National Fund, which owns much of the land in today's State of Israel. Members convene weekly collective meetings at which general policy is determined and trustees are elected.
- Moshàv (from the root shuv, "to settle"), also, like the kibbùtz, a type of cooperative agricultural settlement. Unlike the latter, however, the moshàv is governed by the principle of private ownership of the individual plots that make up the farm. The moshàv is also built on land belonging to the Jewish National Fund or to the State. Families live here independently.
A new life, a new language
In the new agricultural and urban settlements, the 'olìm, who were still subjects of the Ottoman Empire, had to learn to live in a new way. Above all, there was the problem of their different geographical and cultural origins, which required a unique language to communicate. Therefore, the biblical Hebrew language was resorted to. The pioneer of the project to revive this language was Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922), a Russian-born Jew and immigrant to Palestine, whose son became the first Hebrew mother tongue child after thousands of years.
The revival of a language that had been in disuse for two millennia was one of the most incredible adventures in history, not least because of the need to adapt a language whose lexicon, poor and based mainly on the Holy Scriptures and ancient lyric poetry, had to be completely reinvented and adapted to a modern pronunciation that proved to be a compromise between those adopted by the various communities scattered around the world.
Thus were created the foundations of a new man, the future Israeli, who often changed his name, refused to speak the language he had used until then and had to be strong, tempered by hard work and the desert, the opposite of the traditional Jew of the ghetto. It is no coincidence that, even today, the natives of the State of Israel are still called tzabra ("prickly pear" in Hebrew) and are characterized by their rough and brusque manners.
Among other things, given the growing resistance of the Arab population already living in Palestine, it was necessary for someone to watch over and watch over the security of the settlers. Thus, also in 1909, the Ha-Shomer (Guild of Guardians) was born, to guard the settlements in exchange for a salary, merging later, in 1920, with the famous Haganah, which was formed after the Arab uprisings of the same year.
Arabs or Palestinians: the big losers
A distinction should be made between the word "Arab" and the word "Palestinian". The former indicates, in the first place, an inhabitant of the Arabian Peninsula and, by extension, has come to designate anyone who, today, speaks the Arabic language, although, in this sense, it would be more correct to use the noun adjective "Arabic-speaking". In fact, many of the people who today use Arabic as their first language are not Arabs in the strict sense, but "Arabized" in the centuries following the arrival of Islam. At the time of the arrival of the Islamic conquerors, the Syro-Palestinian region was subject to the Byzantine Empire and was mostly Christian.
It was occupied and ceded several times throughout history, forming part first of the Umayyad Caliphate, then of the Abbasid Caliphate and again of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt; later, after being dominated by several Crusader kingdoms and witnessing the exploits of Saladin, who reconquered Jerusalem in 1187, it finally returned to Muslim hands with the Seljuk Turks and, later, the Ottomans. In 1540, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem were built and are still standing.
At the end of the 19th century, the area was part of the Ottoman Empire ("vilayet" from Syria). The name "Palestine" was used loosely to define both what we know today as the Israeli-Palestinian area and parts of Transjordan and Lebanon and the inhabitants of the area, who, as we have seen, were almost entirely Arabic-speaking. Although the vast majority (just under 80%) of the population was Muslim, there was a sizeable Christian minority (around 16%, mainly in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth), a small Jewish minority (4.8%) and an even smaller Druze presence.
The inhabitants then considered themselves Ottomans and Arabs, and only later Palestinians, nationalism was only a germ in the minds of a few members of the wealthy classes. However, resentment towards the central power and its increasingly exorbitant tax system was on the rise, especially after the land reform of 1858 (Arazi Kanunnamesi), enacted within the framework of the Tanzimat. The aim of this decree was for the central authority to regain control over lands that had escaped its "longa manus" over the centuries and were in the hands of individuals or peasants unable to claim legal rights over them.
Thanks to this reform, however, large landowners were able to display false ownership certificates to further increase their landholdings, sometimes favored by the small landowners, tribes and peasant communities themselves, who feared even more exorbitant taxation if they became legal owners of the land on which they had settled for generations. Thus, it was easy for wealthy international Jewish foundations to acquire large tracts of land from local landowners.
The Arab and Islamic national awakening
Curiously, the Arab national awakening coincided with the Jewish national awakening, at first due to different factors, but then due to a direct clash between the two, and precisely in Palestine, given the growing presence in the region of Jews settling on lands previously occupied by Arab peasants. In fact, until the 19th century, that is, before the Tanzimats, the Muslim Arabs were considered, like the Turks, first class citizens of an empire that was not sustained on an ethnic basis, but on a religious one. There are, therefore, three fundamental factors behind the emergence of the Arab nationalist phenomenon:
1. The reforms called Tanzimat, which brought about a revival of Turkish nationalism (also called "pan-Turanism"), which we have discussed in the articles on the Armenian genocide.
2. The influx of thousands of Jews to Palestine, beginning in 1880, and the ease with which they became farm owners in the area.
3. European colonialism, which prompted Islamic intellectuals and writers such as Jamal al-Din Al-Afghani (ca. 1838-1897) and Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) to become advocates of the project known as Nahdha, or the cultural and spiritual awakening of the Islamic Arab world, through a greater awareness of its literary, religious and cultural heritage, but also through a return to its origins, a rediscovery of the golden age in which Arabs were not oppressed (a concept, this, at the basis of Salafist thought).
This gave rise to two opposing currents of thought:
1. Pan-Arab nationalism or pan-Arabism: more or less from the same period as Zionism and whose cradle is located between Lebanon and Syria. This ideology is based on the need for the independence of all the united Arab peoples (whose unifying factor is the language) and that all religions have the same dignity before the State. Among its founders was Negib Azoury (1873-1916), a Maronite Christian Arab who had studied in Paris at the École de Sciences Politiques.
Later thinkers and politicians such as: George Habib Antonius (1891-1942), Christian; George Habash (1926-2008), Christian, founder of the Arab Nationalist Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which later merged into the PLO; Michel Aflaq (1910-1989), Christian, founder, together with the Sunni Muslim Salah al-Din al-Bitar, of the Baath Party (that of Saddam Hussein and Syrian President Bashar al-Asad); and Gamal Abd Al-Nasser himself (1918-1970).
2. Pan-Islamic nationalism, or pan-Islamism: also born in the same period, from thinkers such as Jamal al-Din Al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh, but with the aim of unifying all Islamic peoples (not only Arabs) under the banner of a common faith and in which, of course, Islam has a preponderant role, a superior dignity and full right of citizenship, to the detriment of other religions. Exponents of this were, among others: Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the infamous Sheikh Amin Al-Husseini (1897-1974), also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and one of the precursors of Islamic fundamentalism, which he expressed through his anti-Jewish proclamations and his closeness to Hitler.
The authorGerardo Ferrara
Writer, historian and expert on Middle Eastern history, politics and culture.
Spain is the country with the most young people at WYD in Lisbon
Today, July 21, 2023, the Spanish Episcopal Conference held a presentation on Spain's participation in WYD at its headquarters in Madrid. Arturo Ros, president of the Episcopal Subcommission for Youth and Children, and, in person, Raúl Tinajero, director of the Youth Pastoral Department of the CEE.
With more than 75,000 young people registered in the WYD Lisbon 2023Spain is positioned as the country that will carry the largest number of pilgrims, ahead of even Portugal.
In addition, there are about 25,000 young people who have the registration process open and pending completion, and it is expected that those not registered will come to the Portuguese capital on the last days of the event for the meeting with the Pope. Therefore, it is easy to surpass the figure of 100,000 Spaniards at WYD. Taking into account that there are about 400,000 registered participants in general, from 151 different countries, the Spanish presence would represent a quarter of the total.
"Let's go to Lisbon to celebrate our faith in Jesus."
Arturo Ros began his speech by pointing out that, apart from the data, "we cannot forget the essential", that WYD is "an event of faith" in which "the joy of believing in Jesus Christ" is celebrated. "We are going to Lisbon to celebrate our faith in Jesus," he said. The young people are setting out "as Mary set out," he stressed, referring to the motto of this WYD, "Mary arose and departed without delay" (Lk 1:39), the beginning of the scene of the Visitation.
Seventy-one Spanish bishops will participate in WYD. During August 2, 3 and 4, they will give 25 catecheses in Spanish daily. There will be more catechesis in Spanish given by the Hispanic American bishops.
The central days of WYD will be from August 1 to 6. Previously, the pilgrims will live the "Days in the Dioceses", from July 26 to 30, an experience in which 8000 Spanish youth from 45 dioceses, 2 congregations and 2 youth movements are registered.
The host dioceses will be Coimbra, Viseu, Viana do Castelo, Leiria-Fatima, Braga, Aveiro, Porto, Faro, Evora and Madeira.
Spanish meeting in Estoril
On July 31, the meeting of the Spaniards will be held in Estoril, with the participation of 37375 young people from 67 dioceses in Spain, 32 religious congregations and 11 national and international movements.
At this meeting, after celebrating the Eucharist, presided by Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, and concelebrated by 70 bishops and more than 1,000 priests, a musical festival of Catholic music will take place under the title "Caminos de Juventud", with artists such as Grilex, La voz del desierto, Marta Mesa or Jesús Cabello, among others.
Participation of Nacho Cano in the festival
In addition, Nacho Cano, the singer of the group Mecano, will participate on his own initiative with two songs from his musical "Malinche". Raúl Tinajero has pointed out that this decision of the artist is "a real gift for everyone".
For this meeting, the slogan is "We are next door neighbors", in reference to the proximity between Spain and Portugal, a phrase with which different colored T-shirts have already been prepared.
Lodging and meals
The young people will stay in 150 common spaces (schools, sports halls, etc.) and with more than 1,000 Portuguese families. Raúl Tinajero pointed out the importance of these meetings with the families, as he affirms that it is known from previous WYDW which is one of the parts of this event that stays with young people in the long run.
There will be two information points for young Spaniards: at the Júpiter Hotel, in the center of Lisbon, and at the Cascais City Hall, at the Estoril Congress Palace.
Raul Tinajero has also pointed out that there will be two different food formulas for pilgrims: catering and through supermarkets and fast food restaurants that will provide prepared food for registered pilgrims (which can be accredited with the QR code of registration). Through an app, it will be possible to see the food points distributed throughout the city of Lisbon in order to choose the nearest one.
It is not up to the European institutions to regulate abortion
The EU bishops recall that recognizing the dignity of the human being at all stages is linked to the "genuine humanistic tradition that makes Europe what it is".
The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has made a new and more decisive intervention on the issue of abortion. In July last year, it called on political leaders to work "for greater unity among Europeans, not to create more ideological barriers". At the time, the possibility of including abortion rights in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, a possibility first outlined by French President Emmanuel Macron, was being debated.
"Against the general principles of Union law."
An appeal that COMECE made following the approval of the European Parliament resolution -approved with 324 votes in favor, 155 against and 38 abstentions- calling for the inclusion of abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and condemning what happened in the United States. The resolution, entitled "The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court" to overturn the right to abortion in the U.S. and the need to safeguard abortion rights and women's health in the EU, "opens the way to a deviation from universally recognized human rights and misrepresents the tragedy of abortion for mothers in distress," COMECE wrote, stressing the urgency of "supporting pregnant mothers and accompanying them to overcome their difficulties in problematic situations."
A few days ago, the response was categorical: "There is no recognized right to abortion in European or international law," reminded the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of the EU (COMECE). In fact, to introduce such a "fundamental right" in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union "would go against the general principles of EU law," said Anton Jamnik, president of the Ethics Commission.
Specific references in a single press release which detailed that this proposal is ethically indefensible. "EU member states have very different constitutional traditions when it comes to the legal regulation of abortion," Jamnik said. Imposing a particular form from Brussels would be undue interference in their sovereignty. "There is no EU-level competence to regulate abortion," the text sentences.
The founding fathers of the Union protected human dignity
Moreover, "the European Court of Human Rights has never declared that abortion is a human right protected by the European Convention on Human Rights". On the contrary, it has recognized that protecting the life of the unborn is "a legitimate objective" of States. When this right collides with those of women, the Court recognizes that each country has a wide margin of maneuver.
The declaration states that "respect for the dignity of every human being at every stage of his or her life, especially in situations of complete vulnerability, is a fundamental principle in a democratic society". Moreover, the founding fathers of the Union were "well aware" of the "inalienable dignity of the human being". They drew on "the genuine humanistic tradition that makes Europe what it is".
Abortion does not fall within the competence of the European Parliament
Finally, the Ethics Commission stresses that changing the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights "would require a very complex procedure". It would require, for example, a convention with representatives of all national parliaments and heads of state and government. And the final result would have to be ratified unanimously.
The basic thesis is the same as in 2022: "The European Parliament should not enter an area, such as abortion, which does not fall within its competence, nor interfere in the internal affairs of democratic countries within the EU or outside it."
Pope Francis with about 250 children of Vatican employees attending a summer program from July 3 to August 4. The Pope met with them in the Vatican's Paul VI audience hall on July 18, 2023.
Cathopic: high quality Catholic audiovisual content
Image banks have become one of the most sought-after tools in the digital world. Several years ago, Dimitri Conejo launched Cathopic, a Catholic image bank that today gathers tens of thousands of photographs and videos.
World Youth Day in Krakow 2016. At that time, Dimitri Conejoa young man dedicated to web development and interface design, was thinking about how to serve God.
In that meeting with the Pope, "the Lord touched my heart and told me clearly 'I want you to renew my Church on the Internet,'" Dimitri emphasizes.
At that time, "they contacted me from Religion in Freedom they were looking for a technology director. In that assignment, as Dimitri himself notes, he learned a lot and got to know the Catholic digital world firsthand.
The first Cathopic
The project of Cathopic was beginning to take shape in his head. "I had been thinking for some time about setting up a clearly Catholic image bank. I realized that, on many occasions, Catholics, when it came to designing or making posters, for parishes or whatever, would simply go to Google and 'grab' the photo. As a UX/UI designer, I have a lot of respect for the work of creators, photographers, etc., and I thought this practice was barbaric... but there was really nothing to go to.
The realization of this need led him to create the first version of Cathopic: "I started Cathopic with about 400 royalty-free photographs that I was able to gather from various image banks and that had a Catholic background".
At that time Cathopic was a relatively simple site, Dimitri restructured an earlier web code, bought the domain, hired the server and "little else, it was about 19 dollars what that site cost".
The site began to receive thousands of visits and grew, much faster than Dimitri himself had imagined: "I wanted to create something small but, when it came out, it was crazy. As it grew I realized that there were many more needs: covering the project's social networks, sending newsletters, etc."
The increase in needs also led to an increase in the team: "First one person joined, and then others. What has always been clear to me about my evangelization mission is the fact that I have to take it very professionally. My mission remains that everything I do should be as professional as possible.
If the Lord has given me these gifts, it is to make the most of them. That's why our projects like Cathopic or Holydemia always have that touch of study, research and training. Very good interfaces are created, with a studied branding... Aspects that, in the Catholic world, often sound 'Chinese', but I believe that nowadays it is very important to know how to transmit the faith in the most effective and professional way possible".
At this point, Dimitri refers to a benchmarking study he carried out before launching Cathopic and Holydemia, from which he drew several conclusions. Among them, "what struck me the most, when I started to get to know the world of Christian content on the web, is that the Protestants had years of professionalism and experience behind us. When I saw some Catholic websites and compared them with Protestant ones, I often asked myself 'Why do they do it so well and we are sometimes so crappy?"
Professionalization
Cathopic's growth has been steady and continues to be so today. From a simple website of 400 photos, it has grown to a hub of Catholic resources involving hundreds of Catholic content creators, especially photos and video. The team has also grown and the management has become more professional.
The turning point in this improvement of Cathopic was the second version. At that time, the members of the Cathopic team "realized that many people were uploading photos that were not theirs. They were taking them from another image bank and uploading them. We have a human moderation filter that checks the images, but some of them could slip through. In fact, this experience led Dimitri to create Dimconex Media, the company that manages Cathopic and Holydemia. In this way, "not only was the project protected, but we were able to expand the content with video and illustrations". Phase 3 of Cathopic is already underway and, with it, a new modality: Cathopic PRO. With this system, through a payment per download as in any professional image bank, the user has access to more and better quality content, as well as videos and illustrations. Dimitri points out that in Cathopic "we are bringing together many creators of Catholic content and they are very 'cracks', they do real wonders and, from Cathopic, they can make themselves known to many more people".
Cathopic 3
"Cathopic tries to be a meeting community for all Catholic creators. A place where they can come together, where they can share and grow professionally and, why not, profit from their work, because it is something very lawful," says Dimitri. In fact, it is the creators themselves who decide whether their content is offered for payment or free of charge.
As Dimitri points out, "sometimes, we still live with the mentality that 'everything from God is free,' in a misunderstood way. I don't think that's the case. Just as all Catholic workers get paid for their work, content creators, photographers, have the right to get paid for their work..., In fact, Cathopic 3 seeks to protect the content, the creators and create a business model that sustains the project."
Cathopic's pricing packages have not been made looking for excessive profit, as Dimitri relates "we listened to many people about how much they would be willing to pay, we studied the costs of servers, equipment... etc., and so it was done". Prices range from $29 to $119 per month, depending on the number of downloads required.
Just as the user pays less for each download the more volume he contracts, the more the creator makes the more content he uploads. "We are based on a collaborative economy model, when the user pays Cathopic pro, most of the money goes to the service and to the creators," Dimitri stresses.
As of today, Cathopic Pro hosts nearly 5,000 high quality images, more than 2,800 video clips available in 4K and HD and almost a thousand illustrations and graphics. All with the collaboration of nearly 300 content creators. This bank of images and resources is used by more than 63,000 individuals, churches and organizations around the world. "The United States, especially, and Latin America, demand a lot of content," says the creator of Cathopic.
A project that continues to grow in users and resources and that makes real that call of the Lord to a young web designer at the WYD in Krakow.
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In 1929 Radio Vaticana began broadcasting. A program prepared by Marconi himself. At the beginning it transmitted in English, Spanish, Italian and French. Marconi worked mainly in Italian and English, and conducted many experiments to increase radio capabilities.
Thirty years later, in 1959, John XXIII founded the Vatican Film Library, although recordings in the Vatican date back much earlier: The first is from 1896 and records a walk of Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican gardens to show that he was in good health.
AhNow you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.
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The Eucharist: "Highway to Heaven" by Carlo Acutis
The young Carlo Acutis was convinced that if people understood better what the Eucharist really is, they would come much closer to God. So he began to evangelize on the Internet, documenting Eucharistic miracles all over the world.
To say that Carlo Acutis was like any typical teenager would be correct: he loved soccer, Pokemon, action movies, and animals, but Carlo's greatest love was the Eucharist.
He was born in London in 1991 to Italian parents, but he and his family moved to Milan, Italy, where he grew up. Carlo was an example of holiness and continues to inspire young people around the world. Throughout his short life, Carlo deeply loved and venerated the Eucharist. He often said: "The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven", and "If we stand before the sun, we become brown, but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist, we become saints".
At an early age, young Carlo asked to receive his First Holy Communion. In an Italian convent, the future Blessed Carlo received the Blessed Sacrament for the first time and attended Mass daily for the rest of his life, never missing an opportunity to be with his first love. Family and friends recount that he was deeply attracted to the Eucharist and could not pass by a church without stopping to "greet Jesus." He thought that people would come closer to God if they knew that Jesus was really in the Eucharist.
Carlo Acutis, apostle of the Eucharist
While not yet a teenager, Carlo answered his call to catechize and became an assistant catechist in his parish. "He was a very prepared boy and ahead of his peers," says his mother. And "he made living the ordinary extraordinary." It is no coincidence that this boy of only eleven began visiting Eucharistic miracles around the world with his mother and father and documenting them, which would become his legacy.
He was adept with computers and was fascinated by the potential good they could bring and "saw the internet as a way to evangelize." Eventually he created an exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles that continues to tour the world. This web-based resource allows people to learn about the faith and is now translated into seventeen languages.
No fear
When he was diagnosed with leukemia and knew that his life was going to end, Carlo told his mother: "Mom, don't be afraid because, with the Incarnation of Jesus, death became life. There is no need to run away: in eternal life something extraordinary awaits us."
In 2020, Blessed Carlo Acutis was beatified in Assisi (Italy), his final resting place, as he requested because of his admiration for St. Francis of Assisi.
The future "Internet Patron" continues to inspire, move and motivate countless people around the world.
Jesus explains the kingdom through several graphic but disconcerting parables. It is not a powerful, conquering, triumphalist kingdom that sweeps over everything effortlessly. It is a kingdom constantly threatened, constantly attacked, that cannot easily undo the damage done to it. It stands out more for its smallness than for its size. It arises through humble, unrecognized effort, and then acts unseen.
All this is clear from the parables that our Lord uses in today's Gospel. The first parable, which stands out as one of the few that Christ explained explicitly, is the famous story of the enemy sowing tares in the field. We see the negligence of those who should have tended the field. ("while men slept") and their absent-mindedness once the result of the enemy raid has come to light. They foolishly want to remove the weeds - too little, too late - but the landowner tells them: "Nay, that in gathering the tares ye may pluck up the wheat also. Let them grow together until the harvest". Only then, at the final judgment, will the children of the Kingdom and the children of the devil be fully distinguished. Now, we must live in the midst of evil, knowing that tares can also enter our own souls.
But not only must we face the daily reality of evil among us and within us, we must accept the apparent fragility of the kingdom. It grows inexorably, but may seem weak and unimpressive in the face of the forces of evil, yet in the end it gives support to many. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that one takes and sows in his field; although it is the smallest of seeds, when it grows it is higher than vegetables; it becomes a tree to the point that birds from heaven come and nest in its branches."
Finally, "the kingdom of heaven is like leaven; a woman kneads it with three measures of flour, until it is all leavened." There is no glamour in this task, and its power acts unseen.
Eventually, Christ will come again with power and "He will send his angels and they will remove from his kingdom all the scandals and all the workers of iniquity". All His Majesty will be revealed and the righteous will have a share in it.Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father".
If we want to share in that heavenly reward, we must stand firm against the treacherous onslaughts of the devil and his minions; we must laboriously knead the kingdom of God in our daily activities, knowing that whatever we do will always seem small, insignificant and barely seen. Yet, like birds nesting in the branches of a mustard bush, people will find rest in the structures we build and enjoy the good leavened bread that our hands have laboriously kneaded.
Homily on the readings of Sunday 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
The visit of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Pope's envoy on a peace mission, to the White House has come to an end. The Cardinal has been particularly interested in the repatriation of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia.
On July 19, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference concluded his three-day trip to Washington DC. The purpose of this visit was to speak with President Biden and US congressional leaders about humanitarian proposals to alleviate the suffering of thousands of Ukrainians and especially thousands of children who because of the war have been illegally deported to Russia.
On July 19, the Holy See Press Office issued a press release detailing the details of this special mission. Upon his arrival in Washington DC on July 17, Cardinal Zuppi met at the Apostolic Nunciature with Msgr. Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. During the colloquium, the prelates exchanged reflections on the war and the peace initiatives undertaken by the Holy See. The following day, Tuesday, July 18, Msgr. Zuppi went to the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress who are members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the "Helsinki Commission").
In his talk to the North American leaders, Msgr. Zuppi spoke about the nature of the mission entrusted to him personally by Pope Francis and ways to make it more effective. The papal envoy was accompanied at this meeting by a Vatican delegation, including the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Bishop Séamus Patrick Horgan, Counselor of the Apostolic Nunciature. Also present was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Joe Donnelly.
On the afternoon of Tuesday 18, after visiting the Capitol, the papal envoy and the Vatican delegation visited the White House, where they were received by President Joe Biden. During the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the Cardinal gave the President a letter from the Holy Father and emphasized the pain experienced by the Pontiff because of the war. This meeting, the Holy See said in its communiqué, "took place in an atmosphere of great cordiality and mutual listening. During the conversation, the Vatican assured the full availability to support initiatives in the humanitarian field, especially directed to children and the most fragile people, both to respond to this urgency and to favor paths of peace", the Vatican underlined.
Finally, on the last day of his tour of the United States, July 19, the Archbishop of Bologna and the Vatican delegation participated in the "Senate Prayer Breakfast" at the U.S. Congress. In his address, Archbishop Zuppi informed those present of the various stages of his peace mission in Ukraine and Russia. The meeting expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Holy See and underlined the responsibility of each party in the commitment to peace.
Joaquín Antonio Peñalosa. Love with humor is written
Peñalosa's poetic work is beginning to be recognized in Spain not only for the freshness and timeliness of his voice, but also for the emotive power of his verse and, above all, for his ability to ennoble any reality, with a sense of humor -a humor full of kindness- being one of his most characteristic traits, no matter what the subject.
Professor Fernando Arredondo, who knows the most in Spain about the poetry of Joaquín Antonio Peñalosa, tells me that what happened to him was what happened to me: first he began to know and admire the enormous lyrical quality of Peñalosa's poetry -it was the reason that led him to write his doctoral thesis on him- and then he discovered what many Mexicans discovered before us: his joke books, that is, his healthy religious humor, based on four foundations: grace, truth, goodness and poetry.
It is enough to take a look at some of his little books such as Humor with holy water -with more than 30,000 copies sold in his country-, or to his Manual of the imperfect homilyto realize that, as he himself said: "There is no love without humor, nor humor without love. Because love without humor, pure frozen respect, would establish distances, abysses without bridges, blocking the encounter between two beings". If we add to this what the French writer Georges Bernanos expressed: "The opposite of a Christian people is [...] a people of sad people", we define perfectly the poetics of this author whose lyrical work has more and more followers every day.
"To the list of works of mercy," he wrote, "we would like to add the one most needed by an anguished and crestfallen world: to make the sad laugh, as urgent as feeding the hungry". Thus, Peñalosa's complete literary work is a faithful reflection of his foundation in optimism, in good humor, which in no way means that he is oblivious to the conflicts and difficulties of modern man. On the contrary: if there is a written production rooted in existential issues of the human being, whatever they may be, that is his. "Humor" -she points out- "is a phenomenon only for adults, a literary genre for serious readers, a flower of the spirit for mature souls. Only they know that humor is not offense but sympathy, not wound but balm, not lack but surplus of love. Love, humor: just a sound of difference".
Belonging to what is known, specifically in San Luis Potosí, as the 50's generationPeñalosa is, above all, a practical man, an exemplary priest, as joyful as the next man, aware that his was to live rooted in God and to make him known, not only with his life, but also with the gift he had for writing: "One does not write on the margins of one's own life. Writing is a way of living, of self-realization, of giving meaning and fullness to the ephemeral and transcendent fact of being a man. Being a writer and being a man are not two more or less parallel lines that sometimes touch. Everything merges in an essential synthesis".
Poetic Franciscanism
With an intelligible verse, of clear line, without adornments or moralisms, he manages to provoke in the reader an approach to God and his mysteries, and he does it from what scholars call Peñalosian poetic Franciscanism, that is, starting from an endearing look at the universe where God, maker of heaven and earth, is conceived as a loving, provident Father, and all beings, animate and inanimate, as brothers and sisters.
This vital and lyrical worldview allows him to defend a constant planetary environmentalism while at the same time it leads him to a position of commiseration in favor of the underprivileged, the excluded. In Peñalosa, of course, everything is song, a song to creation, to the Scriptures, to material or spiritual beings, because what comes out, or has come out of God's hands, is always beautiful: "And why should they be ugly / the lame dogs who prefer jazz / the sculpture decapitated by guarantee of antiquity / the freckled girl dotted like the milky way / the phosphorescent bald man adding neon to the urban night [...] / the one-eyed girl with the sailor vocation of lighthouse / the hunchbacks of the golden lineage of camelids / [....nothing is ugly / ugliness is beauty in G minor", this is how he expresses himself in Teoría de lo feo, one of his many compositions in which, on the basis of a somewhat irrational imagery and an enviable expressive simplicity, he manages to capture the reader's attention, arousing delicate emotions, without ever bordering on sentimentality.
In this way, his interest in people with some kind of handicap or social conditioning is evident, including stutterers: "Cuando le preguntan cómo se llama / igual que el agua que hace gárgaras / en los canales de piedra / contesta que jo-jo-sé" (When they ask him what his name is / just like the water that gargles / in the stone canals / he answers jo-jo-sé), the hunchbacks: "Stretch of elusive and golden camels / all for carrying life we are hunchbacked." or the lame: "what a joy to be a lame girl / and turn the whole earth into water / undulating earth and in perpetual swaying" -sample examples of characters that he looks at head-on-, sometimes having them as the protagonists of his poems, drawn to the measure of the cordiality of his poetic creation.
Attention to the futile
At other times the object of his inspiration are tiny beings such as butterflies, ants or snails, presented at times in beautiful everyday prints such as the one he offers, in the form of a gregueria, in Garza dormida en un pie (Heron asleep on a foot): "You don't require two stems / because you know you flower / and up go the corollas / in an elevator." or vegetal like trees, or man-made like paper bow ties. He makes this very clear in Benedicite de las cosas pequeñas, a composition from his first book that recalls the biblical psalm of the prophet Daniel (3:57-88): "Let us sing the hymn of the light things / of the little creatures that reached the last breath of God / [...] Bless God all things, the smallest things that Lugones sang, the works of the Lord that Daniel sang in the song of the three children. For the Lord is great among his great works and greatest among his least works.".
With everything in his favor, Peñalosa knows how to make the most of any element, whether natural or artificial, seeing in the former -natural elements- the indelible imprint of God, as reflected in his Recipe for making an orange -by the way, one of his most inspired and well-known poems-: "Don't touch this orange yet / get down on your knees first and worship like angels, / it was made for you exclusively, / for no one else, / like a small immense love / that falls ripe, / that is delivered round", and in the second ones -the artificial elements- his opposition to consumerism, of course expressed with wise irony, as can be read in Hermana televisión: "Llegas e a casa con honores [...] / buscando el mejor sitio [...] / fuereña entrometida / se adueó de la sala, aquí me quedo / cómo no, señorita de 23 pulgadas [...] / luego escogió habitación exclusiva / desplazando espejos y una tía con artritis [....] / and there you have us all / with square eyes / connected to your big cold pupil / brainwasher, your pollutant / mangy bitch growling in the corners / since you arrived no one talks in this house [...] / alas, sister television".
For another occasion I will leave for now his specifically religious poetry: Christmas, Marian or biblical, also very valuable and abundant, where the transcendent, the supposedly unattainable, is treated with immediacy; this is the case of the angels, so familiar in his verses.
However, these lines serve to give visibility to such an excellent Mexican poet, who is worth reading and from whom, surely, so much can be learned. A colloquial, direct, entertaining poet, to whom -as the Latin proverb written by the comedian Terence says-, nothing that is human was alien to him.
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There is a group of people in the United States who visit prisons to accompany prisoners. Under the protection of St. Maximilian Kolbe, these volunteers dedicate their time to those in prisons, organizing retreats, bringing the sacraments and providing formation.
In the United States, there is a pastoral work called ".Kolbe Prison Ministries". It consists of a group of people who visit prisons, organize retreats for prisoners, facilitate access to the sacraments and give catechesis.
Logo of "Kolbe Prison Ministries".
The volunteers of this pastoral ministry say that the place where they have found the Holy Spirit most present and palpable is in prison, ministering to prisoners. They say they witness reconciliations that seemed impossible and deep conversions.
To raise awareness of Kolbe Prison Ministries, members of the group gave an interview to Omnes. In it they explain their ministry, what inspired them to start it and their current needs.
Why was Kolbe Prison Ministries (KPM) born?
- A group of faithful Catholic men from the Texas Hill Country, who had been involved for years in other Christian-based prison ministries as well as Catholic ACTS retreats in the free world, realized the spiritual benefit of holding ACTS-type retreats in prisons.
The impetus to get involved in prison ministry in the first place was based primarily on Jesus' call in Matthew 25, 36 and 40, where he said, "I was in prison, and you visited me" and "...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." We take Jesus at his word and act accordingly.
In addition, the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church are often misinterpreted or demeaned in prison, even by prison staff. This can leave some Catholic offenders confused and disoriented. So, to counteract negative information and actions, it was deemed necessary to bring "Catholic" ministry into prisons. This is expressed in KPM's mission statement which is "to share the agape love of Jesus Christ with the incarcerated and to teach the fullness of the truth of the Catholic Church to the incarcerated."
Why was the prison ministry baptized with the name of St. Maximilian Kolbe?
- Originally introduced in 2009 as "Prison ACTS," the founders realized that some aspects of ACTS retreats were not compatible with prison regulations, so in 2015 a separate non-profit organization, Kolbe Prison Ministries, was legally incorporated. Because the organization's founders believe strongly in Catholic teachings, including the communion of saints and their special intercessions for us on earth, St. Maximilian Kolbe to name the organization.
Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, was arrested in 1941 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There he continued to work as a priest and to offer comfort to his fellow inmates in horrible circumstances. When Nazi guards selected 10 people to starve to death as punishment, Father Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger who had a family. He was later canonized as a martyr and is now known as the patron saint of prisoners.
What do KPM volunteers typically do in prisons?
KPM Members
- KPM volunteers lead 3-day retreats that include fellowship, prayer (including the Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy), adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, inspirational talks and testimonies (some of which are from inmates), sacrament of reconciliation, Mass, good food, Christian music and special ministry activities (which cannot be disclosed).
To further fan the spiritual flame that is often kindled in inmates during retreats, KPM volunteers provide ongoing faith formation, such as retreat meetings, Mass and/or communion services, RCIA classes, Bible study, and other educational and faith-building activities. Regular volunteers are required to receive periodic training through the corrections department to ensure that they understand and will comply with the rules of the institution.
What do inmates crave most in the spiritual realm?
- Virtually all of the inmates served by KPM have had negative experiences. They have been raised in broken homes, had absent or abusive parents, suffered early childhood trauma, violence and poverty. Many have lacked good role models or mentors and have tried to escape the pain of their plight through drugs or alcohol. Others have sought protection and belonging through family alternatives (such as gangs). Most have become disillusioned with school and dropped out, and have fallen down the slippery slope to criminal activity and incarceration.
Inmates are often deeply wounded, distrustful, wary, angry, frightened, disheartened, display false bravado and view their lives with little hope. But, fortunately, a good number of them are sincerely seeking forgiveness, redemption and a second chance.
Many of the inmates who attend a KPM retreat seek to change their behavior and develop or deepen their faith life. They recognize the error of their past and want a better future with God at the center. On the other hand, perhaps as many participants are attracted to the "perks" they perceive: the opportunity to enjoy a break from their monotonous routines, eat better than in prison, enjoy lively music, and spend time with their inmate friends. However, almost all inmates who attend KPM retreats for the perks are spiritually moved to improve themselves, their relationship with others and their relationship with God.
Most of the inmates who attend the retreats respond well to the love and sincere concern expressed by KPM volunteers. They never seem to tire of the attention, camaraderie, "fatherly" (or "motherly") type affection, friendly banter, deep discussions and spiritual bonding. Recidivism rates in the prison systems where these retreats and associated ongoing catechesis take place have improved dramatically.
They try to help prisoners find Jesus, but do KPM members find Christ in prison? If so, how?
- Prisons are the devil's playground and a very dark place. There is much evil loose within. However, where there is darkness, there is also the overwhelming and merciful light of Christ. In my personal experience, I have never found the Holy Spirit more present and palpable than when I am in prison ministering to prisoners. The atmosphere seems almost electric. It seems counterintuitive, but many other volunteers have expressed the same sentiments. Virtually every volunteer honestly says that they feel they have gotten more out of the retreats and other KPM ministries than either the retreatants or the inmates.
Often, the volunteers are humbled by the deep and expressive faith of some of the inmates. Thus, these faith-filled inmates minister to the volunteers. There are few, if any, volunteers who have not witnessed truly amazing miracles... Unexpected acts of forgiveness, spiritual conversions, renunciation of Satan, ending gang affiliations, rejection of racial bigotry, random acts of kindness, returning home to church and much more.
It is the call of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the experience of miracles and the injection into their own life of faith that keeps the volunteers coming back for more.
Visiting prison can be tough, what kind of people can volunteer? What do they need to know before joining the ministry?
- KPM volunteers must be adults (over 18 years of age), male or female, preferably active Catholics or at least non-Catholic Christians who have not abandoned the Catholic faith. It is recommended that the volunteer be reasonably mobile (although wheelchairs may be available at the prison) and not in frail health (as it may not be possible to leave the prison quickly in the event of a medical emergency). Other than that, volunteers must be willing to abide by the code of conduct of the prison department and KPM, obey the requirements and instructions of prison staff, and have a servant's heart.
The correctional department may require prior training or a special untrained volunteer designation (occasional or temporary volunteer). The partner Catholic diocese may also require some training and "safe environment" certification.
Although there is an image that prisons are dangerous places only for the brave or reckless, most of the time the opposite is true. Fences and gates separate volunteers from direct contact with the general inmate population. Inmates who are allowed to attend KPM retreats or ongoing ministries have a record of good behavior for a sufficiently long period of time. Retreat and ministry participants are also personally selected or specifically approved by the prison chaplain and warden.
In the history of KPM, no volunteer has ever suffered direct hostile action, personal assault or notable injury. At my first retreat, the inmates at my small group table asked me if I was afraid to go into the prison. I responded by saying that I could hardly sleep the night before because I was so excited to volunteer at the retreat working with these inmates. I can honestly say that I have always felt that it is safer for me to be inside the prison walls than to be on the road driving to the prison.
Where can those who want to participate find information?
KPM has some information (including a Frequently Asked Questions document) available to volunteers. It explains what they should know, wear, do and not do while ministering in prison. More helpful information can be found on the KPM website (kolbeprisonministries.org). Prior to KPM retreats, all team volunteers attend meetings to establish spiritual and personal bonds, discuss retreat events and schedule, assign roles, answer questions, and generally prepare all team volunteers for their participation in the retreat.
If they still have questions or concerns, volunteers can contact KPM management through the contact form on the website.
How can you help KPM?
- There are several ways to support and be a part of this life-changing ministry, including (i) prayer, (ii) financial or in-kind donations, (iii) becoming a volunteer, or (iv) recommending the ministry (telling others about KPM). Of course, all of these ways are wonderful but, at the present time, financial donations are especially desirable.
We are at the beginning of a new phase of tremendous growth with further expansion outside of Texas. A first retreat in the State of Florida is scheduled for August 2023 with more initial retreats expected in the States of Oklahoma, Kansas. Possibly there will be others next year. With the expansion, KPM's limited financial resources will be stretched. So financial donations are greatly needed and appreciated. Individuals, groups, churches and other organizations can donate online through the KPM website or by mail. Donors wishing to make in-kind donations should contact KPM so that need, applicability and logistics can be discussed.
World Youth Day 2005 was a turning point: since then, Adoration of the Sacrament of the Blessed Sacrament has spread in many initiatives and in the celebrations of many parishes.
Hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world have gathered on the "Marienfeld", an area of 260 hectares about 50 kilometers east of Cologne, to participate in the 20th World Youth Day WYD, which will be held from the 18th to the 21st of that month.
Benedict XVI, elected Pope four months earlier, on April 19, not only wanted to continue the WYD tradition begun by his predecessor John Paul II, but he also wanted the WYD 2005 theme "We have come to adore Him" to become an act of Eucharistic adoration. As night fell, the Solemn Exposition began. Where hundreds of thousands of voices could be heard before, there is a shuddering silence.
Against the advice that some had given Benedict XVI, the Pope had been confident that the young people would really take the WYD motto literally: they - many of them, kneeling in the mud - had come to adore the Lord in the Eucharist.
The official website of WYD in Germany reported the testimony of one of those present: "What a feeling when the vigil culminated in a great adoration of the Blessed Sacrament! A million young people in silence before the Lord!"
Just as the days leading up to John Paul II's passing gave visibility to a prayer that seemed forgotten in the trunk of "preconciliar" memories, with hundreds of people - many of them also young people - praying the rosary in St. Peter's Square, the vigil of Saturday, August 20, 2005 marks the beginning of the rediscovery of Eucharistic adoration in many places. Now, let's stick to the country that hosted the 20th WYD, Germany.
The initiative Nightfever
One of the initiatives that came into being after WYD in Cologne was "Nightfever": on October 29, 2005, two university students - Andreas Süss, now pastor in Neuss, and Katharina Fassler, from the Immanuel community, now married and mother of four children - invited young people between the ages of 16 and 35 to participate in the parish of St. Remigius in Bonn. On their website they explain the purpose of these "nights of adoration": "The focus of Nightfever is prayer, the conversation with God. We gather before the altar to adore Jesus in the form of bread. As we are, with all that depresses us or makes us happy, we can approach Jesus and talk to him about everything, as with a good friend".
The extraordinary reception of what was originally planned as a one-time activity made it a regular event. Already in 2006 it was extended to other German cities: Freiburg, Erfurt, Cologne and Mainz. Today, after a pause due to COVID restrictions, Nightfever is held in more than 80 German cities. After making the leap to Vienna, the event now takes place in 200 cities in 27 other countries.
In addition, Adoration before Jesus in the Sacrament of the Blessed Sacrament has been reintroduced in a number of parishes. It does not always have to be perpetual adoration, i.e., 24 hours a day, as in St. Clemens Church in Berlin. In other churches it is celebrated once a week, mainly on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays, before or after evening Mass.
The website of the Archdiocese of Berlin alone - where Catholics make up about nine percent of the population - lists the Eucharistic adoration schedules in more than 20 churches. And in the cathedral of the German capital - under construction for several years and scheduled to reopen in 2024 - a "chapel for adoration" is planned.
The "Adoratio" Congress
Another initiative in this context is the "Adoratio" Congress, which has been held in the town of Altötting since 2019, organized by the "new evangelization" department of the Diocese of Passau, in whose territory Altötting is located.
On its website it describes itself as follows: "Adoratio is the Congress on Eucharistic Adoration and the Renewal of Faith in the German-speaking world. It is inspired by the international congress on perpetual Eucharistic adoration, which was first held in Rome in 2011."
We reproduce below an excerpt from the interview I had with Ingrid Wagner, director of the above-mentioned department, on the occasion of the latest Adoratio" Congress, held from June 9 to 11. This is how he summarized the objective of the Congress: "The core of the Congress and our deepest aspiration is that God be adored and venerated, that he be given the place he deserves, both in the life of each person and in the life of the whole Church.
This is concretized in that during the three days in Altötting we will celebrate Holy Mass, we will have common moments of prayer and adoration, and there will also be the possibility to adore the Lord in silence. One of the objectives of the Congress is also to create many places of Eucharistic Adoration in our country and beyond."
In relation to the processes of reform in the Church, Ingrid Wagner said: "The search for true renewal always consists in understanding more deeply who God is and who we are, and what our response is to his constant search for us. We believe that true reform must always be based on prayer, because then, as Church, we revolve around God and not around ourselves. This encounter with Him changes us, first ourselves, and that in turn will change the world."
Referring to the fact that the Congress is being held at Germany's best-known Marian shrine, he commented: "Our Lady plays an important role in the Congress because she is our greatest model of renewal and adoration. Her yes has changed the world and, with this year's Adoratio Congress, we also want to renew our yes to God".
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Cardinal Zuppi, the Pope's envoy, talks with Joe Biden on the war in Ukraine
July 19 was the second day of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi's visit to the White House. The cardinal has taken special interest in the repatriation of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia.
On his second day of a visit to Washington D.C. on a peace mission, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi met on the morning of July 18 with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. Cardinal Zuppi had previously visited the U.S. Congress to meet with members of the Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Also present at the meeting were the Apostolic Nuncio to the US, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, US Ambassador to the Vatican Joe Donnelly and an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State. In his conversation with the congressmen, Cardinal Zuppi explained that Pope Francis seeks to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, but especially to find ways to repatriate to that country the thousands of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia.
In his address, Cardinal Zuppi also emphasized that his visit to Washington is part of a peace mission entrusted to him directly by Pope Francis, which has taken him to visit Ukraine and Russia. One of the Congressmen, Steven Cohen, representative of Tennessee and ranking member of this Committee, said that Cardinal Zuppi "was frank in his assessment of the reception that Russia has given to the efforts [of the Pope and the Holy See]. In that sense, he explained the difficulties it faces in fulfilling its mission of peace. I expressed to the Cardinal my best wishes and best success," Cohen concluded.
At the end of his visit to Congress, Cardinal Zuppi went to the White House for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. At the meeting "the President expressed to the Cardinal his best wishes for the continuity of Pope Francis' Petrine ministry and his global leadership," the White House said in a statement.
The text also states that the U.S. president expressed to Bishop Zuppi his pleasure at the appointment as new cardinal of the U.S.-born prelate Robert F. Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Biden and Zuppi also discussed the Holy See's efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine and the Vatican's push to repatriate to Ukraine the thousands of children illegally deported by Russian forces. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi concludes his three-day visit and peace mission to Washington D.C. on July 19.
One hundred days after the transfer decided autonomously by Beijing at the beginning of April, Pope Francis has chosen to accept the appointment as bishop of Shanghai of Monsignor Giuseppe Shen Bin, 53, former bishop of Haimen.
It is still unclear why this transfer was carried out unilaterally, given that it could have been done in a consensual manner. The fact is that the Holy Father's decision was accompanied by an interview to the Vatican media by the Secretary of State, Card. Pietro Parolin, explaining that the April gesture was a violation of the "spirit of dialogue" on which the Interim Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops, signed by the Holy See and Beijing in 2018 and renewed for a second time in October 2022, is based.
And it is specified that with the appointment of Shen Bin as bishop of Shanghai, "Francis decided to heal the canonical irregularity, in view of the greater good of the diocese and the fruitful exercise of the pastoral ministry of the bishop", who will thus be able to "work with greater serenity to promote evangelization and foster ecclesial communion".
Parolin added that the Vatican is now asking Shen Bin to act together with the Chinese authorities to "facilitate a just and wise solution to some other long-pending issues in the diocese, such as - for example - the position of the two auxiliary bishops, Monsignor Taddeeo Ma Daqin, who remains impeded, and Monsignor Joseph Xing Wenzhi, who has retired."
Monsignor Taddeeo Ma Daquin is the auxiliary bishop of Shanghai confined de facto in the seminary of Sheshan since 2012 after publicly refusing to be part of the Patriotic Association, the body through which the Chinese Communist Party controls the "official" priests and bishops. Monsignor Joseph Xing Wenzhi, meanwhile, is another auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, also appointed with the agreement of the Holy See, and disappeared the previous year for reasons that were never made clear.
Since September 8, 2021, no consensual appointment has taken place, despite the fact that a third of Chinese dioceses are without a bishop. The Vatican Secretary of State recalls that the Agreement "revolves around the fundamental principle of consensuality in decisions regarding bishops," a point that the Holy See is "trying to clarify, in open dialogue and respectful confrontation with the Chinese side."
"It is indispensable," he said, "that all episcopal appointments in China, including transfers, be made in a consensual manner, as agreed, and keeping alive the spirit of dialogue between the parties. Together we must avoid discordant situations that create disagreements and misunderstandings even within Catholic communities, and the proper implementation of the Agreement is one of the means to achieve this, together with sincere dialogue".
Three topics were mentioned by Parolin on the relations of the Church in China: "the Episcopal Conference, the communication of the Chinese bishops with the Pope, evangelization".
The Vatican Secretary of State asked the Chinese authorities to "overcome their mistrust of Catholicism, which is not a religion that should be considered alien - much less contrary - to Chinese culture". Knowing that "the dialogue between the Vatican and the Chinese side is still open and I believe that it is a path in a certain way obligatory". To this contributes "the opening - expressly requested - of a stable liaison office of the Holy See in China, not only for dialogue with the civil authorities, but also for full reconciliation within the Chinese Church and its path towards a desirable normality".
Christ at the center of every family and every person. Interview with Lupita Venegas
In this first interview with the influencer Catholic Lupita Venegas, the new Omnes columnist, talks about the importance of putting Christ at the center.
Lupita Venegas studied psychology and has a master's degree in family therapy. She was born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico in 1963, in a Catholic home. Her parents belonged to the Christian Family Movement and later became part of the Salesian Cooperators. Since she was a child, she participated in evangelizing missions and collaborated with social works for the most vulnerable.
In her youth, she was a member of the Jornadas de Vida Cristiana team, where she started as a lecturer on life and faith topics. She is married to Ricardo Pérez Mainou. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. Lupita is host of the program "Enamórate" in El Sembrador TV, she is a lecturer on family formation. She is also author She is the author of the books "Despierta mujer dormida" and "Sin límites", among others. She is president of the civil association VALORA and is considered a Catholic "influencer" in social networks.
In this first interview with Lupita Venegas, Omnes' new columnist, she talks about the importance of putting Christ in the center.
How did the formation you had at home, as a child, influence your choice of a vocation to marriage?
- The best form of evangelization is by example. I lived in a Catholic Christian home with two parents who loved God and lived their faith. For this I thank God and I have always loved the Church because I was born naturally in a Christian environment. My parents had difficult lives, a time without Christ. But they overcame that past and broke their chains of pain because they invited Christ into their lives. They both found the Lord and when they got married they said "with Christ at the center". My parents were part of the Christian Family Movement, CFM. My dad called it "easy way to dinner" because of the initials CFM. And indeed, every time they got together, the dinner was delicious... but we children lived together and shared with other couples who were holding God's hand and the atmosphere was Christian.
I had the grace of living in a Christian home. It was natural for me to pray in the morning, to bless the food, to give service to others, to accompany my parents to deliver groceries, and so on. It was the natural, Christian environment. Then I realized, as the years went by, for example when I went to other friends' houses, that in some homes they did not pray. And that was not normal for me.
In this natural environment, where mom and dad loved and respected each other, I always felt a call to get married. However, I had a vocational doubt. During that time, I wondered if I should consecrate my life to God as a religious. So, as a young woman, I lived for a few months in a Marist religious congregation. It was an international community and I loved living with them. I was happy. We had a life of prayer, apostolate?
When I was about to finish college, I told them about my desire to consecrate myself. They told me that vocation was a call from God. It was not whether I liked it or not. And they told me: "Go finish your degree for one more semester and when you come back we will talk about it". And I said, "No, Mother, I love this religious life. And she told me: "vocation is a calling, it is not your will". I remember that I left and in that semester I met my husband Ricardo, who is now my husband. I realized that God wanted me to form a family.
What advice do you give to families for the formation of their children in the faith?
- Today's world takes us away from the supernatural vision and wants us to live only for this world. Sometimes it is believed that, as a parent, I am doing good by getting my children to go to a good school, or to have a good job. Studying and working is not wrong. It is very good, but life is not only this material world, life is, above all, an eternal life. So the recommendation is to form children in the faith, by example. Live their faith, for example, by attending Sunday Mass as a family.
I also recommend that they let themselves be helped by the church. The church is a mother who accompanies and is also a teacher. Sometimes our pride prevents us from seeking help. We think that "nobody teaches me anything" or that "I already know how to do things and that's it". But in family matters, the Church is mother and teacher. She is wise for thousands of years and has the knowledge of human nature.
Pope Benedict XVI has predicted that the church will continue to live through small communities that radically live their faith. That truly live their faith as a family. Being part of church groups will help us to transmit our faith with more conviction and to generate environments where our children can naturally develop a love for God. Belonging to church groups for me is a "must have" for this 21st century. Alone we are going to become extinct, we are going to extinguish. It is like the log that comes out of the campfire. It goes out quickly. But if we remain in the campfire and there is someone who is stoking the fire of the Holy Spirit, that campfire continues to live forever.
So, I recommend that if, as a family, you can be part of a church group, it will help you a lot. There are many movements in the church for the family: Christian Family Movement, Family Educator in the Faith, etc. Look for a movement in your parish that can accompany you, because being parents is a challenge and an art.
From October 9 to 11, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, will be held "The new documents of the Pontificate of Pius XII and their significance for Jewish-Christian relations".
The modalities of participation will not be announced until September, but the organizational machinery has already been set in motion to ensure the success of an event of considerable scope and great expectations. Especially from the historical and theological point of view.
From October 9 to 11, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, "The New Documents of the Pontificate of Pius XII and their Significance for Jewish-Christian Relations" will be held. The initiative, report the promoters, "will focus on how these archives shed light on the historical and theological controversies concerning the Pope Pius XII and the Vatican during the Holocaust period, and on Jewish-Christian relations at many levels: from non-specialists to those in positions of authority in Jewish and Catholic decision-making circles and institutions."
It will take "decades of examination and analysis to determine the true value of these archives, estimated at least 16 million pages." However, "some important discoveries are ready to be shared with the general public."
The event is organized by the Fondazione Cdec of Milan, the Center for Judaic Studies "Cardinal Bea" - Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Gregorian Church, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem and the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies of Saint Leo University. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem and the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Saint Leo University, with the support of UCEI, the Vatican Apostolic Archives, the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, the Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. and Israeli Embassies at the Vatican, the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies, Resilience and the American Jewish Committee. The conference is sponsored by: UCEI - Union of Italian Jewish Communities; Holy See - Vatican Apostolic Archives, Dicastery for Culture and Education, Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; U.S. Department of State, Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues; U.S. Embassy to the Holy See; Israeli Embassy to the Holy See; FSCIRE - John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies; Resilience; AJC - American Jewish Committee.
As is well known, Pope Francis has made the following accessible millions of documents relating to the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-1958). Some say he is a controversial figure: on the one hand, since he is the protagonist of recognized actions to protect the victims of Nazi-Fascism, particularly in the dramatic months of the occupation of Rome; on the other hand, accused of too many "silences" in the face of the dramatic news that reached the Vatican, already in 1939, from the territories occupied by Hitler, starting with Poland. In 2020, the Vatican Apostolic Archive made available to scholars the documents of the pontificate of Pius XII. Thanks to this extraordinary research opportunity, it is now possible to carry out a more complete analysis and a more accurate interpretation of a crucial passage in the history of the 20th century.
In the context of an initiative promoted by ISCOM on December 6, 2022 on the Persecution of the Jews during the pontificate of Pius XII, the historian Johan Ickx (Archives of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State) explained Pope Francis' decision to digitize the "Jews" register: "The "Jews" register is useful to give greater impetus to historiographical research and to allow the relatives of the persecuted to reconstruct more easily the vicissitudes of their relatives who asked for help from the Holy See during the Second World War".
Vatican "Jewish" Records
"The Jews register is a bit special," Ickx observed, "because normally the registers in our historical archives of the Secretariat of State are distinguished by the name of a State, with which the Holy See has maintained or maintains normal bilateral relations in a given historical period. Under the pontificate of Pope Pacelli, around 1938, an archival register was created with this name - 'Jews' - as if, for the Holy See, it were a specific nation. The register remained open until '46 and then, with the end of World War II, it was closed."
Already in his book "Pius XII and the Jews" of 2021, Ickx demonstrated the willingness of the Holy See to help those persecuted by Nazi-fascism. But then also its inability many times to do so, because many times the Holy See was hindered: "The Nazis were present in half of Europe at that time and prevented any initiative to help. But the Fascist regime in Italy also carried out persecutions and therefore often hindered the Vatican's rescue efforts. Many times even the national governments did not cooperate."
One of the most interesting documents in the book is a letter from Cardinal Gasparri, dated February 9, 1916, in which he responds to a request from the American Jewish Committee of New York.
A letter, according to Ickx, inspired precisely by Eugenio Pacelli, then at the Secretariat of State: "In that case, the American Jews were asking the Vatican for a position of Pope Benedict XV on the racial persecution that had already begun during the First World War. Secretary of State Gasparri responded with this text, explicitly authorizing its publication. The newspapers of the American Jewish communities echoed it, describing it with satisfaction as an authentic "encyclical". In the text, Jews are literally defined as "brothers" and it is affirmed that their rights must be protected like those of "all peoples". It is the first document in the history of the Catholic Church and the Holy See to express this principle. "These are the words that - according to Ickx - we find in the document Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, published in 1965. They are precisely the principles that Pius XII applied for decades during his pontificate in the face of the great challenge of Nazism and then Communism."
The authorAntonino Piccione
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Opus Dei will study "carefully" the situation of the Torreciudad shrine
The Prelature of Opus Dei has issued a statement expressing its surprise at the unilateral appointment of a rector for the Shrine of Torreciudad by the bishop of the diocese of Barbastro-Monzon.
"With surprise": this is how the Prelature of Opus Dei the news that the bishop of Barbastro Monzón, Ángel Pérez Pueyo, has appointed José Mairal, parish priest of Bolturina-Ubierg and judicial vicar of the diocese, rector of the Sanctuary of Torreciudad.
Likewise, according to the diocesan communiqué, Bishop Pérez Pueyo has indicated that the former rector, Ángel LasherasThe new head of the institution, and the priests Pedro J. García de Jalón y de la Fuente and Eduardo Martínez Ruipérez, must work with the new head "until the existing canonical situation between both institutions is regularized".
This is an unusual appointment because, according to the Opus Dei, The shrine is a temple of the Prelature; specifically, it has the juridical status of an oratory of the Prelature and, as is the case with these oratories, it was erected at the time with the permission of the Bishop of the diocese. The Opus Dei points out which, consequently, "understands that it does not correspond to the bishop to carry out this appointment". In fact, according to the current regulations, it is the regional Vicar of the Opus Dei the one in charge of appointing the rector and the priestly team that takes care of the sanctuary.
The communiqué from the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón points out the need to "regularize" the canonical situation of the sanctuary as the reason for changing this appointment, although it does not clarify the nature of this situation. Subsequently, the same diocese has added some clarifications, pointing out that "in the case of Torreciudad, and in order to regularize its canonical situation with the diocese, the Prelature was asked to propose to this bishopric a list of three priests to make this appointment of rector (c. 557 &1). With the passing of the months, and not having received this list after several requests, we have opted for the appointment of José Mairal, pastor of Bolturina-Ubiergo, to whose parish belongs the hermitage-sanctuary of Torreciudad".
The aforementioned canon determines that "the diocesan bishop freely appoints the rector of a church, without prejudice to the right of election or presentation, when this right legitimately belongs to someone; in this case, it corresponds to the diocesan bishop to confirm or institute the rector". This is the procedure that has been followed in Torreciudad since the construction of the sanctuary in 1975, and which is reflected in the statutes of Torreciudad, from 1980, where it is specified that "the appointment of the rector and the designation of the priests who are in charge of the pastoral care corresponds to the Regional Vicar of the Prelature".
For its part, the Opus Dei announced that the diocese and the Prelature have begun talks to prepare new statutes to allow Torreciudad to become a diocesan shrine.
The contacts began "more than a year ago," and are aimed at "erecting Torreciudad as a diocesan shrine and establishing a pastoral care agreement with the diocese, similar to the agreements that the Prelature of Opus Dei maintains for the pastoral care of numerous parishes and churches in Spain and other countries. The Prelature's communiqué stresses that this work is not finished, and that, "although developed in a climate of mutual collaboration, it has not been free of difficulties of understanding and interpretation on the part of the diocese.
The situation created by this appointment has important ecclesial and juridical implications. Opus Dei has announced that it will "study this matter carefully and in a spirit of ecclesial communion".
The Prelature has stressed its desire "to continue collaborating with the Diocese in the evangelizing work carried out from Torreciudad, a place so dear to the people of Alto Aragon, and where every year thousands of people have an encounter with Our Lady, go to the sacrament of confession and come close to Jesus inspired by the life and teachings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, who was born in Barbastrad.
The Diocese of Barbastro also places this decision in the context of an effort of "convergence" and "communion", "always at the service of the pastoral care of all the faithful of Barbastro-Monzón".
Cardinal Matteo Maria Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops' Conference arrived in Washington D.C. on the 17th to carry out a peace mission in Ukraine entrusted by Pope Francis.
The Cardinal will be in the United States for three days to speak with American authorities about the current war in Ukraine and to discuss the implementation of joint humanitarian initiatives between the U.S. and the Holy See to alleviate the suffering of thousands of Ukrainians, especially children illegally deported to Russia.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Secretary, informed in a statement that President Biden will receive Cardinal Zuppi this Tuesday, July 18 at the White House. She said the two leaders will discuss the suffering of thousands of Ukrainians due to "the brutal war" and will also discuss humanitarian aid to be sent to the affected region. In this meeting at the presidential residence, emphasis will be placed on the repatriation of Ukrainian children.
Cardinal Zuppi will travel to the United States accompanied by an official from the Vatican Secretariat of State. Both envoys will also meet with ecclesiastical authorities in the capital. Cardinal Zuppi recently traveled to Ukraine on June 5-6 and to Russia on June 28-29 as part of his peace mission to Ukraine.
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Amy Sinclair: "History will judge us for the barbarity of abortion".
Amy Sinclair is president of the Iowa Senate in the United States. She has been fighting for years to defend life at all stages and in this interview she tells us that she believes that the fight against abortion is not only about legislating in favor of life, but also about changing the mentality of society.
Amy Sinclair is the president of the Iowa Senate, in United States. For years, he has been fighting to defend life at all stages. He believes that it is essential to legislate against abortion, but that it is also necessary for society to change its mentality about respect for life and the intrinsic dignity of every human being.
Sinclair firmly insists that to be pro-life is to be pro-women, since more than half of the babies who die in the womb are girls. She also believes that the abortion is a practical reality that requires taking care of all aspects of society: education, health, economy, etc.
In this conversation with Omnes, Amy Sinclair discusses the relationship between morality and law, abortion and its consequences in our society, and her career in American politics.
It can be difficult to talk about abortion, because it is very easy to fall into the realm of ideas and forget practical everyday details, such as money. How can we approach the abortion debate without forgetting reality, but also respecting ideas and values?
- For me, abortion is just a practical reality. We're talking about taking the life of an unborn child. And yes, that has an impact on the woman carrying the child, sure, and it has economic impact, economic impact, and all those things. I don't think we should stop having those debates, but the underlying reality is that the unborn is also a human being with dignity. It's a human being that deserves defense and respect.
So when we talk about laws that are put in place to talk about this procedure that ends a life, I think we have to be very practical in talking about it. In Iowa we have been very practical in dealing with abortion issues. If, in fact, we are going to say, as a state, that we are pro-life and that we want laws that defend life, we also have to be very practical in saying that we are pro-woman and that we want to defend those women who find themselves with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
We have passed laws that expand health care in rural areas. We have passed the "mother's law," which includes funding for support services for mothers before and after pregnancy, so that they have a support network to help them through an unplanned pregnancy.
The crisis pregnancy support center will stand with that woman and support her through the process. We have worked very hard to have a fiscal economy in our state that supports families, that helps families become more self-sufficient. And, in addition, we're working to find ways to expand access to childcare.
And it's not that any one of those things alone should be the reason a woman has an abortion. We want to remove those barriers that prevent mothers from being a productive citizen while having a child, and so those are all ways to support a woman while protecting and defending life.
Do you believe that religion is necessary to protect life and be pro-life?
- I don't think so, even though the United States has been a historically Christian nation, and Iowa is a traditionally Christian state. But I don't think that's necessary to identify the humanity of the unborn.
In every law I consider, in every bill I draft, there are usually moral implications for everything. We have laws against murder, against kidnapping, against theft. They are laws about morality.
So when we talk about abortion and restricting access to abortion, it is also a law with moral implications. But those moral implications are not necessarily linked to a faith. Abortion is not about a faith, it's about identifying the humanity of an unborn human being. It is about offering the same protection to the unborn that we would offer to a woman or a child who has already been born.
As a society, it is important that we do not single out one segment of humanity, as opposed to another, just because of its size or location. And I do not believe that it is necessary to be closely tied to a religion to intellectually understand that this is a human being worthy of protection by the community and society into which he or she has been incorporated.
What are your hopes and dreams, related to the protection of life, for Iowa in the future?
- We talk a lot about changing the laws, and to me that's an important part of this conversation, but I think we need to talk a lot about changing society. We have to make sure that, as a society, we understand the value of every single human individual. We have to understand that humanity is interconnected and that standing up for those unborn human beings should be a natural part of who we are as human beings.
So yes, I want laws that protect all people. That would be my wish and my additional wish would be that society as a whole would recognize the fact that even these unborn children are really human beings worthy of their place in society.
Do you consider that your career has been more difficult because you are pro-life?
- No, not really. My career depends on the fact that I have strong convictions, and those strong convictions are philosophically rooted in the value of the individual. I think I find it easier to get up and do the right thing every day because it is sincere beliefs that I have. Faith or no faith, I believe that a human being has dignity.
If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't bother doing what I do. It takes too much effort, too much time, too much energy to do something if you don't believe deeply in what you do. And I believe wholeheartedly in the value of each individual and all the work I've done in the Iowa Senate has been based on that belief.
What laws do we need to protect life in all its stages?
- I recently received an email asking me how I was going to protect a certain segment of society. My answer is the same for all segments of life and society. We must have laws that protect the individual human being. Whether it is providing a sound education, making sure that our state is economically vital, whether it is reducing government interference so that families can make decisions for themselves....
My answer is the same across the board. I want Iowa to be a state that fosters independence and economic vitality, as well as a well-rounded education.
Do you ever lose motivation?
- It's easy to get discouraged. Especially in the world we live in today, we are becoming politically polarized and having a two-party system in the United States probably increases awareness of the divide.
So yes, when I open an email with a death threat, it can be a little discouraging. But I come back to the idea that I do what I do for a purpose, and that purpose is valuable.
The heartbeat ands very important in your life, can you tell us about it?
- In Iowa we passed "heartbeat laws" for an easily understandable purpose. Personally, I would say that a human being begins when that unique individual is created at the moment of conception, that is my personal belief. Not everybody agrees with that, so we have to find common ground that will take us further down the path of protecting the individual. And in Iowa it was this heartbeat law.
There are two heartbeats that really had an impact on my life. The first was my father's heartbeat. My father died when he was in his early forties, so I was quite young when it happened. He had pancreatic cancer, he was in the hospital and his heart stopped. The doctors tried to resuscitate him, but they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead. They did not pronounce him dead before his heart stopped, it was only after his heart stopped beating, when they could no longer hear that sound, that indication of life, that they said he was not alive. As human beings, we identify that the beating of the heart indicates life, and the end of life.
The other heartbeat that was really important to me was my son. I am that woman that so many women say "you should have an abortion". I was a teenage mother. I was 19 when my oldest son was born. It definitely wasn't planned. It probably wasn't what I would have chosen at 19. It wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.
I went to the first prenatal appointment and they brought out the fetal heart monitor, put it on my belly and I could hear that rhythm, the beating of his heart. That was not me, it was easy to identify by the sound of that unborn child's heartbeat that it was a separate and distinct human being. It existed, though dependent on me, separate from me. It was easy to identify that life based on its heartbeat.
So if at the end of life, in the death of my father, we identify his death based on the fact that his heart no longer beats, how can we not also identify, as a civilized society, that the sound of a heartbeat beginning is an indication of life.
It was not my body and my choice. It was his body. It was my choice, but it was her body. The reality is that abortion is taking the life of another human being.
Do you think this fight will come to an end and the pro-life movement will win?
- I think ultimately history will judge us by the last 50 years. We are barbaric in our treatment of the unborn, and it's spilled over into our treatment of the elderly. And it has clouded our treatment of the young, in general.
In America we face a crisis of mental health, resilience, substance abuse and violent crime. And I think all of that can be related to the fact that we said you only matter if your mother loves you. We made human life dependent on the approval of another human being. We took away that intrinsic value when we said "we can kill you if it makes us happier."
As societies, we are seeing the results of that in substance abuse, in depression, in violent crime. I think these young people, perhaps not consciously, find it difficult to value themselves if society has not valued them before.
Bishop Aznárez Cobo: "The mission of military chaplains is to be pastor and father".
The Military Archbishop of Spain emphasizes that the commanders and members of the military corps "highly value" the work of military chaplains and stresses the right of the military to spiritual care that is appropriate to their particular way of life.
November 2023 will mark two years since Pope Francis appointed Juan Antonio Aznárez Cobo as Archbishop of the Military Archdiocese of Spain. The 61-year-old Eibar native had been auxiliary bishop of Pamplona and Tudela for nine years. His relationship with the military world had been reduced, until then, to his experience in the Compulsory Military Service and to certain celebrations.
He arrived at the military archbishopric in the midst of the pandemic and after the unexpected death of his predecessor, Bishop Juan del Río, due to the coronavirus. In these two years he has been able to know and love the military world, the pastoral work of few but dedicated priests and above all "the example of the Catholic lay men and women in their units and among their colleagues".
It will be two years since you arrived at the Military Archbishopric, how have you experienced it?
-The main objective when you arrive in a diocese, in any diocese, is to get to know the priests, the team of vicars, etc. In my case, it is also to visit the different units, academies, training centers for the troops, and so on.
The clergy is not very numerous in the Spanish military archbishopric, there are 82 priests (with me 83). There are also some retired priests who collaborate in pastoral work or priests who, without really belonging to the military archbishopric, lend a hand and help us.
I have been able to get to know the priests also thanks to the meetings that we hold annually in Malaga for the military clergy. My first steps have been the same as when you arrive at a parish: listen and see. All this to get an overall idea of how things are, the needs of the people and to know the ways of doing the work.
What did you find?
-A peculiar diocese, a precious pastoral work. Everything can be improved, starting with oneself (laugh). But it is a very nice reality that serves the personnel working in the different corps of the Army, Navy, Civil Guard and National Police. We do it with the corresponding limitations because we have the clergy we have.
Personally, I have felt welcomed, both by the clergy and by the commanders and the soldiers and policemen with whom I have come into contact. They are very grateful, hardworking, very respectful and, in many cases, believers.
We have a large demand for the sacraments of Christian Initiationespecially for the sacrament of Confirmation, but also a still small but growing number of baptisms, etc.
Men and women who are not baptized and want to enter the Church, attracted by the example of companions, relatives or because, in the case of the baptized and not confirmed, what they had sown in their hearts bears fruit, and they see the convenience of being strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation.
There is a lot of work to do. In general, they work very well, I see dedicated priests. But not only them, the example and the work of the Catholics who live in these environments is very important. From the boy or girl who enters a Troop Training Center to the JEMAD.
Some say that, in a non-denominational state, the military archbishopric is a figure "of the past".
-Not at all. The peculiarity of the lives of these people is what justifies the existence of the Military Archbishopric. We are talking about people who, in many cases, have a great mobility. And a peculiarity of life, of service, of all that military life entails. A clear example is the peace missions abroad.
These people have every right to be accompanied and assisted spiritually. We are there to serve and, today, most of them appreciate and value this service of the Church.
The military archbishopric is present in some territorial dioceses. How is the relationship with the diocesan bishops?
-Very good! Full communion and full collaboration. It is a fraternal relationship, in the case of the bishops and myself. One of the characteristics of our diocesans is that they enjoy a double jurisdiction: they can avail themselves of the military jurisdiction or the jurisdiction of the diocese in which they are, so, for them, it is all advantages!
To give an example, on the feast of the Pilar, patroness of the Civil Guard, there are hundreds of celebrations and the diocesan bishop usually goes to the different places. The mission is the same for everyone: to bring Christ to the people.
In the case of priests it is similar. The military chaplains, when they are stationed in various places, present themselves to the corresponding diocesan bishop and place themselves, also, at his service. In fact, on more than a few occasions they carry out the strictly military mission and, if they can lend a hand, they do so. Moreover, they cultivate their contacts with other priests in the area to avoid the danger of isolation because, being so spread out, there are not many of them and the distances are great, this can happen.
Several young men are being trained for the priesthood at the Military Seminary. How do you see this seminary?
-It is small but alive. Obviously, I say what any bishop would say: "We want more vocations and we ask the Lord for them".
It must be kept in mind that there are two ways of access to the military archbishopric; at the present time, the military seminary would not be sufficient to provide for all the needs. In addition to the priests who are ordained within the military ordinariate, there are also those priests who feel called by the Lord to serve in this field and, once they have spoken with their bishop and with the permission of their ordinary, they enter temporarily. It is a service within the military archbishopric for 8 years, renewable. They are not incardinated in the Military Archbishopric of Spain, they continue to depend on the bishop of their diocese.
"Our diocesans have a double jurisdiction: they can avail themselves of the military jurisdiction or the jurisdiction of the diocese in which they are located, so, for them, it's all advantages!"
Bishop Juan Antonio AznarezMilitary Archbishop of Spain
We have talked about the work "on land", but another chapter is the missions or moments of great separation such as the voyages of a training ship. In these circumstances, what is the mission of the "pater"?
-On land, or away from home, the mission of chaplains is to be pastor and father. There are differences between the missions themselves. Some are more risky, you are far from your family..., sometimes there is a real risk of being wounded or even losing your life, in an accident or an attack. All of this is a reality check. Big questions - and doubts - arise when faced with the reality that tomorrow you may not be able to return. This often helps to rethink life, and to meet the Lord.
The fact that there is a person you trust, who will not tell you anything, to whom you can go to unburden yourself, the possibility of having recourse to the sacrament of Confession, the Eucharist..., everything is of great value to these people.
Many times, in addition, chaplains act as a "bridge" between the commanders and the soldiers, helping to solve personal or group problems or difficulties. This, for example, is very much appreciated by the commanders. In these cases, it is always very important that the chaplain is available.
What challenges do you see for the future of the Military Archbishopric?
-The priority is personal conversion. This is always the case. And after that, processes: Evangelization. The Christian does not come from Mars or poppies. It requires care and dedication: taking care of families, marriages....
It is very important to be committed to formation, even more so at this time when we often have a superficial faith. We need Christians with roots, rooted in Christ.
Therefore, I believe that this synodal process is important. What is synodality? Synodality is the Church, -the eckklesia-those called by the Lord. It is important to overcome the idea of an intimate Catholicism - only God and me. Of course, it must be God and me, but God and me with our brothers and sisters. We have each other's backs, as St. Teresa of Jesus used to say.
Pope Francis launches three years of celebrations in honor of Thomas Aquinas
From July 14, 2023 and for three years, the figure of the Angelic Doctor will have a series of key appointments with the aim of renewing and expanding the knowledge of one of the great Doctors of the Church.
Andrea Gagliarducci-July 18, 2023-Reading time: 3minutes
The appointment that stands out for all to see is that of July 18, when Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi, will be present at the abbey of Fossanova, as the Pope's envoy to the place where the saint died. Thomas Aquinas to commemorate the 700th anniversary of his canonization.
The celebrations began on July 14, in the medieval church of St. Thomas of Roccasecca, the first dedicated to the saint of Aquinas, where the Bishop of Sora - Cassino - Aquino - Pontecorvo Gerardo Antonazzo inaugurated the Jubilee of St. Thomas.
Jubilee indulgence
The Co-cathedral Basilica of Aquinas, where the relics of Doctor Angelicus are kept, has been defined a "Jubilee Temple" and, by decree of Pope Francis, plenary indulgence will be available there from July 14, 2023 to July 18, 2024.
But it is a jubilee, this one, that will be prolonged. If in 2023 we celebrate the 700th anniversary of the canonization of St. Thomas Aquinas, in 2024 we will commemorate the 750th anniversary of his death, and in 2025 the 800th anniversary of his birth.
This is a more unique than rare occasion for the three dioceses linked to Thomas: the diocese of Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo, where Thomas was born and where he took his first steps; the diocese of Latina, where the abbey of Fossanova is located, which was the place of his death; and the diocese of Frosinone, where Thomas spent time in his family's castle in Monte San Giovanni Campano.
Pope Francis has sent a letter to the three bishops of the dioceses Gerardo Antonazzo, of Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo; Mariano Crociata, of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno; and Ambrogio Spreafico, of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino and Anagni-Alatri, with which the celebrations of the triennium begin. To them Pope Francis entrusts two tasks: the "patient and synodal building of the community" and "openness to the whole truth".
Pope Francis writes that the Doctor Communis (another of Thomas' appellations) is "a resource" for the Church of today and tomorrow, basically echoing his call at last year's International Thomistic Congress to go out and rediscover the roots of Thomas Aquinas.
"Accompanied," the Pope added, "by the constant awareness that the truths of the faith, starting from the Uni-Trinity of God and the divinity and humanity of Christ, do not 'rest' on the intellect alone, but underlie the daily existence and concrete commitment of every believer in the Church and in society."
As a good Dominican, Thomas dedicated himself generously to evangelization, devoting himself unreservedly to prayer, serious and passionate study, impressive theological and cultural production, preaching, and responding to the requests made to him by his Order, the ecclesiastical authorities and the civil world, and his own acquaintances and friends".
The legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas
Pope Francis also recalls that Paul VI called Thomas "a luminary of the Church and of the whole world," and stresses that honoring Thomas in depth as an "ever-living source" means "concentrating on the study of the Work of St. Thomas in its historical and cultural context, and at the same time treasuring it in order to respond to today's cultural challenges."
Regarding the patient and synodal building of community, the Pope explains that "true synodality is growing together in Christ as living and active members of the ecclesial Body, closely united and connected to one another. A Church whose communitarian dimension is nourished and manifested in sacramental life and liturgy, in spirituality, in cultural and intellectual diakonia, in credible witness, in charity and in concern for the poorest and most vulnerable."
With regard, instead, to openness to the truth, Pope Francis asks us to live it in the wake of St. Thomas, who - as John Paul II wrote - "loved the truth in a disinterested way."
However, for Pope Francis, it must be emphasized that the "formidable legacy" of St. Thomas is "above all holiness, characterized by a particular speculation which, however, has not renounced the challenge of allowing itself to be provoked and measured by experience, even by the unprecedented problems and paradoxes of history, a dramatic and at the same time magnificent place, in order to discern in it the traces and the direction towards the Kingdom to come. Let us place ourselves, then, in his school".
Washington is the next stop for Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference.
The trip is part of the peace mission that Zuppi has received from Pope Francis "to promote peace in Ukraine and aims to exchange ideas and opinions on the current tragic situation and to support initiatives in the humanitarian field to alleviate the suffering of the most affected and fragile people, especially children," as the Holy See said in the statement issued to announce this trip.
Archbishop Zuppi departs on July 17, 2023 and will be in the American capital until July 19, 2023, sent by the Holy Father.
This is the third international trip that the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna has made in recent months as part of the mission entrusted by the Pope to promote and encourage a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. More than a year after the beginning of Russia's invasion of the Ukrainian nation, the victims are counted in the thousands and the displaced in the millions.
In Kiev and Moscow
Zuppi was in Kiev at the beginning of last June. On this first trip, his objective was to "listen in depth to the Ukrainian authorities on possible ways to reach a just peace and to support gestures of humanity that would contribute to easing tensions".
A few days later, at the end of June, Moscow was visited by the Cardinal on a trip that aimed to "encourage gestures of humanity, which could contribute to favoring a solution to the current tragic situation and finding ways to achieve a just peace".
Although the Holy See has described the results of the two visits as "satisfactory", the reality is that the conflict is still ongoing and there seems to be no hope for a cessation of the attacks in the near future.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi
Cardinal Zuppi, of Roman origin, comes from the Sant'Egidio community: in 1973, as a student at the Virgilio classical high school, he met the founder Andrea Riccardi. From that moment on, he became involved in the various activities of the community, from the popular schools for marginalized children in the slums of Rome, to initiatives for the elderly alone and not self-sufficient, for immigrants and the homeless, the terminally ill and nomads, the disabled and drug addicts, prisoners and victims of conflicts.
A graduate in Literature and Philosophy from the University of La Sapienza, he graduated in Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University. For ten years he was parish priest of the Roman basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere and general ecclesiastical assistant to the community of Sant'Egidio: he was mediator in Mozambique in the process that led to peace after more than seventeen years of bloody civil war.
In 2012, after two years as parish priest in Torre Angela, Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Rome. Francis elected him archbishop of Bologna in October 2015 and four years later, on October 5, 2019, created him a cardinal.
The Sistine Chapel is the most famous chapel in the world. Every scene shown on its walls has a double or even a triple meaning.
The side walls are the work of geniuses such as 'il Perugino' or Sandro Botticelli. But over them dominate by their majesty the Creation and the Last Judgment of Michelangelo.
Do you want to know more about this marvel? Don't miss the video.
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We interviewed Maria Gonzalez Dyne, Alpha International's Director for Europe, Middle East and North Africa, a Spanish Catholic woman who has lived in the UK for the past few years and will be celebrating her first anniversary in the United Kingdom. Silver Jubilee working intensively on the next WYD in Lisbon
Marta Isabel González Álvarez-July 17, 2023-Reading time: 8minutes
His life changed when he volunteered in El Beni (Bolivia). From that moment on, he decided to dedicate himself to others and to fight against the inequalities of this world. "making life difficult for themselves" through international development cooperation and solidarity to bring the Kingdom of God to all people.
Maria Gonzalez Dyne has spent a large part of her professional life between Caritas, Manos Unidas y CAFOD. But just over a year ago, her life was turned upside down when she agreed to become the new head of Europe, Middle East and North Africa and Deputy Global Head of Alpha International Catholic ContextThis is something that never crossed his mind when he did his first "Alpha Course" in Kenya, twenty-five years ago.
She has just turned fifty, has three children attending university and the whole family considers themselves "parish people", they love to sing at celebrations and their "little piece of heaven on earth" is Taizé where they escape whenever they can to breathe the peace, simplicity and silence of this ecumenical community in the South of France. But next August, he will celebrate his Silver Jubilee working in the Lisbon World Youth Day (WYD).
What would you highlight from these years in terms of your professional and vocational life?
-These years my life has been anything but boring! I feel tremendously fortunate and grateful to have had the opportunity to live my faith and vocation and put it at the service of the Church throughout all these years. When I was young, I remember how I was impacted by the visit and witness of some missionary nuns from Africa to my parish. I graduated in Biology with the desire to "find a vaccine for malaria" but it was on my first trip to the jungle of El Beni (Bolivia) in the mid 90's, where I could really see so much inequality.
I decided to change direction and put biology aside to continue my training in the world of development cooperation and humanitarian aid in order to do my bit, and above all, to support the local Church in its efforts to combat poverty and social exclusion.
Over the past 20 years, I have had the good fortune to work for large Church organizations (Caritas, Manos Unidas, CAFOD), travel to different countries around the world and see how their support and accompaniment of so many organizations and local Churches transforms lives.
I feel privileged to have met so many exceptional people, "saintly" people in so many corners of this world, people who give their all without expecting anything in return, who fill you with hope and shower you with love wherever they go and although they may go unnoticed in social networks or other media, they certainly leave their mark.
Today I work at Alpha International and my work focuses on the field of "New Evangelization". 25 years ago, when my husband and I were living in Kenya, some friends invited us to do an "Alpha Course" to explore the fundamentals of the Christian faith. We were really impressed with this "tool of first proclamation" and saw the great impact it had on so many people who were far from the faith or atheists. Today, 30 million people worldwide have taken an Alpha Course.
Audience of Alpha members with Pope Francis.
Tell us exactly what is Alpha International, what is its objective, when was it born? And how is it present in Spain?
-Alpha International is an organization based in London and present in more than 140 countries, whose origins date back to the early 80's, and was born in the heart of the Anglican church, in a context of great secularization and social decline; spreading its use in a very short period of time among other Christian denominations.
Alpha exists to equip and serve the Church in its evangelizing mission so that people may have a personal encounter with Jesus. The course is free of charge: 15 sessions in 11 consecutive weeks and one day of retreat. The group or groups that are formed (approximately 8 - 12 people) meet for dinner or lunch together, followed by a time of discussion/video and then ending with a time of reflection and questions. The title of the first session is entitled: "Is there more to life than this?".
Listening is one of the most important elements of Alpha, as well as the action of the Holy Spirit. The videos and materials are of very high quality and have been contextualized and translated into more than 120 languages. Alpha is also conducted in a large number of prisons around the world, giving access to the Gospel to those deprived of their freedom. Alpha has helped develop other courses such as "Alpha Youth, a course for couples or for parents, among others.
In Spain, it is better known as "Cenas Alpha". and is a tool that hundreds of church organizations and institutions, as well as thousands of parishes (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox), use to make Jesus known in a fun, entertaining and relaxed way without any kind of prejudice or pressure.
At our countryIn the last three years alone, more than 40,000 people have taken Alpha courses, and it is a resource offered free of charge to parishes in their evangelizing mission. In 2022, almost 300 parishes and churches took Alpha courses, and many of them repeat it two and three times a year, seeing how the community is growing and getting involved in other ministries of the Church.
"Alpha helps change the culture of our parishes so that they can move from maintenance to mission," so says one of the priests who most highly recommends Alpha as a tool for pastoral transformation, Fr. James Mallon.
Who is behind Alpha International and how is it financed?
Alpha International is an international federation registered as a non-profit association in the United Kingdom and linked to the Church where Alpha was created; Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). Alpha's mission is summarized in Matthew 28: 19: "Go and make disciples of all nations...".
Alpha's vision is the evangelization of nations, the revitalization of the Church and the transformation of society. In this sense, each of the national offices that constitute Alpha International has its national office and National Council (formed by volunteers passionate about evangelization); being these governance teams who ensure a transparent management of its resources.
It is financed through contributions and private donations from individuals and institutions that support evangelization and has a very broad network of volunteers, which allows Alpha to be present in the vast majority of dioceses and support parishes, congregations, schools and any Christian entity interested in spreading "the good news".
Last year alone, more than 1.5 million people around the world had the opportunity to meet Jesus through Alpha.
Ultimately, those behind Alpha are thousands of people who dedicate their time, labor and financial resources so that others have the opportunity to explore the Christian faith and have a personal encounter with Christ.
Alpha has really resonated with young people, how do you work with them and how was your meeting a year ago with Pope Francis in Rome?
-For Alpha, working with youth and young adults is one of our most important pillars. Of the more than 63,000 courses that took place last year, 35% were from "Alpha Youth". We believe that everyone, everywhere, should have the opportunity to discover Jesus and age should not be an impediment.
The social, economic, political and cultural landscape is changing rapidly, especially in the last five years. The global pandemic has accelerated these changes, and more and more young people are relying on technology and social media for communication, education and community interaction, often relegating faith to the background or discarding it.
It is in this context that we consider it essential to develop new ways to reach out to these new generations of young people, with new resources and technologies adapted to their context. Young people are not only the Church of today, but of tomorrow.
On August 5, 2022, the Holy Father received more than 300 of us, mostly young people, in a private audience. It was a very meaningful experience for all of us: despite the Pope's fragile state of health, we were moved by the fact that he decided to greet and shake hands with each and every one of the 300 people present! We were very touched by his words, to be honest: "May Jesus be your best friend, your companion along the way, may the living Jesus become your life, every day, forever.". With these words of Blessed Carlo Acutis he said farewell to us all "Please do not be photocopies, but originals, each of you. Thank you for coming.". To the unanimous shout of "Long live the Pope," Francis turned, smiled and gave his final blessing.
Now you will be present at WYD in Lisbon, what exactly will you do there?
-We are very excited to be present for another year and for the fourth time in a row at WYD. We will have a couple of stands in Lisbon, City of Joy - in Belem - where we will be able to welcome pilgrims and show them what Alpha is all about. The ultimate goal is that every young person feels inspired and called to evangelization and through Alpha, they can invite other young people to discover the faith, in a fun and impactful way.
At the Parroquia Nossa Senhora Dos Anjos, in Lisbon, Alpha will also have a group of young volunteers interacting with the pilgrim groups and, on large screens, different sessions of "Alpha Youth" in a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere.
Music and worship also play a major role in Alpha, where we will create a space where young people can worship and praise together. Alpha is not a movement, it is an instrument at the service of the Universal Church. During WYD, we want to offer the opportunity for parishes, priests and young leaders to get to know and experience Alpha, so that once they return to their parishes, movements or organizations, they can use this tool in their evangelizing work.
But you also organize large-scale events yourselves. Is it true that you filled the Royal Albert Hall in London this year?
-And so true. The "star" event of Alpha, is the Leadership Conferencewhere every year it brings together more than 5,000 people from all over the world at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is a unique, transformative experience that really touches the soul. No one leaves indifferent. This event is open to anyone who in any way occupies, or feels called to take a leadership role in a specific area of today's society, whether in the family, at work, in the Church, in politics, in the world of the arts ....
During two days, conferences and workshops are combined with moments of prayer, praise and worship, which seek not only to provide a space for an intimate encounter with God, but also to inspire, raise awareness, call to action and be a witness of God's love in our daily lives. It is always a joy to see bishops, priests, religious men and women of different Christian denominations and lay people united in prayer. Speakers such as Cardinal Raniero Cantalamesa, Cardinal Tagle, and other personalities from the Vatican have come on many occasions. During the pandemic, we had to do the Conference on-line, and what a surprise when we saw that more than 100,000 people had registered!
Alpha's Leadership Conference at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
What other events will you participate in and what is the 2023-2024 agenda for Alpha?
-In addition to WYD in August, Alpha will be present at the ecumenical event. Together 2023 promoted by Pope Francis and which will take place on September 30, in St. Peter's Square, and led by the Taizé Community, in the framework of the opening of the next Synod of Synodality. Alpha is part of the preparatory committee, and we hope that this prayer vigil will bring together young people from around the world in a spirit of unity.
To conclude Next year, we will be holding another Leadership Conference at the Royal Albert Hall on May 6 & 7, 2024.
But the most important date that we at Alpha have already marked on our calendars is April 17, 2033, just 10 years from now, when we will celebrate 2000 years since the death, passion and resurrection of our Lord.
Our Church is truly alive and the Holy Spirit is blowing strongly, fanning the flames in hearts and awakening new charisms and initiatives. Alpha is one more tool at the disposal of the Church to reach out to people who are farthest away in the faith. Nothing makes us more excited than joining efforts and working with other organizations and movements in the new evangelization.
The authorMarta Isabel González Álvarez
D. in journalism, expert in institutional communication and Communication for Solidarity. In Brussels she coordinated the communication of the international network CIDSE and in Rome the communication of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development with whom she continues to collaborate. Today she brings her experience to the department of socio-political advocacy campaigns and networking of Manos Unidas and coordinates the communication of the Enlázate por la Justicia network. Twitter: @migasocial
One of Cuba's national heroes whose life exemplified Christian values, Father Felix Varela, is on his way to sainthood. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared Father Félix Varela venerable.
Félix Varela was born into a military family in Cuba on November 20, 1788. His father, a Spanish subject, and his mother, a native of Cuba, died before Félix Varela was three years old. He moved to St. Augustine, Florida, with his grandfather and grandmother, who raised him.
At St. Augustine he would meet Father Michael O'Reilly, one of his first mentors, who taught him to play the violin and with whom he studied science, Latin and the arts, and with whom he would begin a solid humanistic and religious formation.
At one point, his grandfather suggested to young Felix that he follow his father's path and join the army. However, Felix was clear about his vocation: "I would rather save souls than join the army," the teenager replied. He returned to Cuba at the age of fourteen to attend the Royal Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio. And in 1811, at the age of twenty-three, Father Félix Varela was ordained a priest for the diocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana. Father Varela dedicated himself fully to his priesthood from the moment he was ordained priest until his death.
Weather in Cuba
He was a distinguished professor at the Havana seminary, considered "academically gifted" and versed in all the classics. In addition, he is credited with having carried out reforms in the Havana seminary, such as the renovation of the study of Thomistic philosophy.
Felix Varela was a philosopher, politician, patriot, prolific writer and skillful teacher who "was the first to teach us [Cubans] to think". And a man who lived all his virtues.
Father Varela was a prodigious social reformer, defender of human rights in Cuba and the U.S., promoter of Cuban independence, defender of immigrants and the poor, and a staunch opponent of slavery. But he believed that "freedom begins in the soul and the best weapons are spiritual".
In 1821, Félix Varela was elected deputy to the Cortes, an unusual position for a priest. At that time he advocated for Cuban independence and fought for the abolition of slavery. King Ferdinand forced him into exile and, although he narrowly escaped death, he found refuge in New York. He spent time in Philadelphia and Baltimore. His achievements were also impressive in North America. Father Varela founded the first Spanish-language newspaper, "El Habanero," and is often dubbed the "Benjamin Franklin of Cuba."
Felix Varela in New York
He spent the next chapter of his life serving in the Archdiocese of New York for thirty years and is believed to be "the first Spanish-speaking priest to serve in the Diocese of New York."
He became vicar general of the newly created diocese for his excellent work and dedication to the poor and immigrants. During his tenure there, Father Varela purchased a church and established other churches and schools, ministered to the burgeoning Irish-American Catholics and learned Gaelic to communicate with his parishioners.
Deteriorating health prompted Father Varela to return to St. Augustine, Florida, where he died on February 25, 1853.
Not only is he remembered as someone who "always made people feel important through his work, his thinking and his apostolates," Father Félix Varela was a man of heroic virtues. He had the capacity to unite people who were politically divided, and that in itself is a miracle," said Francisco Mueller, who is a member of the Father Varela Foundationwhich is a group dedicated to honoring the legacy of this beloved priest.
Father Felix Varela described himself as a "son of freedom," and we will soon describe him as St. Felix Varela.
WYD will be a "win-win world cup," says Pope Francis
On this Sunday, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Pope Francis encouraged young Argentines who will participate in the next WYD in Lisbon, to raise together "the cup of fraternity", in a "world cup that we all win", and to "experience in depth the longing of Jesus". At the Angelus, he lamented that we have "lost our memory" in the face of bombings and wars.
Francisco Otamendi-July 16, 2023-Reading time: 3minutes
At the Angelus today, July 16, the feast of the Holy Father, the Pope said Our Lady of Mount CarmelHe turned to Mary to "help us to be generous and joyful sowers of the Good News".
On the occasion of the feast of "Stella Maris, patroness of seafarers", many countries honor the "Queen of the Seas", asking her protection and protection in times of distress and difficulty. The Pope has written several tweets in social networks about the Virgen del Carmen and the sailors and fishermen.
"That of the 'sowing' is a very beautiful image, which Jesus uses to describe the gift of His Word," the Holy Father began his addressHe warned against the danger of discouragement. "Let us never forget, when we proclaim the Word, that even where it seems that nothing is happening, in reality the Holy Spirit is at work and the kingdom of God is already growing, through and beyond our efforts. Therefore, go forward with joy!".
"Let us remember the people who have placed the seed of the Word of God in our lives: perhaps it has sprouted years after we have encountered their examples, but it has happened precisely thanks to them!" the Pontiff continued.
In the light of all this, let us ask ourselves: "Do I sow the good? Am I concerned only with harvesting for myself or also with sowing for others? Do I sow some seeds of the Gospel in everyday life: study, work, free time? Do I get discouraged or, like Jesus, do I continue sowing, even if I do not see immediate results?", and he concluded by invoking the Virgin Mary.
Bombings and wars: "we have lost our memory".
The Holy Father also recalled that "80 years ago, on July 19, 1943, some districts of Rome, especially San Lorenzo, were bombed, and the Pope, the venerable Pius XII, wanted to go among the devastated people," he said.
"Unfortunately, even today these tragedies are repeated," Pope Francis said. "How is this possible? We have lost our memory. May the Lord have mercy on us and free the human family from the scourge of war. In particular, let us pray for the dear Ukrainian people, who suffer so much."
To the young people going to WYD Lisbon
Before the Angelus, Pope Francis received in audience young pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Cordoba (Argentina), on their way to WYD in Lisbon.
"You, like so many thousands of other young people who are heading to Portugal during these days, are bringing to life the motto that summons us: like Mary, you have risen up - you have left what you know: your families, your comforts - and you are setting out without delay to meet others (cf. Lk 1:39)," said the Pontiff, who will also attend WYD in early August.
"I would like to ask you," he added: "Did you realize that you are preparing to "play a world cup"? This "world cup" is very special, it is a friendly encounter in which there are no winners and losers, but we all win. Yes, because when we go out of ourselves and meet others, when we share - that is, when we give what we have and are open to receive what others offer us - when we do not reject anyone; then we are all victorious, and we can raise together 'the cup of fraternity'", he said.
"To live this World Cup intensely".
"During these days in Rome, before the start of WYD, you can see the footprints of many Christians who followed Christ to the end, of many saints who gave their lives for Him at different times in history," the Pope continued.
"I encourage you to live intensely this "world, this World Youth Day, which will enrich you with a great diversity of faces, of cultures, of experiences, of different expressions and manifestations of our faith".
"But above all," Pope Francis stressed, "you will be able to experience in depth the longing of Jesus: that we may be 'one' so that the world may believe (cf. Jn 17:21), and this will help you to bear witness to the joy of the Gospel to so many other young people who do not find the meaning of life or who have lost the way to move forward. I wish you a good game. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin watch over you. And please pray for me, and I will see you in Lisbon!
Omnes pages on WYD and the Marian Route
In the number of July-August Omnes of this year 2023, you will find several pages dedicated to WYD Lisbon, which starts on August 1st, with testimonies of participants of different nationalities, the agenda of the days and a comprehensive summary of the Portugal that hosts this world meeting.
Américo Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and president of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation, who will be created cardinal at the end of September, and the Spanish priest Raúl Tinajero, director of the Youth Pastoral Department of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
Omnes also offers a special issue dedicated to the Marian Route, which links the sanctuaries of El Pilar, Torreciudad, Montserrat, Lourdes and Meritxell, and which has become, since its creation, a means of promotion, not only of the sanctuaries but also of the surrounding counties and towns.
The authorFrancisco Otamendi
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The history of Our Lady of Mount Carmel dates back to 1251, when Mary appeared to the monk Simon Stock on Mount Carmel. From this apparition also arose the devotion to the scapular.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patron saint of the Navy since 1901. On July 16, the Navy celebrates a ceremony with a Eucharist and a floral offering in memory of "those who gave their lives for Spain", in addition to a flag swearing in. It also provides ships for the different maritime processions with the Virgin of Carmen that take place all over Spain on this date.
On the occasion of this celebration marineraWe are going to review a curious phenomenon: the submerged Virgins.
Submerged virgins in Spain
In Asturias we find a Santina submerged 8 meters deep in the lake Enol. The carving is made from the remains of melted guns and was placed in the lake in 1972. Also in the port of Pixueto (Cudillero) there is another Santina submerged in the Cantabrian Sea. On important festivities, different diving groups bring both Virgins to the surface to celebrate masses and processions.
In Valencia there is a Virgen de los Desamparados, patron saint of this autonomous community, submerged since 1977 in front of the lighthouse of the port. On the second Sunday of May, the Real Club Náutico de Valencia and the diving club GISED make a floral offering in her honor, taking bouquets underwater, as well as a mass and a prayer for those who have lost their lives at sea. The carving was made by Ignacio Cuartero Fernandez, member of the diving group GISED.
In Algeciras we find its patron saint, the Virgen de la Palma, submerged in a cave in the bay since 1999. The sculpture was made by the sculptor Nacho Falgueras. It has 110 cm and weighs 114 kilos. Every August 15 it is extracted and taken to El Rinconcillo beach for a pilgrimage. At midnight, a group of divers returns it to the grotto while fireworks are launched.
In Cadiz, on the beach La Malagueta, is submerged the patron saint of sailors, the Virgen del Carmen, ten meters deep. It is extracted every July 17 to be carried in procession to the parish of San Gabriel.
In Almeria there is also a Virgin of the Sea at a depth of 6 meters. It was submerged in 1980 and is approximately 13 centimeters high.
On the other hand, in the north, in the town of Bermeo (Biscay) is submerged since 1963 a replica of the Virgin of Begoña. It is located between San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and the islet of Aketz, at a depth of ten meters. The figure is by the sculptor Joaquín Lucarini, measures 1.2 meters and weighs 850 kilos. Every September 15, divers venerate the image.
In Galicia there are also examples of this custom. In the ria of Ribadeo there is a Virgin that was submerged in 2014 at nine meters deep for the feast of the Virgen del Carmen, in memory of those who have died at sea. The Virgin is made of granite, weighs 56 kilos and is located in a sunken yacht.
Also in the Ría Marín there is a submerged Virgen del Carmen. In this case, it was discovered in a cave by the Ferrol Diving Unit of the Spanish Navy while training in the estuary. In this case, it is not known how long this Virgin has been submerged or who placed it there.
Submerged virgins in America
In Mexico, between Coral Island and Rincon de Guayabitos, there is a carving of the Immaculate Conception. The immersion was carried out by the Sociedad Cooperativa de Producción de Servicios Turísticos and the figure belonged to Raúl Gradilla. In the place where it is submerged there is a buoy that indicates its exact location.
On the Mexican island of La Roqueta there is a submerged Virgin of Guadalupe. It has 2 meters and 450 kilos of weight, and its contours represent a fish. The carving was made by sculptor Armando Quezada Medrano and was placed in its marine altar on December 12, 1959. It is the first submerged Virgin of Guadalupe in all America.
Meanwhile, in El Salvador there are three Virgins submerged at a depth of 18 meters in Lake Ilopango. They were placed there, near Los Cerros Quemados, in 2012 by members of the diving school Oceánica. The handmade sculptures are of the Virgin of Fatima, Guadalupe and the Virgin of Sorrows, and measure approximately three meters in height.
In the north of Venezuela, in the archipelago of Los Roques, the Virgin of the Valley is submerged. It is made of bronze, is 150 centimeters tall and weighs 420 kilos. In Guatemala, in Lake Atitlán, the Virgin of Fátima has been submerged since December 14, 2006.
The Virgin by the reef, Philippines
On the coast of the Philippines there is a submerged Virgin next to a coral reef. It was placed there in 2010 by a group of divers with the intention of discouraging dynamite fishing, which was damaging the surrounding corals.
These are just a few examples of submerged Virgins. The custom spreads around the globe with the same purpose: to protect people who work at sea and to remember those who have died in the ocean.
César D. Villalobos: "The life of the Venezuelan priest has a capital "s" for sacrifice".
A native of Venezuela, a priestly vocation was not in his plans, but through an adoration group he came to know Christ and saw what God wanted of him. César is aware that pastoral work in his homeland requires great sacrifice.
César David Villalobos is a native of the Diocese of Cabimasin Venezuela. As he himself points out "The seminar was not a project for me. I had studied computer engineering and telecommunications. I dedicated myself to work but, over the years, I felt a void that money or work could not fill".
How did you decide to enter the Seminary?
-My family was, like many, "light Catholics. They attended church only for baptisms, first communions and funerals. Eventually, I returned to my parish and began to live the Mass and Eucharistic adoration. I met an apostolate group whose charism is the study of the Holy Scriptures, evangelization and Eucharistic adoration and contemplation. There, in adoration and intimacy with Jesus in the Eucharist, I understood that what was missing in my life was the love of loves.
Little by little I included Jesus in my heart and, with a little fear, I decided to try his way of life and heed the call to the vocation of the priesthood. At the age of 26 I entered the propaedeutic seminary of my diocese of Cabimas, Venezuela. After a few years, my bishop decided to send me to study at the University of Navarra and to train me in the Bidasoa International Ecclesiastical College.
In Venezuela, the Church is going through complicated times. How are the faithful and priests living these moments?
-The mission and spiritual work of priests today is a broad task because they have become great hopefuls of a people that is very weak and tired. The primary task is to evangelize the people, but also to look for ways to help and assist the most needy people. The life of the Venezuelan priest has a capital "s" of sacrifice.
Faith is lived in Venezuela. The great precariousness that fills our days does not extinguish it. The parishioners ask for the celebration of the sacraments. The apostolic movements within the parish are being refreshed and, like everyone else, we look for our hope in Jesus. Impressively, the youth continue to be the great lung.
What are the challenges facing the Venezuelan Church?
-Certainly, the situation in Venezuela is reserved, it has many difficulties and great challenges that must be solved in an adequate manner.
The Venezuelan Church faces several challenges amidst the current landscape. First, Venezuela is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis marked by shortages of basic services and violence. The Catholic Church seeks to support the affected population and provide humanitarian assistance while weighing some limitations.
Furthermore, the political polarization in Venezuela has affected all the country's institutions. In this sense, the Church must maintain its impartiality and continue to promote dialogue and reconciliation between the opposing parties.
Along with this, the Church in Venezuela has experienced limitations in its religious freedom. Its arduous task is to maintain a respect and defense of the rights of citizens, manifesting the right to freedom of worship.
At present, with so many challenges for Venezuelans, the Church seeks to reconcile, but also to console and raise prayers for our Venezuelan brothers and sisters who have fallen in search of a better life.
The country is immersed in an institutional and political crisis due to the lack of a consensual solution to the political crisis. The untiring work of Venezuelan priests has always been to achieve, through the intercession of the saints, the reconciliation of all Venezuelans. We long for a peace that can guarantee us a life of social welfare and professional development.
How does training in Spain help your work?
-Everything in seminary life is formative. We must always look for something to learn. Every hour that I dedicate to my formation I think of my country, my diocese of Cabimas, my people and my brother seminarians. My heart is the national tricolor. It will be of great benefit to help and transmit with charity what I have learned. It is an opportunity from God that through my bishop I can study and then help and give it all.
Lucio Fontana is an innovative artist, and his ceramic work known as the "White Way of the Cross" is an example of freshness and drama comparable to other famous Stations of the Cross in Christian art. The author presents this creation in the context of some considerations on sacred art, a complex field in which very diverse approaches coexist.
When I was asked if I would be interested in writing a column on contemporary sacred art for Omnes, I immediately thought it would be a difficult but exciting job. The editor of the magazine told me that the idea would be to feature, in each article, an artist who, in my opinion, could be considered interesting from a Catholic perspective. Let me begin by saying that my way of looking at contemporary sacred art is not made up of certainties, but rather of an awareness of the complexity of the subject.
Trends in sacred art
Christian sacred art, that which contributes to the creation of liturgical space, or that which serves as an aid to collective or personal devotion and prayer, is an art that has a precise purpose and touches very sensitive aspects for communities and individuals. The Western tradition, that is, the Catholic tradition, has allowed, unlike the Orthodox tradition, great flexibility to experiment and adopt styles that have changed with time and space. Each artistic revolution, each style, has expressed its own "way" of dealing with the sacred, both in terms of liturgy as of devotion.
But more recent Western art seems to have been less interested in the sacred, although it has developed currents, movements, artists who have proposed an art that, more or less accepted by critics and the public, testifies to a presence. Some of these artists have meditated with the subject of the sacred, sometimes in a provocative and even irreverent and disrespectful way, in many other cases with a sincere interest.
Terracotta Fontana Way of the Cross
Faced with contemporary artistic movements, and with some Christian artists who are interested in traditional sacred art, a contrast has arisen that has been reflected in the Christian faithful and in those who have the responsibility of channeling the new artistic production: on the one hand, those who believe that we must be open to new proposals, to a new sensibility that, on the other hand, is far from being univocal, being as fragmented as the contemporary art scene is today; others, instead, have looked backwards, thinking that we must return to the art of the 19th century, figurative, narrative, in line with the Western tradition.
The latter, that is, those that for convenience we will call traditional, refer in turn to different traditions; some look to the Christian East, to the icons, others to the Middle Ages, others to the Renaissance, or to the 19th century, which was also the era of neo-Gothic, neoclassical, neo-Renaissance, neo-Romanesque....
The Church's approach
I do not know what is appropriate to do today in this field, and what is not. It is up to the artists to think, to propose, to reflect, obviously together with their principals, the religious communities of reference, and also with those who have studied the subject, for example by teaching the subject of contemporary sacred art in a school of sacred art. Art is a complex phenomenon that cannot be reduced to recipes or schemes. But this does not mean that one cannot reflect and find arguments to consider that an artist, or a work, is more or less suitable for liturgical use, within the faith and also within the Western Christian tradition, in a "here" and in a "now" that varies and that also (but not only) depends on space and time.
What I have just affirmed is that Christian sacred art, in the Catholic tradition, is linked to the culture that changes with the times and places. This is argued in a magisterial document of the Second Vatican Council, which states, among other things, that the Catholic Church does not have an artistic style of reference, because the style must be the one most in keeping with the faith and the dignity of the celebration, but also in keeping with the specific cultures.
In fact, the Constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium" states in point 123 that "the Church has never had a particular artistic style as her own, but, according to the character and conditions of peoples and the needs of the various rites, she has admitted the artistic forms of every age, thus creating, down the centuries, an artistic treasure to be preserved with every care. The art of our own time and of all peoples and countries must also have freedom of expression in the Church, provided that it serves with due reverence and honor the needs of sacred buildings and sacred rites. In this way, it will be able to add its own voice to the admirable concento of glory which exalted men raised in past centuries to the Catholic faith".
Fontana's Way of the Cross in glazed ceramics
This is the reason why these themes are complex and demand great respect, without schematism and without seeking ways and forms that are universal or immutable. God is infinite and eternal, but the ways we have of representing him are not infinite and eternal, because they depend on matter, techniques and culture, which refer to the richness of God but do not exhaust it, not even in a poetic or symbolic way.
If this were not so, God would become an "object" that we possess and that we delimit. If God is infinite, infinite will be the ways of referring to him, and some of them will be more adequate to the sensibility and taste of a people, in an epoch. To put God in an aesthetic scheme is tantamount to turning him into an idol. Moreover, it is necessary that Christian art be incarnated, just as the Word of God was incarnated, assuming a human form that used a way of dressing, of speaking, of manifesting himself, which was and is as significant for his contemporaries as it is for us.
Ambiguous terms
The question of sacred art, that is, of the relationship between God and human cultures, is also complicated by the fact that there is no clarity about the terms used. Sacred art is a very broad and somewhat ambiguous expression. Some scholars prefer to speak of liturgical art (and then it is necessary to specify which liturgy we are dealing with), of religious art (and here it is necessary to understand which religion we want to deal with, because even within Christianity there are different visions, from Orthodox to Catholic, passing through the different and specific visions of the Protestant churches). Art in the service of the Church, and of the churches indeed, reflects, and in a certain way amplifies, the existing differences, but it should also highlight the points in common.
Lucio Fontana and the "White Way of the Cross".
Having made this preamble, I will move on to the first artist I propose: Lucio Fontana (Rosario di Santa Fé, Argentina, February 19, 1899 - Comabbio, Italy, September 7, 1968) and his "White Way of the Cross".
Fontana White Stations of the Cross
Why do I propose Fontana? The reason is simple: he is an artist who experimented and innovated. Argentine by birth, he came from an Italian family of sculptors who worked for the funeral industry in Rosario: his father, originally from Varese, had married an Argentine actress, Lucia Bottini, also of Italian origin. Lucio studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. He is a model student, very good in figurative art, but as soon as he graduates he will take completely different paths, with a search that he called "spatial".
Fontana breaks with tradition, in this he is very contemporary. The break with tradition is not really an element of absolute novelty because, especially in Western art of every era, artists have distanced themselves in an innovative way and in a way that breaks with the generation that preceded them. In contemporary art, the break is with classicism, with the so-called academic art, often returning to the "primitives". Fontana would become famous for the cuts on the canvas, which in his intention were a quest to go beyond, not an act of disfigurement of pictorial art, as some have understood.
The Stations of the Cross as a theme in Fontana
Fontana was interested in the theme of the Stations of the Cross, and in fact he would make three of them in a fairly short space of time: the three-dimensional, very colorful, glazed ceramic, dated 1947, which belongs to a private collector and which Fontana executed "without any commission" - as the Italian art critic Giovanni Testori wrote - "driven, therefore, by his own very private tension and need"; the white Stations of the Cross, to which we want to refer here, dated 1955-1956, and which is in the Diocesan Museum of Milan; and, finally, the terracotta one of 1956-1957, with 14 oval stations, currently in the church of San Fedele in Milan.
Another scene of the white Stations of the Cross
I find the white Stations of the Cross the most effective, with its octagonal stations - a clear reference to the resurrection and the eighth day - emerging from a homogeneous reflective surface, the white of the ceramic. The barely sketched figures, strongly dynamic, dramatic in their dazzling whiteness, are given even more force by the wise use of black and red. Fontana is a minimalist. He tries, with a quick gesture, to capture the essence. He says without exhausting, insinuates, postpones, urges a personal contemplation. The Way of the Cross is the story of Christ and, in a certain way, of every man. The figures emerge from matter, they are earth, they are dynamic, they move. And the artist's point of view also moves and, with it, the point of view of those who contemplate the works. Some scenes are at our visual height, others we can contemplate from above.
In this work, the artist moves the material in relief, but also uses engraving. The ceramic becomes something similar to a sketchbook. Great mastery of composition, but above all speed of execution and incisiveness. Obviously, in this case it is not a simple improvisation, because behind each scene there is much thought and reflection, which nevertheless takes shape quickly, to stimulate contemplation and personal prayer, with a freshness and drama that have - in my opinion - nothing to envy to other famous Stations of the Cross of Christian art.
The Spanish proverb says that "in times of melons, keep your sermons short". A piece of advice that, at this time of year, more than one person is missing in practice.
July 15, 2023-Reading time: 3minutes
Having a child finish his or her academic education is one of the happiest moments in a parent's life, but the recent graduation of one of my offspring was about to become the worst day of my life because of one of the speakers.
The atmosphere before the event was the same as so many times before: proud parents and grandparents competing for the seats closest to the stage, young people in their best clothes taking selfies while flirting with each other, while the janitor and the "smart" student finished testing the microphone and the projector.
The event went on, as usual, with the usual thank-you speeches, the ayes about how we have grown up, the inside jokes at which outsiders can only smile stupidly, and the round of applause that goes up and down after each nomination and investiture of scholarships.
About two and a half hours later, when most of us were no longer feeling our butts and the prostatics had not been able to avoid publicly manifesting their ailment, the speech of the person in charge of the academic thing began. As he approached the microphone, his eyes sparkled brighter than Michael Scott's in The Office in such circumstances. It was his moment and he knew it. The bromance he was about to unleash on us in honor and glory was going to be of biblical dimensions. I decided to take the opportunity to close my eyes and rest, as the rush to not be late for the event had prevented me from taking my traditional afternoon nap. But the speaker's words kept hitting me: clichés, irritating diction sprinkled with crutches, unfunny jokes, allusions to extemporaneous topics?
I looked at the clock and the second hand seemed to have stopped. The tingling in the right leg had already passed to the amputated level. The phantom limb was sending out signals, however, as the knee was digging in with that peak of the front seat molding. I glanced left and right, looking for a possible emergency exit, but the long line of guests on either side made it impossible to escape without becoming the center of attention in the auditorium. The lack of air conditioning gave me a feeling of suffocation and an uncomfortable excess of sweating. My heart began to race to critical levels. The speech, which I heard already distorted and echoing, continued to string together inane phrases: "we have lived through a pandemic", "the future is yours"....
"Bastaaaaaa!" -I shouted as I struggled to my feet (I remind you that I was medically lame at this point). "For God's sake, I can't take it anymore, please stop it!" I exclaimed to the astonished gaze of my wife and mother-in-law. The whole audience turned to me, gladly, putting aside the cell phone they had been consulting for a while, because at last something interesting had happened in the last half hour.
"There is no right! -I continued. We have come here to celebrate a party, to spend some time rejoicing with our families for the achievements of our children. But you have taken advantage of the fact that we are a captive audience, that out of politeness and out of respect for our children we put up with whatever it takes, to give us an unbearable bore. I want you to know that it is unworthy that a person like you, who represents an educational institution, has so little education as not to have minimally prepared a few words that say something. Stop it, for God's sake!
I had not finished sobbing this last sentence when the support of my dumb leg failed and I fell from the top of the auditorium where I was sitting to the stalls. The shock of the fall woke me up with a jolt, coinciding with the applause that the audience, oblivious to my reverie, gave to the speaker who had just finished his speech.
I took the opportunity to stand up and irrigate, this time for real, my lower extremities while applauding, with tears in my eyes, the end of that unforgettable speech. The octogenarian who was sitting next to me, clapping her hands with elbows to my belly, let out an ironic "in time of melons, short the sermons".
And this was, in short, the phrase on which I wanted to base my article on homilies today, but I have run out of space. So I have nothing more to say. Just that if this summer, at Mass, during preaching, you see a man stand up in the pew and shout "¡Bastaaaaaaaa!", don't listen to me. It's just a dream.
Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.
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United States allows the sale of contraceptives without prescription
The FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) has approved the dispensation of the contraceptive pill without a prescription. The Bishops' Conference immediately responded with a statement on this "violation of the Hippocratic oath".
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved the dispensing of the contraceptive pill without a doctor's prescription. Specifically, it is the Opill pill that can now be purchased in pharmacies without a doctor's prescription.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reacted immediately to the news, publishing a press release signed by Bishop Robert E. Barron. The chairman of the Commission on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth denounces in the note that this action by the FDA "goes against responsible medical practice and women's health concerns."
The risks of this decision
Barron noted in the release that there are studies that indicate that the risks of taking the pill far outweigh the benefits. The bishop insisted that there is "strong evidence of the many detrimental risks of hormonal contraceptives to women's health."
The USCCB note harshly concludes, "Allowing this hormonal contraceptive to be dispensed over-the-counter - without physician supervision and against mounting evidence of many harmful side effects - violates the Hippocratic Oath by putting women's health at serious risk."
FDA's point of view
For its part, in the FDA statementThe U.S. government agency believes that "the approval of this progestin-only oral contraceptive pill provides an option for consumers to purchase oral contraceptive medications without a prescription in pharmacies, convenience stores and supermarkets, as well as online. This decision applies only to the Opill pill, as all other contraceptives are still subject to prescription.
The FDA justifies its approval of this new measure on pregnancy statistics. According to the agency, "nearly half of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended." This has negative perinatal and maternal effects, "including reduced likelihood of early prenatal care and increased risk of preterm delivery, with associated adverse neonatal, developmental, and infant health outcomes."
Side effects of contraceptives
At the end of the statement, the FDA lists the various side effects of the Opill pill, including irregular bleeding, dizziness, abdominal pain, cramps and prolonged bleeding.
However, they only advise against its use in very specific cases, such as if the woman has cancer, is pregnant or is already undergoing hormonal contraceptive treatment.
Pope Francis in Marseille, plurality as a resource
During a meeting with Vatican journalists, Archbishop Patrick Valdrini outlined the key aspects of Pope Francis' upcoming trip to Marseille to participate in the "Mediterranean Meetings".
"The Mediterranean Meetings". This is the title of the initiative promoted by the Archdiocese of Marseille following the two meetings of reflection and spirituality convened by the Italian Bishops' Conference: "Mediterranean Frontier of Peace" (Bari in 2020 and Florence in 2022).
The event, from September 18 to 24, will be attended by Pope Francis. In a statement, the French diocese reports that bishops and young people from 29 countries will participate.
The aim is to "bring together the five shores of the Mediterranean to reflect together on the major challenges it faces, to make the most of the resources at its disposal and to open up new paths of peace and reconciliation in which the Churches have an essential role to play, at the service of the common good".
The whole week will be animated by a Festival of the Mediterranean that will be held in various places in the city: "exhibitions, concerts, testimonies, prayer vigils, shared meals, will be opportunities to soak up the "message" that is the Mediterranean in general and Marseille in particular, a city-laboratory of fraternity".
Finally, the event in the presence of Pope Francis: on Saturday, September 23, in fact, the Pontiff will participate in the plenary meeting of the Assembly of Bishops with young people, then - the statement continues - he will participate in a moment of prayer for those lost at sea in the church of Notre-Damede-la-Garde (Our Lady of the Guard), the great basilica overlooking the city, and finally he will preside at a Mass open to all.
"The visit of the Holy Father will be for Marseille and for everyone the occasion to bear witness to a message of hope, motivated by the ability of the people of Marseille and the French to live plurality as a resource and not as a threat." These were the words of Monsignor Patrick Valdrini, who spoke this morning at a meeting promoted by the ISCOM Association with Vatican journalists.
Born on July 6, 1947 in France to an Italian father and a French mother, he was ordained a priest in 1972 for the Diocese of Verdun (France). He is rector emeritus of the Institut Catholique (Paris) and professor emeritus of Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University, as well as honorary president of the Consociatio Internationalis (International Association of Canon Law Scholars). In January 2022, the Holy Father appointed him one of the Consultors of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Positive secularism, communitarianism and coexistence
There are three key concepts recalled by Valdrini, useful to frame, also from a historical and legal point of view, the context in which the September event will take place, also taking into account the news events that question the relations between religions, the role and weight of Islam, the theme of integration and multiculturalism.
First of all, the concept of positive secularity. "In Nicolas Sarkozy's speech at the Lateran Palace," says Valdrini, "positive secularity is presented as the objective to guarantee freedom of conscience. It was not necessary to change the law of separation. Positive secularism is an attitude: not to consider religions as dangerous. Positive secularism is a method, by which the State must seek dialogue with the great religions of France and have their daily life as a guiding principle".
Second, the bogeyman of communitarianism. France has a long history of immigration: making foreigners French is still a guiding principle of immigration policies, albeit more cautiously in recent decades.
Valdrini points out: "France does not like communitarianism, and does not even collect "ethnic statistics", for example on school results, for fear of constructing distinct population categories. The republican idea of the nation as the common mother of all citizens remains a guiding star, even and especially with respect to immigrants."
In the logic of a Republic that dictates the rules of coexistence, France, after much controversy, has decided to resurrect its secularist version of secularism by imposing a ban on religious symbols in schools and other public spaces. "To the point of turning France into a country-symbol of the alleged confrontation between the West and Islam."
There -this is the third key concept-, one fact cannot be ignored: "the common French citizenship between 'residents' and fourth-generation Muslims", so that -concludes Valdrini- France is called to "find a way of coexistence, avoiding an orientation of exclusion and demonization and embracing that of pacification and the search for pragmatic solutions".
The same ones that Pope Francis, with his strength and moral authority, is preparing to reiterate in Marseille following his Magisterium on the theme of dialogue between religions and migrants.
Catherine Tekakwitha is a saint venerated by the Catholic Church. Born in North America, she converted at the age of twenty and consecrated herself to God. She lived a great love for the Eucharist until she died at the age of 24.
Catherine Tekakwitha was born in 1656 at Ossernenon, which was part of the Iroquois Confederation. This union of nations had its capital in present-day New York State. Catherine was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Indian (from eastern Canada). Her mother was a Christian, but her father was a pagan, so the young Indian did not really come to faith until she was eighteen.
At the age of four, Catalina lost her parents and a brother to smallpox. She also caught the disease, but managed to survive. However, her face was scarred and she had vision problems for the rest of her life.
Little is known of his childhood and adolescence. There are records of his baptism when he was twenty years old, two years after learning about the faith. He received the sacrament from French Jesuit missionaries.
After receiving the Catholic faith, he began to suffer rejection and abuse from his family. The situation became so extreme that he had to flee his village and walk 200 miles to a Christian village in Montreal (Canada) in 1677. There he cultivated a great love for the Eucharist and a penitent life, in favor of her people of origin who had rejected her.
Two years later, in 1679, at the age of 23, she took a vow of chastity. She died only twelve months later in Caughnawag, near Quebec. It is said that her last words were "Jesus, I love you".
She began to be venerated after her death and received the nickname "lily of the Mohawks". Pope Pius XII declared her venerable in 1943. Her beatification by John Paul II took place in 1980. Finally, it was Benedict XVI who canonized Catherine Tekakwitha on October 21, 2012.
A stained glass window depicts St. Catherine Tekakwitha in a church in Long Island, New York (OSV News photo / Gregory A. Shemitz).
St. Camillus de Lelis dedicated his life to the care of the sick, promoting in his congregation a love for the most vulnerable that allowed him to see the sick as Christ himself.
Pedro Estaún-July 14, 2023-Reading time: 4minutes
St. Camillus de Lelis was born in 1550 in Bucchianico, Italy. His mother was in her sixties when she gave birth to her son. He was tall for the time at 1.9 meters. He enlisted in the Venetian army to fight the Turks, but soon contracted a leg disease that caused him to suffer all his life. In 1571 he was admitted as a patient and servant to the incurable hospital of San Giacomo in Rome. Nine months later he was dismissed because of his unruly temperament, and returned to soldiering against the Turks. One of his vices was gambling. In 1574 he gambled in the streets of Naples his savings, his weapons, everything he owned and lost even the shirt he was wearing.
Forced into misery and remembering a vow he had made some time before joining the Franciscans, he went to work on the construction of a friary in Manfredonia. The preaching he heard there in 1575 led him to a profound conversion, when Camillus was 25 years old. He then began a new life. He entered the Capuchins, but the illness of his leg prevented his religious profession. He returned to the hospital of San Giacomo, where he returned to the care of the sick.
Hospital renovation
Hospitals at that time were very presentable buildings on the outside and sometimes looked like real palaces. But in the wards for the sick, the most elementary hygiene and cleanliness were unknown. The doctors of the time had a horror of the air. The service was neglected. Most of the nurses were condemned by justice and served their sentences working in that pestilence.
With Camilo everything changed. He was welcomed with open arms, after his "conversion"He was a nurse, at the same time that he medicated his ailment. And he showed such diligence and fraternal feelings towards the sick that he was soon appointed administrator and director of the establishment. He immediately took advantage of his powers to improve the situation of the center; each sick person had his bed with clean clothes; the food was greatly improved; the medicines were given with rigorous punctuality; and, above all, with his great heart, he personally assisted the sick, sympathized with them in their sufferings, consoled the dying and prepared them for their last hour, at the same time exciting the zeal of all, priests and laymen, in favor of those who were suffering.
Divine Inspiration
One night he had a thought (it was August 1582): "What if I were to gather some men of heart in a kind of religious congregation, to care for the sick, not as mercenaries, but for the love of God? Without delay, he communicated the idea to five good friends, who accepted it with enthusiasm. He immediately transformed a room in the hospital into a chapel. A large crucifix presided over it.
Other high-ranking leaders of the hospital did not take kindly to the saint's plan and dynamism; they prohibited the meetings of those gathered and dismantled the chapel, but did not oppose Camillo's taking the crucifix to his room, with a heart full of sorrow. Praying before it, he saw soon after that the Christ became animated and stretched out his arms to him, saying: "Continue your work, which is mine".
Definitely encouraged, he set out to move forward. He then decided with his companions to found a congregation: the Servants of the Sick. He realized, however, that in order to realize his desires, he lacked two conditions: prestige and independence. The prestige, he believed, had to be that of the priesthood. And for this reason he undertook the study of theology, which was taught at the time at the Roman College by the famous Dr. Robert Bellarmine. At the age of two he celebrated his first Mass. He became independent by leaving the hospital and renting a modest house for himself and his companions. From there they left daily to serve in the hospital of the Holy Spirit, whose vast wards housed more than a thousand patients. They did it with as much love as if they were healing the wounds of Christ. In this way they prepared them to receive the sacraments and to die in the hands of God.
Mission reinforcement
In 1585, the community having grown, he prescribed to its members a vow to care for prisoners, the infectious sick and the seriously ill in private homes. From 1595 he sent religious with the troops to serve as nurses. This was the beginning of war nurses, before the Red Cross existed.
In 1588, a ship with sick people with the plague did not receive permission to enter Naples; the Servants of the Sick went to the ship to assist them and died of the disease. They were the first martyrs of the new congregation. St. Camillus de Lelis also assisted heroically in Rome during a plague, which ravaged the city. In 1591, St. Gregory XIV elevated the congregation to the status of a religious order. St. Camillus prepared many of those men and women to die a Christian death by arranging for prayers to continue for at least a quarter of an hour after apparent death.
A sick person at the service of the sick
Camilo suffered a lot all his life. He suffered for 46 years because of his leg, which had been broken since he was 36 years old. He also had two very painful sores on the sole of his foot. Long before he died, he suffered from nausea and could hardly eat. However, instead of seeking the care of her brothers, she sent them to serve other sick people. He founded fifteen religious houses and eight hospitals. He had the gift of prophecy and miracles, in addition to many extraordinary graces. In 1607 he resigned from the leadership of his order, but attended the chapter in 1613. He died on July 14, 1614, at the age of 64. He was canonized in 1746. Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI proclaimed him patron of the sick and their associations, together with St. John of God.
The Order today has 1,770 members, including professed, novices and aspirants, spread throughout Europe, South America and China, among others, and cares for some 7,000 patients in 145 hospitals.
Reopening of the San Gabriel Mission in California
Priest John Molyneux, speaks at the beginning of the blessing ceremony of the interior of the historic St. Gabriel the Archangel Mission, which was nearly destroyed in an arson attack in July 2020.
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça appealed to "dialogue with the new, to work tirelessly on current issues and problems, and to become great laboratories of the future".
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education exhorts Catholic universities to "renewal" with "conscience", looking to tomorrow with "hope".
The Catholic universities of today and tomorrow are called to "dialogue with the new, to work tirelessly on current issues and problems, and to become great laboratories of the future". These were the words of Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça this morning, when he opened the work of the scientific colloquium organized by the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities at the headquarters of the Catholic University of Milan.
The address of the Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education was intended to provide an overview of the broader theme chosen for the Colloquium, that of the much debated "Artificial Intelligence" and how it will influence the development and tasks of Catholic Universities of the future.
"Catholic universities are expected not only to actively guard the noble memory of times past, but also to be probes and cradles of tomorrow," Tolentino said addressing those present, among whom were prominent representatives of eight confessional universities from five continents: In addition to the Catholic University of Milan, the Australian Catholic University, Boston College, Universitat Ramon Llull, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Chile, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Sophia University and Universidade Catolica Portuguesa.
For the Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, in the current context for high-level educational centers it is necessary to learn to combine "renewal" and awareness", terms on which Pope Francis has also expressed himself on several occasions.
"There is no doubt," Tolentino reflects, "that the future requires an interactive vision, a multifaceted maturation of reality and the audacity to take risks."
To avoid the inevitable risks, in any case, it is necessary to 'strengthen an integral anthropology that inscribes the human person at the heart of the main processes of civilization'.
The great investment to be made, in short, "can only be a human one", starting with education, from which each person "can develop his or her cognitive, creative, spiritual and ethical potential, and thus contribute, in a qualified way, to the common good".
Another aspect underlined by the Cardinal is that of tending towards a "creative intelligence", accompanied by a "discernment that cannot be partial, nor improvised, but solidly founded on one's own values".
Finally, taking up again the Magisterium of Pope Francis, it is necessary to look to the future with "hope": "when hope is lacking, life is lacking. Those who live in the university world cannot afford not to have hope. Hope is our mission.
The Colloquium in Milan is attended by the rectors of the eight universities participating in the SACRU Alliance.
At the end of the event, a draft document will be prepared for the publication of a position paper outlining a shared vision on the impact of artificial intelligence and the role of universities, especially Catholic universities. The conclusions will be entrusted to the President and Secretary General of Sacru.
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a press release speaking about the bishop of Nicaragua Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa.
In the release, the chairman of the USCCB's Committee for International Justice and Peace, Bishop David J. Malloy, cited the injustice of Bishop Alvarez's detention. Malloy encouraged "the United States and the international community to continue to pray for the bishop and advocate for his release."
The committee chairman also praised the recently published ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which calls for the immediate release of the Nicaraguan bishop. On the other hand, Malloy pointed out that "the consensus of the international community is clear: the continued imprisonment of Monsignor Alvarez is unjust and must end as soon as possible".
To conclude the note, the bishop turned to the intercession of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of Nicaragua and the United States, so that "she may enlighten the hearts of all those responsible, and that her maternal mantle may protect the Church in Nicaragua".
The rector of the New Jersey cathedral called the faithful to pray the Holy Rosary for Nicaragua and the imprisoned bishop (OSV News photo / courtesy Damaris Rostran).
The feast of St. Teresa of the Andes is celebrated on July 13, in memory of her life dedicated to God from the Carmelite Order, where she embodied the evangelical spirit in an exemplary way.
Saint Teresa of the Andes was born in Chile on July 13, 1900, with the name of Juana Enriqueta Josefina de los Sagrados Corazones Fernández Solar. She had five siblings and was baptized in Santiago with the name of Juana Enriqueta Josefina de los Sagrados Corazones Fernández Solar.
From an early age, she lived her faith both at home and at school. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the age of fourteen she made the decision to consecrate herself to God as a Discalced Carmelite. However, she did not enter the monastery of the Holy Spirit, in Los Andes, until May 7, 1919. Just a few months later she began to wear the Carmelite habit and changed her name to Teresa of Jesus.
Saint Teresa of the Andes (Wikimedia Commons)
A month before his death, he spoke to his confessor and told him that Jesus himself had revealed to him that he would die soon. In spite of this, he lived with joy and serenity, trusting fully in God.
The novice caught typhus, which caused her great physical suffering. Her pain ended on April 12, 1920, the day she died after receiving the sacraments. She was still a few months away from completing her novitiate, although she made her religious profession "in articulo mortis" a week before her death.
A life of love
The life of this young woman passed quietly, without extraordinary events. The biography The Vatican's study of her explains that her holiness resides in the fact that "God made her experience his presence, captivated her with his knowledge and made her his own through the demands of the cross. Knowing Him, she loved Him; and loving Him, she gave herself to Him radically".
Her character was contrary, in many aspects, to the evangelical spirit. However, at some point "she looked at herself with sincere and wise eyes and understood that to be God's it was necessary to die to herself and to everything that was not Him".
It is said that "the holiness of her life shone in her daily acts, in the environments where her life developed". She tried to give herself with love to her family, in her studies, with her friends and with all those she met.
Once in Carmel, she found there "the channel to pour out more effectively the torrent of life that she wanted to give to the Church of Christ".
John Paul II celebrated her beatification in Santiago de Chile on April 3, 1987. A few years later, in 1993, St. Teresa of the Andes was canonized at the Vatican.
Spiderman Crossing the Multiverse & Spiderman: A New Universe
DirectorsJoaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
ScriptDavid Callaham, Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman.
Actors: Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Shameik Moore, Jaran Soni
Platform: Cinemas and Disney +
Buckle up and get ready to continue or discover the best Marvel saga to date.
When Spiderman appeared in theaters: A new universe (2018) there were mental and emotional sores from the donkey's ride that has been Marvel and its superheroes-unless you're a caffeinator, in which case get it checked out.
More superheroes. More Spiderman. And, moreover... in drawings!
But no. It turned out that we found ourselves with the jewel in the crown. An anime film, lovingly developed, with superb animation, great music and a good script. All the specialized movie sites have surrendered to this Sony production that brings something NEW to what we had been seeing and it was already like eating doughnuts without desire. In addition, the film won Oscars, Bafta, Golden Globes, Critics' Choice and Annie Awards.
Ironically, this is the best thing Marvel has ever done, and it's not even from Marvel. A total triumph that hooks you with story, rhythm and animation. A bath of joy, brilliance and excellence, weaving a tale full of good ideals and values (family, work, duty) without falling into sentimentality.
Introducing a new Spider-Man - it sounds terrible, but it isn't - named Miles Morales, this film saga - the third part of which will hit theaters in 2023 - tells the story of a Spider-Man fan who, through epic twists of fate and a spider bite, becomes Spider-Man.
Combining racial alienation (Morales is Dominican) and class alienation (scholarship in a rich school) with adolescent problems (mythical parallelism with his super heroism) but without falling into cheap moralizing, Spiderman is a breath of joy and fresh air that creates, pays homage, and reaches the pinnacle of cinematic entertainment.
The parable of the seed and the sower is one of Christ's best known and most graphic parables. This is helped by the fact that he offers a clear exegesis of it, something he did not usually do.. "He taught them many things in parables". Jesus used parables both to reveal and to partially veil his message. Thus, he told several parables about the kingdom because he did not want to be too clear when the Jewish people of the time were obsessed with a political and territorial kingdom, while he wanted to emphasize a spiritual and universal kingdom. That is why Jesus says: "to outsiders everything is presented in parables, so that no matter how much they may look, they may not see; no matter how much they may hear, they may not understand".. In other words, for those who are willing to understand, the parables give much light and vivid, graphic teaching: "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God."But, for those who are closed to God's grace, its meaning remains hidden.
In this parable that the Church offers us in today's Gospel, much emphasis is placed on the reality and even the risk of freedom.
Whoever has the foolish idea that everyone automatically goes to heaven has neither read nor understood this parable, let alone the next parable in this chapter (Mt 13), which speaks of the tares being burned in an eternal fire.
The seed expresses the various possible responses to Christ's word and invitation. He sows generously, abundantly; his grace is available to all. But people receive or reject it in different ways.
The seed can be devoured by the birds (the devil and his minions), fail to take root due to superficiality and softness, or be choked by the thorns of wealth and earthly concerns.
These are the three main ways in which souls fail to respond to God's grace. An immediate rejection: the seed does not even take root, because the soul is so hardened and so closed to spiritual realities. A second-stage rejection, in the case of weak souls, without roots, who can only believe in good times, but who fall away at every trial. Perhaps the danger we run most: the slow and subtle suffocation of faith when our soul is gradually strangled by the desire for riches and possessions, or by the problems and worries of life.
But there is another possible way: to receive the seed in good soil and bear fruit. This good soil is the acquired virtues, the good knowledge of our faith and the habits of prayer. How important is the role of parents in helping to create this good soil in their children, where the seed can take root and flourish. But even among good souls, the answer may vary, "thirty or sixty or one hundred percent". Let us be ambitious to bear as much fruit as possible, through practical works of love and growth in our prayer life.
Homily on the readings of the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
On July 11, 2023, at noon, the Holy See communicated that Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop for the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska. The ad comes after a year of vacancy in that territory.
In the Omnes magazine In this month's special report on the Church in Alaska, we reported on this vacant see.
The new Bishop of Fairbanks is Monsignor Steven Maekawa, a Dominican priest who, until now, was pastor of Holy Family in the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. An architect by profession, he entered the Dominican order at the age of 24. Seven years after pronouncing his vows, he was ordained a priest.
Pastoral assignments
Msgr. Maekawa has had several assignments throughout his ecclesiastical career. He was a member of the Provincial Commission for Dominican Vocations from 1999 to 2003. He was also part of the Provincial Council from 2003 to 2007, an assignment he held again from 2015 to the present.
For 5 years he was on the consultative group on sexual misconduct (2003-2005) , served on the provincial council for Dominican formation and chaired the Provincial Vocation Commission from 2007 to 2015.
The newly elected bishop has also held assignments in the U.S. Navy Reserve, serving as chaplain to various groups. This earned him a special active duty medal.
As of July 11, Bishop Maekawa begins his new apostolic assignment in Fairbanks, a 409,849-square-mile diocese. This territory, like Alaska as a whole, is considered a mission land for the Catholic Church, given the challenges facing pastoral care.
Steven Maekawa, new bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska (OSV News photo / courtesy Western Dominican Province)
Bishop Osius and his relationship with Constantine
Osius, bishop of Cordoba, was an important cleric of the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. who seems to have played an important role in the conversion of the Emperor Constantine.
Osius was one of the most influential Church figures in Christian society at the time of Emperor Constantine and his two immediate successors.
St. Athanasius, his friend, called him on several occasions the great, the confessor of Christ, the venerable old man. The historian Eusebius of Caesarea says of him that Constantine considered him the most eminent Christian personage of his time.
Consecrated bishop of Cordoba in 295, he attended the Council of Elvira in 300 and, three years later, was confessor of the faith during the persecution of Maximian.
At the court of Constantine
From 312-313 he was at the court of Constantine as an adviser on religious matters. Eusebius of Caesarea says that the vision that Constantine had in dreams before the victory of the Milvian Bridge, was the one that determined him to call to his side the priests of that God, in whose sign it had been manifested to him that he would win. Their influence in the conversion of Constantine and his doctrinal instruction must have been decisive.
Between 312-325 Osius constantly accompanied the emperor's court. He must have inspired the Edict of Milan (which granted Christians complete freedom and the return of the buildings that had been confiscated from them and the ecclesiastical immunity granted to the clergy), the repeal of the Roman decree against celibacy, the edict aimed at the manumission of slaves in the Church and the authorization for Christian communities to receive donations and legacies.
St. Augustine, in his work against the Donatist Parmenianus, reminded the survivors of the Donatist heresy that, thanks to the bishop of Cordoba, the penalties against them had been less severe than could have been foreseen at first. At the Councils of Rome in 313 and Arles in 314, the Donatists had been condemned and their theory that the validity of the sacraments depended on the dignity of the minister had been rejected (the schism had arisen from the challenge to the ordination of Caecilian under the pretext that his consecrator Felix was a traditor - an accusation that later proved false - and that he had therefore lost the power of order).
The Donatists did not accept the decisions of the two councils and therefore the emperor intervened and in 316 declared Cecilian innocent and ordered to confiscate the churches to the Donatists. These measures had to be moderated in 321. Osius must have advised the emperor in these measures.
A Greek school that excessively cultivated exegesis and dialectics without due depth and a series of erroneous deductions led the Alexandrian priest Arius -the most genuine representative of that school- to affirm that the Son begotten by the Father could not have the same substance nor be eternal like Him.
Osius and St. Athanasius
In 324, Osius was sent by Constantine to Alexandria and was hosted by the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander. At that time the friendship between Osius and Athanasius, then deacon, began.
Osius, impressed by the gravity of the situation, since it was nothing less than the denial of the Divinity of the Word, returns to the court of Constantine (then in Nicomedia), convinced of the orthodoxy of the teachings of Bishop Alexander. It is likely that he advised Constantine to convene a Council.
Osius attended the Council of Nicaea, whose sessions he presided over, probably in the name of the Pope, with the Roman priests Vitus and Valens. According to St. Athanasius, Osius was largely responsible for the proposal to include the term homousion, consubstantial, in the Nicene Symbol. And not only that; St. Athanasius, eyewitness, expressly affirms that the redactor of the Nicene Creed was Osius.
In 343 he presided over the Council of Sardica, in which an attempt was made to return to the unity broken by the Arians. But these did not accept the peace proposals, almost all of which were aimed at avoiding ecclesiastical ambitions, and they withdrew from the council and declared Osius and Pope Julius I deposed.
Defender of the faith before Constantius
Constantius, son of Constantine, when his brother Constantius died in 350, began to apply in his dominions the religious policy already followed in the East, of frank sympathy towards the Arians. Two Arian bishops - Ursacius and Valens - induced Constantius to banish Pope Liberius and to attack Osius.
Constantius wrote to Osius ordering him to appear before him (the emperor was in Milan). Osius appeared before Constantius, who pestered him to communicate with the Arians and write against the Orthodox. But, as Athanasius wrote, the elder... rebuked Constantius and dissuaded him from his attempt, immediately returning to his homeland and his Church.
Later the emperor wrote to him again with threats, to which Osius replied with a letter in which, among other things, he said to Constantius: "I confessed Christ once, when your grandfather Maximianus aroused persecution. And if you persecute me, I am ready to suffer everything rather than shed innocent blood and be a traitor to the truth... Believe me, Constantius, to me, who by age could have been your grandfather... Why do you suffer Valens and Ursacius, who in a moment of repentance confessed in writing the calumny they had raised?
Fear the day of judgment and keep yourself pure for it. Do not meddle in the affairs of the Church nor command us in matters in which you are to be instructed by us. To you God gave the empire; to us he entrusted the Church. It is written: 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's'. Therefore, it is not lawful for us to have dominion on earth, nor do you, O king, have power over holy things...".
Again the emperor intimated Osius to appear in his presence. The aged Osius set out on his journey and, about the summer of 356 or 357, arrived at Sirmium, where he met Constantius. Here Constantius confined him for a whole year, during which, according to the testimony of several Arians who composed Constantius' clique (Germinius, Ursacius, Valens, and Potamius, who were in Sirmium), Osius yielded to Arianism.
Death of Osio
St. Athanasius was then among the monks of Egypt and St. Hilary was exiled in the political diocese of Asia. In writings of these Fathers the idea, propagated by the Arians, is collected, which invites the suspicion that such writings were interpolated by Arians or their authors echoed what was said by the Arians who witnessed the events. In one of the writings of Athanasius, probably interpolated, it is said: "Constantius made so much force to the elder Osius and detained him so long at his side that, oppressed this one, he communicated with difficulty with the henchmen of Valensius and Ursacius, but he did not subscribe against Athanasius. But the old man did not forget this, for being about to die, he declared as in testament that he had been forced and anathematized the Arian heresy and exhorted that no one should receive it."
The name has been written in Latin, Hosius, derived, apparently, from the Greek Osios (saint), but the manuscript transmission gives Ossius, which leads to the Spanish form Osio.
Osius' whole life was concentrated on the defense of Catholic doctrine by word and action. This probably explains the scarcity of his literary production. We have preserved a beautiful letter full of integrity, addressed to Emperor Constantius in 354, of which some paragraphs have been reproduced above. According to St. Isidore, he also left an epistle to his sister in praise of virginity (De laude virginitatis) and a work on the interpretation of priestly vestments in the Old Testament (De interpretatione vestium sacerdotalium), which did not reach us.
His death must have taken place in the winter of 357/358. The Greek Church venerates him on August 27.
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United States Bishops' Spring Plenary Concludes
