Pope offers prayers for victims of Hawaiian fires
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As fires continued to burn on the Hawaiian island of Maui and as the death toll continued to rise, Pope Francis offered his prayers and his encouragement to firefighters and rescue workers.
UPDATE: Don’t be afraid to change the world, pope tells youths at WYD closing Mass
LISBON, Portugal (CNS) — To end “Catholic Woodstock” — as World Youth Day has been called by the Portuguese press — Pope Francis told 1.5 million weary-eyed and sleep-deprived young people in Lisbon not to let their “great dreams” of changing the world be “stopped by fear.”
Pope to young people at WYD: God calls your authentic, not virtual, self
LISBON, Portugal (CNS) — Before a sea of waving flags representing countries large and small from across the globe, Pope Francis told some 500,000 singing, shouting and swaying young people that God has called each person to him by name, not their social media handle.
In Portugal for WYD, pope urges Europe to recover its ‘youthful heart’
LISBON, Portugal (CNS) — Arriving at the edge of the European continent for World Youth Day, Pope Francis urged Portuguese officials to return to their maritime roots by setting sail toward new horizons of hope and helping build a Europe “capable of recovering its youthful heart.” “It is my hope that World Youth Day may be, for the ‘Old Continent,’ we can say the elderly continent” — he ad-libbed with a smile — “an impulse toward universal openness.”
Pope prays for WYD: The church is not a ‘club’ for the elderly
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church is not a “club” for the elderly; it needs the participation of young people to keep it alive and ensure it does not “grow old,” Pope Francis said. In a video message released July 27 to present his prayer intention for the month of August, “For World Youth Day,” the pope responded to questions from young people around the world in the buildup to WYD 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, which was scheduled to begin Aug. 1.
Ancient word: Jews, Christians study shared past in Vatican manuscripts
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — From a dark past of once allowing and ordering the censoring, banning and burning of the Talmud and other Hebrew texts, the Vatican has deepened its decades of fruitful dialogue and cooperation with Jewish leaders with a new interfaith study program. Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.
Sow seeds of faith, even when their fruits are not immediate, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even if the fruits are not immediately visible, Christians are called to sow seeds of faith in the world and people around them in their daily lives, Pope Francis said.
Look to God with childlike wonder, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Only by shedding feelings of personal greatness and regaining a sense of wonder in God’s love can people welcome Jesus into their hearts and lives, Pope Francis said. With some 15,000 visitors gathered to pray the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square July 9, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew in which Jesus praises God the Father for hiding “things” from the wise and revealing them to the childlike.
UPDATE: Pope names 21 cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Prevost
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, who took the helm at the Dicastery for Bishops in April, and French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Pope meets Cuban president at Vatican
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis had a 40-minute private meeting at the Vatican with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Holding banners calling for the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights in Cuba, a dozen people rallied at the end of Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square, as the pope was meeting Díaz-Canel in the studio of the Vatican audience hall June 20.
