On Palm Sunday, recovering pope says to carry the cross with compassion
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Carrying the cross means more than bearing personal suffering — it means stepping into the pain of others and walking beside them, Pope Francis wrote at the start of Holy Week.
“To carry the cross of Christ is never in vain,” he wrote in his homily for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square April 13. “It is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love.”
The pope, still recovering from respiratory infections, made only a brief appearance in the square at the end of Mass, but his homily was read by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, subdean of the College of Cardinals, who celebrated the Mass.
Pope: Vocation of military and police is to defend life, peace, justice
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Thanking members of the military and the police for their service, Pope Francis asked them to be on guard against seeing other people as enemies and instead dedicate their lives to defending life, peace and justice.”Be vigilant lest you be poisoned by propaganda that instills hatred (and) divides the world into friends to be defended and foes to fight,” the pope wrote in his homily for the Mass Feb. 9 for the Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security Personnel.
Pope visits children of Vatican employees attending summer camp
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Children of Vatican employees began their summer holidays at a new outdoor sports area and pool as part of an annual summer program. The St. Joseph Center was inaugurated in June and features a number of small astro-turfed fields, a tennis court and an above-ground pool thanks to funding from benefactors who met the pope July 18 at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican said.
