Pope Francis offered the icons of Saint Polycarp, Saint Francis Saverio and Saint Paul to seminarians of Rome as he was about to be beheaded. As he did so, the Pope advised his audience to live the priesthood as authentic mediators between God and the people, joyful even on the cross, and not as intermediary functionaries, [...]
Paul, John the Baptist, and Maximilian Kolbe — along with many other shepherds throughout the ages — not only lived out solitude, abandonment, and persecution, but also the “nearness of the Lord”, especially in moments of trials. In his homily during Mass on Tuesday, 18 October in the chapel at the Casa, Pope Francis reflected on [...]
True doctrine is not a rigid attachment to the Law, which bewitches as ideologies do. Rather, it is the revelation of God, which allows itself to be discovered more and more fully each day by those who are open to the Holy Spirit. (Vatican Radio) That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass [...]
The Church must avoid the risk of closing in on itself out of persecution and fear, the Pope said. At the same time, she must be able to see “the small openings through which God can work.” Prayer, he said, “enables grace to open a way out from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from [...]
Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass on Sunday morning, during which he also presided over the canonization of two new saints: Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, and Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad. The word of God, which we have just heard, points us to the central event of our faith: God’s victory over suffering and death. It [...]
« Do this in remembrance of me » (1 Cor 11 :24-25). Twice the Apostle Paul, writing to the community in Corinth, recalls this command of Jesus in his account of the institution of the Eucharist. It is the oldest testimony we have to the words of Christ at the Last Supper. “Do this”. That is, [...]
“I will not leave you orphans” (Jn 14:18). The central purpose of Jesus' mission, which culminated in the gift of the Holy Spirit, was to renew our relationship with the Father, a relationship severed by sin, to take us from our state of being orphaned children and to restore us as his sons and daughters. The [...]
“To burn life away for noble causes”. This opportunity is offered to today’s youth who, immersed in a “culture of consumerism” and of “narcissism” are often dissatisfied and rarely happy. In the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Tuesday morning, 10 May, the Pope focused his reflection on the witness of missionaries — “the glory of [...]
There is a “twofold witness” in Christian life: that of the Spirit who “opens the heart”, showing us Jesus, and that of the person who “with the power of the Spirit” proclaims “that the Lord lives”, even at the cost of “paying the price” of persecution. Once again the Holy Spirit and his action in the [...]
A Christian is a person of hope, who knows and witnesses that Jesus lives, that he is among us, that he prays to the Father for each of us and that he will come again. This is how Pope Francis summed up the relationship between every Christian and the Risen Jesus, during Mass at Santa Marta [...]