Francis – Initiatives and Gestures Category

org. Pope Francis celebrated the Eucharist on the first day of the year at St. Peter's Basilica on the feast day of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the 47th World Day of Peace.  The Holy Father dedicated his homily to Mary, the mother of God and the mother of all mankind and asked those present to repeat the Blessed Mother's title three times: "Mother of God, Mother of God, Mother of God." After Mass, in order to commemorate Our Lady's feast day, and prior to the Angelus,Read More
org. Christmas 2013. Francis' Christmas – the shepherd's Christmas, a Christmas to pray for peace.  "Prince of Peace, in every place turn hearts aside from violence and inspire them to lay down arms and undertake the path of dialogue," prayed Pope Francis in his Christmas message prior to the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing, calling on everyone - Catholics, Christians of all denominations to pray and for non-believers to fervently desire pe1ace and a dignified and protected life for society's most vulnerable people.  He did not omit any region suffering fromRead More
org. Pope Francis has invited us to walk "in the light" and asked us not to be "dominated by pride, deceit, and self-seeking" in his homily during his first Midnight Mass as Pontiff, celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica on 24 December.  The shepherds were "the first" who received the news of Jesus' birth, precisely because they "were among the last."  The Holy Father has asked us to join them standing silently before the Child.  Read More
org. On 17 December Pope Francis celebrates his 77th birthday. His unaffected and clear words, his spontaneous and fatherly gestures, set us free, jolt us, surprise us and move people to take a new look at this Church that had become distant and foreign to them. In this Pope a father comes towards them with open arms. Eight days before Christmas Pope Francis celebrates his birthday; eight days before the feast about which he said in an interview to "La Stampa", what matters is "tenderness and hope". Heartfelt good wishesRead More
org. Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) profiles the Church that Pope Francis desires.  It is an apostolic exhortation the Pope has written as a conclusion to the meeting with the bishops from allover the world, which was held at the Vatican in October 2012, to discuss how to announce the Gospel in today’s world.  The “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing.”  This is the preface title of the Pope’s Exhortation, the mission and the proclamation of Evangelization. “Goodness always tends to spread.  Every authentic experience of truth andRead More
org. We have Pope Francis' programme in our hands; it is the programme we already know from his sermons in Santa Marta, from his words at the Angelus, his addresses at the World Youth Day, his words in Lampedusa, in Assissi ... It is the message of a "FATHER, courageous and free of complexes, for a culture of encounter, of dialogue, of covenant culture. It is the programme we are meditating on week after week on our website in the "Words of Francis to the Pilgrims 2014" and that forRead More
ROMA, VIS. On Sunday morning, November 24, solemnity of Christ King of the Universe, the Holy Father Francis presided the Mass in St. Peter's Square on the occasion of the closing of the Year of Faith, inaugurated by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II. The cardinals, patriarchs and major archbishops of the Oriental Catholic Churches, the archbishops and bishops concelebrated with the Holy Father. The relics of the apostle Peter were displayed alongside the altar, contained in a bronzeRead More
ARGENTINA, Father José María Iturrería/mda. The Schoenstatt Youth with the support of the Archdiocese of Córdoba organized a Marathon of Solidarity called “Running with Francis” (named for Pope Francis), which will be held on Sunday, November 17th.  The aim is to economically help the project of solidarity that Foundation 180 – an initiative that the Schoenstatt young professionals - has in the Barrio Dr. Cocca de La Calera, Córdoba.Read More
mda.  The Marian Journey has begun in Rome; it will end on Sunday the 13th, when Francis will consecrate the world to Mary,in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima.      Read More
mda. He writes a letter to atheists; he phones a six-year-old boy to thank him for a picture he had painted and given to him during an audience; he gives Jesuit magazines a thirty-page interview that startles the world; he speaks again and again about the Church as mother and says it is his favourite image, which complements the other of a missionary Church that goes out to the peripheries of society instead of closing herself off - a Church that opens herself for the needs of the world andRead More