Church – Francis – Movements Category

WYD 2019/COSTA RICA, Michelle Ramírez y María Fischer • They got off the plane and went straight to Mass in the Shrine: On January 4 about 50 young people from Switzerland arrived at the “Family of Hope” Shrine in San José, Costa Rica, and were welcomed by the youth and the entire Costa Rican Schoenstatt family, with the characteristic joy and hospitality that hundreds of young people will experience in the coming days.— For a whole month, from 4 January to 5 February, about 100 German-speaking young people from SwitzerlandRead More
WYD Panamá 2019, Ary Waldir Ramos Díaz via aleteia.org/Maria Fischer • Pope Francis will visit a juvenile detention center in Panama, and it will be one of the “most emotional” moments of the papal itinerary on the occasion of the 34th World Youth Day, which will be held in Panama from 22-27 January 2019 with the theme: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38), José Domingo Ulloa, Archbishop of Panama stressed. — On Friday, 25 January 2019,Read More
WYD 2019/Bolivia, Fr. Cristóbal Asenjo M. and Roberto Henestrosa • On Tuesday, December 11th, we met at the Santa Cruz de la Sierra wayside shrine with a group of young men and women that will be participating in the next World Youth Day (WYD) in Panama, and prior to that, at the 2019 Ignis (Young Men’s Group) and Hinéni (Young Women’s Group) gatherings to be held in Costa Rica. We also had the participation of a young man from the La Paz Young Men’s Group, who also joined this gathering.Read More
IN COVENANT SOLIDARITY WITH FRANCIS, editorial team • In his address to the Roman Curia on 21 December, Pope Francis emphasized the Church’s commitment to eradicating all abuse against minors. He gave “heartfelt thanks to those media professionals who were honest and objective and sought to unmask these predators and to make their victims’ voices heard.” They are the “new Nathans” who show David the gravity of his sin, new Nathans, new prophets, that the Church needs more than ever today.— Instead of commenting on the comments that we haveRead More
CHILE, Francisco Javier Troncoso • Chile, recent news: CORFO (state owned company) is about to recover “the vase.” CORFO, the Chilean Economic Development Agency, where I used to work and where Mario Hiriart also worked in the 1940s, was the victim of a 85 million dollar scam in 2003. The theft was made possible because of a flaw in their management systems, which their control department had warned them about. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos tried to downplay the incident, saying: “they took a jar, we’ll recover the jar and caseRead More
POPE FRANCIS – CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2018 • Sitting around the table at the jewellery workshop of the Brothers of Mary in Schoenstatt in the afternoon on Christmas Day, a Paraguyan, a German who lived in Chile for nearly 25 years, an English woman who was born in India, and a half-Latina German woman, we spoke about how to translate “fraternity.” Or rather, we were talking about Pope Francis’ message and about inculturation, internationality, internationalization (of the Schoenstatt communities, the place of origin) and the international mission of schoenstatt.org and itsRead More
COSTA RICA, Fr. José Luis Correa • Archbishop of San José, Bishop José Rafael Quirós, who blessed the Shrine in the area of Santa Ana, in San José (Costa Rica) on the 18 March 2017, celebrated Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the Shrine. — He carried the Unity Cross as a pectoral cross. Bishop José Rafael Quirós is the president of the Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica. A few days until the “youth invasion” Soon the grounds of the Shrine will be filled with young people fromRead More
VATICAN, Veronica Giacometti/Walter Sánchez Silva vía ACIprensa • The Santa Marta Pediatric Clinic, which cares for children from different parts of the world daily, organized a celebration in anticipation of the Pope’s 82nd birthday held at the Vatican in the St. Paul VI Hall.— The Holy Father’s birthday was Monday, December 17th, Sunday, he shared an hour with 150 children, who attend the free clinic, along with their parents, families, doctors, and volunteers who help there. Sr. Antonietta Colacchi of the Daughters of Charity leads them. Francis arrived at the St.Read More
COLOMBIA, Walter Sanchez Silva in ACIprensa • Juan Felipe Escobar is a Colombian priest who has served the street people from Medellín since 2005. His quiet labor of solidarity now reaches more people through the “Tent of Encounter,” a chapel on wheels, which has been in use for more than a year. — Fr. Escobar has been the pastor of the Blessed Federico Ozanam Parish in the Enciso neighborhood for several months. Every Tuesday, he goes out with his chapel on wheels to the center of Medellín to announce theRead More
GERMANY, Editorial team • Pope Francis has appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Freiburg, Dr Michael Gerber (48) the new Bishop of Fulda. This was announced simultaneously on Thursday (13.12) in Rome, Fulda and Freiburg. As a result Michael Gerber becomes the successor of Bishop Heinz-Josef Algermissen, whose resignation after seventeen years in office in Fulda was accepted on 5 June by Pope Francis. Michael Gerber, who is a member of the Institute of Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests, thus becomes the youngest bishop of a German diocese. — In his first reactionRead More