Church – Francis – Movements Category

CHILE, Fernanda Faúndez Cabrera • In the Church, the Mapuche people’s situation has been a constant concern, always looking for channels of dialogue that facilitate living together in peace, valuing and integrating the cultural richness of this and of other native peoples who inhabit and belong to our country. The road of understanding, of integration of peace is a long one, but it has to set out today with a positive disposition, an open mind and generosity of heart. In this time of mercy, it is everyone’s job. This isRead More
VATICAN • 32nd World Youth Day, 2017 “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Lk 1:49) 33rd World Youth Day, 2018 “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Lk 1:30) 34th World Youth Day, 2019 (Panama) “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38) These are the themes chosen by Pope Francis for the three-year World Youth Day journey that will culminate at the international celebration ofRead More
CHILE, Fr. Carlos Cox • Mother Teresa of Kolkata’s second visit to Chile took place between 12 and 15 September 1982 and I was asked to drive her to a youth meeting.  At the time, I was a young priest and was working as the under-secretary of Misión Joven [Youth Mission] for the Archdiocese of Santiago.  During the trip in my Volkswagen, I became witness to a story that reflects the Mother Teresa’s humanizing gaze. As I arrived to fetch her from the Sister’s House in the area near theRead More
SPAIN, schoenstatt.org editorial team • Sunday 13 November. All over the world, the Holy Doors were closing. The Holy Year of Mercy is drawing to an end…this year has offered Christians countless opportunities for grace, the grace to be merciful like the Father, the grace of needing and being worthy of the Father’s mercy, the grace of a daily, personal, deep and real encounter with Jesus, in the poor, and the grace of showing him how we love him through our works of mercy towards his and our friends, theRead More
CHILE, Octavio Galarce • Looking at the official picture of Mother Teresa published before her canonization in Rome, many people noticed the Unity Cross on the rosary she is holding in her right hand. We reproduce the account by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, who has on several occasions explained the details of this: The memory of the conversation with Mother Teresa of Kolkata about the Unity Cross remains engraved perfectly in my memory. (When I worked in Rome) she attended the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life andRead More
FRANCIS IN THE YEAR OF MERCY • Pope Francis on 2 November expressed his proximity to the Archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia, Renato Boccardo, over the phone for the people affected by the latest earthquakes, particularly the one that took place on 30 October, and said that during his visit to Sweden he accompanied this tragedy “and from there, I prayed for you.” Norsia — also the birthplace of St. Benedict — was hit by a powerful earthquake on 24 August that also affected other parts of central Italy.  However, it wasRead More
CHILE, Fr. Claudio Martínez Felmer • We had a wholesome pride since the day we knew that our Blessed Mother would be present in the procession of the Virgen del Carmen and would travel through the streets of the center of Santiago with the Carmelita. So on Sunday, 25 September, on Chile’s Day of Prayer with the motto “Protect us with your Mantle,” many members of the Schoenstatt Family gathered along with the entire Church in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral to pay tribute to the Blessed Mother, ninety yearsRead More
ROME – CUBA, Fr. Rolando Gibert Montes de Oca Valero • I was not aware there was a Marian Jubilee.  I found out about it from a friend’s invitation.  So I thought: the Church wants to give Blessed Mother a gift… but surely she will give us something better, and I began to ask myself what would be the richest gift that Blessed Mother would want to give us… In conjunction with the Jubilee, some friends from the Neo-catechumenal Way invited me to a “Catechetical Symphonic Celebration.”  It was aRead More
FRANCIS IN ROME – YEAR OF MERCY • The Wednesday after the canonisation of seven new saints on 19 October, Pope Francis began a new cycle of catequesis, focusing on what for him is the human-instrumental nucleus of the process of mercy: works of mercy, the “nothing without us,” to use our covenant language. He began this cycle with the work of feeding the hungry, highlighting the personal moment, the difference between giving something during a solidarity campaign (as important as this is) and do so in the first person,Read More
FRANCIS – YEAR OF MERCY • The Holy Year of Mercy is drawing to a close, and there is a sense that the topic of mercy is only just beginning. In other words, the Year of Mercy was a prelude, an introduction for what many people are calling the re-founding of the Church, faithful to its origins, in a culture of mercy, by Pope Francis and many Christians, who like the prophets and saints, have been waiting a long time. We also place, with holy pride, Fr. Kentenich – whoRead More