Pope Francis Tag

PARAGUAY, 100 solidarity houses, by Ani Souberlich and Maria Fischer • “To see your faces, your children, your elderly, and to hear about your experiences and everything you went through to be here, to have a dignified life and a roof over your heads, to endure the bad weather and the flooding of these last few weeks… All this makes me think of the little family of Bethlehem. Your struggles have not taken away your laughter, your joy and your hope. Struggles which have not lessened your sense of solidarityRead More
PARAGUAY, Roberto D. González Brizuela, member of the “Mary’s Visitation” Prison Ministry • It is impossible to describe everything I’ve experienced over the last two months at the Itauguá Educational Centre (CEI) with Fr. Pedro, the detainees, and all those who go every Saturday (and other days if possible). For me, from the first day that I set foot at the centre, I was deeply affected, deeply in the sense that in the most unexpected place, and I would never have imagined it, I would find happiness, I would goRead More
FRANCIS IN ROME • During the Angelus on 19 July, Pope Francis entrusted the fruits of his unforgettable trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary. Praising the Lord for the “wonders that have been worked in the People of God who are on the way in these lands, for the faith that has animated and animates their life and culture,” the Pope also mentioned the natural beauty of these countries, its great human and spiritual potential and its Christian values. Without forgetting theRead More
We are Pilar de Beas and José A. Alvaredo, a couple from the first course of the Spanish Family Federation. We both come from the youth branches of the movement. We have been married for thirty-three years, have six children and we are the founders and presidents of the Asociación Eduvida [Edulife Association] (http://www.eduvida.es), where we have taught courses for engaged couples for more than thirty years, family planning courses for fifteen years (we are monitors of the Sympto-Thermal Couple-to-Couple method) and courses of affective sexual education for ten years.Read More
PARAGUAY, por Sebastián Acha • From the moment that Pope Francis’ visit to Paraguay was announced, I have not stopped thinking about the Holy Father’s reasons for privileging us in his pastoral tour. I imagined the experiences of the then Archbishop and later Cardinal Bergoglio with the various Paraguayan communities in Buenos Aires and his deep connection to the Guarani culture – and I do not say this euphemistically, but with everything that this culture means – and his sincere admiration for Paraguayan women. I thought that I might findRead More

Posted On 16.06.2015In Something to think about

Care

By Fr. Guillermo Carmona, National Director of Schoenstatt in Argentina • To go out to encounter not only presupposes “closeness,” but also “care” for the other person. To care for someone is to have concern for, to take interest in, to anticipate dangers, and to accompany the person in their adventure toward freedom; it is the strength to develop his best talents and to fulfill his vocation. Against the globalization of indifference It is the opposite of indifference, to the “globalization of indifference” that was mentioned by Pope Francis. HisRead More
ARGENTINA, by Mónica Franco • The Week for Church Unity was celebrated for the first time in 1908. And the first celebration of the Week of Prayer in Australia, using texts prepared by a local ecumenical group, took place in 1975. This new way of writing the texts has been maintained until now. The Week with prayers for each day is celebrated in different Christian churches. On Wednesday, May 27, the Santuario del Centro [Central Shrine] was once again the headquarters for this celebration as it has been since 2010;Read More
By the editor • Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect for the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, presided over the ceremony for the beatification of San Salvador archbishop, Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero on Saturday 23 May before thousands of people. By beatifying him, Pope Francis proclaimed that his feast day will be celebrated on 24 March each year, the date that “he was born in heaven.” Pope Francis sent a letter to the archbishop of San Salvador and the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor José Luis Escobar Alas, on theRead More
Pentecost is the feast of the Church that goes out. At noon, from the window of the studio in the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis recited the Marian prayer, the Regina Coeli, on the solemnity of Pentecost. Francis stated that this celebration makes us recall the beginnings of the Church, which we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, which tells us that fifty days after Easter, in the house where Jesus’ disciples found themselves, a “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filledRead More
Today, Sister M. Elizabet Parodi, Rome, from Argentina answers. She works in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican • Six months into the pilgrimage through the second century of the Covenant of Love…what is your dream for this Schoenstatt in who we are and where we find ourselves in the Church, in the world, and in our mission? I dream of it as anchored in trust. A Schoenstatt that is confident that Mary renewed the covenant and that we renewed ourselves in the first love for her,Read More