New World Youth Day 2016 (WYD2016) logo unveiled with explanation and accompanying prayer

(VIS) – In a press conference held this morning the metropolitan archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, presented the logo and official prayer for the 31st World Youth Day.

Three elements are combined in the symbolism of the logo: the place, the main protagonists , and the theme of the celebration. The logo of the 2016 World Youth Day, to be held in Krakow, illustrates the passage from the Gospel according to Matthew, 5.7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”, chosen as the theme of the event. 

The image is composed of a geographical outline of Poland, in which there is a Cross, symbol of Christ Who is the soul of World Youth Day. The yellow circle marks the position of Krakow on the map of Poland and is also a symbol of youth. The flame of Divine Mercy emerges from the Cross, and its colors recall the image “Jesus, I trust in you”. The colors used in the logo – blue, red and yellow – are the official colors of Krakow and its coat of arms.

The logo was designed by Monika Rybczynska, a young woman aged 28 from Ostrzeszow, a small town in the mid-west of Poland, following the canonization of St. John Paul II.

The press conference also included the presentation of the official prayer of World Youth Day 2016, which entrusts humanity and the young to divine mercy, asks the Lord for the grace of a merciful heart, and asks the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St. John Paul II, patron of World Youth Day.

“God, merciful Father,in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman”.

We entrust to you in a special way young people of every language, people and nation:guide and protect them as they walk the complex paths of the world today and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits from their experience of the Krakow World Youth Day.

Heavenly Father,grant that we may bear witness to your mercy.Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt,hope to those who are discouraged,love to those who feel indifferent,forgiveness to those who have done wrong and joy to those who are unhappy.

Allow the spark of merciful love that you have enkindled within us become a fire that can transform hearts and renew the face of the earth. 

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us. St. John Paul II, pray for us.

How self-acceptance might just save the world; or at least priests

I couldn't help but think of the many priests we pray for on a daily basis when reading this blog post by Dr. Kelly Flanagan from Wheaton, IL.  As we approach the 4th of July, may we see ourselves for who we are so we don't see our priests for who they're not.  Like us, they can be heroic at times, but they are always human.

____

When I was in middle school, I was forbidden to see the new Batman movie starring Michael Keaton. I understand why:

He was complicated.

He was a superhero, but he was depicted as dark and disturbed and a little unhinged. Instead of wearing his trademark gray, he cloaked himself in black. Instead of telling jokes, he was somber and depressed. He did good things, but he did them for the wrong reasons. He was a complicated, tortured soul, working out his redemption in the best way he knew how.

He was a good guy, but he had bad parts.

In a word, he was human.

Now, almost twenty-five years later, our cinematic superheroes are increasingly complicated. They are good guys with bad parts. We’ve become quite comfortable with the complexity of our fictional characters.

Yet, we continue to resist, and fail to embrace, this complexity in our lives and in our hearts…

Pedestals and Pitfalls

We scan the horizon for the next real-life hero, and we imagine them to be flawless. We put people on pedestals. And then we get surprised when they fall off:

We idolize people with great golf swings, and then we find out they’re addicted to sex. We idolize the triumph of bicyclists, and then we find out they were juicing. We tell ourselves our political candidate is the good guy, and then he leaves his microphone on and we hear words that are only supposed to come from the bad guys. We get dismayed when we find out the Dalai Lama gets just as angry as we do.

So we continue to scan the horizon, waiting for the next infallible hero to lead us.

The truth is, all of this hero worship is a collective exercise in self-rejection.

We look inside of our own hearts and we see the bad parts lingering there and we assume we must not be one of the good guys. We look in the mirror and we don’t see a flawless hero; we see a complicated human. And we forget what the superhero movies have been trying to tell us for a quarter of a century:

Humans and heroes are one and the same.

Dr. Kelly Flanagan is a licensed clinical psychologist, practicing at Alliance Clinical Associates in Wheaton, IL. He is also a writer and blogs regularly about the redemption of our personal, relational, and communal lives. Kelly is married, has three children, and enjoys learning from them how to be a kid again. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Toughing It Out: Tekton Ministries Announces Sponsorship of Popular T3 Endurance Race

Tekton Ministries is excited to announce sponsorship of the up-and-coming endurance race, Tame the Terrain (T3).

Richard Sontag, Director of Tekton Ministries Catholic Pilgrimages, Media and Non-Profit Management announced the sponsorship last month as an opportunity to support a local, Indiana-based, non-profit organization seeking to promote holistic wellness through the increasingly popular endurance race format.

According to the mission statement found on the Facebook page for Tame the Terrain, “T3 promotes physical health, determination, and character building. We want participants to come away from T3 having a positive experience and feeling as though they've accomplished both physical and mental goals.”

“Who wouldn’t want to help an organization like this,” said Sontag. “They aren’t just running through obstacle courses to boost their own egos. They might be carrying tires over tough terrain and climbing muddy hills but it’s for a purpose.”

What is that purpose?

Not only does the race help promote the physical health, determination, and character building of participants in a Christian way, but, according to their Facebook page, the proceeds earned by Tame the Terrain benefit Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the three Catholic parishes of Jennings County: St. Ann, St. Joseph, St. Mary’s.

“I know that by sponsoring this event we are fulfilling our own mission,” said Sontag. “We are able to serve God’s people on their journey of faith. In this case, on an obstacle course along that journey of faith.”

“You’ve got to meet people where they’re at,” he said. “The organizers of T3 seek to do that and so I wanted to help them however I could.”

Tame the Terrain is roughly a four mile obstacle race that takes participants up and down the hills of Jennings County, trekking rock walls, ravines, cliffs, ponds, and the Muscatatuck River. Participants are challenged by 20 different obstacles set within the terrain of Muscatatuck County Park, Indiana.

More information about the T3 race, including a photo gallery of previous races, can be found on the organization’s website at http://www.tametheterrain.com. More information about Tekton Ministries can be found at http://www.tektonministries.org.

9 days in heaven

As we race towards sunrise and the Holy Land at 611 miles per hour, my mind races between my worries about changes at work and the wondrous sites that will be seeing over the next nine days. 

9 Days later

This week everything about having been in the Holy Land is beginning to hit me. Maybe it is the jet lag finally wearing off. Maybe it is verbally sharing my story with others. I don't know for sure, but starting yesterday all of the little things keep coming to mind. In the middle of praying the rosary at the convent during lunch, I could see myself at the spot of each of the mysteries, where Jesus taught the Our Father, and at the sites of the Annunciation and the Visitation (where the Hail Mary were stated). During mass, being at the upper room and Calvary immediately come to mind. It is as if instead of just saying the words of the prayers, the meaning behind them is now much more apparent. That wasn't happening before yesterday, but now everything seems to have that much more meaning. I keep getting goose bumps as it happens. I continue to pray that I can share my experiences am that they might have a similar impact on others as they have had on me.

Click here to read everything in-between!

8 things you won't believe can fit INSIDE St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

(by John White, CatholicVote.org)  Next Saturday (June 29) will mark the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

As the universal Church prepares to honor two of her greatest saints, Catholics around the world will be asking themselves the same question that they do every year around this time:

What huge things could fit inside St. Peter’s Basilica?

St. Peters interior

Everyone knows that St. Peter”s is not only beautiful, but enormous as well (realtor.com has it valued at $11 trillion – “vintage artwork, charming accents, big back yard surrounded by Italy”).  But even those who have been inside the colossal structure don’t fully appreciate how big it is.  This is because the sheer enormity of its dimensions combined with its virtually perfect architectural balance tricks the human eye and confounds our ability to appreciate its actual size.

This phenomenon is commonly known as “gargantu-opticodimensional pseudoperception.”  Actually, Wikipedia had a different name for it, but who trusts Wikipedia?

Before we start, these are the dimensions of St. Peter’s basilica relevant for our little project (via Wikipedia):

Interior length:     693.8 ft.

Interior width at transept:     451 ft.

Interior width of nave:     90.2 ft.

Interior height of dome:     393 ft.

So without further ado…the following things can fit inside St. Peter’s Basilica:

1.   The Statue of Liberty.  Yes, including the pedestal.

2.   The Space Shuttle.  Including external fuel tank, boosters, etc.

 

3.   The Cinderella Castle at Disney World.

 

4.   The Great Sphinx of Giza.  With lots of room to spare.

5.   Air Force One.  Easily – probably two or three could fit.

 

6.   The 7th Hole at Pebble Beach.  

 

7.   A Typhoon-class Russian submarine.  The largest submarine ever built.

8.   The entire population of Dubuque, Iowa.  St. Peter’s Basilica can fit 60,000 people – no joke.

Dubuque, Iowa

(Adapted by Chris W.)

If God is everywhere, why go on a pilgrimage?

(The Catholic Spirit | Liz Kelly for The Catholic Spirit | June 19, 2014)  I once read that Minnesota has one of the highest numbers of perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapels in the country. Truly, God is with us.

If that’s the case, do I really need to haul myself at great effort and expense — enduring, God forbid, other pilgrims! — to some dusty foreign land to pay him homage, to make known my needs for healing, forgiveness, grace? The answer of course is, no — and perhaps, yes.

Consider: Jesus was a regular pilgrim. The Gospel of Luke tells us he would make the journey to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover every year with his parents.

The earliest pilgrimages were very much like we might imagine this journey was for Jesus: a caravan of company walking for days together along dusty mountain roads, no doubt their minds humming with the familiar prayer of the psalmist: “‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. . . . To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, As was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

Binding our hearts

To walk where Jesus walked, and pray where he prayed, and learn more intimately the heart of that healing carpenter from Nazareth, a pilgrimage, particularly to the Holy Land, does mark us in a unique way.

When we make a pilgrimage, we are binding our hearts to every pilgrim-saint who has journeyed before us and to every longing of the human soul to seek more deeply, more authentically the face of God.

As Father Murray Bodo writes in his excellent book, “The Place We Call Home: Spiritual Pilgrimage As a Path to God,” “Pilgrimages are not about one place being more holy than another, for God is everywhere. Making pilgrimages involves a response to something inside us that longs to move toward, that seeks the holy beyond.”

And, the good news is, this can happen even on a tour bus with Wi-Fi.

The pilgrim’s credo

I am not in control.

I am not in a hurry.

I walk in faith and hope.

I greet everyone with peace.

I bring back only what God gives me.

The Holy Land

As Christians, we would have no other pilgrimage — to Lourdes, to Ars, to Guadalupe, to the Station Churches of Rome during the Lenten season, to walk the Camino, to climb the Holy Steps on our knees — without the birthplace of our pilgrim souls: Jerusalem.

For such a tiny bit of geography, Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular, has a history fraught with every kind of tension — religious, political, economic. This in some ways is what makes it uniquely fitting to the pilgrim heart. For you will not awake at 4 a.m. in Jerusalem to the sound of church bells, but to the Muslim call to prayer, those low and moaning tones lifted to Allah drifting out over a sleeping city.

And, at the Wailing Wall — the place according to Jewish tradition where Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac — you will see that men and women are separated, the women only recently granted a small portion to approach this holiest of Jewish ground with their prayers. Jerusalem is a powerful clash of orthodoxies. It heightens in fresh ways the truly radical teaching of Christ.

And so we go, not to escape the travails of everyday life, but to give them perspective.

We go, not to take a vacation or recreate, but to allow God to re-create our deepest selves.

We take our broken hearts and broken bodies across oceans and over thousands of miles, sitting for hours in cramped airplanes and airports, to distant shrines and ancient ruins, to places where the language and culture may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable — not to remind God, but to remind ourselves that we are part of an eternal narrative, a glorious true story of hope, resurrection and redemptive victory.

We endure the jostle of crowds and the chatter of tour guides even in these, the holiest places on earth, because it helps us to remember the proper horizon of our lives is not health, wealth, comfort, success, being well loved or highly regarded — but a sweeping need for healing and grace and the eternal good news, all of which Jesus wants to provide in abundance.

Preparation helps

The Church teaches that “pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are . . . special occasions for renewal in prayer.” Indeed, central to any pilgrimage must be prayer — prayer that begins long before you decide which shoes to pack.

My preparation — one I highly recommend if possible — included completing the Ignatian Exercises over the nine months prior to my departure. The Exercises invite you to meditate in a very concentrated way on the life of Christ.

My spiritual director would tell me: “Look at what Jesus is doing in your meditation, dwell with him.” It is a fitting definition for any “pilgrimage” great or small: We go to dwell with him.

Kelly is the author of five books, including “Reasons I Love Being Catholic,” and recently returned from her first pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Video: "Jesus: A Pilgrimage" a conversation with Fr. James Martin, SJ

This video is so down-to-earth, transparent, humble and honest.  

We highly recommend you watch this video and read Fr. James Martin's, SJ book "Jesus: A Pilgrimage".

The theme of the pilgrimage was one word: HERE

(by Fr. Greg Shaffer, Chaplain, GWCatholics, George Washington University Newman Center)

Nineteen of us from GW just returned from a 10 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, including seventeen students.  

It was AWESOME!  For almost all of us, it was our first time.  God completely blessed our trip, and made each day greater than the one before it.  The first half of our time was spent at the Sea of Galilee which was gorgeous.  This is where Jesus was!  He performed miracles there, walked on water there, and handed over his authority to Peter there (“feed my sheep”).  The views in the morning and evening were especially breath-taking.  So many of us fell in love with the Sea of Galilee.  It was so beautiful and peaceful, and lended easily to prayer.  Think I’ve found my retirement spot!  One morning, I posted on Facebook that I went for a run and touched the Sea of Galilee.  Incredible!

The second half of our pilgrimage was in Jerusalem.  This was much more chaotic, busy, and touristy.  But, the holy sites there were so powerful and overwhelming.  We visited the Church of the Annunciation and the students got that that’s where it all started…the Word became flesh.  The Mass at the Church of Agony at the Garden of Gethsemane was particularly powerful because that’s where Christ first shed His blood that we offer at every Mass. And, then, we had Mass in the tomb!  I celebrated Mass on a marble slab where Christ’s body laid for 3 days and then was resurrected…!  That was the most emotional Mass I have ever celebrated. 

The theme of the pilgrimage was one word: HERE.  At each of these places, the prayers in the priest’s book (missal) said HERE.  “The Word became flesh HERE”.  “Christ was born HERE”.  “Christ rose from the dead HERE”.  No other missals in the world say that. We were there and celebrated Mass where these major events of our salvation happened!

If you ever get a chance to go the Israel, please do.  First, it was very safe. At no time was our safety at risk. Second, it was life-changing.  19 of us went; there were 19 conversions.  We are all different people now.  We spanned the spectrum of faith; some were full of faith, some were doubters going into the trip.  We are all believers now, having had a special encounter with Christ in the Holy Land.

Towards the end of our time there, we visited the Upper Room.  This is a significant site for us for a number of reasons: it was there that Christ celebrated the Last Supper, instituted the Eucharist and Priesthood, and where today’s feast of Pentecost occurred.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles as tongues of fire (why the sanctuary and priest are donned with red today).  The Apostles had been afraid to even go outside after Jesus ascended “for fear of the Jews”.  I talked to our students about this on the trip.  It was actually on the feast of the Ascension that I quoted the Gospel: “they worshiped but doubted”.

Think about what that means.  The Apostles were taught by Jesus for three years, got to know him well as a friend, witnessed His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.  After all that, they doubted and were afraid. They were at all of the holy sites we were…and they were with Jesus!  I pointed this out to the students, and asked them what changed for the Apostles.  It was the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  The Spirit filled them with faith, not fear.  He filled them with courage, wisdom and zeal to go out and proclaim Jesus. They did that, and on the first day of going out, three thousand people were baptized.  It was the start of the Catholic Church.  The Spirit spoke through the Apostles that day, started the Church, and has been guiding the Church ever since. 

As I told the students, pray to the Holy Spirit.   If you are doubting or are afraid or feel that God is a million miles away, ask the Spirit to help you know Christ’s presence.  “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful”.  Fill our hearts with your love.  Fill our hearts with your truth, your peace, your joy. Help us to be filled with faith, not fear.  Help us to go out and proclaim Jesus as the Apostles did.

Pentecost was the first Confirmation.  It was for our own sake that you and I were baptized; it was for the sake of others that we were confirmed.  The purpose of Pentecost was to send the Apostles out; the purpose of our Confirmation was to go out on the mission of the Church.  Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to go out and proclaim Jesus with your lives.

College Students Begin Holy Land Pilgrimage Day After Pope Leaves

Fr. Greg Shaffer, Chaplain of the George Washington University Newman Center will be leading students on an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the first of its kind for the student center for Catholics. The GWCatholics arrive the day after Pope Francis departs.

The planning for their pilgrimage began over one year ago. But the time has passed quickly, according to George Washington University Newman Center Chaplain, Fr. Greg Shaffer.

Departing on May 27, Fr. Shaffer and Olivia Bee, student coordinator, will embark on an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They will narrowly miss Pope Francis, who departs the Holy Land after his “pilgrimage of prayer” on May 26.

Though the GWCatholics, as they are called, have done service projects and mission trips with the students before, according to Fr. Shaffer this will be the first Holy Land pilgrimage they will make.

Speaking about the difference between prior mission trips and a pilgrimage, Fr. Shaffer emphasized the power of the "extraordinary graces available" on a pilgrimage.

"A pilgrimage helps individuals be more open to what God is doing in their lives," said Tekton PR Associate, Chris Weldon.

"By being in a particular place and encountering the history of events and people in that place, one can be more open to the underlying message that was communicated at that time, much like being at the Statue of Liberty can help people to enter into the experience of the waves of immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century."

When asked what he wanted for his student parishioners to take away from their upcoming pilgrimage, Fr. Shaffer's answer was clear. "I want them to have a deeper conversion to Christ."

He himself is looking forward to his Tekton Ministries Holy Land pilgrimage, "being in the places where Jesus was, especially where the acts of our salvation took place."

The GWCatholics return from their pilgrimage on June 6.

Tekton Ministries has been providing pilgrimages to the Holy Land since 1996.

For more information, contact Chris Weldon, PR Associate and Social Media Coordinator for Tekton Ministries at (866) 905-3787.For more information on Catholic pilgrimages or other Tekton services contact Chris Weldon at Tekton Ministries, (866) 905-3787.

Video: The Need

Shooting At Phoenix Catholic Church Leaves 1 Priest Dead, Another Critically Injured

(The Huffington Post  | By Jade Walker)  A shooting at a Catholic church in Phoenix claimed the life of a priest and left another critically injured on Wednesday night, CNN reported.

A 911 call made by one of the victims came in around 9 p.m. from the Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic Church, Sgt. Steve Martos of the Phoenix Police Department said. Officers found the victims when they arrived at the church in downtown Phoenix.

One of the priests later died at the hospital from gunshot wounds and the other is incritical condition with unspecified injuries, AZFamily.com reported.

At this time, the victims' identities have not been released.

A 2003 Mazda Tribute that was stolen from the church was later abandoned.

The suspect or suspects are considered armed and dangerous.

Pope Francis making Mexico pilgrimage in 2015

(CNA/EWTN News).- President Enrique Peña Nieto on Saturday announced that Pope Francis has accepted an invitation to visit Mexico.

“Without doubt, this is cause for great joy,” President Peña Nieto declared after telling reporters the Pope “has accepted the invitation.”

The president made the announcement after his private meeting with the pontiff in the Apostolic Palace.

The dates for the visit are not known, but could come near the Pope’s hoped-for visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting for Families in late September 2015. Such a visit to the U.S. has not been confirmed by the Vatican.

Click here to read more.

Never forget your first love, Pope encourages priests

(Vatican Radio) Priests must be pastors first, scholars second, and they should never forget Christ, their "first love".  This was Pope Francis’ message to all men consecrated to God in the priesthood, at Friday morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta.

"How is your first love?". That is, are they still as in love with you as the first day? Are they happy with you or so they ignore you? These are universal questions which we should all ask ourselves regularly, says Pope Francis. And not just couples, but priests, bishops too, in front of Jesus.  Because He asks us just as he one day asked Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me?".

The Pope began his homily reflecting on the this dialogue in the Gospel where Christ asks the first of the Apostles three times if he loves Him more than others: "This is the question I ask myself, my brother bishops and priests: how is your love today, the love of Jesus? Is it like first love? Am I as in love today as on the first day? Or does work and worries lead me to look at other things, and forget love a little? There are arguments in marriage. That's normal. When there is no love, there are no arguments: it breaks. Do I argue, with the Lord? This is a sign of love. This question that Jesus asks of Peter brings him to first love. Never forget your first love. Never".

In addition to this first aspect, says Pope Francis, there are three others to be considered in relation to a priest’s dialogue with Jesus. First of all – before study, before wanting to become "a scholar of of philosophy or theology or patrology – [a priest must be ] a "shepherd", as Jesus urged Peter: "Feed my sheep". The rest, says the Pope, comes "after":

"Feed. With theology, philosophy, with patrology, with what you study, but feed. Be the shepherd. For the Lord has called us to this. And the bishop's hands on our head is to be shepherds. This is a second question, is not it? The first is: 'How is your first love?'. This, the second: 'Am I a shepherd, or an employee of this NGO that is called the Church?'. There is a difference. Am I a shepherd? A  question that I have to ask myself, that bishops need to ask, even priests: all of us. Feed. Lead. Go forward".

Pope Francis continued,  there is no "glory" or "majesty” for the pastor consecrated to Jesus: "No, brother. You will end up in the most common, even humiliating circumstances: in bed, having to be fed, dressed ... useless, sick ... ". It is our destiny is "to end up like Him": Love that dies "as the seed of wheat, that will bear fruit. But I will not see it".

Finally, the fourth aspect, the "strongest word", with which Jesus concludes his conversation with Peter, "Follow me!".

"If we have lost the way or do not know how to respond to love, we do not know how to respond to being pastors, we do not know how to respond or we do not have the certainty that the Lord will not abandon us even in the worst moments of life, in sickness. He says, 'Follow me'. This is our certainty. In the footsteps of Jesus. On that path. 'Follow me”.

Pope Francis concludes, may the Lord give all of us priests and bishops "the grace to always find or remember our first love, to be pastors, not to be ashamed of ending up humiliated on a bed or even losing our faculties. And that He always give us the grace to follow Jesus, in the footsteps of Jesus: the grace to follow Him".

"Do not cage the Holy Spirit!" says Pope Francis

(CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday afternoon Pope Francis told throngs of Charismatic Catholics to not obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit in evangelizing, but make the adoration of God the “foundation of renewal.”

“Go forth into the streets and evangelize, proclaim the Gospel. Remember that the Church was born to go forth, that morning of Pentecost,” the Pope said June 1.

“Let yourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, with that same freedom. And please, do not cage the Holy Spirit!”

He addressed 52,000 people from 55 countries who had gathered in Rome's Olympic Stadium for the national convocation of “Renewal in the Spirit.”

Abducted Catholic priest released in Ukraine amid unrest

(CNA/EWTN News).- In the midst of ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland who was kidnapped May 27 by separatists in the city of Donetsk has been released.

Father Pawel Vitka says he was accused of being a spy by separatists affiliated with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Fr. Vitka, who works in Kazakhstan but was visiting a fellow priest in Ukraine at the time, was freed after 24 hours in captivity.

“Tuesday morning I was praying with a rosary outside the DPR administration building,” Fr. Vitka told Catholic News Agency on the day of his release. “They asked to see my documents and I explained that I didn’t have them on me at the moment.”

Click here to read more.

Pope Francis to participate in charismatic convention at Olympic Stadium

(VIS) – Next Sunday afternoon, the Holy Father will participate in a charismatic convention at the Olympic Stadium of Rome, which will take place from 1-2 June with the theme “Convert! Believe! Receive the Holy Spirit!”. Francis will arrive at the stadium at 5 p.m. and will enjoy the event from a box in the VIP area. It will be the first ever papal visit to a stadium in the Italian capital. This celebration of faith, organised by Renewal in the Spirit, will be attended by representatives of more than fifty countries, and an influx of more than 52,000 people is expected. During the encounter, which will involve moments of prayer, music and dance, the Holy Father will give an address.

Pope Francis meets with doctor who saved his life

(CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met recently with Dr. Juan Carlos Parodi, the Argentinean surgeon who operated on him for gall bladder failure in 1980 and whom he attributes with saving his life.

Dr. Parodi recounted the story to the Argentinean daily La Nacion May 20.

“It was a surprise for me. In 1980 I was called by a doctor who said he was treating a humble priest who was very sick. He was a Jesuit and had taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and did not have any money. He asked me, ‘Are you able to help him?’ I was honored. I dropped everything and went to see this priest. He was very sick.”

“I operated on him, I don’t remember much else but that he came out okay and gave me a book. He insisted on paying me and of course I refused. He gave me a book which he signed. Later I found out that that humble and very sick priest was Bergoglio,” Parodi recalled.

Speaking on Radio Continental, he shared details about his recent visit with his former patient.

“On April 9 I was at a congress in London, and I was told I could have a private audience. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. First, because I learned many things that I did not know, and plus to see the Holy Father.”

“He was radiant as he came into St. Martha’s and he said to me, ‘Juan Carlo, you look the same as that night when I saw you and I thought I was dying. You saved my life.’ ‘What?’ I said. ‘Yes, you saved my life because I had gall bladder failure, and everyone knows that that is very deadly. You operated on me that very night. I will never forget your face, because when I saw your face I began to feel better, I got better’,” the Pope told him.

“He was very ill, and according to him, I saved his life. That made me very happy,” Dr. Parodi said.

Click here to read more.

Pope Francis looks to Philippines & Sri Lanka for next pilgrimage

Aboard the papal plane, May 27, 2014 / 05:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On his return flight from the Holy Land, Pope Francis announced that he will visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January 2015.

“There are two Asian trips planned: one to South Korea and then next January, a two-day trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, to the area affected by the tsunami,” Pope Francis said during an in-flight press conference May 26, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Pope Paul VI visited the Philippines in 1970. St. John Paul II visited the Philippines in 1981 and again in 1995 during a trip that included Sri Lanka, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.

In February, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo had invited Pope Francis to visit the country.

“I welcome this invitation, and I think the Lord will grant us the grace,” the Pope told Sri Lankan pilgrims at the Vatican Feb. 8.

Pope Francis also acknowledged that “many tears have been shed” by the...

Click here to read more.

Pope Francis prays at Western Wall

Vatican City, 25 May 2014 (VIS) – At 8 a.m. the Pope transferred from Temple Mount to the Western Wall, or “Wailing Wall”. Fifteen meters high, this wall is a place of worship for the Jews for historical and religious reasons, and is linked to numerous traditions such as that of leaving prayers written on small pieces of paper between the blocks of the wall. Francis was received by the Chief Rabbi, who accompanied him to the wall. The Pope prayed in silence before the wall and, like his predecessors, left a piece of paper on which he had written the Lord's Prayer; he said, “I have written it in Spanish because it is the language I learned from my mother”.

He then proceeded to Monte Herzl where, in accordance with protocol on official visits and assisted by a Christian boy and girl, he left a wreath of flowers in the Israel national cemetery at the tomb of Theodore Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement. The Holy Father also strayed slightly from his itinerary to pray at a tomb for the victims of terrorism in Israel.

He then traveled by car to the Yad Vashem Memorial, a monument built in 1953 by the State of Israel to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Along with the president and director of the Center, the Pope walked around the perimeter of the Mausoleum before entering the Remembrance Hall, where he was awaited by the president, the prime minister, and the Rabbi president of the Council of Yad Vashem. Inside the Hall there is a monument with an eternal flame positioned in front of the crypt, which contains several urns with the ashes of victims of various concentration camps. The Pope lit the flame, placed a yellow and white floral wreath in the Mausoleum and, before his address, read from the Old Testament. He then spoke briefly about strength and the pain of man's inhuman evil and on the “structures of sin” that oppose the dignity of the human person, created in the image and semblance of God.

“'Adam, where are you?'. Where are you, o man? What have you come to? In this place, this memorial of the Shoah, we hear God’s question echo once more: 'Adam, where are you?' This question is charged with all the sorrow of a Father who has lost his child. The Father knew the risk of freedom; he knew that his children could be lost… yet perhaps not even the Father could imagine so great a fall, so profound an abyss! Here, before the boundless tragedy of the Holocaust, that cry – “Where are you?” – echoes like a faint voice in an unfathomable abyss…

“Adam, who are you? I no longer recognize you. Who are you, o man? What have you become? Of what horror have you been capable? What made you fall to such depths? Certainly it is not the dust of the earth from which you were made. The dust of the earth is something good, the work of my hands. Certainly it is not the breath of life which I breathed into you. That breath comes from me, and it is something good.

“No, this abyss is not merely the work of your own hands, your own heart… Who corrupted you? Who disfigured you? Who led you to presume that you are the master of good and evil? Who convinced you that you were god? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god.

“Today, in this place, we hear once more the voice of God: “Adam, where are you?”

“From the ground there rises up a soft cry: 'Have mercy on us, O Lord!' To you, O Lord our God, belongs righteousness; but to us confusion of face and shame.

“A great evil has befallen us, such as never happened under the heavens. Now, Lord, hear our prayer, hear our plea, save us in your mercy. Save us from this horror.

“Almighty Lord, a soul in anguish cries out to you. Hear, Lord, and have mercy! We have sinned against you. You reign for ever. Remember us in your mercy. Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life. Never again, Lord, never again!

“'Adam, where are you?' Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing. Remember us in your mercy”.

The Holy Father concluded his visit by speaking with some Holocaust survivors and signed the Yad Vashem Book of Honour, where he wrote: “With shame for what man, created in the image and likeness of God, was able to do. With shame that man become the patron of evil; with the shame for what man, believing himself to be god, sacrificed his brothers to himself. Never again! Never again!"

He bid farewell to the chorus and the authorities who had greeted him upon arrival, and left by car for the Heichal Shlomo Centre.