Pope Francis leads Corpus Domini celebrations
Pope Francis celebrated Mass at Rome’s cathedral Basilica of St John Lateran on Thursday evening, to mark the Solemnity of the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, often known by the abbreviations of its Latin name, Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi. Mass was followed by the traditional torchlight Eucharistic procession, in which parish groups, sodalities and charitable and fraternal organisations of all kinds participate along with ordinary citizens, from the Lateran basilica to the Basilica of St Mary Major. There, the Holy Father led the faithful in a brief moment of Eucharistic adoration and gave Eucharistic benediction. In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on memory – understood as remembrance and recollection, but also and even primarily ...

Pope at Mass: Priests, never forget your first love
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 ...

Pope: the Church is not a rental house, but a home
Pope Francis focused his daily homily on Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples, cautioning that there are many in the Church who call themselves Catholic, but are only half committed. There are some groups that “rent the Church, but do not claim it as their home,” the Pope observed during his June 5 daily Mass, stating that the Church “is not a house to rent” but rather “is a home to live in.” Centering his reflections on Jesus’ prayer in John’s Gospel that “all might be one,” the Roman Pontiff explained that there are many people who appear to have “one foot inside” the Church and one foot out, so that they can have “the possibility of being ...

Pope on Holy Land visit: A great grace
At the heart of Pope Francis’ address at his weekly General Audience on Wednesday was his recent visit to the Holy Land. The faithful gathered on a warm day in St Peter’s Square, listened as the Pope told them that this journey was great grace for him and for the whole Church. The Holy Father recalled this trip as one that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the meeting of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, and which marked a milestone along the path to Christian unity. Pope Francis during his address also underlined the fact that this visit was also meant to encourage the efforts of those who work for peace in the Middle East and those who care ...

On Flight Back from Holy Land, Pope Announces Meeting With Sex Abuse Victims
Pope Francis announced Monday he would meet soon with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican and declared “zero tolerance” for any member of the clergy who would violate a child. Francis also revealed that three bishops are currently under investigation by the Vatican for abuse-related reasons, though it wasn’t clear if they were accused of committing abuse itself or of having covered it up. “There are no privileges,” he told reporters en route back to Rome from Jerusalem. The meeting with a half-dozen victims will mark the first such encounter for the pope, who has been criticized by victims for not expressing personal solidarity with them when he has reached out to other people who suffer. Francis ...

Pedophilia is like a sacrilege for Pope Francis
At a briefing in the Vatican on Tuesday, Father Lombardi discussed some of the highlights of Pope Francis’ interview with journalists on the papal plane returning from the Holy Land.   During his remarks the Pope had said a member of the clergy who sexually abuses children is comparable to somebody carrying out a satanic mass which is a sacrilege.  Father Lombardi  explained that for a believer, equating the crime of sexually abusing a child with the sacrilege of celebrating a satanic mass, is arguably the strongest possible condemnation.   The Director of the Vatican Press Office also explained that contrary to what Pope Francis said on the plane, no firm date has yet been fixed for him to meet with ...

34 graduate from Instituo de Formacion de Laicos
he Spanish-language lay formation program of the Archdiocese of Boston, the Instituto de Formacion de Laicos, graduated 34 laypeople representing 13 parishes from their formation certificate program, May 14, at Immaculate Conception Parish in Everett. Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley celebrated the graduation Mass with 13 priests, including the director of the Hispanic Apostolate Father Francisco Anzoategui, familiarly known as Father Paco. Maria Pilar Latorre, assistant director for Hispanic catechesis, said the number of graduates reflects the vibrancy of the Hispanic community in the archdiocese. “The Spanish community is alive and ready to serve,” she said. The institute is a program of the Office of Religious Education, designed and directed by Latorre. Since its inception, laypeople have graduated from the institute ...

Forgive One Another … But How?
What was she to do? Brenda’s husband of three years abandoned her two years ago and today she received the divorce notice. “I don’t want to hate him for the rest of my life,” she said of Nathan. “I want to forgive him, but I don’t know how.” Brenda is typical of most of us in not knowing the path to forgiving. We have been hurt, we realize that our resentment could destroy us, and so we want to forgive. We even know as Catholics that Jesus, in Matthew: 6, asks us to forgive. And yet, because the Bible is not primarily a psychological document, it does not give us step-by-step instructions of how to accomplish this challenging task of ...

South Korea invites a group of North Korean Catholics to the Pope’s Mass in Seoul
South Korea has invited members of the Catholic community of North Korea to participate in the Mass that Pope Francis will celebrate in Seoul at the end of his pilgrimage from August 14 to 18: this was confirmed by Fr. John Bosco Byeon, Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Korea and UnderSecretary of the Episcopal Conference. Korean Catholic community representatives have met with some members of the Catholic Church of North Korea in Shenyang, in China, on 18 and 19 May, and invited them to attend the Pope’s Mass. Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on August 18 and will deliver a message of peace for the Korean peninsula. According to some officials of the ...

Pope to Israeli President Peres: May Jerusalem be the City of Peace
Pope Francis paid a visit to Israeli President Shimon Peres on the last day of his three day pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  In an encounter with the press ahead of a private meeting, Mr. Peres told the Holy Father peace requires “creativity and inspiration” and observed that Pope Francis possessed both.  For his part, Pope Francis thanked the President for his warm words of welcome and said their encounter had inspired him to create “a new Beatitude: ‘Blessed is he who enters the home of a wise and good man.’  And I feel blessed,” he added. At the entrance of the Presidential Palace, Mr. Peres introduced the Pope to a number of terminally ill children suffering from cancer who ...