Pope's vigil in Portugal draws 1.5 million pilgrims

LISBON, Portugal -- A sea of 1.5 million pilgrims packed a riverside park near Lisbon on Saturday for a vigil held by Pope Francis as part of a global Catholic youth festival.

Worshippers cheered as the 86-year-old pontiff slowly drove by on his "popemobile" to the stage at the Parque Tejo on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital.

"We are the pope's youths!" they chanted as national flags fluttered in the crowd estimated at around 1.5 million people according to the Vatican, citing local officials.

The Argentine pope urged the crowd to "pick themselves up" whenever they suffer a setback in life.

"Those who remain on the ground have retired from life, have lost their hopes and dreams," he added.

Drones formed the words "rise up" and "follow me" in the sky above the stage as the pope spoke.

Many waited for hours under a blazing sun for the start of the vigil, singing, dancing and playing cards to pass the time at the park, which was built for the occasion on a former landfill site.

There was little shade, and worshippers protected themselves from the sun with umbrellas or makeshift tents made from sheets, or tried to cool off by pouring water over their heads.

- 'Powerful moments' -

Portugal's state weather office has put Lisbon on alert for scorching temperatures that reached nearly 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit) on Saturday.

Charlotte Bordas, a 26-year-old who came from Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France, said she was moved to see people from around the world at the event.

"We hear all languages spoken and we see the same joy on people's faces," she told AFP.

"Gathering around the pope and praying together are very powerful moments that give hope and strengthen our personal faith."

The vigil is part of World Youth Day festivities, which is actually a week of religious, cultural and festive events held every three years in a different city.

Santi Salvador, a 19-year-old Spanish student, said he walked to Lisbon from Barcelona to attend the event, a distance of some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).

"We left 40 days ago... It's a pilgrimage to see the pope," he told AFP.

The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics will deliver a final open-air mass on Sunday morning at the Parque Tejo before returning to Rome.

Many pilgrims who attended Saturday's vigil planned to sleep in the park to be there for the service.

- 'Everyone can enter' -

Earlier Saturday, Francis visited the shrine of Fatima, a revered site north of Lisbon devoted to the Virgin Mary, where he was welcomed by around 200,000 people.

He recited the rosary with sick and disabled youths at the chapel built on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.

In an address to the crowd, the pontiff reinforced calls made many times during his trip for an inclusive Church.

"This little chapel where we find ourselves, is like a beautiful image of the Church, welcoming, without doors," he said in improvised remarks.

"The Church does not have doors, so that everyone can enter," he added to applause from the crowd.

The pope prayed in silence for several minutes before a statue of the Virgin Mary in the chapel.

In a text published later on Twitter, recently rebranded as X, the pontiff said he had prayed for the "church and the world, especially for countries at war".

The pontiff, who now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to get around, arrived in Portugal on Wednesday for the World Youth Day jamboree.

World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and features a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.

This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the Covid pandemic, will be the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.

Agence France-Presse

Pope Francis tells teens ‘happiness not an app’

VATICAN CITY — Happiness is not an app you can download on your mobile phone, Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers on Sunday at a mass to mark a weekend dedicated to youth.

“Freedom is not always about doing what you want. In fact it is the gift of being able to choose the right way,” he said in a homily punctuated by regular bursts of applause from the crowd on a packed St Peter’s Square.

“Your happiness has no price. It cannot be bought and sold: it is not an application you download on a mobile phone. Even the latest version cannot help you to grow and become free in love.”

An estimated 70,000 teenagers were in Rome for a weekend of events to celebrate Francis’s Jubilee year dedicated to the theme of mercy.

In a surprise move on Saturday, the 79-year-old pontiff heard confessions from 16 of them and a video message from him was broadcast at a rock and rap concert in the Stadio Olimpico.

One of the teenagers chosen to confess to the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said she had been trembling as she approached the chair on which the pope was sitting in St. Peter’s Square.

“But as soon as I sat down I had the feeling of being next to a normal person rather than the pope. Francis is really one of us,” Anna Taibi, 15, told La Repubblica newspaper.

The Sicilian teenager said she had been touched by Francis’s tenderness as he listened to her confession.

“I expected him to give me a penance … instead he absolved me and let me go.”

The importance of mobile phones to contemporary teenagers was also reflected in Francis’s message to the concert.

Clutching an iPhone, he told his audience that living without Jesus was like not having any signal. “Always be sure to go where there is a network: family, parish, school,” he said.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Obama’s daughters wanted to meet Messi, fails

As the President of the United States, Barack Obama has a lot of perks.

A spanking gorgeous personal plane is just the start and his daughters Sasha and Malia can personally meet Pope Francis.

There’s one thing the leader of the free world can’t do though, and that’s set his daughters with a meeting with Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

As per ESPNFC.com, Obama was at the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Town Hall in Buenos Aires and he revealed his two daughters asked him if they could see the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“I also wanted to bring my daughters here so they could see the beauty and the vibrancy of this city,” Obama said. “They’ve already met one famous Argentinean—His Holiness Pope Francis. Now they want to meet [Lionel] Messi, but I could not arrange that.”

Being the most powerful person on earth has a lot of privileges but even the POTUS have to wait for the “Atomic Flea.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Mother Teresa sainthood hailed

CATHOLIC bishops yesterday welcomed the news from the Vatican that the late Mother Teresa was on her way to sainthood, saying her canonization would help teach Filipinos to be more compassionate to the poor.

“This is a great joy for us. She founded [charity] houses here and she exemplifies selfless service, which is an antidote to the corruption and greed in our country and in the world,” said Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani.

Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros said the forthcoming canonization of the late nun was “great news” not only for the Filipinos but for the people all over the world.

“Mother Teresa is a living image of God’s mercy because she dedicated her life in the service of the poor and the abandoned. Let us ask her to intercede that we may also be the bearers of God’s mercy to those who desperately need his mercy,” Oliveros said.

The prelate also noted that Mother Teresa’s canonization would come at a time when the Catholic Church was celebrating the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles noted that Mother Teresa was close to the Filipinos. “She loved the poor and she had a lot to tell us still,” Arguelles said, remembering the occasion he escorted the late nun in one of her visits to the Philippines in 1978.

Mother Teresa is expected to be officially canonized in Rome on Sept. 4 next year. The move comes after Pope Francis recognized a second medical miracle attributed to the late nun, who dedicated her life to the poor, the sick and the dying in the slums of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said the canonization was timely since the world needed more models “who live and work not for themselves but for others to glorify God.”

“Love was best expressed in her whole life as a witness to Christ,” Ongtioco said.

A Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work among the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa died on Sept. 5, 1997, age 87. At the time, the Missionaries of Charity based in Kolkata had nearly 4,000 nuns and ran roughly 600 orphanages, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and clinics around the world.

The nun was born to Albanian parents in Skopje in what is now known as Macedonia as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910. Nicknamed the “saint of the gutters,” she dedicated her life to the poor, the sick and the dying in the slums of Kolkata, one of India’s biggest cities, founding the Missionaries of Charity order of nuns there. She won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

She was beatified by then Pope John Paul II in a fast-tracked process in 2003, in a ceremony attended by some 300,000 pilgrims. Beatification is the first step toward sainthood.

The miracle needed for her canonization concerned the inexplicable cure in 2008 of a man in Brazil with multiple brain abscesses who, within a day of being in a coma, was cured, according to a report in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.

The Vatican ascertained that his wife’s prayers for Mother Teresa’s intercession were responsible, the report said.

Mother Teresa is expected to be canonized as part of the Pope’s Jubilee Year of Mercy.

“The Holy Father has authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to proclaim the decrees concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of blessed Mother Teresa,” the Vatican said in a statement.

In the Vatican’s jubilee calendar, Sept. 4 is marked as a day dedicated to the late nun’s memory and her canonization is likely to take place then, experts say.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope begs forgiveness for ‘scandals’ hitting Rome, Vatican

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is asking forgiveness for recent scandals that have hit Rome and the Vatican.

The pope didn’t cite specific examples in his off-the-cuff request for pardon at the start of his Wednesday general audience.

But the past week has seen its fair share of problems: On the eve of Francis’ big meeting on the family, a Vatican monsignor came out as gay. Then Rome’s mayor resigned amid scandal and criticism by the church. And recently, a leaked letter revealed grave concerns by a dozen cardinals about the way Francis’ synod was being run.

Francis said: “Before beginning the catechesis I want in the name of the church to ask forgiveness for the scandals which recently have hit Rome and the Vatican. I ask forgiveness.” TVJ

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Feeding Pope Francis: Celebrity chef serves simple, spiritual meals

NEW YORK—Sliced heirloom tomatoes, steamed lobster and house-made burrata greeted Pope Francis on his first night in New York, where a celebrity chef cooking for her second Pontiff said her menu was inspired by Francis’ humility and simplicity.

Feeding the leader of the world’s more than 1 billion Roman Catholics is a daunting task, but Lidia Bastianich said she felt the dishes she offered Francis during his 40 hours in Manhattan pulled off the feat of being straightforward, sophisticated and even spiritual.

“In this food is everything I feel about Catholicism …. Let’s feed each other some sustenance, some love,” said Bastianich, who went into her own garden to pick carrots, beets, tomatoes and herbs for the Pontiff’s meals.

Some of the dishes on Francis’ five-meal New York menu took their cue from the Pontiff’s healthy diet in Rome. His doctor is reportedly trying to get him to lose 8 kilograms.

The tomato and lobster salad gave way Thursday night to veal with porcini mushrooms. Dessert was Concord grape sorbet and angel food cake.

Met kitchen crew

Friday’s lunch included risotto with summer truffles and aged Grana Padano cheese, as well as a surprise late addition to the menu—bagna cauda, a garlic-anchovy dip for raw vegetables that Bastianich heard Francis loves.

After lunch, Francis strolled into the kitchen, thanked Bastianich, restaurateur Angelo Vivolo and their kitchen crew, and asked if he could share an espresso with them. The Pope ended by giving each a rosary and a blessing.

“Our eyes swelled with tears,” Bastianich said.

For dinner Friday, Bastianich prepared homemade ravioli filled with shredded pears and pecorino cheese—so light and delicate they seemingly melted on the tongue. And on a day when Catholics traditionally eat fish, the main dish was roasted striped bass, freshly caught off Long Island, with a drizzle of olive oil and chopped parsley, plus lemon on the side.

Though the dishes Bastianich served up may sound more swank than simple, this was a visit with little behind-the-scenes pomp. One of Francis’ requests was notably modest: water and bananas at his bedside table. (Bananas will be on the menu in Philadelphia, as well: The proprietors of the popular Franklin Fountain ice cream shop are providing a special caramelized banana flavor to the seminary where Francis will stay on the last stop of his US visit.)

This was the second such papal calling for Bastianich, a chef and author best known for “Lidia’s Italy” and other public broadcast shows, and her Manhattan flagship restaurant Felidia.

It’s giving back
She and Vivolo were selected to cook for Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, a visit that included a dinner party for 52 and a golden cake in the shape of the papal tiara.

Bastianich prepared Francis’ meals at the five-story Upper East Side townhouse of the Vatican’s United Nations representative, where the 78-year-old Pope took respite from his hectic schedule and the rock-star roar of admiring crowds.

“There’s an intimacy, a closeness, a warmth—he’s a guest who sleeps upstairs,” she said. “It’s like having family visiting and you’re cooking.”

Bastianich’s command performances for popes have always been about more than mere meals. Her family fled Yugoslavia after World War II and became refugees in Trieste, Italy. They were brought to the US by Catholic Charities.

“For me, it’s gratitude, it’s giving back,” she said. “I was fed by people who cared, so I understand the communication that food can have.” AP

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Pope, thousands brave rain for Easter in St. Peter’s Square

VATICAN CITY — In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

Cautious hope ran through Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message, a kind of papal commentary on the state of the world’s affairs, which he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square.

He had just celebrated Mass in rain-whipped St. Peter’s Square for tens of thousands of people.

Francis made his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord, reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, and aimed at ensuring Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear weapon.

“In hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.”

Decrying the plentitude of weapons in the world in general, Francis said: “And we ask for peace for this world subjected to arms dealers, who earn their living with the blood of men and women.”

He denounced “absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence” in Libya, convulsed by fighting fueled by tribal and militia rivalries. He hoped “a common desire for peace” would prevail in Yemen, wracked by civil warfare.

Francis prayed that the “roar of arms may cease” in Syria and Iraq, and that peace would come in Africa for Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Congo.

He recalled the young people, many of them targeted because they were Christians, killed last week in a Kenyan university, and lamented kidnappings, by Islamic extremists, that have plagued parts of Africa, including Nigeria.

On Good Friday, Francis chastised the international community for what he called the complicit silence about the killing of Christians. On Easter he prayed that God would alleviate “the suffering of so many of our brothers persecuted because of his name.”

During Mass, Francis was shielded from pelting rain by a canopy erected outside St. Peter’s Basilica, while prelates carried umbrellas in the yellow and white colors of the Vatican.

The downpour petered out to a drizzle, and by the ceremony, the rain had stopped. Francis, wearing a white overcoat, was driven through the square in the open-sided popemobile so he could wave to the faithful.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Relive Pope’s visit via documentary

MANILA, Philippines–Filipino Catholics will get a chance to relive the visit of Pope Francis via a documentary televised nationwide.

The documentary titled “Mabuhay, Lolo Kiko: Pagsulyap sa Pagbisita ng Santo Papa sa Pilipinas,” which had its nationwide premiere last Friday, will be replayed tonight and on April 4, Black Saturday.

The documentary will air on ANC on March 9 from 8 to 9:30 p.m., and on ABS-CBN on April 4 from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, the film captures some of the most significant moments of the Pope’s visit through the eyes of those who patiently waited, lovingly prepared and wholeheartedly took part in the events of Jan. 15 to 19.

The documentary was made possible by the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Social Communications with production help from the Jesuit Communications (JesCom).

JesCom, in the CBCP post, said the title encapsulates how the theme of “mercy and compassion” was embodied and lived by the Filipino faithful, especially in keeping with time-honored values of malasakit, bayanihan and damayan.–Tina G. Santos

source: globalnation.inquirer.net

Filipinos capture every Pope Francis moment in smartphones, tablets

MANILA, Philippines — It’s a scene that has repeated itself throughout Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines, from the sidewalks lining his motorcade routes to the hallowed nave of Manila’s cathedral: arms stretched high in unison, holding aloft smartphones and tablets to record the moment.

In the cathedral in Manila’s historic walled city, it gave a traditional scene a 21st-century touch. Francis and his procession walked up the aisle between a sea of white — bishops, priests and nuns in religious vestments, many holding up their phones and tablets.

On the streets, after the motorcade whizzed past, everyone checked their devices to see if they had got the Pope, comparing images and videos with others.

There was only one glitch. In this era of instant sharing on social media, many were stymied, because cell phone service was blocked for security reasons whenever the Pope was out and about.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Pope: Concern for the poor is Gospel–not communism

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis is insisting that his concern for the poor and critique of the global economic system isn’t some novel, communist-inspired ideology but rather the original and core “touchstone” of the Christian faith.

Some US conservatives have branded the first Latin American Pope a Marxist for his frequent critiques of consumerism and focus on a Church “that is poor and for the poor.”

But in an interview contained in a new book, Francis explains that his message is rooted in the Gospel and has been echoed by Church fathers since Christianity’s first centuries.

“The Gospel does not condemn the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people indifferent to the call of the poor,” Francis says in “This Economy Kills,” a study of the Pope’s economic and social teachings, excerpts of which were provided on Sunday to The Associated Press.

Specifically, Francis summarized a verse from the Gospel of Matthew that is the essential mission statement of his papacy: “I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison, I was sick, I was naked and you helped me, clothed me, visited me, took care of me.”

“Caring for our neighbor, for those who are poor, who suffer in body and soul, for those who are in need: this is the touchstone. Is it pauperism? No. It is the Gospel.”

He cites Church fathers dating to St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom as expressing the same concerns, and noted somewhat wryly that if he had said the same “some would accuse me of giving a Marxist homily.”

“As we can see, this concern for the poor is in the Gospel, it is within the tradition of the Church, it is not an invention of communism and it must not be turned into some ideology, as has sometimes happened before in the course of history,” an apparent reference to the Latin American-inspired liberation theology.

“This Economy Kills,” by two seasoned Vatican reporters, comes out this week in Italian.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope prays for victims of Paris attack

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the victims of the attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Thursday, praying for all those affected by an Islamist assault which left 12 people dead.

“The terror attack in Paris brings to mind so much cruelty, human cruelty, so much terrorism, both isolated terrorism and of state terrorism,” the 78-year old Pontiff said, according to Vatican radio.

“We pray for the victims of this cruelty, so many of them. And we pray also for the perpetrators of such cruelty, that the Lord might change their hearts,” he said.

Following the early morning prayers in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican, where the Pope lives, Francis posted the #PrayersForParis hashtag on Twitter.

The Pontiff had earlier issued a strong condemnation of the “horrible attack” against the weekly, with a plea “to oppose, by all means, hatred and all forms of physical or moral violence that destroy human life or violate a person’s dignity.”

Shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is greater”), two heavily armed men stormed the Paris headquarters of a satirical weekly on Wednesday, killing some of the country’s most loved cartoonists in cold blood in the worst attack on French soil in decades.

The weekly received numerous threats for publishing cartoons of the Muslim prophet but was also a constant critic of the Roman Catholic Church and its leaders.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Philippines from January 15 to 19.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope faces key test with vote on divorcees, gays

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was set to sort his allies from his enemies Saturday with a Vatican vote on a document drafted at the end of a fierce two-week debate over opening the Catholic Church’s doors to remarried divorcees and gays.

The vote will close a special synod of bishops from around the world which has seen conservatives clash publicly with liberals over a Francis-backed drive to reform the Church by softening its approach to sinners.

Ahead of the vote, the cardinals overwhelmingly approved a message to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics stressing the value of “unique and indissoluble conjugal love” but without touching directly on the hot topic of non-traditional unions.

Several told a news conference they were confident the final synod document would pass with the necessary two-thirds majority later Saturday after Vatican experts raised the real possibility it could fail.

The vote has turned into a referendum on the pope’s audacious line.

Francis, 77, has called for the Church to take a more merciful approach to unwed mothers, remarried divorcees and gays, famously saying of homosexuals, “Who am I to judge?”

A preliminary report on Monday made waves around the world by suggesting the Church should reach out to homosexuals, who have “gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community”, outraging traditionalists who had to be reminded by the Vatican that it was a work in progress.

A fresh report Thursday summed up the reactions of 10 working groups of bishops, which mixed declarations of respect for homosexuals with fierce insistence that any opening up to sinners would imply the Church condoned their behaviour.

The final document is expected to take into account the bishops’ amendments, but will be written by a drafting committee made up of perceived progressives appointed by Francis himself.

‘Soap opera’

The fallout in the corridors of power, which Boston Globe Vatican expert John Allen described as “like a daytime soap opera”, has already caused at least one head to roll.

Outspoken Cardinal Raymond Burke, currently head of the Vatican’s top canon law court, confirmed to Buzzfeed that he will be removed from the job to be made patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an honorary post.

He told the US news website: “The pope is not free to change the Church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the faith.”

The vote will reflect the attitude of the top echelons of the Church towards reform — and ultimately towards Francis’s rule, which has been coloured since his election in March last year by a determination to show the more humane side of the centuries-old institution.

“The Synod splits over gays and divorcees: there’s a risk of an anti-pope vote,” read a headline by Franca Giansoldati, Vatican expert for Italy’s Il Messaggero daily, which described the vote as “a nasty test for Pope Francis”.

“The risks are high. If the amendments are not inserted in the text the biggest surprise could come from the vote. The majority, for now, do not seem to be in favour — and the count could prove fatal,” she said.

Possible ‘revolution’

German Cardinal Walter Kasper, an ally of the pope’s who has been pushing for reform, has said he believes the “majority” of those taking part in the synod are open to change.

Kasper suggested in February that remarried divorcees should be allowed to take communion under certain conditions.

Critical bishops have said the initial document placed “too much emphasis on the problems facing the family”.

“Many bishops have asked that the document be thoroughly re-written. There have been such a number of negative reactions that the risk is it won’t pass the vote unless its heavily revised,” Marco Tosatti, who writes for La Stampa’s Vatican Insider, told AFP.

Some resent the intense media glare on the proceedings. Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea told the Catholic News Agency that all the attention on gay couples was “an attempt to push the Church to change its doctrine”.

This synod will be followed by a year of consultations, and a follow-up questionnaire will be sent out to dioceses around the world. A second, larger synod will then be held in October 2015.

After that, the results will be handed to the Argentinian pope, who will have the final say in outlining the Church’s stance on family matters.

Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits — to which Francis belongs — told the I.Media religious news agency to watch for a possible “revolution” a year from now.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, an ally of the pope, said there was no turning back. “There have been two steps forward, there may be one step backwards, but certainly not two.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope denounces perversion of religion for violence

TIRANA, Albania — Pope Francis denounced how religion has been “perverted” to justify violence as he arrived in Albania to highlight a Balkan nation that endured brutal religious oppression but where Christians and Muslims now live and work together.

Francis told Prime Minister Edi Rama at the start of his 11-hour visit Sunday that Albania’s interreligious harmony was an “inspiring example” for the world, showing that Christian-Muslim coexistence was not only possible but beneficial for a country’s development.

He said: “Let no one consider themselves to be the ‘armor’ of God while planning and carrying out acts of violence and oppression!”

It was Francis’ first visit to a majority Muslim nation since the Islamic State crackdown on Christians in Iraq.

 source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Mideast trip

AMMAN, Jordan — Pope Francis arrived Saturday in Jordan, kicking off a three-day trip to the Middle East that will see him get a firsthand look at the plight of Syrian refugees and witness the toll the civil war next door is taking on Jordan.

His plane touched down at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, where an honor guard, Catholic leaders and Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed, King Abdullah II’s chief adviser for religious and cultural affairs, met him.

Pope Francis talked for a moment with Prince Ghazi at the airport before entering a simple, four-door sedan and heading off to the king’s palace, a group of motorcycles riding alongside him. Small groups of people waving Jordanian and Vatican flags cheered him as he passed.

At the palace, Pope Francis met with King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, their children gathered for the meeting. Outside, traditionally dressed soldiers marched in formation.

On the flight to Amman, the pope told journalists that the trip would be “challenging,” but rewarding.

“My heart beats and is looking to love,” he said.

Despite a cold and fatigue that forced him to cancel some recent appointments, Francis seemed in fine health on the flight and greeted each of the reporters traveling with him one-by-one, even posing for a “selfie” photograph. Before his arrival, those waiting at the airport in Amman felt a magnitude 4.1 earthquake that struck in Israel near its border with Jordan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake caused no damage or injuries.

Francis is due to celebrate Mass on Saturday in Amman’s International Stadium. The Vatican expects some 25,000 people to attend, many of them Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Later, he will meet one-on-one with refugees and disabled children at a church in Bethany beyond the Jordan, which many believe is the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism.

Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria’s population, but assaults on predominantly Christian towns by rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad’s rule have fueled fears among the country’s religious minorities about the growing role of Islamic extremists in the revolt. Christians believe they are being targeted in part because of anti-Christian sentiment among Sunni Muslim extremists and partly as punishment for what is seen as their support for Assad.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Francis wants to offer comfort to all Christians who live in the region and encourage them to stay.

“These Christians are living stones, and without their presence, the Holy Land and its holy sites risk becoming a museum,” Parolin told Vatican Television on the eve of the trip.

Jordan last month opened a third camp for Syrian refugees, a stark indication of the strains the civil war is creating for the country. The sprawling facility is designed to accommodate up to 130,000 people and potentially become the world’s second-largest refugee camp. Jordan is hosting 600,000 registered Syrian refugees, or 10 percent of its population. Jordanian officials estimate the real number is closer to 1.3 million.

For the Syrian Christians who will greet Francis, his presence is a chance to show the world their hopelessness as the conflict drags on.

“We are very happy because he will see Christians in the Arab world, he will see us and see our suffering,” said Nazik Malko, a Syrian Orthodox Christian refugee from Maaloula who will be among the 600 or so people to greet the pope at Bethany beyond the Jordan. “We wish that peace will be restored in the whole world, and in Syria.”

Francis will visit a Palestinian refugee camp Sunday when he travels from Amman directly to the West Bank city of Bethlehem. It’s the first time a pope has landed in the West Bank rather than Tel Aviv first, and Palestinian officials are eager to show Francis the limbo endured by generations of Palestinians forced or driven out in the war over Israel’s 1948 creation. Today, along with their descendants, these refugees make up more than 5 million people scattered across the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Parolin, the Vatican No. 2, said Francis would emphasize the Vatican’s longstanding position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “The right of Israel to exist and enjoy peace and security inside its internationally recognized borders, and the right of the Palestinian people to have a sovereign, independent homeland, freedom of movement and the right to live in dignity.”

Technically, the main reason for the trip is for Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians to mark the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting in Jerusalem by their predecessors which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement. That highlight will come on Sunday, when Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I preside over a joint prayer service in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

Representatives of other churches also will be present, including Cardinal Bechara Rai, the first leader of Lebanon’s largest Christian sect, the Maronite Catholic Church, to visit Jerusalem since Israel captured the city’s eastern sector. Lebanon bans its citizens from visiting Israel or having business dealings with Israelis.

Francis will spend Monday in Jerusalem, visiting the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Israel’s chief rabbis, albeit separately. He’ll also pray at the Western Wall and visit the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem and will become the first pope to lay a wreath of flowers on Mount Herzl, named for the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl. He returns to the Vatican Monday night.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope Francis creates new Vatican finance ministry

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Monday created a new finance ministry to oversee the Holy See’s economic affairs in a move aimed at increasing transparency and boosting funds for the poor following a wave of scandals at the Vatican bank.

The ministry will be headed up by Australian Cardinal George Pell, and will prepare an annual budget for the Vatican as well as imposing international accounting standards and reporting practices, the Vatican said.

“The Holy Father today announced a new coordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and the Vatican State,” it said in a statement.

The Vatican said the move followed recommendations made by cardinals advising the pope including for a “more formal commitment” to international standards.

The changes “will ensure better use of resources, improving the support available for various programs, particularly our works with the poor,” it said.

The new ministry, formally a “Secretariat for the Economy”, will be governed by a 15-member council of eight clergymen from different parts of the world and seven lay international financial sector experts.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope’s Harley-Davidson to go on sale

LONDON—A Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was once given to Pope Francis by the manufacturer is to go on sale next month in Paris, a British auction house said Monday.

The 1,585cc Dyna Super Glide was given to the pope in June to mark the 110th anniversary of the US motorbike maker, London-based auctioneer Bonhams said.

The bike, which is signed by Pope Francis on the petrol tank, is expected to fetch between 12,000 euros and 15,000 euros ($16,400 and $20,500) when it goes on sale at the Grand Palais in Paris on Feb. 6.

The pope donated the Harley in November to the Roman Catholic charity Caritas Roma and the funds from the sale will go toward the restoration of its Don Luigi di Liegro hostel and soup kitchen based at Rome’s Termini railway station.

“We are incredibly honored to be selling this item on behalf of Caritas Roma,” said Ben Walker, head of motorcycles at Bonhams.

“We hope to be able to do both Pope Francis and Harley-Davidson proud by raising a significant amount of money for a very worthy cause.”

Pope Francis, 77, is not thought to have ridden the Harley, a make well known for its use by motorbike gangs including the “Hells Angels.”

The famously humble pontiff is more of a fan of buses. He opted to ride one the day after his election last year instead of taking a limousine, and regularly used them in his homeland Argentina instead of taxis.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope Francis overhauls Catholic image but real reforms await

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has turned around the way the Catholic Church is seen but his promise of Vatican reform awaits next year and key problems remain, observers said on Tuesday, as the pontiff celebrated his 77th birthday.

After years of stagnation and turbulence, the first ever Latin American pope has brought a down-to-earth style to the papacy and has shown a willingness to tackle problems like the Vatican’s secretive finances.

Francis has also established himself as a global voice on the side of the dispossessed with his critique of unfettered capitalism — earning the label of “Marxist” from conservative commentators in the United States.

In terms of the Vatican’s sluggish view of time, he has moved quickly in his first months, installing a council of world cardinals to advise him and calling for a less “Vatican-centric” kind of Church with more power for local bishops.

He has accumulated over 10 million followers on Twitter under the @pontifex handle, nearing rock star popularity, and has been named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine.

The change of mood has been all the more remarkable given the strife in the Church before his election, including outrage over child sex abuse scandals and divisions between the Vatican and local churches.

Those issues are far from gone away, however. And analysts warn that progressives in the Church hoping for a raft of reforms of Catholic teachings will be disappointed.

Francis remains a moral conservative, although a compassionate one, who is virtually certain to stick to doctrine on hot-button issues like abortion or contraception, or priestly celibacy and women priests.

Even the pope’s widely-praised comment about gay people — “Who am I to judge?” — is seen as showing tolerance but unlikely to alter the Church’s fundamental condemnation of homosexual acts as a sin.

“Exaggerated expectations will necessarily lead to new disappointments,” German cardinal Walter Kasper was quoted as saying in a new biography of the pope by Rome-based Argentine journalist Elisabetta Pique.

“The new pope can renew the Church but he cannot invent a new Church,” Kasper said, adding that progressives and conservatives alike would be “disappointed.”

Aside from memorable phrases like his call for a “poor Church for the poor,” there have in fact been few major decisions taken by Francis in his first nine months that allow for a deeper analysis of his intentions.

Francis has begun consultations on reforming the Vatican administration and the Vatican’s scandal-tainted bank, the Institute for Works of Religion, and has set up a committee on child abuse.

About to tackle scandals of child sex abuse

On the issue of abuses and cover-ups by Catholic clergymen dating back decades, which continues to anger many Catholics and non-Catholics alike, two events next month could give an indication of the pope’s direction.

One will be the assembly on January 8 of the Legion of Christ, a troubled conservative religious order whose late founder Father Marcial Maciel was discovered to be a sexual predator who molested seminarians and fathered three children despite taking a vow of chastity.

The order has been put under Vatican tutelage as more abuse cases have emerged, but there have been internal tensions over its future ahead of the meeting, when the Vatican will have to show what it intends to do.

Then on January 16, Vatican representatives will travel to Geneva to testify before a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child over its handling of abuse cases after saying it was not legally competent over the actions of individual clergymen.

Seen trying to do too much?

Some experts believe Pope Francis may be trying to do too much and creating confusion among Catholics with his multiple interviews and ad lib speeches.

“Pilot and navigator, accelerator and brake: Pope Bergoglio’s driving is like that,” said Vatican expert Sandro Magister, using Francis’s surname from birth.

He added that the pontiff’s style had led to “misunderstandings and over-the-top expectations.”

And while his public image is that of a kindly parish priest, Vatican gossip is that he can be sometimes be brusque and authoritarian behind the walls.

With the pope’s popularity growing among many non-Catholics too, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi expressed concern in a rare critical moment that the focus on him could draw attention away from the message.

At a recent book presentation, he was quoted by Vanity Fair Italy as saying: “The extreme concentration of attention on Francis creates a communication problem.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope issues mission statement for papacy

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis has issued the mission statement for his papacy, outlining how the Catholic Church and the papacy itself must be reformed to create a more missionary and merciful church that pays particular attention to the poor.

In a document released Tuesday, Francis amalgamated the priorities he has laid out in eight months of homilies, speeches and interviews and put them in the broader context of how to reinvigorate the church’s evangelical zeal in a world marked by indifference, secularization and vast income inequalities.

He explained his most controversial remarks criticizing the church’s “obsession” with transmitting a disjointed set of doctrines, saying that in the church’s “hierarchy of truths,” mercy is paramount and that what counts is inviting the faithful in.

He criticized the church’s centralization as impeding missionary outreach.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pope says atheists can be moral like Catholics

ROME—Pope Francis on Wednesday said atheists could take moral decisions just like religious people, in an unprecedented letter to a leftwing Italian daily—his latest attempt to reach out to non-believers.

“God’s mercy has no limits if we turn to Him with a sincere and contrite heart,” the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said in a missive published in La Repubblica by its founder Eugenio Scalfari.

“The question for people who do not believe in God is to listen to their consciences. Also for those without faith, sin is going against your conscience,” he said.

“Listening to it and obeying it means making up one’s mind about what is good and evil,” he added.

The letter was the 76-year-old pope’s reply to questions posed in the newspaper in July and August by Scalfari, who had admitted to not believing in God.

Since being elected in March, the Argentine pope has repeatedly said he wants his words to be heard by faithful from other religions and non-believers.

During a blessing in St. Peter’s Square in May, Francis said non-believers could be redeemed just like Catholics—an unusual message that was quickly denied by a Vatican spokesman who said that anyone who refuses the Catholic Church “cannot be saved.”

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ. All of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!” the pope said in his address in May.

“We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there,” he said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Chicago lawyer offers popefrancis.com domain to new pontiff

Pope Francis has been offered what could be his first high-profile tech gift: the Internet domain popefrancis.com.

Chicago lawyer Chris Connors, 39, bought the domain in 2010 and is planning to give it to the Church for free, Chicago Tribune reported.


“I thought that at some point in the near future that the names would get more relevant ... Nobody names their kids Innocent anymore. And I thought it’d be great if a pope chose Francis after the great saint,” the Chicago Tribune quoted him as saying.



He added he had hoped a pope would choose to be named after Italian saint Francis of Assisi, who lived a simple life for the poor.

Connors bought the domain for “just a couple bucks” a year through domain name registrar GoDaddy.com as a bet with himself, hoping Chicago Cardinal Francis George would become pope and choose the name Francis, the report said.

Now that Bergoglio has been elected pope, Connors contacted officials in the Chicago Archdiocese about his plan.

He said that since Cardinal George was busy, he left a message at Holy Name Cathedral.

“I told him that if Pope Francis wants it, he’s got it. Especially in this age with social media, it might be helpful for him if he’s going to use it. I’d like to see it used,” he said.

For his part, George said he relayed this to Msgr. Peter Wells of the Vatican’s Office of the Secretary of State.

“This is just delightful,” George was quoted in the Tribune report as saying.  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com