Category: +PopeFrancis

The Weekly Francis – 14 July 2013

pope-francis2This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 5 to 14 July 2013.

Angelus

Homilies

Motu Proprio

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “We pray for a heart which will embrace immigrants. God will judge us upon how we have treated the most needy.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013
  • “Christians are always full of hope; they should never get discouraged.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013
  • “If we wish to follow Christ closely, we cannot choose an easy, quiet life. It will be a demanding life, but full of joy.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013
  • “Lord, grant us the grace to weep over our indifference, over the cruelty that is in the world and in ourselves.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013
  • “In this Year of Faith let us aim to do something concrete every day to know Jesus Christ better.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013
  • “For a Christian, life is not the product of mere chance, but the fruit of a call and personal love.” @pontifex, 27 June 2013

Note: Due to problems with using copyrighted material from the Vatican the eBook version of The Weekly Francis has been suspended. For users of the previous ebook volume I have some suggestions for alternatives on how to best read these documents especially on mobile platforms.

The Weekly Francis – 7 July 2013

lumen-fidei-255x383This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 26 June 2013 – 7 July 2013:

Angelus

Encyclicals

General Audiences

Homilies

Letters

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ. He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.” @pontifex, 2 July 2013
  • “Christ’s love and friendship are no illusion. On the Cross Jesus showed how real they are.” @pontifex, 4 July 2013
  • “Jesus is more than a friend. He is a teacher of truth and life who shows us the way that leads to happiness.” @pontifex, 5 July 2013
  • “The Lord speaks to us through the Scriptures and in our prayer. Let us learn to keep silence before him, as we meditate upon the Gospel.” @pontifex, 6 July 2013

14 things you need to know about Pope Francis’s new encyclical

Pope Francis has just released his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Here are 14 things you need to know about it.
Pope Francis has just released his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Here are 14 things you need to know about it.

Pope Francis has just released his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, or “the light of faith.”

The first encyclical of a pope is always closely watched, because it frequently signals the way in which he intends to govern the Church.

This new encyclical is even more intriguing because much of it was actually written by former Pope Benedict.

Here are 14 things you need to know . . .

 

1. What is an encyclical?

An encyclical is a kind of letter. Papal encyclicals usually deal with matters of Church teaching (doctrine). Popes write them when they feel they have something important to say about particular teachings.

Although they are not infallible, encyclicals are authoritative.

The word “encyclical” comes from the Greek word for “circle,” indicating that it is to be circulated among different people.

The encyclical Lumen Fidei is addressed to “the bishops, priests, and deacons, consecrated persons, and the lay faithful.” This indicates a broad audience.

You can read the full encyclical here.

 

2. How did this encyclical come to be?

The encyclical was originally begun by Pope Benedict in order to commemorate the Year of Faith and to complete a trilogy of encyclicals he had been writing on the three theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity.

The preceding two were Deus Caritas Est, on the theological virtue of charity, and Spe Salvi, on the virtue of hope.

Pope Benedict’s health did not allow him to remain in office, however, and so the draft of the encyclical was inherited by Pope Francis, who chose to complete it.

 

3. Has this ever happened before?

Yes. In fact, Pope Benedict’s first encyclical was based, in part, on an encyclical that John Paul II had begun preparing but had not finished.

 

4. Does Lumen Fidei acknowledge Pope Benedict’s role in its composition?

Yes. In it, Pope Francis writes:

These considerations on faith — in continuity with all that the Church’s magisterium has pronounced on this theological virtue — are meant to supplement what Benedict XVI had written in his encyclical letters on charity and hope. He himself had almost completed a first draft of an encyclical on faith. For this I am deeply grateful to him, and as his brother in Christ I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own. [LF 7].

 

5. Does Lumen Fidei sound like Pope Benedict?

KEEP READING. 

 

The Weekly Francis – 30 June 2013

PopeFrancis-fingerThis version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 30 May 2013 – 30 June 2013 (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “Are we ready to be Christians full-time, showing our commitment by word and deed?” @pontifex, 24 June 2013
  • “Charity, patience and tenderness are very beautiful gifts. If you have them, you want to share them with others.” @pontifex, 26 June 2013
  • “Jesus didn’t save us with an idea. He humbled himself and became a man. The Word became Flesh.” @pontifex, 28 June 2013
  • “Let’s learn to lose our lives for Christ, like a gift or a sacrifice. With Christ we lose nothing!” @pontifex, 29 June 2013
  • “A Christian is never bored or sad. Rather, the one who loves Christ is full of joy and radiates joy.” @pontifex, 30 June 2013

The eBook version of The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – 23 June 2013

Pope Francis is having his "Inaugural Mass"? What's happens in this Mass, and why is it important?This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 12 June 2013 – 23 June 2013 (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

General Audiences

Letters

Speeches

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

Papal Tweets

  • “Are you angry with someone? Pray for that person. That is what Christian love is.” @pontifex, 17 June 2013
  • “Christians are ready to proclaim the Gospel because they can’t hide the joy that comes from knowing Christ.” @pontifex, 19 June 2013
  • “Let us never forget that it is the Lord who guides the Church. He is the one who makes our apostolates fruitful.” @pontifex, 21 June 2013
  • “If we have found in Jesus meaning for our own lives, we cannot be indifferent to those who are suffering and sad.” @pontifex, 22 June 2013
  • “We are all sinners. But may the Lord not let us be hypocrites. Hypocrites don’t know the meaning of forgiveness, joy and the love of God.” @pontifex, 23 June 2013

Notes

  • (1) This version of The Weekly Francis includes the daily homilies of the Holy Father. These homilies are not published in full and summaries are provided by Vatican Radio.
    In a statement from Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi:

After careful reflection, therefore, it was decided that the best way to make the richness of the Pope’s homilies accessible to a wider public, without altering their nature, is to publish an ample synthesis, rich also in original quoted phrases that reflect the genuine flavor of the Pope’s expressions. It is what L’Osservatore Romano is committed to doing every day, whereas Vatican Radio, on the basis of its characteristic nature, offers a briefer synthesis, but accompanied also with some passages of the original recorded audio, as well as CTV which offers a video-clip corresponding to one of the inserted audios published by Vatican Radio.

  • (2) The full English translation of the General Audience on 5 June 2013 has still not been released.

The eBook version of The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – 16 June 2013

PopeFrancis-fingerThis version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 6 June 2013 – 16 June 2013 (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

Homilies

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “We must not be afraid of solidarity; rather let us make all we have and are available to God.” @pontifex, 11 June 2013
  • “How many kinds of moral and material poverty we face today as a result of denying God and putting so many idols in his place!” @pontifex, 12 June 2013
  • “Let the Church always be a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven.” @pontifex, 16 June 2013

The eBook version of The Weekly Francis

Pope Francis and the Vatican “gay lobby”–10 things to know and share

Did Pope Francis just admit the existence of a "gay lobby" at the Vatican? If so, what will he do about it?
Did Pope Francis just admit the existence of a “gay lobby” at the Vatican? If so, what will he do about it?

 

Pope Francis recently made the news by, apparently, acknowledging the existence of a “gay lobby” at the Vatican.

What did he say? What did he mean? And what will he do in the future?

Here are 10 things to know and share . . .

 

1. What did Pope Francis say?

According to press reports, Pope Francis recently said:

“In the Curia there are holy people, truly, there are holy people. But there’s also a current of corruption – there’s that, too, it’s true…. The ‘gay lobby’ is spoken of, and it’s true, that’s there… we need to see what we can do.”

 

2. Where and when did he say this?

According to Rocco Palmo:

The comments were purportedly made during an hourlong audience the Pope held last Thursday with the Religious Confederation of Latin America and the Caribbean (CLAR).

An unsigned “exclusive, brief synthesis” of the encounter – featuring a series of pull-quotes, but not a full transcript – was apparently provided to and subsequently published on Sunday afternoon by Reflexión y Liberación, a church-focused Chilean website with sympathies toward liberation theology.

These thus were not public remarks, which raises a question about their authenticity.

 

3. Did he really say it?

KEEP READING.

The Weekly Francis – 9 June 2013

Pope Francis is having his "Inaugural Mass"? What's happens in this Mass, and why is it important?This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 23 May 2013 – 9 June 2013 (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Sometimes we know what we have to do, but we lack the courage to do it. Let us learn from Mary how to make decisions, trusting in the Lord.” @pontifex, 3 June 2013
  • “Christ leads us to go out from ourselves more and more, to give ourselves and to serve others.”@pontifex, 4 June 2013
  • “Care of creation is not just something God spoke of at the dawn of history: he entrusts it to each of us as part of his plan.” @pontifex, 5 June 2013
  • “Consumerism has accustomed us to waste. But throwing food away is like stealing it from the poor and hungry.” @pontifex, 7 June 2013
  • “With the “culture of waste”, human life is no longer considered the primary value to be respected and protected.” @pontifex, 9 June 2013

The eBook version of The Weekly Francis

Did Pope Francis poke Protestants in the eye?

Did Pope Francis intentionally poke Protestants in the eye?
Did Pope Francis intentionally poke Protestants in the eye?

Did Pope Francis intentionally poke Protestants in the eye?

In a recent column, Presbyterian Bill Tammeus appeared to accuse Pope Francis of “intentionally offering a poke in the eye to people outside your faith tradition.”

He asks if Pope Francis is “saying that I, as a Presbyterian, cannot follow Jesus outside of Catholicism? That’s what he appears to be claiming, and I think it’s a dicey position to highlight so early in his papacy.”

Did Pope Francis “intentionally“ poke Protestants in the eye? Did he say that Presbyterians cannot follow Jesus?

Or is Tammeus misreading the pope?

Here’s the story . . .

 

Getting Started on the Wrong Foot

Tammeus begins:

Ever since the start of the Protestant Reformation nearly 500 years ago, Protestants have been understandably dismissive of the idea that the Roman Catholic church is the only true Christian church.

I hope that Tammeus realizes that this is not what the Catholic Church claims. That’s too simplistic (see below).

And yet the leaders of the Catholic church have made that claim persistently over time in various ways.

Oops. Maybe not. Well, I certainly hope he at least understands that this is not the way the Magisterium articulates the issue.

The [way leaders of the Catholic Church have made that claim] that stirred up the most resentment under Pope John Paul II was contained in Dominus Iesus, issued in August 2000 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI.

The declaration said churches outside the Catholic church “are not Churches in the proper sense.”

Okay.

Mr. Tammeus: It is my great pleasure to inform you that your concerns are to a substantial degree misplaced.

 

What the Catholic Church Actually Teaches

KEEP READING.

The Weekly Francis – 2 June 2013

Pope Francis is having his "Inaugural Mass"? What's happens in this Mass, and why is it important?This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 22 May 2013 – 2 June 2013 (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Dear young people, the Church expects great things of you and your generosity. Don’t be afraid to aim high.” @pontifex, 28 May 2013
  • “The Church is born from the supreme act of love on the Cross, from Jesus’ open side. The Church is a family where we love and are loved.” @pontifex, 29 May 2013
  • “The whole of salvation history is the story of God looking for us: he offers us love and welcomes us with tenderness.” @pontifex, 31 May 2013
  • “In this Year of Faith, we pray to the Lord that the Church may always be a true family that brings God’s love to everyone.” @pontifex, 1 June 2013
  • “The world tells us to seek success, power and money;
    God tells us to seek humility, service and love.” @pontifex, 2 June 2013

The eBook version of The Weekly Francis