“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
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.
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].
“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.
“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
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.”
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.
“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
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?
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.
“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
An image from the recent worldwide Eucharistic exposition.
This Sunday I went out for breakfast after Mass, which is something I very rarely do.
I almost never eat out, but I decided to do so as a way of celebrating the Lord’s Day.
While I was waiting in the restaurant, I was reading Facebook and discovered that the planned worldwide, Eucharistic exposition was going on right then–a fact I had not previously known.
Here are a few thoughts on the event . . .
1) These are the days of miracle and wonder.
As I sat in the restaurant, I downloaded, for free, The Pope App from News.va (iOS version, Android version) to let me watch the event live and then was able to do so–to join countless people from all over the planet in a simultaneous act of worship.
To quote Paul Simon, “These are the days of miracle and wonder.
This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 26 June 2013 – 7 July 2013:
