skip to main |
skip to sidebar
(Vatican Radio) “Christmas for me is hope and tenderness . . .” The latest interview with Pope Francis, given to the Italian newspaper “La Stampa” begins with a reflection on the meaning of Christmas. In an hour and a half long conversation with Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli, the Pope addressed the themes of the suffering of children and the tragedy of world hunger; the relationship between the Catholic Church and other Christian bodies; and questions about marriage and the family, the focus of next year’s Extraordinary meeting of the Synod of Bishops.
As the first Christmas of his pontificate approaches, Pope explained how to live the season with his usual simplicity: “It is the encounter with Jesus.” Christmas is an encounter between God and His people. And it is also a consolation, “a mystery of consolation.” Christmas, the Pope said, “speaks to us about tenderness and hope.” It is an invitation to all Christians to not become “a cold Church, that doesn’t know where it’s going, that is tied up in ideologies, in worldly attitudes.” Pope Francis responds to the critics and the stereotypes of those who would trivialize the celebration of Christmas with a few persuasive words: “When one doesn’t have the capacity, or is there is a human situation that doesn’t permit you to understand this joy, you live the feast with a worldly cheer. But between the profound joy and mundane cheerfulness there is a difference.”
From his reflections on Christmas, the Pope moved on to a reflection on the 50th anniversary of the historic visit of Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land. Pope Francis expressed his desire to go there himself to meet with “my brother Bartholomew, the patriarch of Constantinople.”
Pope Francis then dealt with the question of the innocent suffering of children, who do not understand the reason of their suffering, and who can only entrust themselves to God, “to entrust themselves to His gaze.” And the suffering of children is seen too in situations of hunger. The Pope invites us to shake off indifference and to avoid waste. The social doctrine of the Church is the Pope’s compass, as he himself explained, referring to Evangelii gaudium, and to some criticisms that have come from some circles. To his mind, there are the poor and [there is] the economy that never seems to better their condition even in periods of prosperity. When asked if he ever feels offended by being called a Marxist, the Pope answered no: “It is a mistaken ideology, but I have known so many Marxists who as persons are good, and for this reason I am not offended.”
The unity of Christians is another priority. Today, Pope Francis says, there exists an “ecumenism of blood.” He explains that in many countries, Christians are killed without distinction, but unity is a grace that is still yet to come.
On the question of the Sacraments for the divorced and re-married, the Pope said he doesn’t take a position, but referred to the Consistory in February and the extraordinary Synod in October 2014. He emphasized the necessity of prudence, “not as a paralyzing attitude, but as a virtue of those who govern.”
Responding to a question about the proper relationship between the Church and politics, Pope Francis spoke about a relationship that moves in different environments and with different tasks, but which must converge in helping the people. “Politics is noble,” he said, citing Paul VI. “It is one of the highest forms of charity. We dirty it when we use it for business.”
Finally, Pope Francis spoke about the image of women in the Church, who must be esteemed and not “clericalized.”
(Vatican Radio) “The Christian message is called the ‘Gospel,’ that is, ‘the good news,’ an announcement of joy for all people; the Church is not a refuge for sad people, the Church is a house of joy.”
In his Angelus message on the Third Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis reminded us that the day is also called “Gaudete Sunday,” “Rejoice Sunday.” The Liturgy, he said, is filled with calls to rejoice, to be joyful, in order to prepare us to celebrate the feast of Christmas with renewed exultation.
But, he said, the joy of the Gospel is not just any kind of joy. It is the joy that comes from knowing that you are welcomed and loved by God. Pope Francis pointed to Sunday’s reading from the Prophet Isaiah, which tells us that God is a God who comes to save us, and especially to lift up those who have lost heart. “However great our limits and our losses, we are not allowed to be weak and vacillating in the face of difficulties and our own weaknesses.” On the contrary, he said, we are called to be strong, “to strengthen the hands, to make firm the knees, to have courage and not be afraid, because our God always shows the greatness of His mercy.” With His help, we can start anew and overcome sadness and tears, we can “sing a new song.”
The Holy Father said that “Christian joy, like hope, is founded on the faithfulness of God, in the certainty that He always keeps His promises.” Isaiah, he said, calls on those who have lost their way, who are despairing, to trust in the faithfulness of the Lord, “because His salvation will not delay in breaking into their lives.” Those who trust in God, the Pope said, “experience a peacefulness in their hearts that nothing and no one can take away.” Our joy, he said, is Christ. For this reason, a Christian who becomes sad can be said, in a certain way, to be far from Christ. But precisely for that reason, we must not leave them alone, but rather we must “pray for them, and make them feel the warmth of the community.”
Pope Francis concluded his Angelus address with an appeal to the Virgin Mary to “help us hasten our steps to Bethlehem, in order to meet the Child that is born for us, for the salvation and joy of all.”
After leading the Angelus prayer, the Pope had special greetings for various groups of pilgrims, and first of all for the children of Rome. Following an old tradition, they had come to Saint Peter’s Square on Gaudete Sunday with the Baby Jesus from their Nativity sets, which are blessed by the Holy Father. “Dear children,” Pope Francis said, “when you pray before your Nativity scenes, remember me too, as I remember you. Thank you, and happy Christmas!”
He greeted too the pilgrims from Rome, from Italy, and from around the world, and in particular those from Spain and the United States. He concluded his greetings with a special wish for a happy Sunday.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican this Friday morning, focusing his remarks on the attitude of some Christians who seem to be “allergic” to preachers and overly critical of those who proclaim the Gospel, suggesting that they are often afraid of letting the Holy Spirit into their lives and are therefore prone to profound sadness.
In his remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day, Pope Francis focused on the day's Gospel, drawn from that according to St Matthew (11:16-19). There, Jesus compares the generation of his time to always unhappy children, explaining that they were, “not open to the Word of God.” Their refusal, he explained, was not of the message, but of the messenger. “They reject John the Baptist,” he said, who came, “neither eating nor drinking ,” saying of him that he was “a man possessed.” They reject Jesus because they say, “He is a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners.” They always have a reason to criticize the preacher:
“The people of that time preferred to take refuge in a more elaborate religion: in the moral precepts, such as the group of Pharisees; in political compromise, as the Sadducees; in social revolution, as the zealots; in gnostic spirituality, such as Essenes. They were [happy] with their clean, well-polished system. The preacher, however, was not [so pleased]. Jesus reminded them: ‘Your fathers did the same with the prophets.’ The people of God have a certain allergy to the preachers of the Word: they persecuted the prophets, [even] killed them.”
The Pope went on to say that these people claimed to accept the truth of revelation, “but the preacher, preaching, no. They prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their [disembodied] spirituality.” They are those Christians, who are always discontented with what preachers say:
"These Christians are closed, they are trapped, sad ... these Christians are not free. Why? Because they are afraid of the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which comes through preaching. This, then, is the scandal of preaching, of which St. Paul spoke: the scandal of preaching that ends in the scandal of the Cross. That God should speak to us through men with limits , sinful men, scandalizes: and what scandalizes even more is that that God should speak to us and save us by way of a man who says he is the Son of God but ends [his life] as a criminal. That scandalizes.”
“These sad Christians,” said Pope Francis, “do not believe in the Holy Spirit , do not believe in the freedom that comes from preaching, which admonishes you, teaches you – slaps you , as well – but it is the very freedom that makes the Church grow.”:
“Seeing these children who are afraid to dance, to cry, [who are] afraid of everything, who ask for certainty in all things, I think of these sad Christians, who always criticize the preachers of the Truth, because they are afraid to open the door to the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for them, and pray also for ourselves, that we do not become sad Christians, cutting off the freedom of the Holy Spirit to come to us through the scandal of preaching.”
