Pope: Confession is like second Baptism for forgiveness of sins

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called on the faithful Wednesday to humbly ask forgiveness every time they sin. As part of his catechesis during this Wednesday's General Audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said, like Baptism, which washes away original sin and personal sin, the Sacrament of Confession can “open the door to a new life” as the merciful God “enters our lives.” The Pope invited Catholics to renew the grace of Baptism by going to Confession often and with a contrite heart: “The Church teaches us to confess our sins with humility, because only in forgiveness, received and given, do our restless hearts find peace and joy.”

Below, please find Pope Francis' remarks to English speaking pilgrims, read out in English by an assistant:
“Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today I would like to continue our catechesis on the Creed by turning to the Sacrament of Baptism. Each Sunday when making our Profession of Faith, we pray: I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Let us look at each of these words. I confess – This solemn declaration highlights the importance of Baptism and affirms our identity as children of God. In the Sacrament, our faith is also linked to the remission of sins. When we confess our sins, we renew and strengthen our Baptismal identity. Baptism, then, is the point of departure for a lifelong journey of conversion sustained by the Sacrament of Penance. One Baptism – The word Baptism literally means immersion. Through the Sacrament, we are immersed spiritually in the death of Jesus Christ and we rise with him as a new creation. Regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, we are illuminated by grace which dispels the darkness of sin. For the forgiveness of sins – Baptism forgives original sin and personal sin. The door to a new life is opened and the mercy of God enters our lives. But human weakness remains. The Church teaches us to confess our sins with humility, because only in forgiveness, received and given, do our restless hearts find peace and joy.”

The touching moment Pope Francis halted his weekly audience to kiss and hold disfigured man with 'Elephant Man' disease

Pope Francis has won the admiration of his followers for his common touch and his accessibility.

And yesterday his compassion for a disfigured man prompted comparisons to the 13th Century's St Francis of Assisi.

The Pope kissed and prayed with the ailing man who was battling neurofibromatosis - the rare disease said to have affected the Elephant Man.

Act of kindness: Pope Francis (left) comforts a man covered in boils in Saint Peter's Square at the end of his General Audience in Vatican City

Touching moment: The pontiff kissed the worshiper, who suffers from a rare disease called neurofibromatosis, which is genetic and not contagious  

Rome sabbatical aims to renew priests through prayer, formation

Msgr. Figueiredo speaks with CNA in Rome on Nov. 8 2013. Credit: Andreas Dueren/CNA.

By Elise Harris

Vatican City, Nov 11, 2013 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A special sabbatical program invites priests to come to the Eternal City to rest and receive classes on topics relevant in the Church today in order to give new ardor to their pastoral ministry.

“We want them to stir into flame the gift they received on the ordination day, to rediscover that zeal they had,” Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo told CNA during a Nov. 8 interview.

Msgr. Figueiredo is the director of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and plays a key role in deciding which topics will be discussed during the program each year.

The three month sabbatical takes place every fall and draws its inspiration from Bl. John Paul II’s post-synodal exhortation “Pastores Dabo Vobis,” or “I will give you Shepherds,” which calls for the continuous formation of priests.

“We need to go out to the people, but how do we do that unless we're formed,” explained Msgr. Figueiredo.

“Priests are in need of continuing formation,” he stressed, adding that “one would never imagine a doctor never being updated in his profession and it's very much the same for priests, particularly in the world we are living, where new issues are arising.”

One of the greatest challenges noted Msgr. Figueiredo, is “always to remain faithful to the teaching of Jesus, to his message,” but also “to make it relevant to people today.”

In order to aid in these efforts, the program offers special modules designed to “update” the priests who participate “on very important issues,” including many topics that, in light of “changing governments and legislation,” go against the teachings of the Church.

It is also important, the priest continued, that those who come are formed in a “spirit of deep fraternity,” because often times they “live on their own,” and “have large parishes distant from others.”

“So to be together again, as they were in the seminary, really strengthens a priest.”

Frequently, Msgr. Figueiredo noted, the priests arrive “very tired” due to “huge ministries, very big difficulties, challenges which take place in the world today,” so it is necessary to follow Jesus’ invitation to his apostles to “come away and rest awhile.”

Emphasizing also the need to be renewed in prayer in addition to intellectual formation, Msgr. Figueiredo said that “the best theology is done on our knees.”

“Ultimately,” he explained, the intellectual formation received “has to be nurtured by intimacy with Jesus Christ, otherwise it remains a dead book. We have something in our head but not of the heart.”

“So we combine really the two, we receive that intellectual formation but we take it to our heart and we are inspired by what the Holy Spirit is saying to us, in order to make that message a good news, make it applicable to people in their lives and to say the Christian message, the message of Jesus Christ, is not bad news, it's good news.”

“We know from the difficulties of a secularized world, priests today can be discouraged in their ministry,” Msgr. Figueiredo observed, revealing that he has “seen miracles” through the program.

Some of the priests who have participated, he reflected, might have otherwise “left the ministry because of discouragement,” but instead “go back strengthened and even holier through the experience here of prayer, fraternity and theological updating.”

Among the different topics offered in this year's modules are classes discussing spiritual direction, the Sacrament of Confession, how to address modern moral problems in society, as well as a scripture study tour of Rome and Turkey and a study in Christian art and architecture within Rome and Assisi.

As part of the efforts to encourage priests to participate in the sabbatical, the Institute for Continuing Theological Education has released a promotional DVD entitled “Good Priests, Better Priests,” which will be distributed in parishes across the U.S., as well as Canada and other English-speaking dioceses.

Pope Francis: corruption is 'varnished putrefaction' of whitewashed tomb

(Vatican Radio) Those who don’t truly repent and only pretend to be Christian are damaging the Church. These were the words of Pope Francis at Mass on Monday morning in the Vatican’s Santa Marta.

Pope Francis focused his homily on the Lord’s exhortation to forgive our brothers and sisters who have sinned. Jesus, he said, never tired of forgiving, and neither should we. As the Gospel says, if our brother wrongs us seven times in one day, and repents every time, we should forgive him.

However, Pope Francis warned, there is difference between being a sinner and being corrupt. Those who sin and repent, who ask for forgiveness, are humble before the Lord. But those who continue to sin, while pretending to be Christian, lead a double life, they are corrupt. A Christian who is a benefactor, Pope Francis said, who gives to the Church with one hand, but steals with the other hand from the country, from the poor, is unjust. And Jesus says: “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea”. This is because, the Pope explained, that person is deceitful, and “where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be”.

“We should all call ourselves sinners”, Pope Francis said, but those who are corrupt do not understand humility. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs: they appear beautiful, from the outside, but inside they are full of dead bones and putrefaction. And a Christian who boasts about being Christian, but does not lead a Christian life, is corrupt.

We all know such people, Pope Francis said, and they damage the Church because they don’t live in the spirit of the Gospel, but in the spirit of worldliness. St Paul in his letter to the Romans clearly urges them not to enter into the framework, into the mentality of worldliness, because it leads to this double life.

The corrupt life is a “varnished putrefaction”, Pope Francis said. Jesus did not say that those who are corrupt are sinners, but he said they’re hypocrites. Let us ask the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis concluded, for the grace to admit that we are sinners, but not corrupt.

Pope Francis: heartfelt solidarity with those affected by Philippines typhoon

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a telegram of condolence to the President of the Philippines, expressing his solidarity with those affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The typhoon, one of the worst on record, is feared to have killed as many as 10.000 people on Leyte island, which bore the brunt of the storm.

Please find below the full text of the telegram, signed by Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.

“Deeply saddened by the destruction and loss of life caused by the super typhoon, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this storm and its aftermath. He is especially mindful of those who mourn the loss of their loved ones and of those who have lost their homes. In praying for all the people of the Philippines, the Holy Father likewise offers encouragement to the civil authorities and emergency personnel as they assist the victims of this storm. He invokes divine blessings of strength and consolation for the Nation.”

Pope Francis also prayed for the victims of the typhoon after the Sunday Angelus in St Peter’s Square. He firstly called for silent prayer, and then led the faithful in a recitation of the Hail Mary. Furthermore, he urged those present to help their brothers and sisters in the Philippines concretely, as well as through prayer.

Pope Francis: death is behind us, in front of us God of the living

(Vatican Radio) During the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis focused on Sunday’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus tackled the Sadducees, those who denied that there could be a resurrection.


The Sadducees, Pope Francis said, put the following question to Jesus, in an attempt to ridicule the belief in resurrection: “A woman has had seven husbands, who died one after the other. Now at the resurrection, whose wife will that woman be?” First of all, the Pope said, Jesus explains that life after death has different parameters from our life on earth: eternal life is a different life, in a different dimension where, among other things, matrimony will no longer exist. The risen, Jesus says, will be like angels, and they will live in a different state of being, which we cannot achieve or even imagine right now.

But then, Pope Francis continued, Jesus counterattacks, so to speak: He finds proof of the resurrection in the episode of Moses and the burning bush, where God reveals himself as the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. The name of God, Pope Francis explained, is tied to the names of the men and women to whom He ties Himself, and this tie is stronger than death. This is why Jesus affirms: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to Him” (Luke 20:38). And the most important tie is with Jesus: He is the Alliance, He is the Life and the Resurrection, because with His crucified love He defeated death. In Jesus, the Pope said, God gives us eternal life: He gives it to everyone, and everyone, thanks to Him, can hope to live a life even more real than this one. The life that God has in store for us is not simply a better version of this one: it goes beyond our imagination, because God continually surprises us with His love and mercy.

Therefore, Pope Francis explained, what will happen is exactly the opposite of what the Sadducees expected. This life cannot be the standard for eternity: it is eternity, on the contrary, that illuminates our life on earth, and gives each of us hope. If we only look through human eyes, the Pope continued, we tend to say that the path of man goes from life towards death. But Jesus turns this perspective on its head, and affirms that our pilgrimage goes from death towards a fuller life. So, the Pope concluded, death is behind us, not in front of us. In front of us is the God of the living, the definitive defeat of sin and death, the start of a new time of joy and endless light. But already on this earth – in prayers, in Sacraments, in fraternity – we encounter Jesus and his love, and so we can get a small taste of the risen life. 

Pope expresses closeness to typhoon victims

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to the people of the Philippines and has assured them of his prayers as they suffer the effects of a category 5 “super-typhoon”, which struck the country early this morning.

The Pope also issued a tweet, calling for prayers. "I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines," he wrote.

Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated their homes. News reports estimate more than 100 dead, though the death toll is expected to rise. The storm churned across the archipelago country and was headed to Vietnam by Saturday evening.

Two years ago, a similar typhoon in the Philippines left 1,200 people dead.