Pope Francis’ first interview with an Italian television channel was granted to TV2000 and InBlu Radio, the Italian Episcopal Conference’s broadcasters. In a 40-minute question and answer session, the Pope speaks to web and news directors Paolo Ruffini and Lucio Brunelli, about his reflections on the fruits of the Extraordinary Holy Year, which he describes Read more
The archdiocese of Wellington is marking the end of the year of mercy with a mass at the Cathedral at 7:30 on Sunday 20 November. But they are not closing their holy door: “Here in the Archdiocese our glass Doors of Mercy, will in fact, remain open. These doors will continue to remind all who Read more
Ex-priests, their wives and families were surprised by a visit from Pope Francis last Friday. The visit marked the end of the Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy. In an interview last December, Francis said the Holy Year is a response to the world’s need for a “revolution of tenderness” from which “justice and all the Read more
About 5000 Catholics gathered in Labasa Town, northern Fiji, on Sunday to close the season of the Year of Mercy. At the closing mass held at Holy Family Primary School parishioners were reminded about the importance of looking out for those in need in their communities. Parishioners traveled from seven parishes in the North, including Read more
In this Year of Mercy Pope Francis has declared there is to be a Jubilee for Prisoners this weekend. To honour this Jubilee for Prisoners and to encourage ongoing prayer for those in prison, a revised Adopt a Cell Card is being produced to be distributed at the Masses on 6th November. The cards are Read more
The Sistine Chapel Choir has released an albumn for the Year of Mercy. This is the second year in a row the choir has recorded an album. This year’s album includes pieces by Palestrina that focus on mercy in honor of the Jubilee. Created in partnership with the classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, the second Read more
In what Cardinal John Dew called “an act of mercy” dozens of new pairs of shoes, vouchers and socks were piled on Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral steps on Sunday. “We have asked people to ‘be an act of mercy’ and they have responded with great generosity for those who can’t afford to put shoes and Read more
“Perhaps the most important thing a movie can do,” Roger Ebert once wrote, is to “take us outside our personal box of time and space, and invite us to empathize with those of other times, places, races, creeds, classes and prospects.” “I believe,” he added, that “empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.” Empathy Read more
When he announced the Jubilee of Mercy Pope Francis said that a Door of Mercy should be opened in every diocese. In the Diocese of Gizo in the Solomon Islands the isolation and remoteness of parishes from the diocesan centre makes it virtually impossible for the people living in the villages to come to the Read more
I used to be a third-grade teacher and a few times I was actually privileged to watch the instant when a child learned how to read. Choppy, foreign sounds would clatter out of the child’s mouth until suddenly something would click in his mind and heart and an actual word would effortlessly issue from his Read more