Six years ago, on March 13, the College of Cardinals surprised the world with the election of the Argentine Jesuit Jorge Bergoglio as pope. Taking the name Francis, he won the admiration and respect of Catholics and non-Catholics alike with his simplicity and concern for the poor and marginalized. With each passing year, however, criticism Read more
Mercy and prayers for Cardinal Keith O’Brien and for those he offended were asked for at O’Brien’s funeral last week. His failings were made public in 2013 when a British weekly newspaper revealed he had made sexual advances to seminarians more than 20 years earlier. O’Brien admitted and apologised for his actions. In 2015 he Read more
Whenever Pope Francis visits prisons, during his whirlwind trips to the world’s peripheries or at a nearby jailhouse in Rome, he always tells inmates that he, too, could have ended up behind bars: “Why you and not me?” he asks. That humble empathy and the ease with which he walks in others’ shoes have won Read more
Pope Francis founded the World day of Poor a year ago on the “notion of reciprocity, of sharing with each other of what each other has,” Msgr. Geno Sylva says. Sylva is an English-language official of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. He went on to explain the World day of Read more
Abortion’s forgivable, says Pope Francis. Any priest can now forgive women who have had abortions. This is a significant change in direction. The new direction was signaled during the Holy Year of Mercy which finished last Sunday. Francis gave all priests temporary ability to absolve women who had abortions during the Holy Year. Until then, Read more
Pope Francis told Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and other religious leaders meeting at the Vatican “we all thirst for mercy”. Authentic religions help people understand that they are, in fact, loved and can be forgiven and are called to love and forgive others, he said. He also told them religions are called to bear Read more
Singing the sermon is one way of making sure people remember the point. Take last Sunday’s 9am Mass for Wellington’s St Mary of the Angels’ parish for example. The celebrant, Father Joe Savesi, is well known for including jokes in his sermons. They catch people’s attention and underline his main points. To recap -the sermon Read more
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has endorsed the mercy-filled ministry of his successor, Pope Francis. Benedict did this at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican at a ceremony held to celebrate the anniversary of his ordination as priest 65 years ago. Francis was at the event, as were some 30 cardinals and invited guests. The retired 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
Pope Francis has exhorted priests not to see people who approach them for spiritual help merely as “cases” to be handled. In a series of reflections for priests who had come to Rome as part of the Year of Mercy celebrations, the Pope said: “Mercy gets its hands dirty.” Francis said he had heard many Read more