Today’s focus is the lived experience of prayer, trying to show some very common difficulties in prayer, which must be identified and overcome. Praying is not easy: many difficulties present themselves in prayer. It is necessary to know them, recognise them and overcome them. Distraction The first problem that emerges to those who pray is distraction (see CCC, Read more
Pope Francis is urging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to put down their arms and spare the children, in the latest round of hostilities between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The injury and death of so many innocent people puts the entire area at risk of sinking into “a spiral of death and destruction,” he says. Read more
It is good to get together and sing and play the guitar, but that’s not what consecrated life is about, Pope Francis told two religious institutes celebrating 50 years of consecrated life. Consecrated life means “consecrating oneself every day” and should be understood in “dialogue with reality,” he says. Pope Francis made the comments in Read more
Pope Francis will attend the UN Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow in November. Pope Francis and John Kerry, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, met privately in a closed-door meeting, last week at the Vatican. In an interview after the meeting, Kerry said he believes Francis will participate in the UN Framework Read more
A synodal church is “fundamental” to Pope Francis’ vision for women in the Church, papal biographer Austen Ivereigh says. In such a church, women challenge clericalism without being co-opted by it, Ivereigh told a webinar on the role of women in church leadership. Ivereigh said Francis had indicated the vital need for those women to Read more
Pope Francis has honoured the former diocese manager for the Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North with the title Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great for his service to the church. The award was presented to Tony Murphy at a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North on Tuesday. Recently-retired Read more
Holding a general audience with visitors and pilgrims present for the first time in more than six months, Pope Francis talked of the power of prayer. Prayer, he told the crowd, is not always “a walk in the park.” While it may be easy to “parrot” prayer, “blah, blah, blah,” he said, real prayer requires Read more
Pope Francis is preparing to formally institute the “ministry of catechist.” Millions of laypeople around the world are already recognized as catechists in their parish or diocese. Francis’s apostolic letter “Antiquum Ministerium” (Ancient Ministry) instituting the ministry will be released from Rome on Tuesday. The pope has spoken of the importance of selecting, training and Read more
The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will open an event on Italy’s demographic decline as the country’s birth rate has hit a historic low. Pope Francis will give the opening remarks for the General States of Birth initiative on May 14 at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, just outside the walls of Vatican City State. Read more
One reading of the Vatican’s same sex blessing statement is it has back-fired according to theologian Dr James Alison. “I’ve been rather encouraged, and particularly surprised how much more unworriedly critical a vast number of people, including cardinals and bishops have been”. He’s calling the Vatican’s same-sex blessing statement “a shot in the foot”. James Read more