Reflecting on last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Lk. 13:22-30) during his Angelus address, Pope Francis said: “Jesus himself is the door. But why is this door narrow?

“It is a narrow door not because it is oppressive – no, but because it asks us to restrict and limit our pride and our fear, to open ourselves with a humble and trusting heart to him, recognising ourselves as sinners, in need of his forgiveness. For this, it is narrow: to contain our pride, which bloats us.

“The door of God’s mercy is narrow but always wide open. This door is an opportunity that must not be wasted… Our life is not a video game or a soap opera; our life is serious and the goal to achieve is important: eternal salvation.”

Record low ordinations

Priestly ordinations in Germany have been diminishing each year, reaching a record low in 2015 when only 58 men were ordained in Germany. Ten years ago, in 2005, the number was 122, while in 1965 it reached a high of  500.

The information was given in a recent report of Catholic News Agency. A record low was similarly registered in the number of seminarians, which was only 96 in 2015.

Meanwhile, Sunday Mass attendance rate declined from 18.6 per cent in 1995 to 10.8 per cent in 2015.

No to gender ideology

Colombia’s bishops have welcomed their government’s decision not to promote or implement gender ideology in schools. The news that the Education Department was wor­k­ing on textbooks that promote homosexuality and teach that there is no fundamental difference bet­ween men and women were met by mass protests. The department has now said that the UN document entitled ‘Discrimination-free school environments’ would not be put into practice in Columbia.

The bishops said they “received with satisfaction the announcement of the national government and the Department of Education that they will not promote or implement gender ideology in the country.”

The bishops described the mass protests as “an exercise by the parents of their right to be assisted in educating their children in accordance with their convictions and values.”

‘Tone down feast-day celebrations’

Cardinal George Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, said it was time that traditional feasts were given a makeover. He has asked Catholics to tone down feast-day celebrations. He appealed to the faithful to reduce noise and ceremony, and turn feasts into occasions of simplicity and kindness.

The cardinal said feasts should be without firecrackers as the faithful are unable to pray in peace and tranquility.

He called for an end to the practice of cooking and eating meals on church premises as votive practices while the serving of meals at festivals at churches should be reconsidered.

Abortion suspension in UK welcomed

UK pro-life groups have welcomed the decision to suspend certain abortion services at Marie Stopes clinics. The suspension of surgical abortion for girls under 18 and vulnerable women came after health watchdog inspectors raised a number of safety concerns.

Marie Stopes International provides abortion services in 40 countries worldwide.

Life, the anti-abortion advocacy charity based in Leamington Spa, said: “It is absolutely scandalous that Marie Stopes International, which likes to talk about women dying from unsafe abortions, is itself being rapped for exposing patients to potential harm.”

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

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