Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on November 13 for the homeless and other socially excluded people in precarious situations. During his homily the Pope said:
“What endures, what has value in life, what riches do not disappear? Surely these two: the Lord and our neighbour. We must never exclude God or others from our lives.
“When we speak of exclusion, we immediately think of concrete people, not useless objects but precious people. The human person, set by God at the pinnacle of creation, is often discarded, set aside in favour of ephemeral things. This is unacceptable, because in God’s eyes man is the most precious good.
“It is ominous that we are growing used to this rejection. We should be worried when our consciences are anaesthetised and we no longer see the brother or sister suffering at our side, or notice grave problems in our world.
“I would like today to be the ‘day of the poor’.”
Drug traffic corrupts a nation’s ‘moral health’, State institutions
According to Agenzia Fides, the bishops of Paraguay expressed “concern over the apparent and active presence of drug trafficking in society and in the political sphere” and for the “moral health of the nation” which in their opinion “is everyone’s responsibility”. They highlighted that State institutions of Paraguay are seriously compromised. The bishops published the statement following their ordinary assembly in the city of Luque.
Lehmann encourages changes
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, former president of the conference of German Catholic bishops, exhorted German bishops to make changes in Church discipline, while they have the encouragement of Pope Francis.
“Francis wants us to explore new paths,” said Cardinal Lehmann, and therefore the bishops should not wait more than they have waited before adopting new policies on issues such as Communion for Catholics who are divorced and remarried.
Hope mixed with ‘serious concern’
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso in Texas said that following the election of Donald Trump “we can find reasons for hope and for serious concern”.
He said Catholics should rejoice that babies “at the first stages of their lives prior to their birth” will now be receiving more protection and support. He added, however, that the Church is “very concerned” about refugees and migrants as well as for Muslims “who may be singled out simply based upon their religious confession”.
Bishop Seitz assured those who are fearful that he and other Church leaders will continue to stand by their side and that Church leaders will do all in their power to assure that their voice is heard.
One billion at Jubilee Year events
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, has suggested that as many as a billion people may have participated in Year of Mercy Jubilee observances worldwide.
Fisichella said that over 20 million people were registered for events in Rome during the Jubilee Year.
But because Pope Francis encouraged events and observances in every diocese – with Holy Doors announced in every diocese, for example – the archbishop speculated that overall participation could be much higher.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)