Pope’s January […]
Tag: pope
Pope Francis speaks to priests
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I write these words from the Nuremore Hotel in Monaghan, Ireland, where I am conducting a retreat for the good priests of the Dublin Archdiocese.
As I look out at these men, I am reminded of so many of my own relatives on both sides of my family (“Gosh, he looks like Uncle Charlie” and “That one is the spitting image of my cousin Terry”), for I am Irish all the way through. Many of the priests who are making the retreat are retired, and it is edifying to see so many who have bravely borne the heat of the day. Do say a prayer for them.
The theme that I have chosen for my talks is “Pope Francis Speaks to Priests.” I have culled a number of motifs from the pope’s numerous talks, sermons, and lectures to priests, seminarians, and bishops. Allow me, in the course of this brief article to say just a few words about each one.
Our common home really needs your help!
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“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” warns Pope Francis in his landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”).
Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.” (see: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consen us/).
Addressing Amoris Laetitia
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| Veronica Arntz |
What about Amoris Laetitia? Up until this point in my article series, I have said very little about the new post-synodal apostolic exhortation.
Although the document begins with Psalm 128, which beautifully describes building a family like building a strong house, many have been confused and concerned about the document’s overall approach to the issue of Communion for the divorced and remarried.
It is good that Pope Francis reaffirms the importance of the indissoluble bond: “The indissolubility of marriage — ‘what God has joined together, let no man put asunder’– should not be viewed as a ‘yoke’ imposed on humanity, but as a ‘gift’ granted to those who are joined in marriage” (AL, art. 62).
World Youth Day 2016: Source of hope
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When I arrived in Kraków for the 2016 World Youth Day, I was pretty exhausted, having left Los Angeles some 15 hours earlier and having had to change planes in Munich.
But I was enthused as I approached my first appointment right in the heart of the Old City. Through the good ministrations of George Weigel, the world’s leading expert on John Paul II, I was one of a group of bishops and priests invited to spend time with the original youth group of Fr. Karol Wojtyła.
Answering the question: ‘What is marriage?’
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| Veronica Arntz |
Marriage and family are clearly under attack in many forms in our secular society.
Thus, as Catholics, we must clearly understand the Church’s teaching on marriage and family.
Yet, even in the Church, there is disagreement surrounding marriage and family (including how to help the divorced and remarried), especially since the publication of Pope Francis’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.
How do you spell love? M-o-t-h-e-r
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In Isaiah 49:15 Isaiah asks “Can a mother forget her baby, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”
This passage praises mothers as symbols of amazing compassion, never forgetting their beloved children. Pope Francis said that a mother is concerned “above all about the health of her children. She cares for them with great and tender love the way Mary, our spiritual, heavenly mother, cares for us.”
First thoughts on Amoris Laetitia
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On a spring day about five years ago, when I was rector of Mundelein Seminary, Cardinal Francis George spoke to the assembled student body.
He congratulated those proudly orthodox seminarians for their devotion to the dogmatic and moral truths proposed by the Church, but he also offered some pointed pastoral advice.
He said that it is insufficient simply to drop the truth on people and then smugly walk away. Rather, he insisted, you must accompany those you have instructed, committing yourself to helping them integrate the truth that you have shared.
Pope Francis and true mercy
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Having just returned from a week covering Pope Francis’ triumphant journey to the United States, I can confidently tell you that the news media are in love with the Vicar of Christ.
Time and again, commentators, pundits, anchorpersons, and editorialists opined that Pope Francis is the bomb.
The pope, the Congress, and a Trappist monk
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I had the extraordinary privilege of following the pope’s pilgrimage at very close quarters. I had this access both as a bishop and as a commentator for NBC News.
It was thrilling indeed to witness just how rapturously the American people received the pope and how affected the Holy Father was by this reception. Many images stay vividly in my mind: the pope kissing the forehead of the 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, the rabbi and imam praying together at the September 11th memorial, a little boy from a New York Catholic school showing the pope how to maneuver his way around a Smart Board.