Pope Francis, aged 87 and battling winter respiratory problems, presided over Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square, following the 212-hour nighttime Easter Vigil. He has avoided long speeches to conserve his health, cancelling some events, but successfully led the Mass and baptised eight new Catholics. The Vatican cited health concerns for his absences at recent events. Despite concerns, Francis delivered a 10-minute homily during the Easter Vigil service. No major foreign trips are scheduled in the coming months for his recovery.
Pope Francis, 87, did not participate in the Good Friday Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome to conserve his health for Easter, citing the need to prepare for the Easter vigil and Mass. He has been battling respiratory issues and recently missed events, including having parts of his lung and large intestine removed. His chair was set up at the event, but he followed the procession from his home. Despite concerns about his health, the Vatican confirmed he was in good form earlier during a liturgy at St Peter's Basilica.
Pope Francis delivered a set of orders to Rome-based priests, emphasizing the importance of avoiding clerical hypocrisy and showing mercy to the faithful. He presided over a Holy Thursday Mass, followed by washing inmates' feet in a symbol of humility. Francis warned against judging others and urged repentance for personal sins. The upcoming days include leading various Easter rituals, testing his stamina. Notably, a major papal liturgy coincided with renovations at St Peter's Basilica. The busy schedule includes events like the Way of the Cross procession, Easter Vigil, and addresses on global conflicts.
Pope Francis skipped delivering his homily during the Palm Sunday Mass service at the Vatican, marking the beginning of Holy Week, due to recent health issues. Despite skipping the homily, he presided over the service, read prayers, and gave blessings. He also prayed for the people of Ukraine and condemned the Moscow concert hall shooting. The pope, who has been using a wheelchair for months, greeted cardinals individually and interacted with the crowd in St Peter's Square. This comes as part of his intense Holy Week schedule including visits to a prison and participation in Good Friday services.
Pope Francis, aged 87, continues to face respiratory and mobility challenges, needing assistance to board his popemobile after a Vatican audience. Recent health issues include cold, bronchitis, flu, knee fracture, and inflamed ligaments, leading to wheelchair use. Despite struggles, he fulfills papal duties. In the past, he underwent surgeries including removal of part of a lung, colon, and repair of an abdominal hernia. The Pope's recent difficulties highlight his ongoing health battles, impacting his mobility and speaking ability.
Pope Francis decided to skip the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum to protect his health, following the event from his home at the Vatican due to concerns about his frail condition. This decision was made last-minute to conserve his health for upcoming liturgical events. Francis has been battling flu, bronchitis, or a cold all winter, occasionally needing speeches read aloud and skipping his Palm Sunday homily. This choice to stay home is reminiscent of St John Paul II's last Good Friday before his passing in 2005.
Pope Francis, aged 87, was briefly hospitalized in Rome for diagnostic tests after suffering from flu symptoms, being seen at Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island. This hospitalization follows his approval of Catholic priests offering blessings to same-sex couples. The Vatican clarified that these blessings do not signify approval of same-sex marriage. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provided guidance to U.S. Catholics following this decision. Despite ongoing health issues, including recent respiratory illnesses, Pope Francis has indicated his readiness to step down if his health significantly deteriorates.
Pope Francis, 87, confirms in his autobiography that he has no intention of resigning due to good health, despite battling minor health issues, such as bronchitis and flu. He mentions the existence of a resignation letter in case of serious impediment but considers it a distant possibility. In the memoir, he addresses criticism, defends his decision to bless same-sex couples, supports civil unions over gay marriage, and emphasizes the church's duty to welcome all individuals, including sinners. He also denounces abortion and surrogate parenting and clarifies his stance on being labeled as communist or Marxist.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is set to emphasize the church's non-partisan nature in his Easter sermon, urging 'love-in-action' to support those affected by conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and other areas. Despite facing criticism for condemning the UK government's Rwanda deportation scheme, Welby asserts the church's commitment to action driven by prayer and wisdom. The Vatican's Pope Francis, meanwhile, presided over Easter services, including baptisms, after health concerns led to him skipping the Good Friday procession.
Pope Francis, aged 87 and facing mobility issues, washed and kissed the feet of 12 women inmates at Rebibbia prison in Rome during the Holy Thursday ritual. This act of service and humility, part of the Holy Week ceremonies, emphasizes Jesus' teachings of serving others. Francis has been including women and people of other faiths in this ritual since becoming pope in 2013. Despite recent health problems, Francis was energized during the visit, receiving gifts and regifting, and is set for a busy schedule leading up to Easter Sunday.
This is a list of pastoral visits of Pope Francis. His visit to the Philippines in January 2015 included the largest papal event in history with around 6–7 million attendees in his final Mass at Manila, surpassing the then-largest papal event at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue twenty years earlier.
Pope Francis, aged 87, walked into the Vatican audience hall with a cane for his weekly general audience, speaking clearly and renewing appeals for peace. He highlighted the friendship between two fathers, one Palestinian and the other Israeli, both having lost daughters in the Middle East conflict. Their story was featured in the novel 'Apeirogon' by Colum McCann. The Pope met with the fathers privately before the audience, emphasizing their witness amid war and loss.
Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first one from the Americas, the first one from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first one born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian Pope Gregory III.Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBT community and has permitted the blessings of same-sex couples. Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy. Widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil, he has termed it "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", "inadmissible", and committed the Church to its abolition, saying that there can be "no going back from this position".In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises, calling on the Western World to significantly increase immigration levels. In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian indigenous peoples. On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality, described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.
Elected on 13 March 2013, Francis is the first member of the Society of Jesus to be appointed pope and the first non-European to hold the office since the 8th century. He described his papal name as pointing to what he wants to emulate in Saint Francis of Assisi: to have a poor church, for the poor, always going out to the margins, and to show concern for the natural environment. His papal motto Miserando atque eligendo ("by having mercy and by choosing") contains a central theme of his papacy, God's mercy, which has led to conflict with orthodox Catholics on issues such as reception of Communion by remarried Catholics. In addressing real life situations he often appeals directly to his experience, in continuity with his synodal way, which showed a renewed emphasis on listening and dialogue. He has placed greater emphasis on church synods and on widespread consultation and dialogue, uplifting the roles of laypersons and of women in the Catholic church and criticizing clericalism.Francis' concern for the poor is noted in his critiques of capitalism, his quite visible support of refugees and migrants, and his outreach to liberationist, anarchist, communist, socialist and liberal movements in Latin America that were under a cloud during the papacy of John Paul II. Francis has stated that he considers himself to be conservative.His apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (Joy of the Gospel), released eight months after his election, has been described as programmatic, and "a core document of this pontificate", in his own words "pointing out new paths for the Church's journey for years to come". He has become known also for his "sharp and unscripted remarks".
FILE - Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blew it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in the St. Peters Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) VATICAN CITY (AP) Having covered the Vatican for 27 years thats three popes Associated Press photographer Andrew Medichini has mastered snapping images of papal pomp. To capture this photo, Medichini knew exactly where to position himself based on the wind for a potential candid shot of Pope Francis. Here is what he said about making this extraordinary photo: After several years following popes in and out of the Vatican, you get to know where to be and how to anticipate the right frame according to the news or the conditions of the day windy, sunny, rainy, etc.
Pope Francis has defrocked Roger Vangheluwe, an 87-year-old Belgian bishop who admitted to sexually abusing his nephews, after serious new elements in the case emerged. The Vatican's decision to laicize Vangheluwe, a symbol of Catholic Church hypocrisy in handling abuse cases, came ahead of the pope's planned visit to Belgium. The Belgian bishops had long called for Vangheluwe's expulsion from the priesthood, and the scandal has sparked national outrage and prompted discussions on abuse within the church in Belgium.
This article contains a list of the 912 saintscanonizedby Pope Francis (2013–) during his pontificate, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a group, 7 whom were equipollently canonized and 4 whom were canonized in other countries.
Pope Francis, in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI, urged Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war with Russia following Moscow's invasion, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, while desiring peace, is firm on not surrendering any territory. The Pope emphasized the importance of having the courage to negotiate and engage in talks with the assistance of international powers.
The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum (Latin: Triduum Paschale), Holy Triduum (Latin: Triduum Sacrum), or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. It is a moveable observance recalling the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.In the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian and Reformed traditions, the Paschal Triduum straddles the two liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter in the Church calendar (Holy Saturday is the last day of Lent, with the Easter Vigil being the first liturgy of Eastertide). In the Roman Catholic tradition since the 1955 reform by Pope Pius XII, the Easter Triduum has been more clearly distinguished as a separate liturgical period. Previously, all these celebrations were advanced by more than twelve hours. The Mass of the Lord's Supper and the Easter Vigil were celebrated on the morning of Thursday and Saturday respectively, and Holy Week and Lent were seen as ending only on the approach of Easter. In the Roman Rite, after the Gloria in excelsis Deo in the Mass of the Lord's Supper, all church bells are silenced (sometimes replaced by a crotalus) and the organ is not used. This period that lasted from Thursday morning to before Easter Sunday began what was once referred to in Anglo-Saxon times as "the still days". Weddings in the Catholic Church were once prohibited throughout Lent and certain other times of the year as well, and are still forbidden during the Triduum. Lutherans still discourage weddings during the entirety of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum.
The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.Among liturgical Western Christian churches including the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Communion, the Easter Vigil is the most important liturgy of public worship and Mass of the liturgical year, marked by the first use since the beginning of Lent of the exclamatory "Alleluia", a distinctive feature of the Easter season.In the Moravian Church, the sunrise service starts before dawn on Easter Sunday. Congregations of the Reformed tradition and the Methodist tradition may observe the Easter Vigil or hold a sunrise service. In Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches, and other traditions of Eastern Christianity, the extremely festive ceremonies and Divine Liturgy which are celebrated during the Easter Vigil are unique to that night and are the most elaborate and important of the liturgical year.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, has marked a significantly more accommodative tone on LGBT topics than his predecessors. In July 2013, his televised "Who am I to judge?" statement was widely reported in the international press, becoming one of his most famous statements on LGBT people. In other public statements, Francis has emphasised the need to accept, welcome, and accompany LGBT people, including LGBT children, and has denounced laws criminalising homosexuality. While he has reiterated traditional Catholic teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, he has supported same-sex civil unions as legal protections for same-sex couples. Under his pontificate, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed that transgender people can be baptised, and allowed the blessing of same-sex couples in the document Fiducia supplicans. Francis has privately met many LGBT people and activists. In 2013, Francis was named as Person of the Year by The Advocate, an American LGBT magazine.Relative to LGB topics, Francis has been less accomodative on transgender topics, describing gender theory and children's education on gender-affirming surgery as "ideological colonisation". In September 2015, Francis came under media scrutiny for meeting Kim Davis, a county clerk who was imprisoned for refusing to issue marriage licences for same-sex couples, and in August 2018, Francis was criticised for suggesting that gay children seek psychiatric treatment. Prior to his election as Pope Francis, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio led public opposition to the parliamentary bill on legalising same-sex marriage in Argentina, which was approved by the Argentine Senate on 15 July 2010. A letter he wrote in that campaign was criticised for using "medieval" and "obscurantist" language, and was later admitted by an episcopal source to be a strategic error that contributed to the bill's success.
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (c. 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. He was inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty as a beggar and itinerant preacher. One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots that symbolize the three Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the sultan al-Kamil and put an end to the conflict of the Fifth Crusade. In 1223, he arranged for the first live nativity scene as part of the annual Christmas celebration in Greccio. According to Christian tradition, in 1224 Francis received the stigmata during the apparition of a Seraphic angel in a religious ecstasy.He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women's Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Once his community was authorized by Pope Innocent III, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs.Francis is associated with patronage of animals and the environment. It became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of the fourth of October. He is known for devotion to the Eucharist. Along with Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. He is also the namesake of the American city of San Francisco.
Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic, Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned), and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity, the same days and events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great"; and Easter itself might be called "Great and Holy Pascha", "Easter Sunday", "Pascha" or "Sunday of Pascha". In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the Paschal season ends with Pentecost as well, but the leave-taking of the Great Feast of Pascha is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension.Easter and its related holidays are moveable feasts, not falling on a fixed date; its date is computed based on a lunisolar calendar (solar year plus Moon phase) similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established only two rules, namely independence from the Hebrew calendar and worldwide uniformity. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March. Even if calculated on the basis of the Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox.The English term is derived from the Saxon spring festival Ēostre; Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַח pesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָא pascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover) and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English versions of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover.Easter traditions vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross, the wearing of Easter bonnets by women, clipping the church, and the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb). The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing (Eastern Europe), the Easter Bunny and egg hunting. There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture.
Holy Week (Koinē Greek: Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, romanized: Agia ké Megale Evdomas, lit. 'Holy and Great Week') is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. For all Christian traditions, it is a moveable observance. In Eastern Christianity, which also calls it Great Week, it is the week following Great Lent and Lazarus Saturday, starting on the evening of Palm Sunday and concluding on the evening of Great Saturday. In Western Christianity, Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday.Holy Week begins with the commemoration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednesday), climaxing with the commemoration of the Mystical or Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Holy Week concludes with Christ's rest in death and descent into hell on Holy Saturday.Christians believe that Jesus rested in death from the ninth hour (3 pm) on Good Friday until just before dawn on Sunday morning, the day of his resurrection from death, commonly known as Easter Sunday. However, in 1 Peter 3:19, there may be a clue as to a task Jesus performed during this period between death and resurrection: "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." This marks the beginning of the season of Eastertide, with its first week being known as Easter Week (Bright Week).Holy Week liturgies generally attract the largest crowds of the year. Many Christian cultures have different traditions such as special liturgies or services, floats, sculptures or live reenactments of Christ's life, his arrest and crucifixion (also called the Lord's passion, the Passion of Christ or Passion of Jesus); the latter are known as Passion Plays, which are often interdenominational productions. In Eastern Rite Churches there are also many means to commemorate the Great Feasts and emphasize the theme of resurrection. Many television channels air films related to Holy Week, such as The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Jesus Film.
Holy Saturday (Latin: Sabbatum Sanctum), also known as Great and Holy Saturday (also Holy and Great Saturday), the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday (in Portugal and Brazil), Saturday of the Glory, Sábado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.The day commemorates the Harrowing of Hell while Jesus Christ's body lay in the tomb. Christians of the Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican and Reformed denominations begin the celebration of the Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday, which provides a transition to the season of Eastertide; in the Moravian Christian tradition, graves are decorated with flowers during the day of Holy Saturday and the celebration of the sunrise service starts before dawn on Easter Sunday.
Stories of a Generation – with Pope Francis is a 4-part 2021 documentary miniseries.
Sky News
ABC News
Yahoo! News
NPR
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia