Vatican City, May 24, 2013 / 09:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis counseled the Italian bishops to avoid becoming lukewarm by remaining vigilant in their love for God, as he reflected on Jesus asking Peter if he loved him.
“The question is …
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Pope stresses vigilant love of God as guard against laziness
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 24th, 2013
Schönstatt Movement overjoyed at receiving original chapel
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 24th, 2013
Rome, Italy, May 24, 2013 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the oldest movements in the Church will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, but on Wednesday its members received an early gift when they learned that the chapel where it all sta…
Canada’s politicians targeted for ‘failure’ to protect children
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 24th, 2013
Calgary, Canada, May 24, 2013 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A pro-life group in Canada is renewing its efforts to ignite discussion and conversion in their country by calling out major politicians who support abortion.
“We very much want to cha…
Famous exorcist says Pope’s simple prayer cast out demon
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 24th, 2013
Rome, Italy, May 24, 2013 / 03:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Rome’s most well known exorcist says Pope Francis performed an exorcism in St. Peter’s Square last Sunday and that the man was possessed because of Mexico’s abortion law.
“The Pope, in good faith, got close to him and performed an exorcism on him in the form of a liberation prayer, not like the classical exorcism that one does with a book,” said Father Gabriele Amorth in a May 22 evening interview with CNA.
“He is really a soul of God, which the Lord is using to criticize Mexico for legalizing abortion,” he said.
According to Fr. Amorth, he himself performed an exorcism for over an hour on the Mexican man before the Pope prayed over him later that same day in St. Peter’s Square.
“I’m well informed about that young man; a good, golden, young man, he appears younger than what he is,” said Fr. Amorth. “He is 43 years-old (and) married with children.”
“I saw John Paul II do this same prayer three times,” he said. “Pope Francis laid his hands on him, prayed, and that’s it. It is enough.”
Fr. Amorth, aged 88, has performed over 70,000 exorcisms during the past 27 years. The number is high because carrying out an exorcism can require multiple sessions and each time the rite is administered it is counted as one instance.
After the interview with CNA, he made comments May 22 at Rome’s Lepanto Foundation, a Catholic book organization where he was invited to speak on his two latest books: “The last exorcist, my battle against Satan” and “The sign of the exorcist, my latest battles against Satan.”
“You will have noticed that in his first 10 short speeches, this Pope has always named the devil ‘your excellency,’” he said during the evening meeting, which had a dramatic feel to it because of the subject matter and the pouring rain and thunder outside.
“What did he do last Sunday?” asked the exorcist. “When Mass finished, as he normally does, with his simplicity, he walked over to greet a few sick, and a Mexican priest pointed out to him a young man possessed by the devil.”
He noted that the Pope “did not hide himself in this liberation prayer that he did on this young man at the Square.”
“Jesus did exorcisms on the street, in homes, wherever,” said Fr. Amorth. “I’ve had to change 23 places in Rome to be able to do exorcisms.”
“I would like for everyone to attend exorcisms,” he added. “I’ve seen many priests that, after having seen one, did not doubt anymore about the existence of Satan. One has to see it.”
Fr. Amorth said people no longer believe in the devil now and there is a shortage of exorcists.
“Today there are no more exorcists because of the bishops,” he charged. “I’ve been saying for 27 years that when a bishop doesn’t provide, he commits a mortal sin.”
“But not all bishops are in the state of mortal sin, shucks that would be a lot of bishops,” he joked.
Fr. Amorth stated that everyone has the power to cast out devils if they have enough faith in Jesus Christ, and that these abilities are “gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
“But if one truly has this gift he keeps it hidden and is humble about it,” he pointed out.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri To Visit Lebanon and Jordan
Posted by Junno Arocho Esteves on May 24th, 2013
The Holy See announced that Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, will travel to Lebanon and Jordan this weekend. Cardinal Sandri will attend the ordination of new Maronite Bishops for Argentina and Australia…
Posted in Catholic World News 
Tags: Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Sandri, Maronite Bishops 
No Comments »Pope’s Address to Italian Bishops Conference
Posted by ZENIT on May 24th, 2013
Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s meditation during the Profession of Faith of the Italian Bishops Conference who are gathered for their 65th General Assembly. * * *
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
The readings we have heard make us …
Boys Scouts of America lifts ban on openly gay members
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 23rd, 2013
Washington D.C., May 23, 2013 / 04:22 pm (CNA).- The Boy Scouts of America has voted in favor of a resolution that lifts the ban on openly gay members but will not allow gay adult troop leaders.
During its annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, some 1,…
Pope Francis urges Christians to not be ‘museum pieces’
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 23rd, 2013
Vatican City, May 23, 2013 / 04:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis reflected May 23 on Jesus Christ’s exhortation to be “salt of the earth,” warning that Christians who do not live their faith become “flavorless salt” and are fit to be museum pieces.
The pontiff said that God gives Christians the “salt” of faith, hope and charity. This salt should not be hoarded “because if the salt is preserved in a bottle it does not do anything: it is good for nothing.”
“We can show the salt: this is my salt – and how lovely it is! This is the salt that I received in Baptism, this is what I received in Confirmation, this is what I received in catechesis,” he said. “But look: museum-piece Christians! A salt without flavor, a salt that does nothing.”
The Pope’s comments came in his homily during morning Mass at the chapel of St. Martha’s residence in the Vatican, Vatican Radio reports. The day’s gospel reading, from the Gospel of Mark’s ninth chapter, contains Jesus’ question to his disciples: “if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?”
Pope Francis said that faith preached with this salt helps others receive it according to their own individual circumstances, as when it is used judiciously on food.
“Each with his own peculiarities receives the salt and becomes better,” he added. “The Christian originality is not a uniformity! It takes each one as he is, with his own personality, with his own characteristics, his culture – and leaves him with that, because it is a treasure.”
He said this “salt” also gives something more. “It gives flavor!” he said. “This Christian originality is so beautiful.”
He said those who want everything to be salted in the same way risk a situation where a cook throws in too much salt.
“One tastes only salt and not the meal,” he said. The Christian originality is this: each as he is, with the gifts the Lord has given him.”
He urged Christians to “get out there with the message, to get out there with this richness that we have in salt, and give it to others.”
The Pope said Christians may give this salt both in service to others and in service to God. The “salt” of faith also keeps its flavor through preaching, prayer and adoration.
“With the worship of the Lord I go beyond myself to the Lord, and with the proclamation of the Gospel I go out of myself to give the message,” he said.
He repeatedly encouraged Christians to share their faith.
“Salt makes sense when you (use) it in order to make things more tasty,” he said. “The salt that we have received is to be given out, to be given away, to spice things up. Otherwise, it becomes bland and useless.”
He said Christians should pray that God not let them become “Christians with flavorless salt that stays closed in the bottle.”
Posted in Catholic World News Tags: Jesus Christ, museum pieces, Pope Francis, salt of the earth, vatican No Comments »Mideast Christians unite in prayer for abducted bishops
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 23rd, 2013
Aleppo, Syria, May 23, 2013 / 02:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the Middle East gathered this week to pray for and appeal for the realease of two Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped in Syria one month ago.
“We renew our request for the abductees to…release the two Archbishops without hurting their health or physical situation; and release all other abducted priests and innocent civilians,” the Syriac and Greek Orthodox archdioceses of Aleppo said May 22.
“We trust that the mercy of the one God whom we all believe in, will guide the abductees and induce them to release the Archbishops without any pre-conditions, because there is no price equals the freedom of the two Archbishops, and no condition equals their safe return to their communities and churches.”
Just over a month ago, on April 22, Archbishop John Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Archbishop Paul Yagizi of the Greek Orthodox Church were kidnapped by armed men who killed their driver, Deacon Fatha’ Allah Kabboud.
The bishops were abducted on their way back from the Turkish border, where they were negotiating the release of two priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz, who had themselves been kidnapped Feb. 9.
Last weekend, Christians in Aleppo gathered for an ecumenical prayer service at the city’s Greek Orthodox cathedral. It was attended by Bishop Antoine Audo, the Chaldean Catholic bishop of the Aleppo eparchy.
He told Vatican Radio that it was a “sad” occasion, those attending having “tears in their eyes.” He said the situation has been confusing, as the kidnappers have made no ransom demands for their release, and added that “it’s not a question of money.”
The Greek Orthodox in Damascus gathered May 20 to pray for Bishops Ibrahim and Yagizi, and Patriarch John X met May 22 with Eva Felipi, the Czech ambassador to Syria. They discussed the grievous Syrian civil war and the need for the return of the bishops, as well as all others kidnapped in the country.
In neighboring Jordan, some 2,000 Christians participated in a candlelight procession from a Greek Orthodox church to a Syriac Orthodox church in the capital, Amman.
Archbishop Maroun Lahham, an auxiliary bishop of the Jerusalem patriarchate, prayed at the procession for “tranquility and stability in beloved Syria” and for the release of the bishops, whom he called “two of the most significant Arab Christian personalities of our time.”
He told Fides after the prayers that “we prayed so that Jordan is not plagued by conflicts that are causing suffering to the peoples of neighboring countries.”
Two weeks ago, Syrian refugees already represented 10 percent of the Jordanian population. The nation’s foreign minister said it could reach 25 percent by the end of the year. The flood of refugees are straining resources in the area.
The situation is so desperate that some refugee families are arranging marriages for their teenage daughters, or selling them, to older men so that they might have stability and escape the unsanitary conditions of the refugee camps.
The Syrian civil war has dragged on for 26 months. The United Nations estimates that 80,000 have died in the conflict. There are 1.5 million Syrian refugees in nearby countries, most of them in Jordan and Lebanon.
An additional 4.25 million Syrian people are believed to have been internally displaced by the war.
The Syriac and Greek Orthodox of Aleppo added that they are daily “living the nightmare” of lacking their abducted shepherds.
“We…express day after day our sadness and increasing pain about the abduction and the absence of these two eminent Prelates, and what they represent in terms of their holiness, their local and international rank, their active role on all levels including the spiritual, the thoughts, the academic, the education and the social (spheres).”
“But above all,” the archdioceses noted, “the humanitarian work which they were carrying within the current crisis which is engulfing our country Syria.”
US bishops praise immigration bill’s advance in senate
Posted by CNA Daily News on May 23rd, 2013
Washington D.C., May 23, 2013 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops welcomed a U.S. Senate committee’s passage of a major immigration bill as an “important step,” urging the full senate to consider the bill as soon as possible.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, lauded the Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage of S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.
The committee approved the legislation May 21 by a vote of 13-5.
“I applaud Chairman Patrick Leahy and the committee members for their efforts and strong bipartisan cooperation,” the archbishop said May 23.
He urged the senate to amend the bill to widen “the path to citizenship” and maximize the number of people who can “come out of the shadows.”
“To leave a large population behind would defeat the purpose of the bill, which is to bring persons into the light so they can become full members of our communities,” he said.
The senate’s 867-page immigration bill would allow the estimated 11 million illegal residents of the U.S. to obtain provisional immigrant status six months after the bill if they meet certain conditions, the Washington Post reports.
Those eligible must have arrived in the U.S. before Dec. 31, 2011 and must have maintained continuous physical presence since then. They must also pay a $500 fine every six years.
After 10 years of provisional status, immigrants can seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they meet certain conditions, including paying a $1,000 fine, keeping current on their taxes and learning English. Additionally, they must meet work requirements. Those with a felony conviction or three or more misdemeanor convictions are ineligible.
These conditions are also dependent on whether the Department of Homeland Security develops and enacts adequate border security and fencing plans. Residents may obtain provisional immigrant status six months after the bill passes only if the plans are developed.
They may obtain a green card and legal permanent resident status only if border security “triggers” have been met and if the government has processed all legal immigrant applications pending upon the date of the bill’s enactment.
If passed, the bill would allow those brought to the country as youths to get green cards in five years and citizenship immediately afterward. Those deported for non-criminal reasons may apply to re-enter the U.S. with provisional status if they have a spouse or a child who is a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. Deportees may also apply for reentry if they were brought to the U.S. as a child.
The bishops’ conference has worked to shorten the waiting period for individuals who want to apply for permanent residency and to expand the cut-off date for eligibility. They have also asked for a relaxation of income and work requirements.
The senate bill bars citizens from sponsoring their siblings and allows them to sponsor their married children only if their children are under age 31.
In his statement Thursday, Archbishop Gomez criticized cuts to the family-based aspects of the immigration system.
“We must not abandon our focus on families, which are the backbone of our society,” he said. “Family unity, based on the union of a husband and a wife and their children, must remain the cornerstone of our nation’s immigration system.”
The U.S. Senate is expected to consider the legislation in June, though its passage is not certain.
The senate bill’s counterpart in the House of Representatives faces opposition over whether federal healthcare should be prohibited for undocumented immigrants as they transition to legal resident and permanent resident status, Reuters reports. Several House Republicans have said that the senate bill will not pass the House.
