All lovers of Scripture have reason to celebrate this day. Damasus was the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible. Damasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violence from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with ...

Two months after the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect, UNRWA's Communications Director describes the ongoing humanitarian emergency and the need for a lasting political solution.

Read all

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The secret to living an authentic life is praying to understand what is truly beneficial according to God's plan and letting go of the superfluous, Pope Leo XIV said.

In fact, death "can be a great teacher of life. To know that it exists, and above all to reflect on it, teaches us to choose what we really want to make of our existence," the pope said Dec. 10 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"Praying, in order to understand what is beneficial in view of the kingdom of heaven, and letting go of the superfluous that instead binds us to ephemeral things, is the secret to living authentically, in the awareness that our passage on earth prepares us for eternity," he said.

It was the pope's first general audience after returning from his first apostolic trip, a visit to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2. An 82-foot-tall Christmas tree, which arrived Nov. 27 and will be fully decorated and unveiled with the Nativity scene Dec. 15, could be seen near the obelisk in the square. 

Instead of using his general audience talk to recap his trip as had been the custom of his immediate predecessors, the pope did so after reciting the Angelus Dec. 7. At the audience, he continued his series of talks on the Jubilee theme of "Jesus our hope," focusing on "death in the light of the Resurrection."

"Our present culture tends to fear death and seeks to avoid thinking about it, even turning to medicine and science in search of immortality," Pope Leo said in his English-language remarks.

However, Jesus' victory of passing from death to life with his Resurrection "illuminates our own mortality, reminding us that death is not the end, but a passing from this life into eternity," he said. "Therefore, death is not something to be feared, but rather a moment to prepare for."

"It is an invitation to examine our lives and so live in such a way that we may one day share not only in the death of Christ, but also in the joy of eternal life," the pope said.

"The event of the Resurrection of Christ reveals to us that death is not opposed to life, but rather is a constitutive part of it, as the passage to eternal life," he said in his main catechesis in Italian.

"He has prepared for us the place of eternal rest, the home where we are awaited; he has given us the fullness of life in which there are no longer any shadows and contradictions," Pope Leo said.

Awaiting death "with the sure hope of the Resurrection preserves us from the fear of disappearing forever and prepares us for the joy of life without end," he said. 

Myriam Wijlens and Yeshica Marianne Umaña Calderón release an English-language textbook on child welfare, drawing on a long-running interdisciplinary course at the University of Erfurt. The volume outlines principles of the child’s best interests in ecclesiastical and international contexts and incorporates contributions from global experts involved in child protection.

Read all

 

On Human Rights Day - commemorated each year on 10 December - the UN's children agency launches a new appeal for humanitarian action next year to provide aid to 73 million children across 133 countries.

Read all

 

He was just standing there, not doing anything special. As a Syrian priest he must have felt a little out of place among the Roman people mourning that day for the dead Pope. As a good preacher, he must have wanted to speak to the funeral procession about Christ's promise of resurrection. As a learned man, he must have wondered who would follow the holy Saint Gregory II as Pope and where he would take the Church. As a holy man, he must have been praying for Gregory II and for all the people ...

A 3-day meeting in Hong organised by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences focuses on the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence and the need to prioritise education and media literacy as safeguards for human freedom.

Read all

 

As renewed clashes emerge on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, Pope Leo appeals for an end to hostilities, and prays for all victims.

Read all

 

During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo XIV meditates on existential questions of how human beings view death, and he invites us to ponder on the end of life so as to discover the power of Christ's Resurrection.

Read all

 

Inspired by a spirit of equality, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate give all their attention to those who decide to set out in search of a better future and arrive at their home for migrants along the US-Mexico border.

Read all