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Pope: Consecrated life offers society the ‘light’ of evangelical counsels
Posted on 02/1/2025 11:03 AM ()
As the Church celebrates the World Day for Consecrated Life, Pope Francis prays First Vespers with religious men and women, urging them to truly encounter one another and the Lord in the Eucharist.
Religious poverty, chastity, obedience are signs of hope, pope says
Posted on 02/1/2025 09:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The way consecrated women and men live their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience can offer light and hope to a world looking for authentic relationships marked by love and self-giving, Pope Francis said.
Celebrating vespers Feb. 1, the eve of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and of the Catholic Church's celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life, the pope thanked members of religious congregations for their witness, saying it is "leaven for the church."
Pope Francis was joined by hundreds of sisters, brothers, consecrated virgins and religious-order priests, including the new leadership of Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life: Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla, the prefect; and Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, a Salesian, the pro-prefect.
According to Vatican statistics, there are close to 600,000 professed women religious in the Catholic Church. The number of religious-order priests is about 128,500 and the number of religious brothers is close to 50,000.
The vespers for the feast of the Presentation, also known as Candlemas, began with eight religious women and men lighting candles around the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, evoking the feast's celebration of Simeon and Anna recognizing Christ as the light of the world when Mary and Joseph presented him in the temple.
Deacons put incense in three large braziers at the foot of the altar, sending up thick clouds of smoke to represent prayers rising to heaven.
In his homily, Pope Francis focused on how religious consecration aims to imitate Jesus and his complete devotion to doing God's will, and "how, through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that you have professed, you can bring its light to the women and men of our time."
Through poverty, the pope said, religious show how things have value "in the order of love, rejecting everything that can obscure their beauty -- selfishness, greed, dependence, violent use and misuse for the purpose of death and destruction -- and embracing instead all that can highlight that beauty: simplicity, generosity, sharing and solidarity."
Choosing chastity and not marriage, the pope said, "reaffirms the absolute primacy of God's love, to be received with an undivided and spousal heart."
Too often, he said, the world is marked by "distorted forms of affectivity, in which the principle of pleasure drives people to seek in others the satisfaction of their own needs rather than the joy born of a fruitful encounter."
"The chosen spouse of a lifetime is replaced by the 'partner' of the moment," Pope Francis said, "while children freely accepted as a gift are replaced by those demanded as a 'right' or eliminated as 'unwanted.'"
The chaste love of a consecrated person, on the other hand, shows modern men and women "a way to heal the malady of isolation through the exercise of a free and liberating way of loving -- a way of loving that accepts and respects everyone, while coercing or rejecting no one," the pope said.
The obedience exercised in religious communities, he said, is "a prophetic sign for our society" because it is based on listening to one another and then acting, "even at the cost of setting aside our own tastes, plans and preferences."
Hostages released in Gaza exchange
Posted on 02/1/2025 08:12 AM ()
Synodality assists in formation in Nigerian Catholic schools for girls
Posted on 02/1/2025 08:07 AM ()
The spirit of synodality has offered fruitful guidance in the formation of young girls in Nigeria’s Catholic schools, according to Sr. Justina Adejo, an Augustinian religious sister.
Myanmar: Global Day of Prayer for the “forgotten conflict”
Posted on 02/1/2025 08:06 AM ()
Across the globe, people are taking time to offer prayers for peace in Myanmar as part of the 24-Hour Global Day of Prayer for peace led by Aid to the Church in Need.
Patricia Scotland: Human fraternity goes beyond mere tolerance
Posted on 02/1/2025 03:36 AM ()
Vatican News speaks to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, about the 2025 Zayed Prize for Human Fraternity. Fraternity means “understanding that we are one family”, she says, and “understanding that our humanity is more fundamental than everything else”.
Pope at Jubilee Audience: 'To hope is to turn around to God'
Posted on 02/1/2025 03:34 AM ()
In his second Jubilee Audience on hope Pope Francis invites us to embrace conversion as a lifelong journey, highligting the figure of Mary Magdalene, the “Apostle of the Apostles” who in Jesus found a new direction and meaning in her life.
Lord's Day Reflection: More candles, fewer groundhogs
Posted on 02/1/2025 02:00 AM ()
As the Church observes the feast of the Presentation of the Lord this Sunday, Jenny Kraska offers her thoughts on the day’s liturgical readings, reflecting on the theme, “More candles, fewer groundhogs.”
Nuncio in Kinshasa: Pope’s message in DRC ‘more relevant than ever'
Posted on 01/31/2025 12:45 PM ()
Two years from Pope Francis' visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (31 January–3 February 2023), the eastern part of the country is devastated by conflict and facing a grave humanitarian crisis. The Apostolic Nuncio in Kinshasa, Archbishop Mitja Leskovar, speaks of the situation and outlines paths toward resolving the crisis.
En Route: A pilgrimage of discovery through travel, art, and faith
Posted on 01/31/2025 11:42 AM ()
The Vatican Apostolic Library inaugurates "En Route", an exhibition celebrating the theme of world travel in the context of the Jubilee Year. It features documents from historical archives, contemporary art, and reflections on the transformative power of journeys highlighting how travel has long been a source of discovery, both interior and exterior.