Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church

Feast date: Nov 29

On November 29, the Church celebrates the many Franciscan saints who followed in the footsteps of St. Francis. It is a special day for all Franciscans to celebrate the feast of ‘All the Saints of the Seraphic Order.’

According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi prayed the following prayer:

"O Lord Jesus Christ, two favors I beg of you before I die. The first is that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in my soul and in my body the suffering in which you, O gentle Jesus, sustained in your bitter passion. And the second favor is that I, as far as it is possible, may receive in my heart that excessive charity by which you, the Son of God, were inflamed, and which actuated you willingly to suffer so much for us sinners."

In response to his earnest prayer, the Lord appeared in the form of  a seraph, or a six-winged angel (They are usually considered the highest order of angelic beings, immediately above the Cherubim, and their special duty is to love God).

Then Jesus bestowed on St. Francis the wounds of his suffering. St. Francis had been marked with the love of Christ, the stigmata.

St. Francis died two years later in 1226, leaving the world the Franciscan Order, which became synonymous with the Seraphic Order. To this day, seraph wings and seraphs are symbolic of the Franciscan Order.

The final Rule of life for Franciscan friars was also approved on this day in 1223. To commemorate this, and all the saintly examples produced in the Franciscan Order, on this day all the saints of the Seraphic order are remembered at Franciscan churches.

The highlights of Pope Leo XIV's third day in Türkiye include a visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque, an ecumenical meeting with Christian leaders, prayer with Patriarch Bartholomew, and Mass with Catholic faithful from across the country.

Read all

 

The faithful present at the Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV at the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul on Saturday share their excitement and express their belief that his visit is a message of peace and unity for all.

Read all

 

ISTANBUL (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV, like his two immediate predecessors, visited the so-called Blue Mosque in Turkey's capital; he spent about 20 minutes inside but did not appear to pause for prayer as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had done.

Instead, he listened to Askin Musa Tunca, the mosque's muezzin who calls people to prayer five times a day, explain the building, its construction and how Muslims pray. And the pope asked questions. 

Tunca told reporters afterward that the mosque is "the house of Allah -- it's not my house; it's not your house," and so he told Pope Leo he could pray if he wanted. "'That's OK,' he said, he wanted to see the mosque."

Reporters pressed Tunca, asking again if the pope prayed. "Maybe to himself, I don't know," he responded.

The Vatican press office said afterward that Pope Leo visited the mosque "in a spirit of reflection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer."

As is customary, Pope Leo removed his shoes in the courtyard before entering the mosque in white socks. 

Formally called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Muslim house of prayer was complete in 1617 and is known as the Blue Mosque because of the more than 21,000 blue tiles that decorate its walls, arches and domes. The tiles come from Iznik, site of the ancient Nicaea, which Pope Leo had visited the day before.

Leaving the mosque, Pope Leo noted to Tunca that they were going through a doorway with a sign that said, "No exit." The muezzin replied that the sign was for tourists but, if the pope preferred, "you do not have to go out. You can stay here."

Pope Benedict XVI had visited the Blue Mosque in 2006, and Pope Francis toured it in 2015. Both had paused for a moment of silence facing the mihrab, which indicates the direction of the Islamic holy city of Mecca. St. John Paul II was the first pontiff to visit a mosque when he went to the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, Syria, in 2001. 

In late October Pope Leo had led Vatican celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council's document on relations with other world religions. The bishops at Vatican II said Catholics have esteem for their Muslim brothers and sisters, who "adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth," and "they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees."
 

Presiding over Mass in Istanbul, Türkiye, Pope Leo XIV urges everyone to take time to reflect during the Advent season on the three bonds of unity we are all called to build: within the community, in ecumenical relations, and with members of different faiths.

Read all

 

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I are joined by ecclesial leaders representing the vast majority of the Christian world for an ecumenical encounter to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

Read all

 

During his Apostolic Journey to Türkiye, Pope Leo XIV joins the Ecumenical Patriarch for a prayer service at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul.

Read all

 

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I sign a Joint Declaration in Istanbul reaffirming their commitment to the path toward full communion and forcefully rejecting any use of religion to justify violence.

Read all

 

As the Church marks the First Sunday of Advent, Fr Luke Gregory reflects on why Advent is a supreme time for praying for reconciliation and world peace.

Read all

 

On the morning of the third day of his Apostolic Journey to Türkiye, Pope Leo XIV visits the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque.”

Read all