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Cameroon: Bishops of Yaounde Ecclesiastical Province discuss Church and the digital world.

The first ordinary annual session of the Bishops' Conference of the Ecclesiastical Province of Yaounde in Cameroon, was held recently. "The Church and the digital world: issues and challenges for evangelization," was the theme of the plenary. The assembly took place at the Pastoral Centre of Saint Joseph in the town of Kribi, a beach resort and sea port in Southwestern Cameroon.

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Pope urges the church to see the face of Christ in migrants

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church can draw closer to Jesus by accompanying migrants in their pursuit of a better life, Pope Francis said.

In the faces of migrants, the church "discovers the face of Christ," he wrote, and like St. Veronica who offered a cloth to wipe Jesus' face during his passion, the church "brings relief and hope on the 'Way of the Cross' of migration."

The pope wrote his comments in a letter March 21 to participants at a meeting between bishops, church officials and migrants in Lajas Blancas, Panama, near the Darién Gap jungle crossed by thousands of migrants each day. The meeting took place during a three-day conference organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for bishops from Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to discuss accompanying migrants.

Migrant brothers and sisters "represent the suffering flesh of Christ" since they are "forced to leave their land, to face the risks and tribulations of a hard road without finding another way out," Pope Francis wrote in his message to the group.

Bishops and other members of the church who support migrants "are the face of a mother church that walks with her sons and daughters," he wrote.

Pope Francis at his weekly general audience
Pope Francis makes brief remarks at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Francis urged the migrants to "never forget about your human dignity," and encouraged them to "not be afraid to look others in the eye, because you are not discarded, but you form part of the human family and the family of God's children."

"I also am the son of migrants who left in search of a better future," the pope told them, referencing his upbringing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the child of Italian immigrants. "There were times when they were left with nothing, even starving, with their hands empty but their hearts full of hope."

The meeting of church officials and migrants took place outside of the Darién Gap jungle that straddles the Panama-Colombia border. Record numbers of migrants have risked their lives to cross the Darién Gap in recent months, subjected to rampant extortion, physical abuse and sexual violence by criminal gangs. More than 500,000 people crossed the gap in 2023, according to data published by the Panamanian government.

In a message to the bishops a day earlier, Pope Francis had written that the church's pastors must break free from indifference in addressing the crisis of forced migration across the Americas and that every migrant challenges Christians to embrace a spirit of hospitality.

 

Pope Francis meets with President Vella of Malta

Pope Francis holds a private audience with Maltese President George Vella, who gifts the Pope six computers for the Mother of Mercy Clinic that serves the poor in St. Peter’s Square.

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Parish priest in Gaza: ‘We have endured relentless Calvary for months'

Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of the Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza, speaks of the “extremely grave” situation in the Gaza Strip, likening the situation of Christians in the Strip to Christ on Calvary.

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Pope to Brazil's Social Week: 'May we see Jesus' face in the poor'

Pope Francis sends letter of encouragement to participants in the 6th Edition of Brazil's Social Week, which began Wednesday in Brasília, organized by the Brazilian Bishops' Conference, and seeks to build "a more just society where universal fraternity and social friendship are lived."

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'With millions of Syrians displaced in country, it's urgent to facilitate their return home'

In an interview with Vatican News, Daniel Solymári, the Director of Foreign Affairs of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, discusses the ongoing unrest in Syria, and insists that with 6 to 7 million internally displaced people still living within the country, "one of the most important tasks is to help them create the possibility for a realistic chance to return home."

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Tanzania: Each church a community, every community a family

As our correspondent continues visiting the Church in Tanzania, she explores how local Catholics share their hearts with their communities, especially at Sunday Mass, and make up a Church founded on the family.

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Pope Francis: 'I too am a child of migrants'

Pope Francis sends a message to a group of migrants gathered in Lajas Blancas, Panama, referring to migrants as “the face of Christ”, whom the Church lovingly offers “relief and hope.”

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At audience, pope looks at virtue of prudence, prays for peace

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "War is always a defeat," Pope Francis said, urging people at his general audience to pray that leaders in war-torn nations would have the courage to negotiate for peace.

"We must make every effort to discuss, to negotiate to end war. Let's pray for this," the pope said at the end of the audience in St. Peter's Square March 20.

Although he began the audience by telling the visitors and pilgrims that he was still unable to read his full speech and would have an aide read it for him, Pope Francis took the microphone at the end of the gathering to greet Italian speakers and to pray for "the populations of the tormented Ukraine and the Holy Land -- Palestine and Israel -- who suffer so much from the horror of war."

Continuing his series of audience talks about virtues and vices, the pope's text said virtues have never been the concern of Christians alone, but "belong to the heritage of ancient wisdom."

The pope's main text focused on the virtue of prudence, which is not caution or hesitancy, he wrote.

"The prudent person is creative. He or she reasons, evaluates, tries to understand the complexity of reality and does not allow him- or herself to be overwhelmed by emotions, idleness, pressures and illusions," the text said.

St. Thomas Aquinas, the pope noted, described prudence as "right reason in action."

"In a world dominated by appearances, by superficial thoughts, by the triviality of both good and bad," he wrote, people need to cultivate the virtue of prudence to direct their actions toward what is good for themselves and for others.

Pope Francis laughs with a visitor
Pope Francis shares a laugh with a visitor as they hold hands at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

If life were always easy, the pope's text said, prudence would not be necessary, "but in the midst of the wind and waves of daily life it is another matter; often we are uncertain and do not know which way to go. The prudent do not choose by chance: first of all, they know what they want, then they weigh up the situation, seek advice and with a broad outlook and inner freedom, they choose which path to embark upon."

Prudence is especially important for people who govern or are in other positions of authority, he wrote, because they must listen to different points of view and "try to harmonize them," working for the good of all.

The Gospel of Matthew says that before Jesus sent his disciples on mission, he tells them to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves," the Pope Francis wrote. The passage indicates that "God does not only want us to be saints, he also wants us to be intelligent saints, because without prudence, it just takes a moment to make a wrong turn."

 

Pope entrusts war-torn regions to St. Joseph

Pope entrusts war-torn regions to St. Joseph

A look at Pope Francis' general audience March 20.

Five Parish Priests from the United States to Participate in International Meeting of Priests in Rome

This release has been edited with updated information provided to USCCB Public Affairs by the USCCB’s synod team.

 

WASHINGTON – Last month, the Holy See announced a global gathering of parish priests as part of the Synod on Synodality to be held this spring in Rome. “Parish Priests for the Synod: An International Meeting,” will be held April 28-May 2.

At the request of the Holy See, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was asked to submit a list of five priests who have been participating in synodality in their local parishes to send to the meeting. Per the guidelines of the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod, the USCCB selected four Latin Rite priests, and one Eastern Catholic priest to represent the United States. In consultation with the local bishop, the priests were selected based on the parameters set forth by the Synod Secretariat, including levels of engagement with the Synod, and in consultation with the USCCB’s Executive Committee.

For more information on the meeting, please visit: https://www.synod.va/en/news/parish-priests-for-the-synod.html.

The following priests were selected to participate:

  • Rev. Artur Bubnevych
    Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix
    Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church (Albuquerque, N.M.)
     
  • Rev. Joseph Friend
    Diocese of Little Rock
    Pastoral Administrator, Holy Cross Church (Crossett, Ark.), Holy Spirit Church (Hamburg, Ark.), and Our Lady of the Lake Church (Lake Village, Ark.)
     
  • Rev. Luis Navarro
    Diocese of Stockton
    Pastor, St. George Church (Stockton, Calif.)
     
  • Rev. Donald J. Planty, Jr.
    Diocese of Arlington
    Pastor, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (Arlington, Va.)
     
  • Rev. William Swichtenberg
    Diocese of Green Bay
    Pastor, St. Mary’s Parish (Appleton, Wis.)

 

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