THIS IS INTERESTING AND GIVEN THE CHINA GAFF MAYBE TRUE?

UPDATED: But more than his immediate predecessor Benedict, Francis still relies on a close circle of friends from his days in Argentina and as a high-ranking Jesuit to give him the pulse of what’s going on.

--MY COMMENT: YES, THIS IS PRECISELY THE DANK, DARK RABBIT HOLE THAT THIS PAPACY HAS CHOSEN AND THE PAPACY ISN'T WELL SERVED, TO SAY THE LEAST!

Pope's briefing system under scrutiny after Chile gaffe

next prev VATICAN CITY –  Just how well informed is Pope Francis about the goings-on in his 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church? That question is making the rounds after the pope seemed completely unaware of the details of a Chilean sex abuse scandal that soured his recent trip there.

UPDATED AND MORE DETAILED ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT:

VATICAN CITY

Just how well informed is Pope Francis about the goings-on in his 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church? 

That question is making the rounds after the pope seemed completely unaware of the details of a Chilean sex abuse scandal, a failing that soured his recent trip there and forced him to do an about-face. It also came up after his abrupt, no-explanation dismissal of a respected Vatican bank manager.And it rose to the fore when he was accused by a cardinal of not realizing that his own diplomats were “selling out” the underground Catholic Church in China for the sake of political expediency.

Some Vatican observers now wonder if Francis is getting enough of the high-quality briefings one needs to be a world leader, or whether Francis is relying more on his own instincts and informants who slip him unofficial information on the side.

In his five years as pope, Francis has created an informal, parallel information structure that often rubs up against official Vatican channels. That includes a papal kitchen cabinet of nine cardinal advisers who meet every three months at the Vatican and have the pope’s ear, plus the regular briefings he receives from top Vatican brass.

The Vatican this week issued a remarkable defense of Francis’ information flow and his grasp of the delicate China dossier. The Holy See press office insisted that Francis followed the China negotiations closely, was being “faithfully” briefed by his advisers and was in complete agreement with his secretary of state on the topic.

“It is therefore surprising and regrettable that the contrary is affirmed by people in the church, thus fostering confusion and controversy,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

Francis lives at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel rather than the Apostolic Palace, where he can more easily keep his door open at all hours, and where a network of friends, informants and advisers provide back channels of information to him.

“The problem is he’s the victim of the Santa Marta syndrome,” said Massimo Franco, columnist for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “The pope wanted to live there because he didn’t want any filter from the secretary of state. But the other side of the coin is that he’s condemned to receive quite casual information, and not always very accurate.”

At Santa Marta, the pope sets his own agenda, makes his own phone calls and arranges his own visitors’ schedule, often without the knowledge of the Vatican’s protocol office. He neither watches TV nor browses the internet but reads the Rome daily Il Messaggero and a selection of press clippings for his non-Vatican news.

Some of his information arrives in person, some of it on paper, left for him in a red leather-bound folder at the Santa Marta front desk, brought upstairs by a Swiss Guard and handed over to one of the pope’s two private secretaries.

Francis has two main gatekeepers, Monsignor Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, an Egyptian Copt who used to work in the Vatican’s secretariat of state, and Monsignor Fabian Pedacchio, an Argentine priest who Francis, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, dispatched to Rome in 2007.

He also has the prefect of the papal household, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, who arranges official audiences and decides who gets to greet the pope after his weekly Wednesday general audience.

Sometimes popes suffer when their gatekeepers fail them: Pope Benedict XVI famously lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, unaware that a simple Google search would have turned up the bishop’s belief that the Nazi gas chambers were a myth.

But more than his immediate predecessor Benedict, Francis still relies on a close circle of friends from his days in Argentina and as a high-ranking Jesuit to give him the pulse of what’s going on.

And he can be fiercely stubborn once he has made up his mind based on information that does reach him, such as his recent dismissal of the respected No. 2 at the Vatican bank, Giulio Mattietti, who was fired without explanation at the end of the year.

In his subsequent Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, Francis blasted Vatican staff who have been sidelined, saying “they wrongly declare themselves martyrs of the system, of a ‘pope kept in the dark.’ ”

But with Chile’s priest sex abuse scandal, Francis was forced to admit he had not only made a mistake, but maybe he was the one in the dark.

The Vatican announced Tuesday that Francis was sending the Vatican’s top sex crimes investigator to Chile to look into a bishop accused of covering up for the country’s most notorious pedophile priest. Francis had staunchly defended the bishop, Juan Barros, while in Chile and his about-face came only after “recent information” had reached the Vatican, Burke said.

Francis seemed completely unaware that Chilean abuse victims of the Rev. Fernando Karadima had for years said that Barros knew of Karadima’s perversions, had even witnessed them, and did nothing. One survivor, Juan Carlos Cruz, even testified to Chilean prosecutors.

But apparently that information never reached the pope – and that led to one of the greatest gaffes of Francis’ five-year papacy. He demanded “proof” that Barros was guilty of covering up for Karadima’s crimes and said without that, such accusations were mere “calumny.”

Francis later issued a partial apology. But even as he flew back to Rome on Jan. 21, Francis was saying he was convinced that Barros was innocent, though he was open to hearing from anyone with other information.

In such a case, the pope would have been receiving information from his ambassador in Chile, who like other Vatican envoys writes daily encrypted briefs to the Vatican secretariat of state that the pope reads each morning. He also hears from the local church hierarchy, who visited him en masse in February 2017.

For information on Chile, Francis also has one of his nine cardinal advisers, Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz, the retired archbishop of Santiago. Errazuriz has testified that he didn’t believe Karadima’s victims and shelved the investigation until he was forced to reopen it after they went public with their claims.

At any stage, then, anyone who didn’t believe the victims or wanted to protect Barros might have filtered out the victims’ testimony from briefings or cast doubt on it before it ever got to the pope.

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BOSCO, INVENTOR OF BOSCO!!!!!

I always loved St. John Bosco and his love for children which led him to invent Bosco which every child of the 1950's like me, loved. Thank God for Bosco and its inventor, St. John Bosco!



I am sure that I had one of these in the 1950's:

 And the Bosco jar I remember:

HOW MANY RANK AND FILE LAITY ARE AWARE OF THE CURRENT CONFUSION IN THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH AND IF THEY ARE, DO THEY CARE?

I have had very few of my parishioners voice concern for the confusion in the Church at this time coming from the highest places of the Church.

Bloggers and their commenters know about the controversy over the footnote in Amoris Laetitia.

Bloggers and their commenters know that Pope Francis is ambiguous and one is never sure if what His Holiness says lines up with what His Holiness will say later.

Bloggers and their commenters know that Pope Francis committed a pastoral error of the most serious kind in calling victims of priestly sexual abuse liars.

Bloggers and their commenters know that Pope Francis kind of apologized but stood up for the bishop in Chile that has caused so much trauma there but now he is sending an investigate to get more facts from the survivors.

Bloggers and their commenters know that a Chinese retired Cardinal confirmed what Pope Francis said to him which is in conflict with the Secretariat of State and the Secretariat of State has clarified that he and the pope are on the right page but the Chinese Cardinal isn't, a public humiliation of yet again another Cardinal with impeccable credentials and heroic witness to the faith in difficult circumstances.

And then we have this from a bishop of the Church from the peripheries of the world making clear that bishops and cardinals are in a schismatic relationship with each other and the pope and that they need to make a profession of faith to reassure the rank and file members of the Church who in my opinion are oblivious to the hot house antics of the Church at this time.

You can read the article by pressing this title: (Have we ever been in a place like this in recent history prior to a great schism?)

EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Schneider invites world’s prelates to sign Profession of Immutable Truths

THIS LOOKS LIKE A COOL MOVIE AND JESUS STARS IN IT!

KUDOS FOR THE CHILDREN'S MASS FROM VISITORS TO SAINT ANNE CHURCH

Good afternoon Father McDonald,

My name is S. S. and I live in Bel Air, Maryland.  My daughter  and I visited your church and attended the 11 am Mass on Sunday, January 21.  I wanted to take a moment to let you know that we enjoyed being in the presence of Jesus, you, and your vibrant and friendly  parishioners !   Your altar servers, acolyte, cantor, and organist added a beautiful reverence to your Mass.  We both thought that your church is very beautiful.   It appears relatively new and I felt like the architecture was a classic Catholic church style and also modern.  St. Anne Church (the people and the building!) reminded me of the church where I grew up, The Shrine of the Little Flower, in Baltimore.

Again, my daughter and I are grateful to have found your parish and enjoyed celebrating mass with you while we traveled !

My comment: The sentence I highlight in blue is so true and exactly how I felt the first time our walked into St. Anne's. I love the blend!

WHEN I SAW MEL GIBSON'S "PASSION OF THE CHRIST" I COULD TELL BY THE ENDING THAT THERE WOULD BE A SEQUEL. I HOPE EVEN COLORING BOOK CATHOLICS KNEW THAT

Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" is actually based upon the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross. I hope all Catholics saw "Veronica's Veil" discretely placed in the movie. Did you?

Of Course, the Stations of the Cross ends with the 14th Station.

I wonder what popular Catholic devotion Mel Gibson's the "Resurrection of the Christ" will be based? But this is indeed Good News, or shall I say, Gospel? I sometimes I wonder if that very good Catholic, Jim Caviezel isn't really Jesus!

New 'Passion of the Christ' will be 'the biggest film in history,' Jim Caviezel promises

USA Today

Jim Caviezel is very much on board with director Mel Gibson's plan to shoot a sequel to The Passion of the Christ. Caviezel, 49, confirmed he will reprise his role as Jesus in the planned film about the resurrection of Christ. "There are things that I cannot say that will shock the audience," he says. "It's great. Stay tuned." Earlier: Mel Gibson readying return to his 'Passion' project Gibson and his star have been tight-lipped on details of how the new film will move forward. But the actor says he's been inspired in his talks with Gibson by the direction the project is taking. "I won’t tell you how he’s going to go about it," Caviezel says. "But I’ll tell you this much, the film he’s going ...

Read more

I THINK I SUFFER FROM MULTIPLE LITURGICAL PERSONALITY DISORDER! WHAT IS THE CURE ESPECIALLY SINCE I THRIVE WITH THIS DISORDER?

I had an interesting, if not dysfunctional, Sunday yesterday as I suffer from multiple liturgical personality disorder. Let me explain.

This week I am scheduled to celebrate Mass for our cloistered Carmelite nuns in Savannah, 25 miles away from my rectory. It began yesterday with a 6 AM Mass. Our Carmelites are from Kenya and thus they have an incluturated form of the Mass as it concerns their music, language and bongo drums. It is quite interesting and it was the first hybrid Kenyan language/English Mass I have ever celebrated as normally when I celebrate Mass there it is always in English. It was quite lovely and I was not in anyway put out by the language, music or bongos. I was appreciative of it in fact.

Then I had my normal 8:30 AM Mass. Our music is a blend of organ and piano and musical selections are often more contemporary than what I have experienced since 1985. But it was very beautiful, reverent and strengthening of our Catholic Faith.

Then our 11:00 AM Mass was our once a month "childrens' Mass". We have a lovely children's choir and their selections are juvenile but in the positive sense of the word. They are fun to listen to and they do sing their hearts out and are quite proud of what they do. We also have children lectors, a child cantor who is as good as any of our adults and at the homily time, a give a children's homily and invite the kids to the altar to sit in front of me. My homily was quite good, if I do say so myself, and given the Gospel of the day, with Jesus expelling a demon who tells the world who Jesus is, "The Holy One of God" I mentioned that if a demon knows who Jesus is, how much more should we and then I said let's talk about demons and a four year child raised her hand and said "I don't know what a demon is." And I said, "that's good for me to know and then I explained the fall of the angels and how  the Archangel Lucifer began the rebellion and disobeyed God with complete freedom of the will for an eternity and brought other lesser angels with him who would forever fight a losing battle against God and drag many human beings to their losing side. I spoke of the great Archangel Michael who defends us in battle. Then I concluded the homily by passing out the St. Michael the Archangel prayer and we faced our lovely statue of him and prayed it together. Stunning no?

Then to cap my liturgical diversity day that has led to my liturgical multiple personality  disorder dysfunction, I celebrated the Cathedral's 1 PM Extraordinary Form for the First Sunday of Septuagesima! I wore lovely violet Roman Vestments. The Catheral Schola is a good as any in our country and they need to do a CD of their complicated Gregorian Chant and polyphony. The leader of the band is 27 years old and the oldest in the schola of about 12 kids who are all much younger than he!

I have to say that I am transported by this form of the Mass into a form of mysticism that I have never experienced in the OF Mass. And since I am facing the apse of the church/cathedral, I can allow my facial expressions to symbolize the euphoria and mysticism I am experiencing especially with the absolutely splendid chanting. I feel as though I am in a 6th century monsastery and could well be--time stands still and I am in eternity which is palpable in this form of the Mass, not so much in the OF Mass unfortunately. 

So doctor, how serious is my multiple liturgical personality disorder? Can I be helped? 

I feel like the character in the movie "The Three Faces of Eve" who lived near Augusta, GA in the 1950's and brought worldwide attention to multiple personality disorder at that time. I grew up in Augusta and I hope it isn't contagious!

SELF ABSORBED ? I'D SAY YES, BUT FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS AND BECAUSE OF VATICAN II WHICH BECAME A "NEW gOD" TO MANY ROMAN CATHOLICS

Mark Thomas points out the obvious in a comment from John Allen's reports on a Dallas event with Ivereigh and Douthat:

"For instance, Ivereigh began by laying out his standard assessment of what the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in March 2013 meant, saying it was a badly needed shock to a Church that had become sclerotic, focused excessively on itself, and so rule-obsessed that the world only knew what Catholicism was against rather than what it’s for."

In 2013 A.D., obsession with rules marked the Church? The Church in 2013 A.D. was focused on Herself excessively? The world only knew what Catholicism was against rather than what it’s for?
That doesn't correspond to my recollection. From the 1960s to 2013 A.D. (and beyond), one parish after another offered ad lib Masses, tolerated dissent from Church teaching, and in line with Rome, had opened to the world.

The reality is that decades prior to 2013 A.D., the image of pray, pay, and obey rule-obsessed Catholicism had been shattered.

In 2013 A.D, Austen Ivereigh and I belonged to two very different Churches.

My comments: 

From 1965 through the 1980's all we ever heard about was Vatican II, this, that and the other and we had to be obedient to Vatican II! That is a false idol to say the least.

No we have to be obedient to Almighty God and the Deposit of Faith contained in Scripture and Sacred Tradition. 

And guess what? The Deposit of Faith in out in the open for all to discover. It is not confined to an elite group of people, be they the pope, bishops or theologians, let alone priests and nuns or "nones" today. 

For the past 50 years we have been self-absorbed with "reform" and "social work." The Lord Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament was dethroned in most parish churches, the Liturgy became a hand-holding let's look at one another self absorbed celebration and fellowship became a new sacrament more important than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And creativity had to be of the Holy Spirit because it came from a committee of people who decided this, that or the other in collective hand holdIng prayer.

And folks, in 2018 we are returning to that self-absorbed 1960's me generation that masked itself with protests, concern for those on the margins and the like.

CATHOLICS, ESPECIALLY ORHTODOX CATHOLICS WHO KNOW THAT SINS AGAINST CHARITY ARE MORTAL SINS, SHOULD BE KIND IN THEIR REHTORIC IN THESE DIFFICULT, POLARIZING TIMES IN THE cHURCH

John Allen has a good article in today's Crux which you can read in full by pressing the title:

Douthat and Ivereigh showed us how to disagree without being disagreeable 

John L. Allen Jr. 

Jan 28, 2018

Allen states the following which I think should guide discussions moving forward:

 What was obvious all day was how much these guys genuinely like each other, respect each other, and want to learn from each other. In other words, underneath the very real disagreement is an equally real friendship, which informs everything they say and do.

For instance, Ivereigh began by laying out his standard assessment of what the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in March 2013 meant, saying it was a badly needed shock to a Church that had become sclerotic, focused excessively on itself, and so rule-obsessed that the world only knew what Catholicism was against rather than what it’s for. Moreover, Ivereigh said, March 2013 also marked the date when Catholicism truly went “global,” capable of having something other than just the “rich church” conversations that characterize Europe and North America.

Douthat basically agreed with most of that, and said that at his best, it’s still what Francis delivers. He insisted, however, that’s not all Francis has done, arguing that he’s also unleashed severe theological tensions in Catholicism that may only be able to be resolved in a future ecumenical council, and which could lead to some sort of schism on the other side.

My comments: 

 Douthat seems to think some schism is about to happen in the Church which will come about because of an ecumenical council or precede it leading to an ecumenical council.

I don't know about that, I pray that this will not happen. But in the meantime Douthat and Ivereigh give us a model of how to debate sensitive faith issues, as well as discipline issues.  It cannot be motivated by anger and rage or throwing gasoline onto flames, but open, honest dialogue. If one is confident in one's position, this should not be a threat to be civil. 

But what if a schism is looming? Who are the ones in schism. In the Catholic Church schism always means separating from the pope and one's bishop. That is schism pure and simple and is a mortal sin as the Baltimore Catechism makes clear. 

While I may disagree with this, that and the other Pope Francis or even my bishop may being saying or doing, I will remain in union with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

The institutional Church may expand what it means to be a good Catholic confirming those who are on either side of issues hitting us today. Progressives will have their progressive parishes. God willing the SSPX will be fully reconciled to the Roman Pontiff and Catholics who prefer the Church prior to the Second Vatican Council will have parishes that allow this expression of Catholicism. 

I don't particularly like this model, but it is where we are going I fear--it is congregationalism pure and simple. It is happening first with Conferences of Bishops have wildly different interpretations of the footnote in Amoris laetitia and it will filter down to smaller groups and already has on many levels. 

Civility, or better yet, the theological term, charity is what is needed today more than ever!

As for me and my household, we always will be in full communion with the pope, the Bishop of Rome!

AS WITH SO MANY GOOD THINGS WITHIN CATHOLICISM, IT'S NOT EITHER/OR BUT BOTH/AND!

Crux has a summary of an interesting debate about Pope Francis from a progressive Catholic, Austen Ivereigh, who loves Pope Francis and a conservative Catholic,  Ross Douthat, (who writes for the New York Times) who is discomforted by Pope Francis.

Press the title for the full Crux article:

Douthat, Ivereigh spar in Dallas over legacy of the Francis papacy

• Christopher White
  Jan 26, 2018
  NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/CRUX

I side with Ross Douthat because he makes sense as most traditional/orthodox Catholics do whereas progressive/heterodox Catholics makes little or no sense and certainly aren't logical.

Here is a secular take on the same thing in Dallas:

After stumble in South America, what does Pope Francis' papacy mean for Catholics and the world?

Here are some sound bites from the Crux article that make my point with my comments in red:

(First, what most of us who are orthodox fear and find mystifying is that lukewarm Catholics or what some call coloring book Catholics as well as the secular world, be they believers or not, love Pope Francis for watering down the Catholic Faith and making it just another NGO. Those who beleive what the Church teaches, as challenging as it is for them personally to follow through, are thrown under the bus! This is polarizing and creating great anger!)

Ivereigh, who authored a 2015 biography of Francis, The Great Reformer, made a case for a “hermeneutic of continuity,” maintaining that “the Francis papacy builds very beautifully on Benedict’s papacy, and so much of what Francis is doing was foreseen, anticipated, and enabled by Pope Benedict.”

In response to the increasing tides of secularization, the Church had grown “distant, dogmatic, more interested in itself than humanity,” argued Ivereigh, taking “refuge in ethics,” rather than discipleship.

“We were converting our faith into an ideology, and what people knew about us was what we’re against,” Ivereigh said. (Such nonsense it is incredulous! Our Catholic Faith splendid truth he calls an ideology and emphasis on doctrine replaces discipleship! What kind of silliness is this and is Pope Francis really promoting this? I hope not because anyone can be a good person and in terms of being good could follow Jesus as a "dead hero!"  But Jesus is the living Lord and teaches us the truth, not an ideology. And is the Church isn't concerned with both/and but rather with either/or, then we are self-absorbed! We are more self absorbed in the Church today under Pope Francis then we have ever been in the past 50 years!)

To Change the Church, Douthat urged caution over what he described as a “Catholic swing toward a more Anglican model of communion,” in the Francis era, which, in his view, has also reopened a host of other connected theological questions.

“I think his [Francis’s] at times carelessness and dismissiveness around doctrine and doctrinal continuity - doctrinal continuity that goes all the way back to the person of Jesus Christ…has led to a situation where the Church is lurching in certain ways to not literal, but a kind of de facto, schism on certain issues,” Douthat warned. (Russ Douthat makes sense here and shows how dumb Ivereigh's analysis really is!)

When asked why Francis has not responded to the dubia - questions submitted to Francis by four cardinals seeking specific “yes” or “no” answers regarding the reception of communion - Ivereigh said Francis was not allowing confusion to fester, but rather to answer the dubia would be to undermine the very process of discernment called for by Francis in Amoris.

“It’s actually a challenge not just to his magisterial authority, but to the whole process of the Synod itself, which was a process of ecclesial discernment,” said Ivereigh, “so Francis can’t answer those dubia directly in some sort of letter without undermining the whole process of the synod.” (All Pope Francis had to do was to meet with the cardinals of the dubia, have a frank discussion in private and then issue a communique that a consensus had been reached and the pope could have said quite easily, if it were true, what Iverigh just said! But no, Pope Francis, marginalizes those of us to inculde his closest collaborators and creates more tension, anger and polarization  in the Church!)

Meanwhile, Douthat disputed the idea that any sort of definitive interpretation has been offered.

“I would mildly dispute that the Holy Father has made clear what the precise and proper interpretation of Amoris Laetitia is,” said Douthat.

He went on to argue that defenders of Amoris want to effectively defend Church teaching on marriage, while at the same time promoting new disciplinary practices that fail to adhere to the doctrinal and ontological realities of marriage.

“There is this constant insistence that we are defending indissolubility…which is well and good,” said Douthat, “but in practice you are evacuating it of all meaning.”

“This leaves the conservatives in the uncomfortable position of essentially dissenting from something that the pope is clearly teaching,” he said. (Amen to that!)

ECUMENICAL SOLEMN EVENING PRAYER II FOR THE FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL

My favorite two major Basilicas are, first, St. Mary Major and second, Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

The oldest "set-up" of the altar and cathedra is contained in these two Basilicas, with the altar forward and under a "wedding canopy", resembling the wedding bed and the cathedra directly behind the altar against the apse.

St. Peter's prior to Vatican II had the Pope's Throne for Mass at the Altar of the Chair (at the apse) (with its altar hidden by the elaborate throne set up for the Pope, or better yet, the Chair of the Successor of St. Peter.) That custom has been lost in the post-Vatican II papal liturgies there as the pope's chair is now placed directly in front of the altar and which I say yuck:

And here is glorious Solemn Sung Evening Prayer II for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul:

Pope presides at ecumenical Vespers service

Pope Francis presided at Vespers for the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

By Christopher Wells

As is traditional, Pope Francis presided over an ecumenical Vespers service at the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls for the conclusion of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The end of the Week coincides with the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.

The Song of Moses and Miriam

During the liturgical service, a cantor proclaimed a reading from the Book of Exodus, the “Song of Moses and Miriam,” which Pope Francis took as the starting point for his homily. The hymn was sung by the Israelites after they had been saved from the Egyptians by God, an event that many of the Church Fathers saw as an image of Baptism. “All of us Christians,” the Pope said, have passed through the waters of Baptism; and the grace of the Sacrament has destroyed our enemies, sin and death.” Precisely for this reason, he continued, together we are able to sing God’s praise.

Read also

Called to community

But, the Pope said, as with Moses, “our individual experiences bind us to an even greater story, that of the salvation of the people of God.” Saint Paul, he said, whose conversion is celebrated in this liturgical feast, likewise had a “powerful experience of grace,” and this experience led him “to seek out communion with other Christians.” This, the Pope said, is also our experience as believers: “As soon as we grow in the spiritual life, we understand ever better that grace reaches us together with others, and is to be shared with others.”

The Pope explained that in recognizing the Baptisms of Christians of other traditions, we acknowledge that they too have received forgiveness, and that God’s grace is at work in them too.

 “And even when divergences separate us,” he said, “we recognize that we pertain to the same people of the redeemed, to the same family of brothers and sisters loved by the only Father.”

United in suffering

Our growth in the spiritual life, however, is often a difficult one, the Pope said, and pointed to the suffering of Christians endured for the Name of Jesus. The Holy Father argued that “when their blood is shed, even if they belong to different [Christian] Confessions, together they become witnesses of the faith, martyrs, united in the bond of baptismal grace.”

Even with other religious traditions, the Pope said, “Christians today confront the challenges that demean human dignity: flying from situations of conflict and misery they are victims of human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery; they suffer hardships and hunger, in a world that is ever more rich in means and poor in love, where inequality continues to grow.” But, he said,

Christians are called to remember the history of what God has done for us, and to help and support one another, and “to face every challenge with courage and hope, armed only with Jesus and the sweet power of His Gospel.”