Por Junno Arocho Esteves

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — Mientras la violenta invasión rusa, que ya cumplió un mes, continuaba devastando Ucrania, el papa Francisco puso el destino de ambos países en manos de María, con la esperanza de que finalmente reinara la paz.

“Madre de Dios y madre nuestra, a tu Inmaculado Corazón nos encomendamos y consagramos solemnemente, la iglesia y toda la humanidad, especialmente Rusia y Ucrania”, expresó el Santo Padre el 25 de marzo, presidiendo el acto de consagración después de haber dirigido un servicio de penitencia de Cuaresma en la Basílica de San Pedro.

Rezando ante una estatua de María, que fue prestada por el Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Fátima en San Vittoriano, en las afueras de Roma, el papa suplicó a la Madre de Dios que “acepte este acto que llevamos a cabo con confianza y amor. Haz que la guerra termine y que la paz se extienda por todo el mundo”.

Sentado frente a la estatua, que fue colocada ante los escalones del altar mayor sobre una plataforma roja y adornada con rosas blancas, el Sumo Pontífice proclamó el acto de consagración. Durante la oración, el papa se detuvo en varios momentos para mirar la estatua de María antes de continuar.

“A ti te consagramos el futuro de toda la familia humana, las necesidades y expectativas de cada pueblo, las angustias y esperanzas del mundo”, oró.

Después de la consagración, el papa, acompañado por un niño y una niña, colocó un ramo de rosas blancas a los pies de la estatua. Luego permaneció ahí unos momentos, con los ojos cerrados y la cabeza inclinada en oración, en silencio.

Según el Vaticano, se estima que 3,500 personas llenaron el interior de la Basílica de San Pedro, mientras que 2,000 personas vieron el evento en pantallas de video desde la Plaza de San Pedro. La policía pidió a los peregrinos que entraron a la Basílica de San Pedro portando o llevando banderas ucranianas que las guardaran, ya que el evento era un servicio de oración.

Entre los presentes en la liturgia estaba Andrii Yurash, embajador de Ucrania ante la Santa Sede. La consagración, tuiteó el 25 de marzo, es “otro intento (del papa) de defender a Ucrania de la guerra del diablo”, refiriéndose a los ataques de Rusia contra el país.

Joe Donnelly, quien pronto presentará sus credenciales al Santo Padre como embajador de Estados Unidos ante la Santa Sede, también asistió al servicio.

El Vaticano anunció el 18 de marzo que el papa Francisco también pidió a los obispos de todo el mundo que se unieran a él para consagrar Ucrania y Rusia al Inmaculado Corazón de María.

El cardenal Konrad Krajewski, limosnero papal, dirigió un acto similar de consagración en el Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Fátima en Portugal.

Obispos de todo el mundo habían anunciado servicios especiales para coincidir con el momento de la consagración en Roma, incluso en las primeras horas de la mañana.

En la Catedral-Basílica Dulce Nombre de María en Hagatña, Guam, el arzobispo Michael Byrnes dirigió a los fieles en el rezo del rosario antes de recitar el acto de consagración a las 2 a.m. (hora local) del 26 de marzo.

El arzobispo Georg Gänswein, secretario privado del papa emérito Benedicto XVI, había dicho a los periodistas que el retirado papa se uniría a la consagración desde su residencia.

En un video publicado antes de la liturgia, el arzobispo Sviatoslav Shevchuk de Kyiv-Halych, jefe de la Iglesia Católica ucraniana, manifestó que se uniría a la consagración “porque hoy necesitamos mucho la victoria del bien”.

La consagración, señaló el arzobispo Shevchuk, “significa que nunca es posible llegar a un acuerdo y cooperar con este mal que emerge de Rusia hoy”.

“Y es por eso que debemos orar por su conversión, por la erradicación de ese mal, ‘para que’, como dijo la Madre de Dios de Fátima, ‘no destruya otros estados, no provoque otra guerra mundial’. Nosotros, como cristianos, tenemos el deber de orar por nuestros enemigos”, acotó.

En Roma, las campanas de la Basílica de San Pedro sonaron después de que el papa Francisco concluyera el acto de consagración.

En su homilía durante el servicio de penitencia de Cuaresma, el Sumo Pontífice reconoció que la guerra en Ucrania, que “ha alcanzado a tanta gente y ha causado sufrimiento a todos, ha dejado, a cada uno de nosotros, temerosos y ansiosos”.

Si bien los llamados a “no tener miedo” pueden aliviar la impotencia de uno frente a la guerra, a la violencia y a la incertidumbre, el papa dijo que “el dar consuelo no es suficiente”.

“Necesitamos la cercanía de Dios y la certeza de su perdón, y una vez renovados por él, los cristianos pueden volverse también a María y presentar sus necesidades y las del mundo”, dijo.

El papa Francisco dijo que el acto de consagración “no es una fórmula mágica sino un acto espiritual” de confianza por “los hijos que, en medio de la tribulación de esta guerra cruel y sin sentido que amenaza a nuestro mundo, se vuelven hacia su madre, depositando todos sus miedos y dolores en su corazón y abandonándose a ella”.

“Significa poner en ese corazón puro e inmaculado, donde se refleja Dios, los bienes inestimables de la fraternidad y de la paz, todo lo que tenemos y somos, para que ella, la madre que el Señor nos ha dado, nos proteja y nos cuide”, indicó el papa.

En su oración, el papa Francisco pidió específicamente a María que permanezca con los que sufren directamente a causa de la guerra.

“Que tu toque maternal alivie a los que sufren y huyen de la lluvia de bombas”, rezó a María. “Que tu abrazo materno consuele a los que se ven obligados a abandonar sus hogares y su tierra natal. Que tu corazón afligido nos mueva a la compasión y nos inspire a abrir nuestras puertas y cuidar a nuestros hermanos y hermanas heridos y abandonados”.

By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Positive change must begin with oneself and with acknowledging one’s own mistakes, Pope Francis said.

Such change also includes being attentive to how one communicates, because words carry weight and they can be used to “feed prejudices, raise barriers, harm and even destroy,” the pope told people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 27 for his Sunday Angelus address.

“Especially in the digital world, words travel fast; but too many of them convey anger and aggression, feed false news and take advantage of collective fears to propagate distorted ideas,” he said.

“Every fruitful, positive change must begin from ourselves. Otherwise, there will be no change,” he said.

The pope reflected on the Sunday Gospel reading from St. Luke, in which Christ asks his disciples, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”

“What Jesus says is true: we always find reasons for blaming others and justifying ourselves,” Pope Francis said. “And very often we complain about things that are wrong in society, in the church, in the world, without first questioning ourselves and without making an effort to change ourselves first.”

Jesus asks people “to look within ourselves to recognize our failings. Because if we are not capable of seeing our own defects, we will always be inclined to magnify those of others,” he said.

When individuals acknowledge their own mistakes and flaws first, he said, “the door of mercy opens up to us,” providing a chance to experience God’s love and forgiveness.

Then, he said, “Jesus invites us to look at others as he does,” which is to “not see irredeemable errors in us, but children who make mistakes.”

“We know that God always forgives. And he invites us to do likewise: not to look for evil in others, but good,” he said.
It is important people be attentive to the way they speak because “you can tell straightaway what is in their heart” by the words they choose, he said.

Pope Francis asked people to reflect on whether they choose words that “express care, respect, understanding, closeness, compassion or words that aim mainly to make us look good in front of others? And then, do we speak mildly, or do we pollute the world by spreading venom: criticizing, complaining, feeding widespread aggression?”
“Jesus invites us to reflect on the way we look (at others) and the way we speak” and to purify “our gaze and our speech,” he said.

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A disciple of Jesus leaves behind worldly attachments and prejudices to follow God completely, Pope Francis said.

Disciples “know how to question themselves, how to humbly seek God every day,” the pope said Feb. 13 during his Sunday Angelus address.

With a crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the midday Angelus prayer, the pope reflected on the Sunday Gospel reading from St. Luke in which Jesus delivers the sermon on the plain, which, like St. Matthew’s sermon on the mount, begins with the beatitudes.

“Indeed, the beatitudes define the identity of the disciple of Jesus,” Pope Francis said.

The beatitudes may sound strange, “almost incomprehensible to those who are not disciples,” he said.

According to the logic of the world, “happy are those who are rich,” who receive praise, are envied and feel secure, he said; but the beatitudes say that those who are poor and lack material possessions are blessed and happy.

Jesus “declares worldly success to be a failure, since it is based on a selfishness that inflates and then leaves the heart empty,” he said.

“Faced with the paradox of the beatitudes, disciples allow themselves to be challenged, aware that it is not God who must enter into our logic, but we into his,” the pope said.

“This requires a journey, sometimes wearisome, but always accompanied by joy. Because the disciple of Jesus is joyful, with the joy that comes from Jesus,” from the Lord who frees “us from the slavery of self-centeredness, breaks our locks, dissolves our hardness.”

Disciples, he said, “are those who let themselves be led by Jesus, who open their heart to Jesus, who listen to him and follow his path.”

By Junno Arocho
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Holy Spirit, and not the need for recognition, must be the primary motivation in one’s religious life, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women.

“Sometimes, even behind the appearance of good works, the canker of narcissism, or the need to stand out, can be concealed. In other cases, even as we go about doing many things, our religious communities can appear moved more by mechanical repetition – acting out of habit, just to keep busy – than by enthusiastic openness to the Holy Spirit,” the pope said in his homily Feb. 2.

“Let us today examine our interior motivations and discern our spiritual movements, so that the renewal of consecrated life may come about, first and foremost, from there,” he said.

Hundreds of men and women belonging to religious orders attended the Mass for the celebration of Candlemas – the feast of the Presentation of the Lord – which also marks the Vatican celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life.

During the Mass, Pope Francis exchanged consecrated bread and wine with Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphaël Pierre XXI Minassian, who was elected in September, thus sealing their ecclesial communion.

In September, after the election, the pope granted the Armenian patriarch’s request for unity, which is sealed with the gesture of partaking of the Eucharist together. The Armenian Patriarchate, based in Beirut, is one of 22 Eastern Catholic Churches that is in full unity with the Holy See and the Catholic Church.

The Mass began with the traditional blessing of candles. Led by several candle-bearing acolytes, Pope Francis processed toward the Altar of the Chair in a darkened St. Peter’s Basilica, faintly lit by the congregation’s candles as the choir sang, “O radiant light, eternal splendor of the father, Christ the Lord immortal.”

Pope Francis blessed the candles and prayed that the Lord would guide all men and women “on the path of good” toward his Son, “the light that has no end.”

In his homily, the pope reflected on the Gospel reading from St. Luke, in which the young Mary and Joseph, along with baby Jesus, meet the elderly Simeon and Anna, who “await in the Temple the fulfilment of the promise that God made to his people: the coming of the Messiah.”

Just like the elderly Simeon recognizes the Messiah “in the guise of a poor little baby,” religious men and women are called to be “moved by the Spirit” rather than success or prestige in their congregations.

“The spirit moves us to see God in the littleness and vulnerability of a baby, yet we at times risk seeing our consecration only in terms of results, goals and success: We look for influence, for visibility, for numbers,” the pope said. “The Spirit, on the other hand, asks for none of this. He wants us to cultivate daily fidelity and to be attentive to the little things entrusted to our care.”

Secondly, Simeon’s example of seeing and recognizing Christ is a testament to the “great miracle of faith” that “opens eyes, transforms gazes and changes perspectives.”

“Let us open our eyes: The spirit is inviting us amid our crises, decreasing numbers and diminishing forces, to renew our lives and our communities. Let us look at Simeon and Anna: Although they were advanced in years, they did not spend their days mourning a past that never comes back, but instead embraced the future opening up before them,” he said.

By Carol Glatz
ROME (CNS) – God is not frightened by people’s sins, mistakes or failures, Pope Francis said.

What God is afraid of is “the closure of our hearts – this, yes, this makes him suffer – he is frightened by our lack of faith in his love,” the pope said Jan. 19 during his weekly general audience.

Everybody must “square accounts” with what they have done, but “settling the accounts with God is a beautiful thing because we start talking and he embraces us” with tenderness, the pope said.

Pope Francis continued his series of audience talks about St. Joseph, reflecting on his tenderness.

Very little detail is found in the Gospels about St. Joseph’s fatherly approach, but “we can be sure that his being a ‘just’ man also translated into the education he gave to Jesus,” the pope said.

Jesus understood God’s tenderness and love, experiencing it first through St. Joseph, he said. “The things of God always come to us through the mediation of human experiences.”
“There is great tenderness in the experience of God’s love, and it is beautiful to think that the first person to transmit this reality to Jesus was Joseph himself,” he said.

In fact, Jesus always used the word “father” to speak of God and his love, he said. The most memorable account of God’s mercy is Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, who expected punishment for his sins, but instead “he finds himself wrapped in his father’s embrace.”

“Tenderness is something greater than the logic of the world. It is an unexpected way of doing justice,” Pope Francis said.

“That is why we must never forget that God is not frightened by our sins,” he said, because God “is greater than our sins: he is the father, he is love, he is tender.”

Tenderness is “the experience of feeling loved and welcomed precisely in our poverty and misery, and thus transformed by God’s love,” the pope said.

“The Lord does not take away all our weaknesses, but helps us to walk on with our weaknesses, taking us by the hand” and walking by people’s side, he said.

“The experience of tenderness consists in seeing God’s power pass through precisely that which makes us most fragile; on the condition, however, that we are converted from the gaze of the Evil One who ‘makes us see and condemn our frailty,’ while the Holy Spirit ‘brings it to light with tender love,’” the pope said, quoting from his apostolic letter on St. Joseph, “Patris corde.”

If the devil ever speaks the truth to people, it is because he is twisting it “to tell us a lie” and to “condemn us,” the pope said. “Instead, the Lord tells us the truth and reaches out his hand to save us. We know that God’s truth does not condemn, but instead welcomes, embraces, sustains and forgives us.”

The world needs this “revolution of tenderness” and, without it, “we risk remaining imprisoned in a justice that does not allow us to rise easily and that confuses redemption with punishment,” he added.

With this in mind, the pope highlighted what people in prison need most.

“It is right that those who have done wrong should pay for their mistake, but it is equally right that those who have done wrong should be able to redeem themselves from their mistake. There cannot be sentences without a window of hope,” he said, which, in past speeches, he has explained would be sentences of life in prison or the death penalty.

“Let us think of our brothers and sisters in prison, and think of God’s tenderness for them, and let us pray for them, so they might find in that window of hope a way out toward a better life.”

By Junno Arocho
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Before baptizing 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis reminded parents and godparents of their responsibility to care for and preserve the Christian identity the infants were about to receive.
“This is your task throughout your lives: to guard the Christian identity of your children,” the pope said. “It is a daily commitment: help them grow with the light they receive today.”

The pope baptized the seven boys and nine girls – the children of Vatican employees – in the Sistine Chapel during the celebration of Mass Jan. 9, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The annual tradition of baptizing infants on the feast day, which began in 1981 by St. John Paul II, was canceled last year due to the pandemic.

Although the baptisms resumed this year, the number of infants was significantly reduced. In January 2020, the pope had baptized 32 infants in the Sistine Chapel.

Delivering a brief, off-the-cuff homily, Pope Francis recalled a hymn for the feast day that said the people of Israel went to the Jordan River to be baptized “with bare feet and bare souls.”

“These children today also come here with ‘bare souls’ to receive God’s justification, Jesus’ strength, the strength to move forward in life,” he said. “Your children will receive their Christian identity today. And you, parents and godparents, must guard this identity.”

With the sounds of fussy children filling the frescoed chapel, the pope repeated his usual advice to mothers of infants, encouraging them to make their children comfortable, and to not worry if they start to cry in the chapel.

“This ceremony is a bit long, the children then feel uncomfortable here in an environment they do not know. Please, they are the protagonists: make sure that they are not too hot, that they feel comfortable,” Pope Francis said.

“If they are hungry, breast feed them here, in front of the Lord, no problem,” he added. “And if they cry out, let them cry out, because they have a community spirit, let’s say a ‘band spirit,’ a spirit of ensemble, and all it takes is for one to start – because everyone is musical – and immediately the orchestra comes! Let them cry, let them feel free.”

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