Has Pope Pope Francis provided the Church with the resources to navigate another such great global struggle and come out the other side, alive and kicking? Only time will tell, but when that assessment eventually is drawn up, the conversation almost certainly will begin with ”Fratelli Tutti”.
Bringing the Vatican official in charge of translations with him, Pope Francis signed his new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship,” at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, source of the document’s title and inspiration.
In his first trip outside Rome since the coronavirus pandemic began, Pope Francis celebrated Mass Saturday at the tomb of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, and signed his new encyclical on human fraternity.
New legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives could be a “triumph for the tens of millions of children overseas whose potential is yet to be realized,” according to the U.S. bishops’ international development agency.
Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said Sept.30 he was “surprised” when his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, published a Sept. 18 article criticizing the pope for his position on China, saying it wasn’t the right venue for the discussion to take place.
Even when physical proximity is impossible, Catholic communicators can use the media to reach out to people, help them experience the closeness of the church and invite them to follow Jesus more closely, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has proposed to the Chinese government that they extend an agreement signed in 2018 regarding the appointment of bishops, Vatican Media reported.
An over 100-foot high cross was removed from a hill behind a church in southern India by government officials, despite the protests of the parish priest.
Over the weekend, the heads of European bishops’ conferences held a virtual pow-wow to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both the Church and society, highlighting new forms of poverty and reduced numbers at Sunday Masses as key areas of concern.
Nury Turkel, a Uighur American on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, who is a human rights advocate for Uighur Muslims and others persecuted for their religious faith, made Time magazine’s 2020 list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
