Between Mass and the Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo XIV shares remarks

 

Pope Leo at the Mass on October 5th  (@Vatican Media)

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• Pope Leo XIV
• Palestine
• Israel
• Philippines
• peace

Pope calls on world leaders to commit to Gaza peace deal

Speaking at the close of Mass in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo condemns both the “immense suffering” of Gazans and the rise of “antisemitic hatred” worldwide and expresses his hope that an Israel-Hamas peace deal will be finalized “as soon as possible”.

By Joseph Tulloch

Pope Leo XIV has called on political leaders to “commit themselves” to the ongoing Israel-Hamas peace negotiations, which he said have recently shown “significant steps forward”.

The Pope expressed his hope that the deal would be finalized “as soon as possible” and urged his listeners to “remain united in prayer” for a “just and lasting peace”.

In his remarks, delivered at the close of Mass in St Peter’s Square, the Pope said he “continue[d] to be saddened” by the “immense suffering” of Palestinians in Gaza, and greeted a group of pilgrims from Bethlehem.

He also voiced his concern over “the rise of antisemitic hatred in the world”, mentioning in particular Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England.

READ THE FULL TEXT OF POPE LEO’S REMARKS HERE

Pope Leo greets the crowds gathered for Mass (@Vatican Media)

Church is 'entirely missionary'

In his remarks, delivered at the end of Mass for the Jubilee of Missionaries and Migrants, Pope Leo also thanked attendees for their presence, despite the light rain. 

“The Church is entirely missionary,” Pope Leo said, noting that “our missionary and migrant brothers and sisters remind us of this.”

He added that “no one should be forced to flee, nor exploited or mistreated because of their situation as foreigners or people in need!  Human dignity must always come first.”

Finally, the Pope also said he was praying for the victims of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the Philippines on Tuesday.

“I express my closeness to the dear Filipino people,” he said, urging those faced with danger to “remain united and supportive”.

Catholic mass in Philippines attacked by bomb killing and injuring worhsippers

 

The aftermath of a bomb attack on a Catholic Mass in Marawi  (AFP or licensors)

POPE

Pope prays for victims of attack during Mass in Philippines

After a bombing attack on a Catholic Mass in the southern Philippines kills four and wounds over forty, Pope Francis says he is “close to the families, to the people" of the region.

By Joseph Tulloch
Following his weekly recitation of the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of a bomb attack on a Catholic Mass in the Philippines.

Four people died and forty-two were wounded in an attack on a gymnasium in Mindanao State University, where Mass was being celebrated.

“I would like to assure you of my prayers for the victims of the attack in the Philippines this morning, where a bomb exploded during Mass,” Pope Francis said.

He added that “I am close to the families, to the people of Mindanao who have already suffered so much.”

Pope "commends victims to God's loving mercy"

In a telegram addressed to Bishop Edwin de la Peña Y Angot, Pope Francis added that he was "Deeply saddened to be informed of the injuries and loss of life caused by the bombing."

The message, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, continues by noting that "His Holiness Pope Francis asks you to convey his spiritual closeness to all affected by this tragedy."

"He joins you in commending the souls of those who died to Almighty God's loving mercy and he implores the divine gifts of healing and consolation upon the injured and bereaved," the telegram adds. 

Pope Francis concluded his message with "prayers that Christ the Prince of Peace will grant to all the strength to turn from violence and overcome every evil with good", and imparting his blessing "as a pledge of strength and consolation in the Lord."

A "senseless and heinous act"

The attack occurred in Marawi. The largest Muslim city in the Philippines, it was beseiged for five months in 2017 by pro-Islamic State militants. 

The commander of police in the region said that Sunday’s attack could be revenge for a recent government operation which killed 11 members of an Islamist terror organization.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists,” said the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.”

Photos released by news agencies show Filipino Muslims gathering in solidarity with the victims of the attack, praying for them and condemning the blast.

Philippine Church to allow for married permanent deacons

 

Vatican allows married deacons for Philippine Church

The Vatican has approved a request from Philippine bishops to allow them to ordain qualified Catholics, including married men, as permanent deacons to help check the widening priest-catholic ratio in the country.

Pope Francis granted the request of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to establish a “permanent diaconate” within the local Church, according to a Vatican letter the conference received on Sept. 12.

Archbishop Romeo Lazo, chairman of the bishops’ Commission on Clergy, said the approval addresses a major social-pastoral need in the Catholic-majority nation.

Spanish missionaries evangelized the Philippines four centuries ago making it currently a Catholic-majority nation. “But because of our population, we’re experiencing a shortage of priests,” Lazo told UCA News on Sept. 13.

The Vatican letter issued by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute for General Affairs of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, lauded the move as a “noble initiative” that will “bear much fruit for many years to come.”

The letter, addressed to conference president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, asked him to contact the Vatican’s Dicastery for clergy for further matters on establishing a permanent diaconate.

The Vatican letter dated Aug. 17 came in response to a July 25 letter from the bishops’ conference that sought permission, said a report on the conference's news site.

Lazo said most of the bishops voted in favor of a permanent diaconate during their plenary meeting in July.

The Philippines had more than 85 million Catholics, forming about 92 percent of the total population of over 108 million, according to government statistics taken from the latest census in 2020.

But the country has only one priest serving some 9,500 Catholics on average, which is far less than the ratio of one priest for 3,373 Catholics across the world, Church statistics show. 

The Philippines’ case is the worst in Asia, which has one priest for 2,137 Catholics on average. It is also poorer than America (1:5,534) and Africa (1:5,101), according to statistics the Vatican published in 2023.

“There is already a vocation for a permanent diaconate in the Philippines. If there is a vocation, there is always room for the ministry,” Lazo told UCA News.

Lay Catholics have welcomed the move.

Michael Sales, a medical doctor and father of three from Paranaque on the outskirts of Manila, said he is willing to become a permanent deacon.

“It is an option among family men who have the desire to serve the Church,” Sales told UCA News.

He distributes Communion on Sundays. “But feel something is lacking within. Perhaps I could serve the Church more” by being a deacon, he said.

Bishop David told UCA News that permanent deacons can serve the “mission centers” of the Philippines, where people have fewer priests.

“If we have permanent deacons, we can deploy them in mission centers as chaplains,” David added.

The permanent diaconate, which is different from a transitional diaconate, allows ordaining married men to enable them to offer pastoral services. Permanent deacons can independently administer two of the seven sacraments — Baptism and Matrimony.

While the transitional diaconate is part of the preparation for the priesthood, the permanent diaconate accepts single or married men after specific theological formation. They will not be ordained priests.

Most permanent deacons are married men as unmarried single men have the option of being transitional deacons and ordained as priests later.

LGBTQ group holds drag event to blaspheme and denigrate the Lord's Prayer

 

Filipino Catholics object to drag act based on Lord’s Prayer

By Joseph Peter Calleja

Catholics in the Philippines are outraged by a drag performance based on the Lord’s Prayer at a recent event held by an LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning) group at a bar in the national capital Manila.

A video of the July 12 performance posted on Facebook shows Filipino drag queen, Pura Luka Vega, dressed as the Black Nazarene, an image of Christ genuflecting while carrying the cross, dancing and singing with others to the Lord’s Prayer in Tagalog, a widely-spoken and understood language in the Southeast Asian nation.

Many Catholics, including from the LGBTQ community, condemned the event as “blasphemous” and “offensive” to their religious beliefs.

“This is shocking to [our] conscience and morality because we were taught to honor the Lord’s name,” Martin Torres, chairman of the Youth for Christ Manila chapter told UCA News.

“They have gone too far and crossed the bridge of religious sensitivity,” he added.

Vega said her right to freedom of expression was protected by law and that nobody should “tell me how I should practice my faith or how I do my drag [act].”

“That performance was not for you to begin with. It is my experience and my expression, of having been denied my rights,” Vega told a press conference on July 13.

A participant at the drag event supported Vega while claiming that the video was shown without “proper” context.

“The clip was lifted without portraying the proper story. We were dancing artistically. We did not mean to offend anyone as many of us there were Catholics,” Jules Jolaan told UCA News on July 14.

Torres said every Filipino should be bothered after watching the video.

“As a child, I was taught that using the name of the Lord in vain is breaking one of the Ten Commandments. One who violates it commits a mortal sin,” he added.

Vega’s act has been frowned upon by members of the gay community in other parts of the country.

“Even as a member of the LGBTQ community in the Philippines, we do not approve of it,” Froilan Nagruso, a Catholic and LGBTQ member from Cebu told UCA News.

Nagruso said that decency demands that religion should be respected.

“We believe that being gay is not contrary to being pious. ‘Ama Namin’ [Our Father] is not meant to be part of a dance event where people bang their heads or jump like Lady Gaga. The Lord’s Prayer demands respect from every Christian,” Nagruso added.

The country’s first transgender lawmaker, Geraldine Roman, also expressed dismay at the event.

“As a Catholic, I feel offended too. Do we need this kind of provocation? What is this event’s contribution to our fight for LGBT rights?” Roman told ABS-CBN News.

Roman, however, begged Catholics to desist from generalizing that all members of the LGBTQ community were like this.

“To all the Catholics that were offended, I feel for you. I am with you because I, too, was hurt. But please don’t think that we are all like this. There are many members of the LGBTQ community who love and serve God and the Catholic Church,” the lawmaker added.

Human rights lawyer, Jovert Laceda, however, said that no crime was committed and the country’s constitution guaranteed the right to free speech and expression.

“Was there a crime violated? There is none. The act wasn’t held inside a place of worship, neither was there a religious ceremony going on,” the rights lawyer told UCA News.

Laceda said that morality and legality were separate issues and must not be confused.

“The act may be immoral and offensive to the Catholic Church but certainly it is legal for no law is violated,” he added.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines cautioned against the use of religious elements at secular events to avoid any negative impact on men and women of faith.

“People should be extremely prudent in their actions, especially with regard to using elements of religion for secular purposes … dancing to the tune of a scared and biblical prayer, with matching sacred costume to boot, is completely disrespectful not only of people and institution practicing such faith but of God himself,” Father Jerome Seciliano, executive secretary of the bishops’ Commission on Public Affairs said in a statement on July 13.

New Archbishop for Manila

 

Human rights advocate named to head Manila Archdiocese

Mar 25, 2021

by Catholic News Service

 

Justice

People

World

20210325T1145-MANILA-ADVINCULA-1244642 (1).JPG

Cardinal Jose Advincula of Capiz, Philippines, is pictured in a June 17, 2019, photo. Advincula has been appointed by Pope Francis to replace Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle as archbishop of Manila. (CNS photo/courtesy Archdiocese of Capiz)

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Pope Francis named Cardinal Jose Advincula of Capiz to be the new archbishop of Manila.

The March 25 announcement in Manila and at the Vatican filled the vacancy Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle left in February 2020, when he was called to the Vatican.

The appointment puts Advincula, a human rights advocate and promoter of strong families, in the same city as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has urged security forces to "kill" and "finish off" armed communist rebels and "not think about human rights."

Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, wished Advincula "God's abundant blessing in his new mission" and offered him "our continued prayers and support."

The new Manila archbishop, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals in November, will turn 69 March 30.

Ucanews.com reported that the cardinal has said: "The church cannot simply ignore human rights, because there is a moral dimension to them. The right to life, for example, is consistent with the church's teaching that there is dignity in the human person."

Before the November consistory, he told Vatican News, "Poverty is one of the reasons why we have social problems" and that he saw education as "the way to develop the people so that they can earn more in order to live a more decent life."

Tagle currently serves as head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Special Papal Mass this Sunday to mark 500 years of the Church in the Philippines

 

Pope Francis celebrates Mass for 500 years of Christianity in Philippines

Pope Francis celebrates Mass to mark the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines, and urges Filipinos to renew their commitment to Christ as missionary disciples.

By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis on Sunday joined the Church in the Philippines in commemorating 500 years of Christianity in the Southeast Asian nation.

He celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with several representatives of the Filipino Church, including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, formerly the Archbishop of Manila.

Missionary disciples

In his homily, the Pope said Filipinos received the joy of the Gospel half a millennia ago, “and this joy is evident in your people.”

“We see it in your eyes, on your faces, in your songs and in your prayers,” he said. “I want to thank you for the joy you bring to the whole world and to our Christian communities.”

Recognizing the witness of faith Filipinos offer through their “discreet and hardworking presence”, Pope Francis also urged them to “persevere in the work of evangelization.”

He said the Gospel message of God’s closeness must be constantly proclaimed to others, so that none might perish.

As the Church in the Philippines celebrates the quincentenary of her birth, the Pope urged Filipino Catholics to walk courageously along the path of missionary discipleship.

“Never be afraid to proclaim the Gospel, to serve and to love,” he said. “With your joy, you will help people to say of the Church too: ‘she so loved the world!’”

READ ALSO

13/03/2021

Gift of faith - 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines

Jesus is source of our joy

Turning his reflections to the Sunday Gospel, Pope Francis pointed out that it contains the heart of the Gospel message. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16).

He added that the Gospel message is not an idea or doctrine, but Jesus Himself.

“The source of our joy is not an elegant theory about how to find happiness, but the actual experience of being accompanied and loved throughout the journey of life.”

The Holy Father then spoke about two aspects of the day’s Gospel passage: “God so loved” and “God gave.”

‘God so loved’

Pope Francis said that “God so loved” that He came to seek us out when we were lost and raise us up.

“He has always looked at us with love, and for the sake of love, He came among us in the flesh of his Son,” said the Pope. “In Jesus, God spoke the definitive word about our life: you are not lost, you are loved. Loved forever.”

He added that sometimes we prefer a “glum, sorrowful, and self-absorbed religiosity”, even though the Gospel should “enlarge our hearts and make us grasp the immensity of God’s love.”

‘God gave’

Pope Francis then reflected on the action of God’s love: “God gave his Son” for our salvation.

Love, noted the Pope, takes us out of ourselves, and always seeks to give itself fully.

“That is the power of love,” he said, “it shatters the shell of our selfishness, breaks out of our carefully constructed security zones, tears down walls and overcomes fears, so as to give freely of itself.”

God’s love in Jesus, said Pope Francis, is so great that “He cannot fail to give Himself to us.”

Joy in self-giving

As we see in people who love one another and share their lives in love, he said, “the more we love, the more we become capable of giving.”

The Pope said that sometimes we seek joy in dreams of glory or in the false security of material possessions.

Yet, true joy can only be found in complete self-giving, as God shows in giving His Son.

“Life teaches us that true joy comes from realizing that we are loved gratuitously,” concluded Pope Francis, “knowing that we are not alone, having someone who shares our dreams and who, when we experience shipwreck, is there to help us and lead us to a safe harbor.”