Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

At midday today, 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Holy Father Leo XIV appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.

The following are the Pope’s words of introduction to the Marian prayer:

 

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The word of God proclaimed in this Sunday’s liturgy offers us some fundamental criteria for thought and action.  In the Letter to the Romans, we read that every commandment is “summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” ( Rom 13:9).  Saint Paul insists on this point with a very powerful image, one that also appears in the Lord’s Prayer.  He writes: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another” (v. 8).

Jesus taught us to ask for and to practice the forgiveness of debts.  Yet there is one debt we owe to one another that does not enslave us: the debt of mutual love.  All the attention, care and goodness we have received make us freer and more capable of responsibility.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus suggests at least two ways for every Christian community to practice mutual love.  The first is to become capable of fraternal correction.  This is a delicate art, too often forgotten, that calls for frankness and a gradual approach.  Speaking honestly with one another — first face to face, then, if necessary, with two or three others, and finally, when required, with the whole community — means facing reality and transforming problems and conflicts into opportunities for growth.  Complaining and speaking ill of others are easier, but they accomplish nothing and leave many situations paralyzed.  The Gospel, instead, teaches us the freedom that comes through charity.

There is also a second way of loving one another as brothers and sisters, which, for Jesus, transforms even our prayer: coming to an agreement.  Not only when there is a conflict, but also when asking God for some gift.  The Lord says: “If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” ( Mt 18:19).  This promise suggests that we can have shared desires, shared sorrows and shared hopes, and that through prayer we can grow in unity.  Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies.  By grace, however, we are brothers and sisters who can live in harmony: meeting one another, forgiving one another and listening to one another in the Lord.

Let us ask Mary, who, after the angel’s announcement, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth to share the joy and the hardship of pregnancy, to teach us, too, the joyful debt of fraternal love.

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After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters,

With a sorrowful heart, I have followed the news of the latest violent attacks that have recently struck several cities and civilian infrastructures in Ukraine, causing the deaths of innocent people.  My heart goes out to the suffering people, who for years have lived in anguish and fear.

I renew my appeal to put an end to the violence, to stop the destruction and to open hearts to dialogue and peace!  I hope that the efforts undertaken in these days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and open space for diplomacy.

Let us raise our prayers to the Lord, that concord may prevail in all the conflicts of the world.

I extend a warm welcome to all of you, Romans and pilgrims from various countries. Thank you for being here!

In a particular way, I greet the community of the Interdiocesan Seminary Studienhaus Sankt Lambert of Lantershofen (Germany).

I also joyfully welcome the pilgrimage of the Parish of Sant’Ulderico Vescovo in Musestre (Treviso), as well as the Diocesan Choir of the Diocese of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi, accompanied by the Bishop.

As we gradually resume our ordinary activities after the summer break, let us ask the Lord to accompany us and sustain us with his light.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday!

This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience the Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament – Federation of the Holy Spirit.

The following is the greeting addressed by the Pope to those present at the meeting:

 

Greeting of the Holy Father

Dear Mother Alma Ruth del Espíritu Santo, dear sisters Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament:

I am joyful to meet you during your pilgrimage in Italy, as you follow in the footsteps of Blessed Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation, on the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Federation of the Holy Spirit.

Your presence is a shining witness to God’s freely-give love, which sows in the human heart a longing to seek and contemplate His face. It is the response to a deep yearning, beautifully expressed by the psalmist: “My heart says to thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not thy face from me” ( Ps 27:8–9).

That constant search for the face of God, which characterizes monastic life in a particular way, takes on a special nuance in the vocation you have received: it translates into a life completely dedicated to the continuous and silent adoration of a God who has become bread, and who invites us to unite with Him in the sacrifice of the altar, to form one body. “As Saint Augustine explained to the new Christians of his local Church, the bread and wine on the altar are the sacrament of the unity of the faithful in Christ” (Encyclical Letter Magnifica humanitas , 234). For this reason, there is a need for “a Eucharistic spirituality, that is, a spirituality of ecclesial unity in love” ( ibid .).

Dear sisters, by manifesting within the Church the specific charism you have received from your foundress, you are called to be weavers of communion with the threads of prayer and work, of Eucharistic adoration and fraternal sharing within the monastery. May this time of grace which you are experiencing as pilgrims in the Eternal City and in the places where the Order originated renew and strengthen you, so that you may continue to radiate the beauty of the face of Christ in the Eucharist to the world.

May the witness of Blessed María Magdalena de la Encarnación inspire them to continue living out their consecration with renewed hope and a desire for holiness, remembering that fidelity to the ancient and ever-new wisdom of the Gospel is the best path for those who, guided by the Holy Spirit, dedicate themselves to loving God and their neighbour.

May the Lord bless you and may Our Lady of Guadalupe shelter you under her heavenly mantle. Thank you very much.

Appointment of member of the Board of Directors of the “Fratello Sole” Foundation

The Holy Father has appointed the distinguished Dr. Maria Montserrat Alvarado, prefect-designate of the Dicastery for Communication, as member of the Board of Directors of the “Fratello Sole” Foundation.

Activities of the Holy Father in the afternoon:

- Festival of the Family of the Governorate.

This morning, the Holy Father received in audience:

- Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops;

- His Eminence Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod; with His Eminence Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life;

- Archbishop Georg Gänswein, titular of Urbisaglia, apostolic nuncio in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia;

- His Eminence George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue;

- Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament – Federation of the Holy Spirit.