Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

JOINT PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ

World Day of the Sick is celebrated annually on 11 February, liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Every three years, the celebration takes a solemn form at a Marian Shrine.

Due to the Jubilee Year 2025, the Holy Father Francis has ordered that the solemn celebration, which should take place this year, be held on 11 February 2026 at the Marian Shrine of the  Virgen de Chapi , in Arequipa, Peru.

Archbishop Javier Del Rio Alba of Arequipa has welcomed the Holy Father’s decision with great enthusiasm.

In the Jubilee Year, the Church will celebrate World Day of the Sick in the ordinary form, at diocesan level, on 11 February: the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare on 5 and 6 April; and the Jubilee of People with Disabilities on 28 and 29 April.

Vatican, 27 January 2025

The following is the Message of the Holy Father Francis on the occasion of the 33 rd World Day of the Sick, which takes place on 11 February, liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, on the theme: “ Hopes does not disappoint ” (Rm 5:5) but strengthens us in times of trial :

 

Message of the Holy Father

“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5),

but strengthens us in times of trial

Dear brothers and sisters,

We are celebrating the 33 rd  World Day of the Sick in the Jubilee Year 2025, in which the Church invites us to become “pilgrims of hope”. The word of God accompanies us and offers us, in the words of Saint Paul, an encouraging message: “Hope does not disappoint” ( Rom  5:5); indeed, it strengthens us in times of trial.

These are comforting words, but they can also prove perplexing, especially for those who are suffering. How can we be strong, for example, when our bodies are prey to severe, debilitating illnesses that require costly treatment that we may not be able to afford? How can we show strength when, in addition to our own sufferings, we see those of our loved ones who support us yet feel powerless to help us? In these situations, we sense our need for a strength greater than our own. We realize that we need God’s help, his grace, his Providence, and the strength that is the gift of his Spirit (cf.  Catechism of the Catholic Church , 1808).

Let us stop for a moment to reflect on how God remains close to those who are suffering in three particular ways: through  encounter ,  gift  and  sharing .

1.  Encounter.  When Jesus sent the seventy-two disciples out on mission (cf.  Lk  10:1-9), he told them to proclaim to the sick: “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (v. 9). He asks them, in other words, to help the sick to see their infirmity, however painful and incomprehensible it may be, as an opportunity to encounter the Lord. In times of illness, we sense our human frailty on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels. Yet we also experience the closeness and compassion of God, who, in Jesus, shared in our human suffering. God does not abandon us and often amazes us by granting us a strength that we never expected, and would never have found on our own.

Sickness, then, becomes an occasion for a transformative encounter, the discovery of a solid rock to which we can hold fast amid the tempests of life, an experience that, even at great cost, makes us all the stronger because it teaches us that we are not alone. Suffering always brings with it a mysterious promise of salvation, for it makes us experience the closeness and reality of God’s consoling presence. In this way, we come to know “the fullness of the Gospel with all its promise and life” (SAINT JOHN PAUL II,  Address to Young People , New Orleans, 12 September 1987).

2. This brings us to the second way that God is close to the suffering: as  gift . More than anything else, suffering makes us aware that hope comes from the Lord. It is thus, first and foremost, a gift to be received and cultivated, by remaining “faithful to the faithfulness of God”, in the fine expression of Madeleine Delbrêl (cf.  La speranza è una luce nella notte , Vatican City 2024, Preface).

Indeed, only in Christ’s resurrection does our own life and destiny find its place within the infinite horizon of eternity. In Jesus’ paschal mystery alone do we attain the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” ( Rom  8:38-39). This “great hope” is the source of all those small glimmers of light that help us to see our way through the trials and obstacles of life (cf. BENEDICT XVI,  Spe Salvi , 27, 31). The risen Lord goes so far as to walk beside us as our companion on the way, even as he did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus (cf.  Lk  24:13-53). Like them, we can share with him our anxieties, concerns and disappointments, and listen to his word, which enlightens us and warms our hearts. Like them too, we can recognize him present in the breaking of the bread and thus, even in the present, sense that “greater reality” which, by drawing near to us, restores our courage and confidence.

3. We now come to God’s third way of being close to us: through  sharing . Places of suffering are frequently also places of sharing and mutual enrichment. How often, at the bedside of the sick, do we learn to hope! How often, by our closeness to those who suffer, do we learn to have faith! How often, when we care for those in need, do we discover love! We realize that we are “angels” of hope and messengers of God for one another, all of us together: whether patients, physicians, nurses, family members, friends, priests, men and women religious, no matter where we are, whether in the family or in clinics, nursing homes, hospitals or medical centres.

We need to learn how to appreciate the beauty and significance of these grace-filled encounters. We need to learn how to cherish the gentle smile of a nurse, the gratitude and trust of a patient, the caring face of a doctor or volunteer, or the anxious and expectant look of a spouse, a child, a grandchild or a dear friend. All these are rays of light to be treasured; even amid the dark night of adversity, they give us strength, while at the same time teaching us the deeper meaning of life, in love and closeness (cf.  Lk  10:25-37).

Dear brothers and sisters who are ill or who care for the suffering, in this Jubilee you play an especially important part. Your journey together is a sign for everyone: “a hymn to human dignity, a song of hope” ( Spes Non Confundit , 11). Its strains are heard far beyond the rooms and beds of health facilities, and serve to elicit in charity “the choral participation of society as a whole” (ibid.) in a harmony that is at times difficult to achieve, but for that very reason is so comforting and powerful, capable of bringing light and warmth wherever they are most needed.

The whole Church thanks you for this! I do as well, and I remember you always in my prayers. I entrust you to Our Lady, Health of the Sick, in the words that so many of our brothers and sisters have addressed to her in their hour of need:

We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God.

Do not despise our petitions in our necessities,

but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

I bless you, along with your families and loved ones, and I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 14 January 2025

FRANCIS

Tomorrow,  Tuesday 28 January 2025 , at  11.30 , a Press Conference will be held at the Holy See Press Office, Via della Conciliazione 54, to present the  World Leaders’ Summit on the Children’s Rights , entitled “Love them and protect them”, promoted by Pope Francis and coordinated by the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day, to be held on 3 February in the Apostolic Palace.

The speakers will be:

-  Megawati Sukarnoputri , Fifth President of Indonesia and member of the Judging Committee of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity (by live link);

-  Fr. Enzo Fortunato , O.F.M. Conv., president of the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day;

-  Marco Impagliazzo , president of the Sant’Egidio Community;

-  Aldo Cagnoli , vice president of the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day;

-  Angelo Chiorazzo , founder of the “Auxilium” social cooperative.

On the occasion, a video message from  Kailash Satyarthi , Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2014, will be screened.

The press conference will be livestreamed in the original language on the  Vatican News  YouTube channel, at  https://www.youtube.com/c/VaticanNews .

DIRECTIONS

9 FEBRUARY

EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION PRESIDED OVER BY THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

On 9 February 2025, Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Forces, at 10.30, the Holy Father Francis will preside over the Eucharistic Celebration on the parvis of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

For the occasion, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announces the following:

 

The following may concelebrate:

- the Patriarchs and Cardinals, who are requested to be present by 9.45 in the Chapel of Saint Sebastian, bringing with them the white damask mitria;

- the Archbishops and Bishops, bringing with them the appropriate ticket requested from this Office by 5 February via the procedure indicated at https://biglietti.liturgiepontificie.va , who are requested to be present by 9.30 in the Chapel of Saint Sebastian, bringing with them their amice, surplice, cincture and white mitria:

- the Presbyters, bringing with them the appropriate ticket requested from this Office by 5 February via the procedure indicated at https://biglietti.liturgiepontificie.va , subject to availability, who are requested to be present by 9.30 in the Braccio di Costantino, bringing with them their amice, surplice, cincture and green stole.

Vatican City, 27 January 2025

✠ Diego Ravelli Titular Archbishop of Recanati Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations

During the audience granted to His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Supreme Pontiff authorized the same Dicastery to promulgate the Decrees regarding:

- the miracle of Blessed Vincenza Maria Poloni, founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, born in Verona on 26 January 1802 and died there on 11 November 1855;

- the martyrdom of the Servants of God Pietro da Corpa and four companions, of the Order of Friars Minor, killed in odium fidei in September 1597 in Florida, present-day Georgia, United States of America;

- the martyrdom of the Servant of God Licarion May (né Francisco Benjamin), brother of the Institute of the Marist Brothers of the Schools, born in Bagnes, Switzerland, on 21 July 1870, and killed in odium fidei on 27 July 1909 in Barcelona, Spain;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Mary Richard of the Precious Blood Beauchamp Hambrough (née Catherine), abbess general of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget, born on 10 September 1887 in London and died on 26 June 1966 in Rome;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Quintino Sicuro, diocesan priest, hermit, born on 29 May 1920 in Melissano, Italy, and died on 26 December 1968 on a path on Mount Fumaiolo di Verghereto, Italy;

- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Luigia Sinapi, lay faithful, born on 8 September 1916 in Itri, Italy, and died on 17 April 1978 in Rome.