Panama City, site of 2019 WYD
More than 1.5 million young Catholics gathered for Mass at Campus Misericordia in Poland yesterday morning to be reassured that “God is your biggest fan” and to hear that the next World Youth Day will be held in Panama City in 2019.
Pope Francis is challenging the faithful to respond to their baptismal vocation to be missionaries of Christ regardless of age or state in life.
Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Headlines are blaring this morning about a comment the Pope made Sunday at a press conference held during his return flight from an apostolic voyage to Armenia which he said that Christians must apologize to gay people. But, as usual, many news agencies are choosing to leave out the rest of his statement in order to bolster their own agendas.
During his homily today at Santa Marta, Pope Francis cautioned the faithful to resist the temptation to judge others because human judgment is always flawed and lacks mercy.
Pope Francis has reportedly returned a large charitable donation made by Argentinian president Mauricio Macri, at least partly because the sum included the numerals “666”.
Pope Francis delivered a powerful homily at morning Mass in which he denounced modern day “leeches” – those who take advantage of unemployment desperation to offer workers subpar working conditions without health insurance or pensions – calling this “civilized trafficking” and warning the faithful to develop a “correct relationship” with money.
During a morning Mass celebrated in Santa Marta this week, Pope Francis warned the faithful to avoid becoming a mummified, vagabond, half-way, or stubborn Christian who gets lost along the way of following Christ.
Don’t say one thing and do another, Pope Francis warned Christians during a recent homily, and urged them to stand strong against the “never ending temptation” to “walk with one foot in the light and the other in darkness.”
While presiding over a Jubilee Mass for Teens in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis delivered a profoundly beautiful homily on love, calling it the “Christian’s identity card” and the path to the kind of happiness that can’t be bought – or found on a smartphone app!
Greek Island of Lesbos
On his way back to Rome from a visit to Lesbos on April 16, Pope Francis gave his usual glib answers to a variety of questions from reporters during an inflight press conference, including communion for the divorced and remarried, immigration, and why he chose to bring three Muslim refugee families back to Italy rather than Christians.
