Pope phones rabbi, offers condolences over murder Israeli teens’ murder

Pope Francis telephoned Rome’s chief rabbi to personally express his sadness over the murder of three kidnapped Israeli teens whose bodies were found June 30 in Hebron, West Bank.

Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said the pope phoned him at home late in the afternoon July 1 and said: “Good evening. This is Pope Francis. I wanted to personally express my sadness for the death of the three youths.”

The rabbi told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper he was surprised since the Vatican press office had already published a strong statement condemning the murders of the boys who were kidnapped in mid-June and conveying the pope’s condolences.

During their phone conversation, he said, the pope asked if there was anything he could do.

Pope and “C9” express esteem for Von Freyberg and changes are on the horizon for the IOR

By now Parolin is a full member of the “C8”. Francis and his cardinal advisors examine the situation of the Governorate and the Secretariat of State. Meanwhile, the dicastery reshuffle continues

In a meeting that runs from today to Friday, Francis and the Council of Cardinals expressed their esteem for the current president of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), Ernst Von Freyberg, and announced that change is just around the corner for the IOR. This change will be revealed next week. The Council of Cardinals in charge of reforming the Roman Curia and the government of the universal Church (C8) is now referred to as the “C9” because of the Secretary of State Pietro Parolin’s steady participation.

Holy Land: Twal calls for human sacrifice to stop following Palestinian boy’s abduction and murder

“It is necessary to stop the perverse logic of those who discriminate among the innocent victims on one side and the other … Only forgiveness calls for forgiveness,” Patriarch Fouad Twal tells Catholic news agency “Fides”

“It is not worthy of political and religious leaders to support, feed, foment revenge. Revenge calls for revenge, blood calls for blood. And innocent people who are killed, all the children killed, are victims sacrificed on the diabolical altars of hatred. We pray for the parents and families of all these young people kidnapped and killed.” “With these words, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, expresses his dismay regarding the news of the sixteen-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir, whose body with signs of violence was found this morning by Israeli police in a forest west of the city of Jerusalem, after the family had reported his abduction,” Fides news agency reports.

Official logo, prayer for WYD Krakow 2016 announced

In a press conference held earlier today in Krakow, Poland, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz presented the official logo and prayer for the 31st World Youth Day slated to take there in 2016.

Announced by Pope Francis during the closing Mass for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro last summer, the Krakow event is expected to draw millions, and follows the canonization of Polish Saint John Paul II earlier this spring.

World Youth Day is a gathering of young people from all over the world to pray and meet with the Pope in order to build and strengthen the bonds of faith, friendship and hope, symbolizing the union between people of different cultures and countries.

In his July 3 presentation, Cardinal Dziwisz – archbishop of Krakow and former secretary of Pope John Paul II – explained that the event’s logo has three specific elements which represent the place, the main protagonists, and the theme of the celebration.

The logo, he noted, provides an illustration of the gathering’s theme, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,” taken from the Gospel of Matthew.

“Operation resignation” aims to bring about a rebirth of the IOR

There are no power struggles behind the replacement of President Von Freyberg and the current administrative council. It is part of the Vatican “minister of the Economy’s” plans to change the IOR around

“There are no power struggles, nor is the president Ernst Von Freyberg being kicked out. What is going to be taking place over the next few days is an operation led by the Secretary for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, aimed at bringing about a real reform of the IOR.” An authoritative source who has been informed about what is about to happen to the IOR’s leadership, said this in a statement to Vatican Insider. The source confirmed that what has been stated in the news in recent days regarding the replacement of the IOR’s head, is true. However, the reason for this change is the “Vatican bank’s” much-needed facelift in terms of transparency. Professional figures and required skills also need to be changed in order to bring the reform process forward.

Full English Text of Pope Francis’ Interview With ‘Il Messaggero’

The following is anEnglish translation of an interview Pope Francis gave the Italian daily Il Messaggero, published on Sunday, June 30th.

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Pope Francis: Communism Stole Our Flag

(Franca Giansoldati) The appointment is at Saint Martha’s in the afternoon. A speedy check and a Swiss gentleman leads me to a small parlor.

There are six armchairs of somewhat worn out green velvet, a small wooden table, one of those old televisions. Everything is in perfect order. The marble shines, some pictures. It could be a parish waiting room, one of those where one goes to ask for advice, or to fill in marriage documents.

Francis enters smiling: “Finally! I read you and now I finally meet you.” I blush. “Instead, I know you and now I listen to you.” He laughs. The Pope laughs heartily, as he will do at other times in the course of an hour long off the cuff conversation. Rome with its big-city evils, the era of change that weakens politics, the effort to defend the common good; the re-appropriation by the Church of the issues of poverty and sharing (“Marx didn’t invent anything”), the dismay in face of the degradation of the peripheries of the soul, the slippery moral abyss in which children are abused, the tolerance of begging, the work of minors and, not least the exploitation of child prostitutes not even fifteen-years-old. And by clients who could be their grandfathers.

Vatican considers: How hard do bishops have to listen?

As the world’s Catholic bishops prepare for an October global meeting at the Vatican on family life issues, they face one central and disputed question: How much should the experiences and opinions of lay Catholics influence their discussions?

Listen too closely to laypeople, some say, and you run the risk of turning church teaching into a sort of popularity contest.

Ignore their experiences, others say, and you flirt with alienation from the faith as known by Catholics worldwide — particularly for bishops who prefer not to talk about sometimes controversial subjects like divorce and remarriage or use of birth control.

The church tries to solve that dilemma with the sensus fidei, a notion expressed particularly during the Second Vatican Council that Catholic believers have an innate ability to identify what the faith is.

Or, as theologian Bradford Hinze puts it: That Catholics have “an instinct … that through the gift of baptism, that through the gift of faith, we are able to recognize the truth when it’s proclaimed.”

Looking for a Secure Future

The Plight of Trafficked Persons and Refugees

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People should not be treated as pawns on the chessboard of humanity, said Pope Francis last year in a message published August 5 on the theme of refugees.

Unfortunately this is what so often happens, as the latest Global Trends report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) pointed out.

The June 20 report said that there are currently more than 50 million people who have been forced to flee their homes, including around 9 million in Syria alone.

“We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict,” said High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.