Select Page

Month: August 2020

Archbishop says nation is at ‘pivotal juncture’ in racial justice struggle

Posted by | Aug 31, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , |

Celebrating an Aug. 28 Mass to mark the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s historic March on Washington, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory urged Catholics to continue the dream of the late civil rights leader and to work for reconciliation and unity building.

Read More

Weeping Madonna of Syracuse commemorated in Sicily

Posted by | Aug 31, 2020 | , |

CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2020 / 12:11 pm (CNA).- In an August 29 Mass offered by Archbishop Salvatore Pappalardo, the archdiocese of Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily commemorated the miraculous shedding of tears in 1953 of an image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The phenomenon took place in the home of Angelo Lannuso and Antonina Lucia Giusti, a young married couple who had received a plaster bas-relief image of Our Lady mounted on a plaque as a wedding gift.

The image first shed tears Aug. 29, 1953 and continued to do so at various times over the next four days.

Antonina was pregnant with her first child and was experiencing serious complications, of which she was cured upon witnessing the image weep for the first time.

Church authorities took a cautious approach to the phenomenon. The pastor of the local church, Fr. Giuseppe Bruno, came to the Lannuso home accompanied by several experts, including open atheist Dr. Michele Cassola to investigate.

There, they directly witnessed the image weeping, the last time it did so. The experts would later be part of the investigative commission to determine the authenticity of the tears and their origin.

Upon testing the fluid being shed by the image, and comparing with human samples, Dr. Cassola said it was clear that the liquid from the image was analogous to human tears, although he had no scientific explanation for the phenomenon.

The final report of the commission was released on September 9, 1953. Three months later, on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the bishops of Sicily unanimously declared that the image of the Mother of God had indeed wept. The tears would purportedly become the source of many miracles throughout Italy.

In an October 17, 1954 radio message to a Marian conference in Sicily, Pope Pius XII referred to the weeping image and asked, “Will humanity understand the mysterious language of those tears? Oh the tears of Mary! Upon Golgotha they were tears of compassion for her Jesus and of sadness for the sins of the world. Does she cry again for the renewed wounds produced in the Mystical Body of Jesus? Or does she cry for so many sons, in which error and sin have extinguished the life of grace, and who gravely offend the Divine Majesty? Or are they tears awaiting the belated return of her other sons, once faithful, and now dragged down by the false mirage of the legions of the enemies of God?”

The large number of faithful who came to venerate the miraculous image led to the construction of a shrine in 1968, which was later renovated in 1994. That year, Saint John Paul II consecrated the shrine on November 6 during his pastoral visit to Catania and Syracuse.

The pontiff said on that occasion that the tears of the Virgin “bear witness to the presence of Mother Church in the world.”

“They are tears of sorrow for those who reject God’s love, for families separated or having difficulties, for young people threatened by consumer civilization and often disoriented, by the violence that still causes so much bloodshed, and by misunderstandings and the hatreds that open deep chasms between men and peoples.”

During the 2016 Jubilee Year of Mercy, the miraculous image was brought from Syracuse to the Vatican for a prayer vigil entitled “To Dry the Tears” led by Pope Francis. In his reflection, the pope said, “At the foot of every cross, the Mother of Jesus is always there. With her mantle, she wipes away our tears. With her outstretched hand, she helps us to rise up and she accompanies us along the path of hope.”

Two years later, on May 25, 2018, Pope Francis offered a Mass at the Santa Marta chapel in the presence of the reliquary containing the tears of the Virgin.

“[W]e pray to Our Lady to give to us and also to humanity, the gift of tears, because we need it, so that we can weep for our sins and for so many calamities that make God’s people and children of God suffer,” the Holy Father said.

There have been many claims of weeping statues or icons of Mary and other saints throughout history, but few of them have been deemed worthy of belief by the Church after extensive investigation.

Unlike Marian apparitions, where the Blessed Virgin appears to a member of the faithful with a message, weeping statues require the faithful to seek their own interpretations of the miracle, said “Miracle Hunter” Michael O’Neill in comments to CNA in 2016.

 

Read More

Archbishop Paglia: Catholic politicians can not protect or promote abortion

Posted by | Aug 31, 2020 | , |

CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life said Saturday that Catholic politicians should not promote legal protections of any kind for abortion, and called Catholics to promote the Gospel of Life.

“The Church is very clear in this regard. It is a response from the Catechism. It is a great mistake to promote legislation on abortion and euthanasia,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said Aug. 29, during a meeting organized by CELAM, the Latin American organization of bishops.

The archbishop offered a presentation on Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae, or “The Gospel of Life.”

Catholic politicians “must stop promoting laws against the life” of the unborn, Paglia said during his remarks. “There is no doubt about it.”

The archbishop said that political leaders should try to improve “bad and sinful legislation” and added that “politicians, both Christians and other politicians, have to hear the validity of supporting and aiding the lives of all, and especially of the most fragile.”

Of that obligation, Paglia, said, “there is no doubt.”

Asked about the possibility of censuring politicians who support abortion legislation, Paglia said such figures “are certainly in error,” adding that while “we are interested in the condemnation of sin” the Church’s focus must be “salvation of the sinner.”

“We are interested in the clarity of condemning the error but we must do everything to convert the one who errs, to help save him,” Paglia added.

“The Church has a great responsibility so that its members, first of all, convert to the Gospel of life, to the beauty of life. It is important that we avoid the dirty work of death and carry out the beautiful work of life,” he said.

The archbishop’s comments came amid considerable debate in several Latin American countries over the prospect of legally protecting abortion. They also came amid fierce debate over abortion in the context of the U.S. presidential election.

A Boston priest apologized last week after he said he believes in a “women’s right to choose,” while he endorsed pro-choice presidential candidate Joe Biden. Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley said in response to the endorsement that Catholics have a right to expect priests will teach the Church’s opposition to abortion clearly and unequivocally.

Portland, Maine’s Bishop Robert Deeley said in a homily this weekend that “our decision as to how we vote should be grounded in our care for each other, and particularly for those who are most needy. Our civil society does not have a religious creed. We treasure our religious freedom, and our ability to worship and live our faith as we feel called, but we also believe that we are not stopped from allowing our faith to inform our vote.”

“Respect for the dignity of each human person is the core of Catholic social and moral teaching. The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred, from conception to natural death, and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society,” the bishop said.

“We focus on the common good, not our own personal interests. We ask, how can we make the world a better place, not how can I improve my own personal situation?”

While Deeley focused on the principles of voting for Catholics, some prominent Catholics have endorsed particular candidates in recent weeks.

Sr. Dede Byrne, a surgeon and retired army colonel, spoke at the Republican National Convention, where she called President Donald Trump “the most pro-life president this nation has ever had,” in an endorsement of the president.

Also last week, two priests and two religious sisters were among several hundred religious leaders who signed the Faith 2020 endorsement of Biden’s campaign. One of those priests was Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, head of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles gang rehabilitation initiative. Another signatory, retired Washington priest Fr. Peter Daly, is a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter, as is signatory Sr. Christine Schenk, a National Catholic Reporter board member.

Canon law prohibits priests and members of religious orders from endorsing political candidates without the permission of their ecclesiastical superiors.

In his remarks Saturday, Archbishop Paglia spoke also about “gender ideology,” which he called a “cultural setback.”

Catholics must “tell the promoters of this doctrine that they are going backwards, that they are going even against the evolution of Darwin. There are millions of years in which evolution shapes man and woman in different ways. Diversity and richness, that’s the theme. Unfortunately today, a secular culture cannot sustain the force of diversity.”

Paglia also highlighted the importance of rediscovering “the alliance of man and woman,” as well as their “diversity that permeates and generates life” in marriage and the family.

The archbishop called Catholics to “reflect on the contents of our faith and transmit it to the school, university, economy, politics, art, literature,” and other aspects of culture.

“The Church is much more expert than the others in humanity. We have the gift of the Spirit to offer wise reflections beyond those of others. The problem is waking up from the dream and abandoning the interiority that makes us play defense. Today we need to be able to show the height, the depth and the beauty of the Christian mystery,” Paglia added.

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contributed to this report.

Read More

Recent Comments

    Categories