Even in the midst of suffering and death, Christians can become witnesses of the Resurrection and the power of God’s compassion, Pope Francis said as he proclaimed two new saints on Sunday.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus’s raising of a young widow’s child was not a magical performance but a reminder that he takes death upon himself to restore the suffering to new life, the Pope said. “Jesus is no wizard! He is God’s tenderness incarnate; the Father’s immense compassion is at work in Jesus.”
At the start of the Mass in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis canonised St Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad of Sweden, who re-founded the Bridgettine Sisters in the early 1900s and who helped hide Jews in her Rome convent during the Second World War; and St Stanislaus Papczynski of Poland, founder of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
Banners bearing their images hung from the façade of St Peter’s Basilica as 40,000 people joined members of the two saints’ religious orders for the Mass. Born in Sweden in 1870 and baptised into the Lutheran Church, St Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad emigrated to the United States in 1886 to earn money for her family back home. After working as a nurse, she became a Catholic in 1902. Moving to Rome, she dedicated her life and her religious order to prayer and work for Christian unity. St John Paul II beatified her in Rome in 2000.
In the 17th century, St Stainslaus Papczynski founded the first Polish religious order of men at a time of endless war, famine and disease, when many Poles, especially soldiers, did not prepare themselves for death. The order promoted social justice and prayers for the dying.
Events unveiled for Sweden visit to mark Reformation
Pope Francis will attend two ecumenical events and celebrate Mass with Catholics when he visits Sweden on October 31, according to organisers.
The Pope’s attendance at an ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in Lund will include a prayer service in Lund Cathedral and a public event at Malmö Arena, according to a joint press release from the Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The Pope’s complete itinerary “will be published at a later date”, Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told journalists. “It was important that
no one would think that just because we released the joint statement, they were the only [events],” he said.
Pope Francis, alongside Bishop Munib Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation, and the Rev Martin Junge, the federation’s general secretary, will lead a common prayer service “based on the recently published Catholic-Lutheran Common Prayer liturgical guide”. The service will be followed by an ecumenical event at Malmö Arena. The Pope will also celebrate a Mass.
Pope to YouTube stars: be meek
Pope Francis has urged a group of YouTube “vloggers” from around the world to help wipe out bullying and aggression.
“The level of aggressiveness in our world needs to be dialed down. [The world] needs tenderness, meekness, [people] listening and walking together,” he said at a world congress sponsored by Scholas Occurrentes, a schools network. “Pride, arrogance – eradicate them,” the Pope said.
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