null / Pablo Esparza/CNAVatican City, Apr 9, 2023 / 04:45 am (CNA).On the morning of Easter Sunday 2023, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter s Square before delivering his Urbi et Orbi message and blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter s Basilica before an estimated 100,000 people."Urbi et Orbi" means "To the City [of Rome] and to the World." It is a special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.Here is the full text of the pope s blessing:Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is risen!On this day we proclaim that he, the Lord of our life, is "the resurrection and the life" of the world (cf. Jn 11:25). Today is Easter, the Pasch, a word that means "passage", for in Jesus the decisive passage of humanity has been made: the passage from death to life, from sin to grace, from fear to confidence, from desolation to communion in him. In him, the Lord of time and history, I
null / Pablo Esparza/CNAVatican City, Apr 9, 2023 / 04:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter s Square on Easter Sunday 2023, before giving the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in the presence of around 100,000 people.On a sunny and cool spring day in Rome, the pope recalled that Easter is "the most important and beautiful day of history," the day Christ rose from the dead."Let the Church and the world rejoice, for today our hopes no longer come up against the wall of death, for the Lord has built us a bridge to life," he said from the central loggia of St. Peter s Basilica.Pablo Esparza/CNAFollowing a 38-year custom, the sagrada of St. Peter s Basilica was decorated with an array of over 35,000 flowers and plants from the Netherlands. Pope Francis, who returned to the Vatican April 1 after three days in a Rome hospital for treatment for bronchitis, has presided over an intense week of liturgies at the Vatican and in Rome for Holy Week and Easter.
A bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis / Checubus / ShutterstockSt. Louis, Mo., Apr 9, 2023 / 12:00 pm (CNA).A group of more than 3,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis sent a letter to Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski last week asking him to halt plans to merge numerous parishes in the coming years.Robert Onder, a former Missouri state senator and founding member of St. Gianna Parish in Wentzville, Missouri, is acting as procurator, or representative under canon law, for the 3,100 Catholics who signed a mandate calling for the planning process to stop. There are approximately 484,000 Catholics in the archdiocese. "After prayerful study of the past and current plan, we do not see how the pastoral plan will improve the pastoral care of the faithful, encourage vocations, increase the evangelizing mission of the Church, revitalize parishes or bring advantage to the Church," the March 27 letter signed by Onder reads. In his letter, sent o
"The Pope Answers" airs on Hulu beginning April 5. / HuluWashington D.C., Apr 7, 2023 / 14:00 pm (CNA)."The true Church is at the peripheries," Pope Francis says in Disney s new documentary "The Pope: Answers," which was released April 5.Directed by Spanish filmmaker Jordi Évole and available exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. The one hour and 23 minute-long documentary shares a conversation between the pope and 10 young people from around the world.Filmed in a poor, working-class neighborhood in Rome, the documentary is entirely in Spanish but accessible to English audiences through subtitles.Throughout the film, Francis maintains that the Church cannot allow itself to become "a club of nice people," that is a group of people "who do their religious duties but lack the courage to get out to the suburbs. "Using the term "suburbs" to describe those on the peripheries of the Church and faith, Francis shared his belief that it is
Pilgrims gather for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday, April 3, 2015. / Vatican Media.Rome Newsroom, Apr 7, 2023 / 14:05 pm (CNA).The meditations and prayers for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday this year come from the testimonies of victims of violence whom Pope Francis encountered during his international apostolic journeys over the past ten years.Officials in the Roman Curia compiled testimonies from Ukraine, Russia, the Holy Land, Central Africa, the Middle East, South America, and other parts of the world to go with the 14 Stations of the Cross, titled "Voices of Peace in a World at War."The Vatican announced on Friday afternoon that Pope Francis would not be attending the annual Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum this year due to cold weather. While the pope was not present at the Colosseum, he followed the meditations for the Way of the Cross from his residence, Casa Santa Marta, according to the Holy See Pre