Pope Francis has called for a new style of politics built on peace and pleaded for disarmament, the eradication of nuclear weapons and an end to domestic violence and abuse against women and children.
“Violence is not the cure for our broken world,” he said in his message ahead of the World Day of Peace on January 1.
“It is a challenge to build up society, communities and businesses by acting as peacemakers. It is to show mercy by refusing to discard people, harm the environment or seek to win at any cost,” he added.
The message said building a world of peace requires a “willingness to face conflict head on, to resolve it”.
“Active non-violence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and more fruitful than conflict,” the Pope said.
His message, which the Vatican sends to heads of state around the world, invited everyone “to banish violence from our hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming non-violent people and to build non-violent communities that care for our common home”. Building a new politics of non-violence starts in the heart and the home, he said. It is in the family that people can learn how to communicate, be generous and caring, and resolve conflicts “not by force but by dialogue, respect, concern for the good of the other, mercy and forgiveness”.
From within the family, “the joy of love spills out into the world and radiates to the whole of society”, he said.
An important “manual” for peacemaking, he said, is Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, where he presented the Beatitudes.
Applying the Beatitudes, which outline how to be blessed, good and authentic, “is also a programme and a challenge for political and religious leaders”, he said.
An era ends as Opus Dei leader dies aged 84
Bishop Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, who led the prelature of Opus Dei for more than 20 years, has died aged 84.
Expressing his condolences, Pope Francis said Bishop Echevarría, like his predecessors, “gave his life in a constant service of love to the Church and to souls”.
“I join you in your prayers of thanksgiving to God for his paternal and generous witness of priestly and episcopal life,” the Pope told Opus Dei members.
The bishop was the third Opus Dei prelate, following St Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of the organisation, and Blessed Álvaro del Portillo. Like Blessed Álvaro, he was personally chosen by St Josemaría as a successor. Bishop Echevarría and Blessed Álvaro were seen as those closest to the saint, and the bishop’s death marks the end of an era for the prelature.
Opus Dei has around 90,000 members, of which the overwhelming majority are laymen and women. Its aim is to help people know God in their ordinary lives.
Bishop Echevarría, who worked for Opus Dei all his life, became prelate in 1994. Born in Madrid in 1932, he was 16 when he met St Josemaría, and was the saint’s personal secretary from 1953 to 1975.
He also served as chancellor of several Opus Dei universities and wrote books, including a portrait of St Josemaría.
Jack Valero, the press officer of Opus Dei in Britain, said: “Those who knew Bishop Javier remember him as a man of deep faith, both strong and very affectionate, with a teasing sense of humour and a great sense of fun. His time as prelate of Opus Dei was characterised by fidelity to the spirit of St Josemaría, apostolic expansion, and close union with all the popes during his time of office.”
Texas Church to help give unborn babies proper burial
Texas bishops and the state’s Catholic cemeteries are working together on efforts to provide a proper burial for children lost to abortion.
Effective from December 19, new state regulations require the interment of the remains of all children who are lost through abortion or miscarriage at a healthcare facility or abortion clinic.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said that many hospitals already worked with families, funeral homes and cemeteries to provide burial for children who die in utero.
The conference said Catholic cemeteries in many of the state’s dioceses had provided such burials for years.
The Texas Catholic conference said it would continue to work with Catholic cemeteries and funeral homes “to further develop this ministry to provide the same service throughout the state [at no charge] to children who die by abortion”.
Jennifer Carr Allmon, the conference’s executive director, said: “To bury the dead is a work of mercy. As Pope Francis reminds us, the victims of our ‘throwaway culture’ are ‘the weakest and most fragile human beings’. It is right and just for us to be assisting the victims of abortion.”
Nuns release Christmas album
Benedictine nuns in the US state of Missouri have released a Christmas album to raise money for a new church.
Caroling at Ephesus was recorded by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Sister Scholastica said they chose the songs that expressed devotion to the Christ Child most beautifully.
The 31 nuns, ranging in age from 18 to 92, milk cows, gather eggs and make vestments, in between singing Latin chant in their chapel.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.