Georgia Bulletin

Vatican City

• Jesus gives strength to face the unexpected, pope says

  

  By JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, Catholic News Service
  Published April 30, 2020

  When faced with uncertainties, adversities or trials, those who place their trust in Christ will not be left alone to fend for themselves, Pope Francis said.

• Vatican releases book of pope’s homilies, prayers for ‘difficult times’

  By JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, Catholic News Service
  Published April 28, 2020

  The Vatican published a free downloadable book of Pope Francis’ prayers responding to the trial and suffering of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Pope calls for a ‘contagion’ of Easter hope

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published April 16, 2020

  Pope Francis’ Easter prayers on April 12 were mostly in the context of the suffering and death caused by the coronavirus and the economic difficulties the pandemic already has triggered. 

• Pope leads Way of the Cross in empty, torch-lit St. Peter’s Square

  

  By JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, Catholic News Service
  Published April 10, 2020

  Pope Francis led the Way of the Cross from St. Peter’s Square rather than Rome’s Colosseum, where it has been held annually for more than five decades.

• On Holy Thursday, pope thanks God for world’s priests

  

  By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
  Published April 9, 2020

  On Holy Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis thanked all priests for their service and called those who died ministering to the sick and health care workers part of the community of “saints next door.”

• Pope Francis’ Palm Sunday message

  

  Published April 5, 2020

• Pope on Palm Sunday: Life, measured by love, is meant to serve others

  

  By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
  Published April 5, 2020

  Broadcast and livestreamed over a wide range of media, the pope preached in his Palm Sunday homily about the betrayal and abandonment Jesus experienced before and during his Passion.

• COVID-19 is a call to live differently, pope says

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published April 2, 2020

  Pope Francis meditated on the meaning of the pandemic and its implications March 27 before raising a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament and giving an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi”

• Pope Francis announces extraordinary ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing March 27

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published March 23, 2020

  In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said he will give an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) at 6 p.m. Rome time Friday, March 27.

• Vatican closes St. Peter’s Square, Basilica to tourists through April 3

  

  By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
  Published March 10, 2020

  In cooperation with Italian emergency measures, the Vatican has closed St. Peter’s Square and Basilica to tourists through April 3. The new measure, announced March 10, was the latest move by the Vatican to help stop the spread of the coronavirus by reducing access to places that attract large groups.

• Pope shares with U.S. bishops his frustration with reaction to Amazon text

  

  By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
  Published February 13, 2020

  Fifteen bishops from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina spent close to three hours with Pope Francis Feb. 13 as part of their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

• Beatitudes are a Christian’s ID card, pope says at audience

  

  Published February 6, 2020

  The beatitudes are a path to joy and true happiness mapped out by Jesus for all of humanity, Pope Francis said. “It is difficult not to be touched by these words,” the pope said Jan. 29 during his weekly general audience.

• U.S. bishops taking ‘ad limina’ visits to Rome

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published January 23, 2020

  The bishops of the U.S. prepared detailed reports on their dioceses to take to the Vatican. The U.S. bishops’ visits “ad limina apostolorum” began in 2019. Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM, diocesan administrator for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III will take ad limina visits Feb. 7-15.

• Pope lifts secrecy obligation for those who report having been abused

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published December 17, 2019

  Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.

• Pope’s 2019: Preaching the Gospel globally, dealing with scandals

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published December 12, 2019

  For Pope Francis, 2019 included his sixth anniversary as pope and his 50th anniversary as a priest, but it also was a year that saw him still confronted with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and with Vatican financial scandals. He earned more points than ever on his frequent-flyer card, making seven foreign trips in 2019.

• Kindly lights in gloomy world: Pope declares five new saints

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published October 17, 2019

  Pope Francis formally declared five new saints for the Catholic Church Oct. 13 including St. John Henry Newman.

• Cardinal Sarah: To oppose the pope is to be outside the church

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published October 9, 2019

  Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the church.

• Commitment to fighting climate change still weak, pope says

  

  By JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, Catholic News Service
  Published September 24, 2019

  The international community must ramp up its efforts if it expects to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, Pope Francis said in a video message sent Sept. 23 to participants at the U.N. Climate Action Summit.

• U.S. delegation brings V Encuentro results to pope, Vatican

  

  By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
  Published September 19, 2019

  A delegation of U.S. bishops and laypeople came to Rome to share with Pope Francis and Vatican officials the joyful experiences and valuable recommendations that came out of last year’s Fifth National Encuentro.

• Lofty titles do not guarantee entrance to heaven, pope says

  

  By JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, Catholic News Service
  Published August 26, 2019

  A life marked by humility, faith and love determines whether Christians enter heaven, not who they know, Pope Francis said at the Aug. 25 Angelus prayer.