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Pope preaches patience, even amid war, during Holy Week audience

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Contemplating Christ's passion should inspire Christians to be more patient in the face of their own suffering and trials, Pope Francis said.

"There is no better witness to the love of Christ than meeting a patient Christian," Pope Francis said during his general audience March 27, highlighting the many mothers, fathers, workers, doctors, nurses and sick people who "every day, in hiddenness, adorn the world with holy patience."

"However, we must be honest: We are often lacking in patience," he said. "In daily life, we are all impatient."

Three days after raising concerns about his health when he skipped his homily at Palm Sunday Mass, Pope Francis walked across the stage of the Vatican audience hall using a cane and waving to visitors; he read the entirety of his speech without visible signs of difficulty and added off-the-cuff remarks. The audience was scheduled to take place in St. Peter's Square but was moved indoors due to inclement weather.

Pope Francis greets visitors.
Pope Francis greets two fathers who both lost their daughters in violent conflicts, Bassam Aramin from Palestine and Rami Elhanan from Israel, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

In his catechesis, the pope said that the virtue of patience is an "essential vitamin" needed to combat the human instinct to "become impatient and respond to evil with evil."

Quoting St. Augustine, Pope Francis said that patience entails "knowing how to endure evils."

The pope then pointed to two men seated in the front row of the audience hall, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who had both lost daughters in violent conflicts; the pope praised them for choosing friendship instead of focusing on "the enmity of war."

Patience is more than a value that helps one lead a good life, the pope said; it is a countercultural Christian calling.

"If Christ is patient, Christians are called to be patient," he said, which requires countering today's fast-paced culture and a widespread mentality of wanting "everything and now."

"Let us not forget that haste and impatience are enemies of spiritual life," Pope Francis said. "God is love, and he who loves does not tire, he is not irritable, he does not give ultimatums; God is patient, God knows how to wait."

Pope Francis gives a blessing.
Pope Francis greets two fathers who both lost their daughters in violent conflicts, Bassam Aramin from Palestine and Rami Elhanan from Israel, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

During Holy Week, Pope Francis urged Christians to ask the Holy Spirit for the "meek power of patience" and told them to contemplate Christ on the cross to learn from his patience.

"It is precisely in the Passion that there emerges the patience of Christ, who with gentleness and meekness accepts being arrested, beaten and unjustly condemned," he said. "This is the patience of Jesus."

The pope encouraged Christians to pray before the crucified Christ and to ask for the grace to put into practice "an act of mercy as well-known as it is neglected: patiently enduring bothersome people."

Christians should look at people who may annoy them "with compassion, with God's gaze, knowing how to distinguish their faces from their mistakes," he said.

"We have the habit of categorizing people by the mistakes they make," he said. "No, this is not good. Let us look at people by their faces, by their hearts and not by their mistakes."

Pope Francis ended his audience by praying for peace in Ukraine, where he noted the intense bombings taking place, as well as in Israel and Palestine.

"That the Lord may give peace to all as a gift of his Easter," he prayed.

Pope hails example of an Israeli and an Arab dad

Pope hails example of an Israeli and an Arab dad

A look at Pope Francis' general audience March 27.  

Pope writes to Holy Land Catholics living under 'dark clouds of Good Friday'

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis told Catholics in the Holy Land that he knows Holy Week this year is "so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection."

In a letter published March 27, Pope Francis told the region's Catholics that he was remembering all of them in his prayers, but in a particular way, "I embrace those most affected by the senseless tragedy of war: the children robbed of their future, those who grieve and are in pain, and all who find themselves prey to anguish and dismay."

The Hamas attack on Israel in early October and Israel's retaliation on Gaza have led to death and suffering for Christians in Gaza, but also have seriously restricted the number of pilgrims to the Holy Land, which impacts the livelihood of many Christian families. In addition, heightened Israeli security measures have meant that many Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, cannot cross the border to work.

"I would like each of you to feel my paternal affection, for I am conscious of your sufferings and your struggles, particularly in the course of these recent months," the pope wrote.

"Easter, the heart of our faith, is all the more significant for you who celebrate this feast in the very places where our Lord lived, died and rose again," he said. "The history of salvation, and indeed its geography, would not exist apart from the land in which you have dwelt for centuries."

Pope Francis wrote that he knows Christians want to remain in the Holy Land, and he thanked them "for your testimony of faith, thank you for the charity that exists among you, thank you for your ability to hope against all hope."

Pope Francis at his general audience March 27
Pope Francis speaks to visitors and pilgrims during his general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

He also prayed that the region's Catholics would be able to "sense the love of Catholics throughout the world!"

"You are not alone," he told them. "We will never leave you alone but will demonstrate our solidarity with you by prayer and practical charity."

The letter came about a month and a half after Pope Francis had sent a letter to "my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel," expressing his heartbreak at the violence unleashed by the Hamas attack and repeating the Catholic Church's condemnation of all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.

In his letter to Catholics in the Holy Land, Pope Francis quoted from a letter St. Paul VI had written on March 25, 1974, on the needs of Catholics and the Catholic Church in the Holy Land: "The continuing tensions in the Middle East, and the lack of concrete progress toward peace, represent a constant and dire threat not only to the peace and security of those peoples -- and indeed of the entire world -- but also to values supremely dear, for different reasons, to much of mankind."

Down through the centuries, local Christians have protected the "the places of our salvation," the sites associated with Jesus' life, ministry and resurrection, he said. But also, the Christian community has "borne enduring witness, through its own sufferings, to the mystery of the Lord's Passion."

"By your ability to rise anew and press forward, you have proclaimed, and continue to proclaim, that the crucified Lord rose from the dead," the pope told them.

"In these bleak times, when it seems that the dark clouds of Good Friday hover over your land, and all too many parts of our world are scarred by the pointless folly of war -- which is always and for everyone a bitter defeat -- you are lamps shining in the night, seeds of goodness in a land rent asunder by conflict," Pope Francis told them.

He also penned a prayer for them: "Lord, you are our peace. You who proclaimed blessed the peacemakers: set human hearts free from hatred, violence and the spirit of revenge. We look to your example, and we follow you, who are merciful, meek and humble of heart. May no one rob our hearts of the hope of rising anew with you. May we never tire of defending the dignity of every man, woman and child, without distinction of religion, ethnicity or nationality, beginning with the most vulnerable among us: women, the elderly, children and the poor."

 

Supreme Court hears abortion-drug case (AP)

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two related cases challenging the FDA’s approval of looser requirements—including mail-order prescriptions— for the abortion drug mifepristone.

“In nearly 90 minutes of arguments, a consensus appeared to emerge that the abortion opponents who challenged the FDA’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and subsequent actions to ease access to it, lack the legal right or standing to sue,” the Associated Press reported.

Noting that “chemical abortions are now the most common form of abortion in the United States,” the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for daily prayer until June, when the Court will decide the case.

Ukrainian Catholic churches sealed off in Donetsk (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)

The Donetsk People’s Republic, an eastern Ukrainian region seized by separatists in 2014 and annexed by Russia in 2022, has sealed off all Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches.

“Greek Catholic believers are unable to access their churches or conduct services,” according to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “Prior to these events, priests who performed services in these churches were expelled from the occupied territories.”

Pope writes meditations for Via Crucis at Colosseum, Vatican says (CNS)

The Vatican press office has announced that for the first time in his pontificate, Pope Francis will write his own meditations for the annual Good Friday evening Way of the Cross at the Colosseum.

The theme of the Pope’s meditations is “in prayer with Jesus on the way of the cross.”

Beginning in 1985, Pope St. John Paul II entrusted the writing of the Good Friday evening meditations to others, though in 2000, he wrote his own meditations.

Rising violence against Christians in India (CNA)

The United Christian Forum (UCF) has reported 161 incidents of violence against Christians in India already this year.

The group adds that the number almost certainly underestimates the violence, since it is based on complaints registered with a telephone hotline. The reports include 15 cases of forced “reconversion” to Hinduism, and 71 arrests by police.

The number of incidents reported to date this year exceeds the total number for 2014, the UCF noted. The number of incidents has risen fairly steadily in the past decade, reaching 505 in 2021, 599 in 2022, and 731 in 2023. At the current rate it would approach 800 for 2024.

Vatican cardinal, Polish president mark 80th anniversary of Ulma family's martyrdom (Vatican News)

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, traveled to Markowa, Poland, to celebrate a Mass commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Ulma family’s martyrdom.

Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, along with their seven children, were slain by Nazis for sheltering Jews. They were beatified last September.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who attended the Mass, said that “in silence, they offered a testimony of humanity.” He added, “How many of us would dare to risk our own lives and those of our family members to save another human being?”

French Catholic dioceses report jump in adult baptisms (Catholic Herald)

The French Catholic bishops’ conference has announced that 7,135 adults will be baptized at the Easter vigil this year—up from 5,463 last year.

The increase reflects a growing trend. The number of adult baptisms in France rose by 21% in 2022, 21% in 2023, and now has reached 30% for 2024. This year’s figure nearly doubles the number for 2021.

Pope greets Israeli, Palestinian fathers who mourn children together (Vatican News)

At the conclusion of his public audience on March 27, Pope Francis met with two men—one Palestinian, the other Israeli—who had formed a bond of friendship after both lost young daughters in the war in the Holy Land. He praised the two men for their ability to “look beyond the enmity of war.”

Pope, at audience, speaks on patience (Vatican Press Office)

Continuing his series of talks on the virtues, Pope Francis spoke about patience at his weekly public audience on March 27.

During Holy Week, the Pope remarked, the faithful are reminded of the patience that Jesus displayed in accepting humiliation and suffering. He pointed out that “Jesus’ patience does not consist of a stoical resistance to suffering, but is the fruit of a greater love.”

“There is no better witness to the love of Jesus than encountering a patient Christian,” the Pope continued. He told the crowd that patience “is not only a need; it is a calling.”

The Wednesday audience, originally scheduled to take place in St. Peter’s Square, was moved into the Paul VI auditorium because of rain. The Pope walked into the auditorium on his own, with the help of a cane, and delivered his own remarks. Earlier he had made a brief tour of St. Peter’s Square in his wheelchair to greet pilgrims.