Norwegian players Christian Sorum (L), Anders Mol (2ndL) and Australian players Zachery Schubert (2ndR) and Thomas Hodges (R) take part in a practice session ahead of the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on July 24, 2024. / Credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:26 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and Athletica Vaticana, the official Holy See sports association, have invited all athletes participating in the 2024 Olympic Games to harness the “great social power of sport” to unite people and be witnesses of peace, particularly during these times of international tensions and conflict.  

Around 300,000 spectators welcomed thousands of athletes representing 206 countries at the opening ceremony of this year’s summer games in Paris today.

The ceremony to open the two-week international festival took place at 7:30 p.m. in Paris (1:30 p.m. ET). The Olympic Games, which take place between July 26 and Aug. 11 this year, are expected to draw approximately 800,000 tourists to France and an additional one billion viewers who wish to watch the sports events on TV or other digital channels. 

During his Sunday Angelus address on July 21, Pope Francis expressed his hope that this year’s Olympics will bring athletes and spectators together and “peacefully unite people from different cultures.”

“I hope that this event may be a beacon of the inclusive world we want to build and that athletes, with their sporting testimony, may be messengers of peace and authentic models for young people,” the Holy Father said.    

Over 10,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 32 different sports in this year’s summer games. This year’s Olympics will debut surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and also breakdancing.

The Paralympic Games will also take place in Paris this year from Aug. 28 - Sept. 8. Approximately 4,400 athletes will participate in 22 sports — including sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball — in venues across the city such as at the Eiffel Tower, the Château de Versailles, and the Grand Palais. 

Athletica Vaticana sent an open letter addressed to Olympians and Paralympians yesterday on the vigil of the opening ceremony and encouraged all athletes to “win the medal of fraternity” this summer.  

“The Olympics and Paralympics can be strategies for peace and antidotes to war games,” reads the letter. “The Games can be opportunities for hope.” 

Prior to the Olympics opening ceremony, a Mass of Peace was celebrated on July 19 in France. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Archbishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne concelebrated the Mass which was attended by the president of the International Olympic Committee, athletes. and diplomats. 

Since the inception of the modern-day Olympics in 1896, Paris has twice been selected to host the summer games. This year marks 100 years since Paris first hosted the Olympics in 1924. 

St. Paul VI. / Credit: Catholic News Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 25, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

On July 25, 1968, St. Paul VI published Humanae Vitae, an encyclical on the regulation of birth and the dangers involved in the use of artificial contraceptive methods and their imposition as state policy. At the time the encyclical was rejected by many even within the Catholic Church.

The document, published at the beginning of the sexual revolution, continues to draw mixed reactions, which is why it's necessary to take a closer look at five key points that allow us to better understand the encyclical, the context in which it was written, its prophetic message, and its validity even today. 

1. It is ordinary, definitive, and irreformable magisterial teaching.

Various priests, theologians, and laypeople frequently claim the encyclical only belongs to the ordinary magisterium of a pope and that as such, its content could change with another pope who comes later. However, Humane Vitae has been reaffirmed by the pontiffs who succeeded Paul VI.

St. John Paul II went so far as to affirm that “what is taught by the Church on contraception does not belong to a matter freely disputable between theologians. Teaching the opposite is equivalent to misleading the moral conscience of the spouses.”

Furthermore, the Polish pope maintained that the Catholic doctrine on contraception belongs to the moral doctrine of the Church and that this has been proposed “with uninterrupted continuity” because it is “a truth that cannot be disputed.”

Therefore, the doctrine of an encyclical belongs to the ordinary magisterium, however, if it is exercised continuously and definitively, it is irreformable, even if it is not infallible.

2. Humanae Vitae is a prophetic encyclical.

Various notable Catholics have characterized the encyclical as “prophetic and still pertinent.”

In 1968, the discussion about the negative impact of artificial contraceptives was just in its infancy; however, the document not only meant a concrete response to the debate surrounding sexual ethics, “but it meant at the time, and still means, a refusal of the Church, clear and explicit, to bow to the proposals and demands of the sexual revolution,” as explained by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.

In 2018, the late archbishop of Warsaw, Henryk Hoser, noted that the voice of St. Paul VI in Humanae Vitae has been shown to be prophetic about contraceptives, as he “predicted that their application would open the easy way to marital infidelity and the general decrease in births.”

Furthermore, the archbishop stressed that the encyclical is always relevant because conjugal love, “physical or spiritual, must combine these two dimensions” and that it must always be a love “free of selfishness.”

Similarly, Spanish priest Javier “Patxi” Bronchalo stated in 2022 that the document warned at the time about the increase in marital infidelity, moral degradation, the general loss of dignity of women, and ideological colonization through government policies.

3. The encyclical underwent significant changes before being published.

According to research by an Italian scholar at the Vatican Apostolic Archive, Humanae Vitae should have been originally published on May 23, 1968, but then St. Paul VI decided to publish it on July 25.

This measure was taken by the pope, despite the fact that the document was already printed in Latin under the title De Nascendae Prolis (Of Children to Be Born), because he considered that it was very dense in doctrine and that it was not pastorally adequate.

After some changes to the original document, Paul VI “took the entire pastoral section and added a series of very sensitive points that still reveal his imprint today.”

4. St. Paul VI consulted the bishops before publishing the encyclical.

Some accuse St. Paul VI of having published the encyclical Humanae Vitae without consulting the bishops. However, the Italian scholar’s research reveals the opposite. During the 1967 Synod of Bishops, the pope asked all prelates to share with him their position on the issue.

Of the almost 200 bishops participating in the synod, only 26 responded in the period from Oct. 9, 1967, to May 31, 1968. Of this group, 19 expressed themselves in favor of contraceptives and only seven against them.

Of these seven, the best known and most important were the venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the then-archbishop of Krakow, Poland, Karol Wojtyla, who would become St. John Paul II, who always wanted to be remembered as “the pope of the family,” as Pope Francis stated during the canonization of the Polish pope in 2014.

The then-secretary of state, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, said that “on the morning of July 25, 1968, Paul VI celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit, asked for light from on high and signed: He signed his most difficult signature, one of his most glorious signatures. He signed his own passion.”

5. Humanae Vitae promotes rational thinking about sexuality.

According to the Jesuit Bertrand de Margerie, being rational about sex does not evoke an indiscriminate and complete autonomy of the intimate life of the couple nor the use of artificial means to control births but rather the exercise of the virtue of chastity.

“The acquired virtue of chastity penetrates with reasonableness the exercise of sexual life when the latter is legitimate,” the Jesuit priest wrote, citing St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica.

“By encouraging periodic continence and the regulation of births without artificial control, Paul VI rightly exalts a humble and complete rationalization of the sexual sphere subjected to the knowledge of human reason and to the control of freedom helped by grace,” the priest pointed out.

“He does not appeal to instincts,” the Jesuit explained, “which are common to men and to other animals and which are deprived of reason, but he appeals to man’s freedom, through which man resembles pure spirits such as angels are.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Auxiliary Bishop-elect Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Vatican City, Jul 25, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday appointed Father Kevin Kenney as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

The bishop-elect, born and raised in Minneapolis, currently serves as parish priest of St. Olaf Parish as well as administrator of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish within the archdiocese. 

In an interview with The Catholic Spirit, the official news service of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Kenney said he was only informed of the Holy Father’s desire to appoint him bishop late last month and is grateful to continue his work as a “missionary” of Jesus Christ.

“Every time I now pass a picture of Pope Francis, I thank him for the new and blessed adventure that is ahead,” the 64-year-old bishop-elect said.

“I thought to myself, ‘I began as a missionary and now I will end as a missionary, going into the world in a new way, to proclaim and live the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Kenney’s missionary spirit was forged when he moved to Chicago to join the Claretian Missionaries, a religious community of priests and brothers founded by St. Anthony Marie Claret. He served as a lay volunteer and volunteer director with the community in the 1980s.

It was during his years of service and spiritual formation with the Claretian Missionaries in Chicago that Kenney discerned his call to be a missionary in his home diocese. According to The Catholic Spirit he entered formation with the Claretians and studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

After five years in formation, he discerned that he was called to diocesan priesthood, entered the St. Paul Seminary, and was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 1994. 

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Pope Francis has chosen “such a fine pastor” and looks forward to working more closely with Kenney.

“I am grateful that the Holy Father has recognized in Bishop-elect Kenney the same exceptionally compassionate priestly heart that I have come to know in the nine years that I have been serving here [in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis],” Hebda said in a statement.

The archbishop added that Kenney, also known as “RevKev” in St. Olaf’s Parish, has vast experience and is popular with the Latino community. According to The Catholic Spirit, Kenney served as vicar for Latino Ministry in St. Paul and Minneapolis from 2010 to 2018.

This morning, Hebda introduced the new bishop-elect to the local faithful at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. Kenney emphasized the importance of welcoming everyone at church, even the homeless.

He said that when he first arrived at St. Olaf, there were security guards at the church doors.

“I realized, as I was taken back by it, everyone is, especially the homeless, especially those who are suffering in one way or another in their life,” he said.

Kenney said that the homeless population had been “riled up,” but when the security guards were no longer there, he said, the tension immediately dropped.

“People need to be respected for who they are. A simple hello, a simple good morning, a simple smile,” he said. “As they came through the door, they left then everything outside to have a place where they could come to feel safe, to use the restroom, to get a drink of water, to get some clothes, food, whatever it is that we could offer, and to appreciate them and acknowledge them, and not just to brush them off and to pretend they weren’t there, but to be able to keep our doors open to welcome them.” 

St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Thoom/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jul 24, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on July 24 approved the “spiritual experience” connected to the Sanctuary of Maccio located in Italy, making it the fifth public announcement of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) since the office published its norms for the discernment of “alleged supernatural phenomena” on May 17.

The DDF recognized the “action of the Holy Spirit” in the mystical experiences and spiritual writings of Italian father and music teacher Gioacchino Genovese, which highlight the centrality of the Holy Trinity as the “source of mercy.”

In 2000, Genovese reportedly had mystical experiences during times of prayer in which he perceived the love of the Holy Trinity through the merciful gaze of Jesus Christ. Initially keeping his intellection visions to himself, he later began to open up about his prayer life with others. Devotion among Catholics around his “intellectual visions” began to spread throughout the Diocese of Como.

“The Church is called to rediscover more and more in the gestures of Christ that infinite mercy of the triune God, who in the writings of Mr. Genovese is called by the name ‘Trinity Mercy,’” reads the letter signed by DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.

“This is the center of all the messages because, ultimately, it is the center of revelation: ‘And the heart of revelation is this: God, trinity of love, one God, gift that gives himself in our humanity, in Jesus walks with us.’”

Fernández granted the sanctuary a “nulla osta,” meaning the spiritual experiences connected to the sanctuary “do not contain theological or moral elements contrary to the doctrine of the Church.”

In the letter addressed to Cardinal Oscar Cantoni, bishop of Como, Fernández also outlined further considerations regarding specific “expressions” contained within Genovese’s writings that have the potential to cause confusion or be “interpreted in a way contrary to the Catholic faith.”

Before the Genovese’s texts can be published and further disseminated, they must first be granted a “nihil obstat” (“no objection”) by the Holy See.

Since 2005, Genovese’s writings have inspired local Catholic faithful to pray at the Sanctuary of Maccio, located in the Diocese of Como, and contemplate the Church’s teachings on the Trinitarian God, whose mercy is made manifest through the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Citing the words and works of both St. John Paul II and Pope Francis on the theological and spiritual significance of mercy for the Church, the DDF stated: “Mr. Genovese’s spiritual experience is in line with the rediscovery of the centrality of the Most Holy Trinity for the faith and Christian life that occurred in the last century.

St. John Paul II, also known as the “mercy pope,” wrote his second encyclical letter titled Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy) in 1980. He also instituted Divine Mercy Sunday, celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter, and canonized St. Faustina Kowalska on the same day on April 30, 2000. 

In 2015, Pope Francis opened the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to “point out the path that we [in the life of the Church] are called to follow in the future.” In Misericordiae Vultus, the papal bull announcing the holy year, the Holy Father wrote: “With our eyes fixed on Jesus and his merciful gaze, we experience the love of the Most Holy Trinity. The mission Jesus received from the Father was that of revealing the mystery of divine love in its fullness.”

To date, the Vatican has made public declarations on five cases of supernatural phenomena that have taken place in different countries in Europe. Three of the five cases, which have taken place in Italy — including the shrine dedicated to “Our Lady of the Rock” in a village in Calabria — have been given the seal of approval by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. / Credit: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images; Horacio Villalobos Corbis/Getty Images

Vatican City, Jul 23, 2024 / 13:23 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday at the end of a diplomatic visit to the country.

Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X that he had “a meaningful meeting” with Parolin and is “grateful for [the] cardinal’s support of our country and people.”

Earlier the same day, Parolin toured the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv and met some of its young patients.

The country’s largest pediatric hospital partially reopened early last week, one week after it was seriously damaged in an alleged Russian missile attack on July 9.

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack, which reportedly injured dozens of children receiving treatment at the hospital.

According to Zelenskyy, he and Parolin mainly discussed the decisions of the international summit on peace in Ukraine held in Switzerland in June and the Vatican’s role in facilitating peace. 

Zelenskyy also said they spoke about Russia’s ongoing aerial attacks and the humanitarian situation in the country as well as the outcomes of the president’s meeting with Pope Francis during the G7 in Italy last month.

The Secretariat of State said in a post on X that Parolin, in his meeting with Zelenskyy, “reiterated the pope’s closeness and commitment to finding a just and lasting peace.”

Parolin also met with Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, and the president of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, on Monday.

Tuesday marked the last full day of Parolin’s July 19–24 trip to Ukraine. It was the diplomat’s first visit to the country since the outbreak of war with Russia in 2022.

He also celebrated Mass for Latin-rite Ukrainian Catholics at the Marian shrine of Berdychiv on Sunday, traveled to the severely-damaged port city of Odesa, and met with Catholic and Orthodox leaders, including Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin meets with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv on Sunday, July 21, 2024. / Credit: Secretariat of the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church

Vatican City, Jul 22, 2024 / 10:48 am (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is in Ukraine this week for what is the diplomat’s first visit to the country since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

In the first half of his July 19–24 visit, Parolin stopped briefly in Lviv before traveling to Odesa, a southern port city, and to the northern city of Berdychiv, where he celebrated a Mass for the conclusion of a pilgrimage of Latin-rite Ukrainian Catholics.

The afternoon of July 21, the secretary of state met with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv. 

The rest of the trip will include meetings with other religious and civil authorities, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The message I brought from the pope is one of closeness,” Parolin said, according to Vatican News. The cardinal recalled Pope Francis’ many references to a “martyred Ukraine.”

“From the very beginning, the pope has manifested a very great closeness, a very great participation in the pain and suffering of this people,” Parolin said, adding that he comes to the war-torn country to bring Pope Francis’ closeness “in person.” 

The pontiff, he said, “shares the pain but above all would like to be able to help open” paths for a solution to the war.

In Odesa, one of Ukraine’s worst-hit cities since the start of the war, Parolin visited the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, where he met with lay Catholics and local clergy as well as representatives of the government and of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

According to Vatican News, the cardinal said he was bringing “the closeness, the presence, and the blessing of the Holy Father Francis,” who is “following your situation with so much attention, with so much worry and so much pain.”

“As Christians, we should not lose hope,” including the hope that “by the grace of the Lord, who is able to touch even the hardest of hearts … a way to a just peace can be found,” Parolin said.

In Odesa, the secretary of state also visited the Greek-Catholic Parish of St. Michael and the Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration, which was damaged in a Russian missile attack last year.

On Sunday, July 21, Parolin celebrated Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berdychiv. The Mass marked the conclusion of a pilgrimage by Latin-rite Catholics of the Diocese of Lviv.

The intention of the Mass was for an immediate end to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Parolin told Vatican News.

In his homily at Mass, he encouraged Ukrainian Catholics to “never lose trust and hope in God, especially today, when it seems that evil has the upper hand, when the horrors of war and the pain of the many victims and the massive destruction undermine faith in divine goodness, when our arms fall off and we no longer even have strength to pray.”

Parolin’s homily was delivered in Ukrainian by Lviv Auxiliary Bishop Edward Kawa, Vatican News reported.

The secretary of state’s homily concluded with a prayer to the Virgin Mary for a “peaceful and sure future.”

“Oh Blessed Mother, grant that children and young people may have a peaceful and sure future, that families may be places of love, that the elderly and the sick may receive comfort and relief in their suffering, that those defending their homeland may be protected from the attacks of evil, that prisoners of war may return to embrace their loved ones, and that the victims may be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven,” he prayed.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace with her husband, King Philippe of the Belgians, on Sept. 14, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 10:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will spend four days at the end of September in the small European countries of Luxembourg and Belgium, where he will greet royal leaders, prime ministers, professors and students, and Catholics in some of the countries’ historic palaces, cathedrals, and universities.

The pontiff will make a one-day stop in Luxembourg on Sept. 26 before visiting three cities in Belgium to mark the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve from Sept. 26–29.

The European visit will take place just under two weeks after Francis lands back in Rome at the end of the most ambitious journey of his pontificate: a 12-day trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.

The full schedule of Pope Francis’ visit to the two constitutional monarchies of Luxembourg and Belgium is below.

Luxembourg

The first day of Pope Francis’ trip will be dedicated to visiting Luxembourg, a small landlocked country in Western Europe with an estimated population of 672,000 people.

Luxembourg is the seat of several institutions of the European Union, including the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority.

After his arrival, Francis will visit the grand duke of Luxembourg, Henri, at his official residence, the Grand Ducal Palace. Henri’s wife, Grand Duchess María Teresa, is one of only a few royal women with the “privilège du blanc,” a papal privilege allowing her to wear white when meeting the pope.

The pontiff will then meet with the prime minister of the grand duchy before addressing members of the government, civil society, and the diplomatic corps at a Luxembourg administrative building, Cercle Cité.

Luxembourg has just one ecclesiastical territory, the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, which is led by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator-general of the Catholic Church’s present Synod on Synodality.

In 2021, the archdiocese was estimated to have almost 457,000 Catholics, which is 73% of the population.

After lunch on Sept. 26, Francis will hold an audience with the Luxembourg Catholic community in the Gothic 17th-century Notre-Dame Cathedral before taking a 55-minute flight to the neighboring country of Belgium.

Belgium

The Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, built in the late 1700s, is the residential palace of the king and queen of Belgium. Since 1999, it has been the home of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and their family.

Francis will meet King Philippe at the castle on the morning of Sept. 27. Philippe’s wife, Mathilde, as a Catholic queen, also has the “privilège du blanc” when meeting the pope.

The pope’s brief meeting with Belgium’s royal leader will be followed by appointments with the country’s prime minister and other governmental authorities.

The day’s schedule will close with a papal address to professors at KU Leuven, a Catholic research university, to mark the 600th anniversary of its founding. At KU Leuven, classes are mainly taught in Dutch and some English.

On his second full day in Belgium, Pope Francis will meet with clergy members and religious brothers and sisters in the Koekelberg National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels.

After lunch, he will make the just under one-hour drive to visit Louvain-la-Neuve, a university city about 18 miles southeast of the capital city.

The town hosts the French-language Catholic University of Leuven, which split from KU Leuven in the late 1960s.

Pope Francis will spend the afternoon meeting with university students in Louvain-la-Nueve before holding a private audience with Jesuits at St. Michel College back in Brussels.

On his final day in the Low Countries on Sept. 29, the pontiff will celebrate Sunday Mass in King Baudouin Stadium before departing shortly before 1 p.m. local time for Rome.

Pope Francis' brief remarks during the Angelus July 21, 2024, focused on the day’s Gospel passage from Mark, which demonstrates how rest and compassion for others go together. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Do not be consumed by “the anxiety of doing” but spend time in rest and silent prayer to receive God’s grace, Pope Francis said on Sunday.

The pontiff told Catholics, especially those in ministry, to beware of “the dictatorship of doing” during his weekly reflection and Angelus on July 21.

The Angelus is a Marian prayer traditionally recited at three different hours throughout the day: at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m.

“It is only possible to have a compassionate gaze, which knows how to respond to the needs of others, if our heart is not consumed by the anxiety of doing, if we know how to stop and how to receive the grace of God in the silence of adoration,” Pope Francis said on a hot and humid day during the peak of summer in Rome.

Addressing the large crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said we are often “held prisoner by haste.” He called it an important warning, especially for those in engaged in ministry and pastoral service in the Church.

“Am I able to stop during my days? Am I capable of taking a moment to be with myself and with the Lord, or am I always in a hurry for things to do?” he said from a window of the Apostolic Palace.

He added that sometimes families are forced to live a frenetic pace; for example, when a father has to work from dawn until dusk to put food on the table. But this is a social injustice, he said, and we should help families in this situation.

The pope’s brief remarks focused on the day’s Gospel passage, which demonstrates how Jesus is able to combine both rest and compassion for others.

In the Gospel, Jesus invites his apostles to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” but when they get out of the boat, they find the crowd already waiting for them.

Jesus’ “heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things,” the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6, says.

“These may seem like two incompatible things — resting and being compassionate — but they actually go together,” Pope Francis underlined.

Jesus is concerned for his disciples’ tiredness, the pontiff said, because he is aware of the danger of our ministries and lives falling victim to an over concern with “things to do and with results.”

“We become agitated and lose sight of what is essential,” he emphasized.

Francis also explained that the rest proposed by Jesus is not “an escape from the world, a retreat into a merely personal well-being,” but a rest that helps us to have more compassion for others.

“Only if we learn how to rest can we have compassion,” he said.

After leading the Angelus, the pope spoke about the Summer Olympic Games, set to start in Paris on July 26, and the Paralympics, which will follow in August.

Sports, he said, have “a great social force, capable of peacefully uniting people of different cultures.”

“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, will be messengers of peace and good role models for young people,” he added.

Francis also recalled the tradition from ancient Greece of the “Olympic Truce,” noting that such an initiative would be an opportunity to “demonstrate a sincere desire for peace.”

Some 6,000 grandparents and other older people attended the papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on July 23, 2023, for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. / Credit: Pablo Esparza/EWTN

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits a sick, lonely, or disabled elderly person on the fourth annual World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly on July 28.

Those who are grandparents or elderly themselves can also receive a plenary indulgence, as well as anyone who participates in religious functions connected to the celebration, as long as the usual conditions are fulfilled.

The usual conditions to obtain a plenary indulgence are to be detached from all sin, to receive sacramental confession and holy Communion, and to pray for the pope’s intentions.

An indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. It applies to sins already forgiven and cleanses the soul as if just baptized.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, sent a decree July 18 granting the plenary indulgences.

A person who cannot leave his or her home due to sickness, infirmity, or another serious reason can also obtain the plenary indulgence if they “unite themselves spiritually to the sacred functions” of the day, “offering to the merciful God the prayers, pains, or sufferings of their lives, especially during the various celebrations which will be broadcast through the media,” De Donatis decreed.

The major penitentiary also asked priests to make themselves available to hear confessions “in a ready and generous spirit” so that Catholics may more easily have “the opportunity to attain divine grace through the power of the keys of the Church.”

World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly

The World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021, is held on the fourth Sunday of July, which falls near the July 26 feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.

In 2024, the day will be celebrated on July 28 with the theme: “Do Not Cast Me Off in My Old Age” — taken from Psalm 71.

The Vatican announced the theme in February, saying it was Pope Francis’ desire “to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly people, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.”

In 2023, Pope Francis marked the day with an intergenerational Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, affirming in his homily that old age is a “blessed time.”

“How much we need a new bond between young and old,” the pope said on July 23 last year, “so that the sap of those who have a long experience of life behind them will nourish the shoots of hope of those who are growing. In this fruitful exchange we can learn the beauty of life, build a fraternal society, and in the Church, be enabled to encounter one another and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit.” 

Conditions to obtain a plenary indulgence

In order to obtain a plenary indulgence, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Detachment from all sin, even venial.

2. Sacramental confession, holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope. These three conditions can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence, but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.

A single sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences, but frequent sacramental confession is encouraged in order to obtain the grace of deeper conversion and purity of heart.

For each plenary indulgence that is sought, however, a separate holy Communion and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.

The prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father is left up to the choice of the individual, but an Our Father and Hail Mary are suggested.

The kids and Pope Francis released biodegradable balloons into the sky together on July 18, 2024. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.” / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Pope Francis visited the kids participating in the Vatican’s annual summer camp on Thursday morning, answering their questions and releasing biodegradable balloons into the sky.

The day camp for children of Vatican employees is in its fourth year. It is taking place June 17–July 26 inside Vatican City in a newly-built area with sports facilities and a swimming pool dedicated to St. Joseph.

According to the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis met both the kids and counselors of “Youth Summer at the Vatican” on July 18.

The pope answered some of the questions and comments of the children and spoke about the importance of having good family relationships, including with grandparents, the Vatican said, adding that Francis also urged the kids to work for peace, because promoting peace “is the most beautiful thing in life.”

The pontiff and camp attendees then said a prayer together before launching colorful, biodegradable balloons into the air. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.”

Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis had met the camp’s benefactors at his Santa Marta residence.

The camp is organized around the 2024 theme of “Knights Errant,” guided by an interpretation of the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza from the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. 

The camp’s activities include prayer, team sports, swimming and water games, dancing, and creative and educational workshops for ages 5–13.

Started in 2020, the camp is an initiative of the Vatican Governorate in response to the pope’s wish to welcome children to the Vatican in the style of St. John Bosco’s oratories.