Pope Leo XIV
Archbishop John has written the following about our new Pope
‘With deep joy and thanksgiving, we welcome the election of Pope Leo XIV. Let us rejoice and give glory to God for the gift of our new Holy Father.
In Pope Leo XIV, we receive the Successor of Peter, called by the Holy Spirit to shepherd the universal Church. Just as the Risen Lord entrusted St Peter with the care of his flock, so now Pope Leo is charged with this sacred task: to love the Lord Jesus with all his heart, and to tend his sheep with humility, courage, and faith.
The Petrine ministry is one of service, rooted not in power, but in the person of Christ. The authority of the Holy Father is given by the Lord Jesus Himself, not to point to himself, but to lead us ever closer to the face of Christ. In a world marked by uncertainty and division, Pope Leo is called to be a sign of unity and a herald of hope — guiding us to the truth of the Gospel, and to the peace that only Christ can give.
Now more than ever, we need to fix our gaze on the Lord Jesus. It is by placing him at the centre of our lives that we find the strength to meet life’s challenges and the peace our hearts long for. Pope Leo stands among us as a servant of that hope, reminding us that our salvation lies in Christ alone.
I invite each one of you to look to our new Holy Father with the obedience of faith and affection. Let us listen to his voice as he leads us in fidelity to Christ and the mission of his Church. Like him, may we be renewed in our own commitment to love the Lord Jesus above all things, and to care for one another with the tenderness of the Gospel. Please join me in praying for Pope Leo XIV, asking the Lord to bless him abundantly. And let us thank God for this great gift to the Church and to the world.’
Archbishop John Wilson
“….Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.
These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society. And these are not few.
Today, too, there are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism.
This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Saviour. Therefore, it is essential that we, too, repeat, with Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).
It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all.
I say this first of all to myself, as the Successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as bishop of Rome and, according to the well-known expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, am called to preside in charity over the universal church (cf. Letter to the Romans, Prologue). St. Ignatius, who was led in chains to this city, the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: “Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body” (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1). Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena—and so it happened—but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.
May God grant me this grace, today and always, through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the church.”
Pope Leo XlV
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Habemus Papam, FranciscusPope Francis backs Benedict’s stand against relativism
Speaking on March 22 to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, the new Pope stressed his commitment to dialogue, particularly with Islam, and to the fight against poverty. Yet his most significant statement may have been clear backing of his predecessor’s message: an indication that no major change is likely in the Vatican’s approach to world affairs.
The Pope received the ambassadors in the Sala Regia of the apostolic palace. Greeted by Jean-Claude Michel of Monaco, the dean of the diplomatic corps at the Vatican, he began his remarks by saying that the diplomatic work of the Holy See is guided by the desire to serve all people.
The Pope went on to say that in choosing the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, he was evoking “a familiar figure far beyond the borders of Italy and Europe, even among those who do not profess the Catholic faith.” He said that St. Francis is an outstanding model for two reasons.
First the Pope mentioned the love that St. Francis showed for the poor. “How many poor people there still are in the world!” the Pontiff interjected. He observed that the Church all around the world works to ease the suffering of the poor, and added that “I think in many of your countries you can attest to the generous activity of Christians who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more humane and more just.”
“But there is another form of poverty,” Pope Francis continued. “It is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously.” In that context he mentioned the “tyranny of relativism.” While the quest for peace is a top priority, the Pontiff cautioned:
But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.
The Pope reminded the diplomats that his title, “Pontiff,” refers to a bridge-builder. He said that he hopes to “help to build bridges connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be welcomed and embraced.”
Once again, however, Pope Francis underlined the spiritual nature of his mission. “It is not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God,” he said. “But the converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God, while ignoring other people.”
The Pope promised to promote dialogue across religious boundaries, and said “I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam.”
CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS – March 22, 2013