Nahida Anton and her daughter Samar Anton were killed as they were walked to the Missionaries of Charity convent in the compound of Holy Family Parish in Gaza on Dec. 16, 2023. / Credit: Father Gabriel Romanelli/Facebook CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 18:36 pm (CNA). Twenty Catholic missionaries were murdered in 2023, according to a new Dec. 30 report issued by the Vatican’s Fides News Agency.Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, arrived at that number by calculating “all baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only ‘in hatred of the faith.’”The agency said that most of the missionaries shared the traits of living a “normal life” and did “not carry out any sensational actions or out-of-the ordinary deeds that could have attracted attention and put them in someone’s crosshairs.”“They found themselves, through no fault of their own, victims of kidnappings, acts of terrorism, involved in shootings or violence of various kinds,” the report said. Among those who were killed were two U.S. clergymen: Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell and Nebraska parish priest Father Stephen Gutgsell.The news agency reported that one bishop, eight priests, two non-religious men, one seminarian, one novice, and seven laypersons made up the missionaries murdered in the last year.The number of murders represents an increase over 2022, when 18 missionaries were killed. AfricaNine missionaries were killed in Africa, the continent that saw the most such murders in 2023. Of the nine, five were priests, two were religious men, one was a seminarian, one was a novice. Of these, four were killed in Nigeria. In recent months, a monk, Brother Godwin Eze, was kidnapped and brutally murdered at the Benedictine monastery in Eruku, Nigeria. In Burkina Faso, two men, a priest and religious brother, were killed. In the western African country of Tanzania, one priest, Father Pamphili Nada, died after his parish was attacked. In Cameroon, Brother Cyprian Ngeh was stabbed to death, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a priest, Father Léopold Feyen, was also stabbed to death. Mexico and U.S.Six missionaries were killed in the Americas in 2023, with all of the murders occurring in either Mexico or the United States. The deaths included one bishop, three priests, and two laywomen. Two catechists were killed on their way to a Eucharistic procession in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.In the United States, Bishop O’Connell was killed in his home. Charges were filed against his housekeeper’s husband. Father Gutgsell was stabbed in his Church rectory; an arrest has been made and charges filed in that case as well. AsiaFour laypeople were killed in Asia in the past year. Two of those murders happened in the Philippines. Two Catholic college students, Junrey Barbante and Janine Arenas, were killed when a bomb went off during a Eucharistic celebration at the State University of Mindanao. The other two murders occurred in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Two women, Samar Kamal Anton, along with her mother, Nahida Khalil Anton, were killed by sniper fire while on their

Pope Francis smiles at pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square on Jan. 1, 2023, for his first Angelus of the new year. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Jan 1, 2024 / 09:47 am (CNA). Pope Francis delivered his first Angelus of the new year on Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, by reflecting that the importance of Mary's motherhood is defined by love and underscored by a quiet silence that allowed her to place Christ at the center. “She is Mother not only because she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him, but because she brings him into the light, without occupying his place,” said the pope to the nearly 35,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Francis also used the occasion to appeal for prayers for the Church in Nicaragua, which has been at the center of an escalating persecution launched by the country’s president, Daniel Ortega.“I am following with deep concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where Bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom. I express to them, their families, and the entire Church in the country my closeness in prayer,” the Holy Father said. “I also invite all of you present here and all the People of God to insistent prayer, while I hope that we will always seek the path of dialogue to overcome difficulties. Let's pray for Nicaragua today.”Just days after Christmas, on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29, Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime abducted four priests, whose whereabouts are still unknown.The priests are: Monsignor Carlos Avilés, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Managua; Father Héctor Treminio, pastor of Holy Christ Parish in Esquipulas in the same archdiocese; and Father Fernando Calero, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Rancho Grande in the Diocese of Matagalpa.In his Angelus reflection, Pope Francis noted that Mary’s silence is a “beautiful feature” but should not be thought of as a “simple absence of words” but rather as a feature that is “filled with wonder and adoration for the wonders that God is working.”“In this way, she makes room within herself for the One who was born; in silence and adoration, she places Jesus at the center and bears witness to Him as Saviour,” the pope observed.The Holy Father went on to express that this expression of maternity seen in Mary is an ideal that is also seen in our mothers who “with their hidden care, with their thoughtfulness, are often magnificent cathedrals of silence. They bring us into the world and then continue to attend to us, often unnoticed, so that we can grow. Let us remember this: love never stifles; love makes room for the other and lets them grow.”Pope Francis added that by reflecting on mothers, we can “learn that love that is cultivated above all in silence, that knows how to make room for the other, respecting their dignity, leaving the freedom to express themselves, rejecting every form of possession, oppression, and violence.”Pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for Pope Francis'

Pope Francis at the first Mass of the new year, urged the faithful to entrust 2024 to the Mother of God. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Jan 1, 2024 / 10:15 am (CNA). Pope Francis began the new year by urging his fellow Catholics to entrust 2024 to the Mother of God, who “knows our needs” and always intercedes to “make grace overflow in our lives.” The pope made his appeal during Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 1 for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. He called upon Catholics to consecrate their lives to Mary, noting that “she will lead us to Jesus, who himself is ‘the fullness of time.’” “All of us have our shortcomings, our times of loneliness, our inner emptiness that cries out to be filled,” Francis said in his homily. “Who can do that, if not Mary, the Mother of fullness?” Throughout his homily, the pope reflected on Mary’s significance as the Mother of God, a title first attributed to the Blessed Mother at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD in order to underscore the divinity of Christ. Given Mary’s role as the “means chosen by God” for entering into human history with the birth of Christ, Francis said it is “fitting that the year should open by invoking her.”  “For those words, Mother of God, express the joyful certainty that the Lord, a tiny Child in his Mama's arms, has united himself forever to our humanity, to the point that it is no longer only ours, but his as well,” the pope said. An icon of the "nursing Madonna" forms the backdrop for the Mass at St. Peters on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1, 2024. Credit: Vatican MediaPope Francis also underscored Mary’s continued role in mediating the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians today, just as she did at Pentecost. “The motherhood of Mary is the path leading us to the paternal tenderness of God, the closest, most direct and easiest of paths,” Pope Francis said. The pope continued, noting that Mary “leads us to the beginning and heart of faith, which is not a theory or a task, but a boundless gift that makes us beloved sons and daughters, tabernacles of the Father’s love.” Therefore, Pope Francis said, “welcoming the Mother into our lives is not a matter of devotion but a requirement of faith.” The pope emphasized this point by quoting Paul VI, who said in a 1970 homily that “If we want to be Christians, we must be ‘Marians.’”  Consistent with one of his ongoing points of emphasis, Francis also underscored that Mary can help the Church “to recover her own feminine face.”The Pope has previously called for greater reflection on the “feminine dimension” of the Church. At a Nov. 30 meeting with members of the International Theological Commission, he emphasized the need for more women in theology and decried “masculinization” of the Church as “a great sin.” Francis also said that every society needs to “respect, defend, and esteem women,” and

Pope Francis invoke the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. / Credit: Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Jan 1, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA). In a video marking the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1, Pope Francis asks the Blessed Mother to “teach us to cherish and care for life — each and every human life” and “to repudiate the folly of war, which sows death and eliminates the future.”“This is a dark hour, Mother,” the pope prays in the video, which was released Monday. “Turn your eyes of mercy toward our human family, which preferred Cain to Abel.”The Vatican described the video, which used selections from Pope Francis’s Oct. 27 prayer for peace, as an exploration of “the visual and existential contrasts between war and peace.” It shows a child walking across a desolate field, as another runs joyfully through the tall grass. Smoke billows from a just-bombed building, while fireworks of celebration light up the night sky. Other scenes juxtapose marching soldiers with civilians crossing the street, flying kites with fighter jets, and an elderly woman crying in anguish with another praying serenely.“You suffer with us and for us, as you see your children suffering from conflicts and wars that are tearing our world apart,” Pope Francis prays to Mary, as an image of a burned-out church is set against a chapel glowing with lit votive candles. You can watch the full video below.Praying for peace has been a major emphasis of Pope Francis’s in recent months, as armed conflicts rage across the world. In his Urbi et Orbi address on Christmas Day, the pope prayed for an end to violence in Israel and Palestine, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and several other conflict areas in Africa and the Middle East. Francis has repeated many of these intentions in his most recent addresses.“Please, let’s not forget Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, which are at war,” the pope said in his Angelus message for Jan. 1. “Let’s pray for peace to come, altogether.”The Catholic Church has observed the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, since 1968. For this year’s observance, Pope Francis also released a message calling for the global regulation of artificial intelligence for “peace and common good.”In the newly released video, a young girl sits in rubble while another reads quietly on her classroom floor, as Pope Francis tells the Blessed Mother that “we cannot succeed alone.” The pope continues, asking Mary to grant that a “glimmer of light may illumine the dark night of conflict.“Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, pour forth into our hearts God’s gift of harmony.”

Pope Francis presides at the annual celebration of “first vespers,” or evening prayer, for the vigil of the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on Dec. 31, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 31, 2023 / 12:55 pm (CNA). Pope Francis rang in the new year and gave thanks for 2023 at a special New Year’s Eve Vatican liturgy, underscoring that faith allows Christians “to live this hour differently than a worldly mentality.” “Faith in Jesus Christ, God incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary, gives a new way of feeling time that is life,” the pope said during his homily at the Dec. 31 liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica, summing up this unique perspective with the words “gratitude and hope.” The pope offered his reflection while presiding at the annual celebration of “first vespers,” or evening prayer, for the vigil of the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the first liturgical day of the new calendar year. The liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica also included the singing of “Te Deum Laudaumus,” a hymn of thanksgiving sung on New Year’s Eve in gratitude for the past year. The pope contrasted Christian gratitude and hope with worldly versions of these virtues that are only “apparent” and lack a deeper connection with God and all of humanity. Pope Francis presides at the annual celebration of “first vespers,” or evening prayer, for the vigil of the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 31, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media“They are focused on the ego, on its interests, and so they are short of breath, they cannot go beyond satisfaction and optimism,” the pope said. In contrast, Francis said that the Christian perspective is characterized by “praise, amazement, and gratitude,” grounded in the mystery of the Incarnation expressed in an antiphon in the evening’s liturgy: “O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share our humanity.” The pope said that the Church learns true Christian gratitude and hope best from the Virgin Mary, as she contemplated the newborn Savior. Pope Francis presides at the annual celebration of “first vespers,” or evening prayer, for the vigil of the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 31, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media“The hope of Mary and the Church is not optimism, it is something else: It is faith in God, faithful to his promises,” Pope Francis said. “This faith takes the form of hope in the dimension of time, we could say, ‘on the way.’ The Christian, like Mary, is a pilgrim of hope.” The evening liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica was attended by 6,500, according to Vatican authorities. It included chanted psalms, sung hymns, and readings from sacred Scripture. During his homily, Pope Francis also urged those gathered to look ahead to 2024 — in particular, to preparations for the 2025 Jubilee Year that will take place in Rome over the coming year. The theme of the

Pope Francis waves during his Sunday Angelus on Dec. 31, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 31, 2023 / 10:21 am (CNA). In his final Angelus address of 2023, Pope Francis paid tribute to Pope Benedict XVI on the one-year anniversary of his predecessor’s death, saying that the late pontiff continues to bless and aid the Church from heaven. Speaking Dec. 31 from the window of the Apostolic Palace and following a longer discourse on the Holy Family’s secret to enduring hardships, Francis said that Benedict XVI “lovingly and wisely” served the Church. “We feel so much affection for him, so much gratitude, so much admiration. From heaven he blesses us and accompanies us,” Pope Francis said on the feast of the Holy Family as pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square below applauded. 🎥VIDEO | Pope Francis, during today's Angelus, remembered his predecessor, Benedict XVI, and asked him, from Heaven, to bless and accompany us. pic.twitter.com/XuL8NxoB3E— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) December 31, 2023 Benedict died on Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95. The Bavarian prelate had served as pope from 2005–2013 and is considered by many to be one of the most important theologians of contemporary times. He had lived the last nine years of his life as “pope emeritus” at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery after resigning from the Petrine office on Feb. 11, 2013, the first pope to do so in 600 years. Earlier in the day, a special Mass in honor of Benedict XVI had been celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, part of a two-day conference on the late pope’s life, teaching, and legacy sponsored by EWTN and others. During his Angelus address, Pope Francis also reflected on how the Holy Family experienced hardships but endured them by marveling at God’s presence in their lives. The pope noted the “surprising” fact that Jesus was born into a family that was “expert in suffering,” as evidenced by today’s Gospel reading: When Mary and Joseph present Jesus at the temple, they offer the lowliest prescribed sacrifice, a pair of birds, and Mary is told by Simeon that “a sword will pierce through your own soul.” “How is it that, the family of Jesus, the only family in history who could boast of having God present in flesh and blood among them, instead of being rich, was poor!” the pope said. “Instead of having things easy, it seems this family encounters obstacles! Instead of being free from hardship, this family is immersed in tremendous sorrow!”  Pope Francis said this fact shows that God, in Christ, “came to live our life with its problems” and “saved us in this way, living in our midst.” By becoming incarnate in a family that faced hardships, Pope Francis said that Christ tells families facing difficulties today: “I know what you are experiencing.” “I experienced it, I, my mother and my father, we experienced it so we can say to your family too: You are not alone!” Pope Francis said the Holy Family also has a lesson to teach families facing challenges:

Pope Benedict XVI on April 21, 2007, in Vigevano, Italy. / Credit: miqu77/Shutterstock Chicago, Ill., Dec 31, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA). A brilliant thinker and prolific writer, Pope Benedict XVI wrote 66 books in his lifetime. His final work, “What Is Christianity? The Last Writings,” was published in Italian on Jan. 20, just weeks after his death at age 95 on Dec. 31, 2022. Ignatius Press published the English translation of the book on July 17.While the texts were originally written in German, Elio Guerriero, the Italian director of the theological journal Communio, translated them into Italian, which Benedict wanted to be the reference language. Guerriero had previously collaborated with Pope Benedict on other works.In this last book, the pope addressed a number of important issues he had not touched on before. He also clarified and expanded his thoughts about various social and theological questions.Pope Benedict XVI deliberately reserved the book’s publication for after his death, a decision that has drawn a lot of attention. He explained his reasoning in a letter quoted in the foreword of the book, writing: “For my part, I want to publish nothing more during my lifetime. The fury of the circles in Germany that are opposed to me is so strong that if anything I say appears in print, it immediately provokes a horrible uproar on their part. I want to spare myself this and to spare Christianity, too.”Regarding the timing of its publication, Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, editor of Ignatius Press, told CNA that “Pope Benedict was very conscious that his resignation was unusual and could cause confusion. He did not want to appear to be setting up some sort of parallel magisterium. He was very discreet.”The book is reportedly a sort of “last message to the world.”“‘What Is Christianity?’ concludes the life and writings of one of the great churchmen of all time,” Fessio said. “It’s his last testament.”The book’s foreword was written by Guerriero, who explained the purpose behind the publication: “The present volume is not just a collection of previously published texts with a few new ones added but rather a kind of spiritual testament written in a spirit of wisdom by a fatherly heart that was always attentive to the expectations and hopes of the faithful and of all mankind.”With just six chapters, it is an accessible introduction to his work. Topics covered include “World Religions and the Christian Faith,” “Christian-Islamic Dialogue,” “Jews and Christians in Dialogue,” “The Catholic Priesthood,” and “The Meaning of Communion.” It also includes reflections honoring the lives of St. John Paul II and Jesuit Father Alfred Delp, a resistance fighter against Nazism.“It’s not too deeply scholarly. Every article would be accessible to any educated person,” Fessio said. “Much of it is meant for the world, for everybody.”Were there any surprises in this “last testament” of a great Church leader? Yes, Fessio said, but no more so than with Benedict’s other works. “I learn new things whenever I read him, but I expected that,” he

Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. / Vatican Media. Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 30, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis maintained a busy travel schedule in 2023, visiting six different countries on three separate continents despite being one of the oldest popes in Church history and enduring ongoing struggles with poor health. Francis turned 87 this month, and in March he celebrated his 10th year as pope. Although his year was marked by several hospital stays, struggles with bronchitis, and sciatica that often confined him to a wheelchair — as well as a canceled trip to Dubai for COP28 due to health issues — the pontiff still managed to make five international trips, called “apostolic journeys.”Here is where he went. Pope Francis meets young people and adults from the Diocese of Rumbek in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 4, 2023. Credit: Vatican MediaAfrica: Democratic Republic of Congo and South SudanThe pope’s first apostolic journey of 2023 was to the African continent, where despite years of wars and ongoing persecutions the Church has seen its greatest growth and where regular Mass attendance is higher than anywhere else on the globe.Francis was in Africa for six days, Jan. 31–Feb. 5, during which time he visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan. While there, Francis spoke out against the violence racking the continent and against international powers seeking to exploit African countries for their gain.“Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: Africa is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered,” Francis said in his first speech in the DRC on Jan. 31. “I have greatly desired to be here and now at last I have come to bring you the closeness, the affection, and the consolation of the entire Catholic Church,” Francis also said. “I am here to embrace you and to remind you that you yourselves are of inestimable worth, that the Church and the pope have confidence in you, and that they believe in your future, the future that is in your hands, your hands.” On Feb. 1 the pope celebrated a special papal Mass in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital city, which was attended by more than 1 million African faithful. Video taken before the Mass showed the massive crowds of Catholics dancing and singing songs, including a joyful chant of “Maman Maria” (“Mama Mary” in French), as they awaited Pope Francis’ arrival."Maman Maria!" ("Mother Mary!" in French)Video by @TurkElias who is on the ground in Kinshasa, DRC for Mass with Pope Francis pic.twitter.com/yBMG1Bktyj— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) February 1, 2023 Joyful scenes from colleagues on the ground in Kinshasa, DRC, where Pope Francis will soon celebrate Mass. Follow @TurkElias @Gianluca_Teseo and @cnalive for more! pic.twitter.com/kyFCiOHZVu— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) February 1, 2023 Europe: HungaryNext, Francis visited Budapest, the capital of the central European nation of Hungary, April 28–30.The pontiff’s journey to the post-Soviet nation that borders Ukraine

Pope Francis meets with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican on May 13, 2023, their first meeting since the start of the full-scale war with Russia. / Credit: Vatican Media Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 29, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA). Pope Francis spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy three days after Christmas to discuss peace efforts to end the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, according to a video message Zelenskyy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We discussed our joint work on the Peace Formula,” Zelenskyy said. “More than 80 states are already involved at the level of their representatives. There will be more. I am grateful to the Vatican for supporting our work.”Zelenskyy said the pontiff expressed “his wishes of peace — just peace for all of us” during the Dec. 28 phone call. The Ukrainian president also said he expressed gratitude to the pope “for his Christmas greetings to Ukraine and Ukrainians.”On Christmas, Pope Francis delivered a Christmas blessing in which he said: “Saying ‘yes’ to the Prince of Peace means saying ‘no’ to war, and this with courage: saying no to every war, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, madness without excuses.”When speaking about Ukraine, the pope called for people to “renew our spiritual and human closeness to its embattled people, so that through the support of each of us, they may feel the concrete reality of God’s love.”Pope Francis has met with Zelenskyy twice: once in 2020, before the Russian invasion, and again on May 13, more than a year after the February 2022 invasion. The pontiff has also spoken with the Ukrainian president several times over the phone. Francis has repeatedly urged a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict.In May of last year, the pontiff said he also hoped to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, but there has not yet been a meeting. Francis had met with the Russian president prior to the invasion. In February 2022, the pope visited the Russian embassy to express his concerns about the invasion but did not speak with Putin.Pope Francis had a video conference call with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in March of last year. Although the two had met in person in 2016, they have not met in person since the start of the war, despite talk that there would be a second summit. In Zelenskyy’s video message, the Ukrainian president also thanked the United States for the new military aid package to Ukraine. “This package includes missiles for air defense systems and HIMARS, artillery of 155 and 105 caliber, and additional armored vehicles,” Zelenskyy said. “Everything we need. Everything that helps tangibly.” 

A prayer meeting organized by the Taizé community. / Credit: Christian Pulfrich, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED, Wikimedia CNA Staff, Dec 29, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA). Pope Francis urged young people attending the 46th European Meeting organized by the ecumenical monastic community Taizé to “dare to build a different world, a world of listening, dialogue, and openness.”The European Meeting is an annual ecumenical Christian event that hosts several thousand young adults from across the world to gather and pray in a host city. This year the event is taking place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from Dec. 28 to Jan. 1. Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community founded in a small town in the Burgundy territory of France in 1940. Its focus is promoting faith and Christian unity among young people, many of whom participate in the community through retreats and other events.The group is also known for its distinctive chants, many of which have come to be used and recognized well beyond the community.The theme this year is “Journeying Together” and will feature personal reflection, singing, silence, and prayer.Young adults from England, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, South Korea, Japan, and several other nations participating in the event will stay with host families. In a letter to the attendees on behalf of Pope Francis, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Holy Father “expresses his closeness” to all. “The recent World Youth Days have enabled you to live, as Church and as community, the beautiful experience of friendship with God and with others,” he said.“You are the today of God, the today of the Church! The Church needs you in order to be fully herself. As Church, you are the body of the risen Lord present in the world,” he said.The message said that “we live in a world full of noise” that has “stifled” the value of “silence and listening.” Parolin invited the young people to “rediscover the deeper dimension of listening.”“Listening is an act of love. It is at the heart of trust. Without listening, little can grow or develop,” the message said.Parolin said that often the impression is given that “those who shout the loudest are worthy of being heard.” He said we live in a “difficult time” with conflicts and war “because no one listens anymore,” which has contributed to the increase in violence that we see today.“I urge you to dare to build a different world, a world of listening, dialogue, and openness, to ‘point to ideals other than those of this world, testifying to the beauty of generosity, service, purity, perseverance, forgiveness, fidelity to our personal vocation, prayer, the pursuit of justice and the common good, love for the poor, and social friendship,’” Parolin said, citing Pope Francis’ 2019 apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit.Parolin said: “One of the challenges you must face is that of walking together in order to work for the qualitative transformation of life in our societies.” He said that to walk together means “barring the way to marginalization, isolation, exclusion, and the