Pope Francis on Nov. 24, 2023, met with representatives, mayors, and religious leaders from areas in central Italy hit by devastating earthquakes between August 2016 and January 2017. / Credit: Vatican Media. Vatican City, Nov 24, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis said Friday one of the ways to address population decline is to make cities more sustainable, increasing the quality of life for those who live there.“Adopting appropriate criteria for sustainability is an important act of justice and charity, because it aims to meet needs without compromising the safety and survival of those around us and those who will come after us,” he said during a meeting in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace Nov. 24.He noted that the condition in many cities has become “unlivable” due to pollution, chaos, isolation, marginalization, and loneliness.Addressing these problems, the pope added, “means putting the person back at the center of the city: This is the way forward. It is the way that will be able to help also address the crises of depopulation and population decline by offering the opportunity to live in environments rich in all that the ancestors left behind, enhanced and embellished by a wise management for the community.”Pope Francis met with representatives, many of them town mayors, from central Italy, which was devastated by a series of powerful earthquakes between August 2016 and January 2017.He praised those present for their reconstruction efforts, especially the attention to climate change, sustainability, and respect for nature.Pope Francis will speak on the climate and related issues at the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he will travel Dec. 1–3. It will be Francis’ first time attending and addressing part of the 13-day conference.Climate issues and the environment have been a priority of Pope Francis’ pontificate.In October, he released his second major document on the topic, the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum (“Praise God”), in which he warned of “grave consequences” if humanity continues to ignore the threat of climate change.In his speech on Friday, Francis quoted from Laudate Deum, saying “there is no doubt that the impact of climate change will increasingly harm the lives of many people and families. We will feel the effects in terms of health, jobs, access to resources, housing, forced migration, and in other areas.”This is why, he added, it is important to implement the necessary measures to slow or stop climate change and to provide methods for coping with the changes that have already taken place.“Here, too, it is a matter of an open gaze, attentive to others and those who will come after us; we should not be discouraged by criticism or discontented people,” he said.

Pope Francis meets with families of the hostages taken by Hamas on Wed., Nov. 22, 2023. / Vatican Media Vatican City, Nov 22, 2023 / 12:21 pm (CNA). It’s been 47 days since Moshe Leimberg’s wife and 17-year-old daughter were taken hostage by Hamas.“We haven’t seen or heard anything since. It’s been 47 days. And I’m alone. Every day I wake up … and I wait a minute or two for the familiar sounds that I’m used to hearing and there’s nothing,” Leimberg said at a press conference in Rome on Nov. 22.“My family has been taken and my life is not what it was and it never will be again.” Leimberg was one of 12 family members of hostages being held in Gaza who met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday morning.In a separate meeting on the same day, the pope also met with 10 Palestinians, some of whom had family members die in air strikes on Gaza.Pope Francis’ meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian delegations occurred as news emerged that a four-day cease-fire agreement had been reached in which Hamas agreed to free at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.“I know that my son is not part of this exchange,” Evgeniia Kozlova told journalists after meeting the pope, noting that she does not know how long she will have to wait to hear if her child will ever return home.Rachel Goldberg, whose only son was kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, said that she hopes that the meeting with the pope will help bring more attention to hostages who are still waiting to be freed. “I think that the Holy Father has a lot of influence in the entire world. Aside from the 1.3 billion Catholics that certainly revere and respect him, I think he's very respected in the Muslim world, in the Jewish world, really, irrespective of religious background. And so I think when he speaks, the world really listens,” Goldberg told EWTN News.“The hostages come from almost 30 different countries. They span in age from nine months to 87 years old … and so this issue of the hostages is really a global humanitarian catastrophe and needs to be treated as such.”Goldberg’s son, Hersh, was celebrating his 23rd birthday at the music festival when Hamas fighters attacked and threw a grenade at the roadside bomb shelter where he had taken cover. Video footage shows that his arm was blown off during the attack.“We have since seen a video … of him and these two other boys being marched out of the bomb shelter and put onto a Hamas pickup truck, which then headed toward Gaza,” she said. “My heart has been buried in Gaza.”Goldberg said that she felt “embraced” by the pope and believes that “he will do everything he can to help us.”Other Israelis said that they felt hurt that the pope did not spend more than 20 minutes with the group and did

Pope Francis met with relatives of Palestinians living in Gaza on Wed., Nov. 22, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Nov 22, 2023 / 17:30 pm (CNA). Pope Francis received at the Vatican on Wednesday, separately and privately, a delegation of relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists, and another delegation of relatives of Palestinians who live in Gaza.The delegations consisted of 12 Israelis and 10 Palestinians who met with the Holy Father. In the meetings, each lasting 20 minutes, some of those affected by the war ravaging the Holy Land had the opportunity to tell their stories to the pontiff and express to him their desire for peace.Read CNA’s coverage of Pope Francis’ meeting with the families of Israeli hostages here.“This is terrorism”After the meetings, Pope Francis participated in the general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. At the end of his catechism, he referred to these meetings and stated “this is no longer war, this is terrorism.”He urged “persevering in prayer for all those who are suffering because of wars in so many parts of the world” especially for Ukraine and for Israel and Palestine.The Holy Father stated that he “heard how both (sides) suffer: wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars, this is not waging war, this is terrorism. Please, let us move forward for peace, let us pray for peace, let us pray a lot for peace.”“May the Lord put his hand there, may the Lord help us solve the problems and not continue with the passions that in the end kill everyone. We pray for the Palestinian people, we pray for the Israeli people, so that peace may come,” he prayed.The Vatican denies that the Pope spoke of “genocide”After the audience, both delegations held different press conferences to speak to the media about their meeting with Pope Francis.The members of the Palestine group talked about how the Israeli bombs had ended the lives of many of their relatives.They noted that the pontiff had referred to what is happening in Gaza as a “genocide” and that he had pointed out that “terrorism cannot be responded to with terrorism.”The director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, however, denied that the pontiff had spoken of “genocide,” and stated that he used “the terms with which he has expressed himself” during the general audience and words that in any case represent the terrible situation that Gaza is going through.”When asked by journalists, Shireen Halil, a Palestinian and Christian woman from Bethlehem, reiterated that they met with the Holy Father to “ask for peace and justice” and not to “manipulate the pope's words.”Halil noted that at the beginning of the audience they felt “astonished” by the amount of information the Holy Father knew about the conflict.Mohammed Halalo, who lives in Belgium, said that just a few days ago a bomb from an Israeli air strike fell on the building where his relatives lived. “My entire family has lost their lives in an instant,” he

Pope Francis' general audience of April 19, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA Vatican City, Nov 21, 2023 / 04:55 am (CNA). Pope Francis has expressed deep reservations about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany, warning that concrete steps currently being taken “threaten” to undermine unity with the universal Church.The pope made his criticisms in a letter to four German Catholic laywomen that was published in the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21.“There are indeed numerous steps being taken by significant segments of this local Church that threaten to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church’s common path,” the pope wrote.The letter, dated Nov. 10, was written in German and included the pope’s handwritten signature.Chief among the pope’s concerns is a push to set up a permanent “Synodal Council,” a mixed body of laity and bishops that would govern the Catholic Church in Germany. Establishing this council is a top priority for the German Synodal Way, a controversial initiative that has demanded significant changes in Church structure and teaching.In his letter, the pope underscored that this kind of “consultative and decision-making body” as currently proposed “is not in alignment with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church.” He referenced a Jan. 16 letter from high-ranking Vatican officials to German bishops, which he specifically authorized, that explicitly prohibited the establishment of the Synodal Council.A committee of Synodal Way leadership recently met on Nov. 10-11 in Essen to lay the groundwork for the Synodal Council, which they aim to establish no later than 2026.Four German bishops voted in June to block funding for the preparatory committee, and a total of eight out of 27 German ordinaries were absent from the Nov. 10-11 meeting.In his recent letter, Pope Francis proposed a different path forward for the Church in Germany.Instead of seeking “salvation” in “constantly evolving committees” or “self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes,” the pope underscored the need for the Catholic Church in Germany to be rooted in “prayer, penance, and adoration.” He also called upon German Catholics to “engage with our brothers and sisters” on the margins, especially the sick, imprisoned, and those “at the thresholds of our church doors.”“I firmly believe that in these places, the Lord will guide us,” Pope Francis wrote.The letter was addressed to the theologians Katharina Westerhorstmann and Marianne Schlosser, journalist Dorothea Schmidt, and the religious philosopher Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz. The four German laywomen had previously been delegates to the Synodal Way but resigned in February in protest. They wrote to the pope on Nov. 6 expressing their concerns about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany.In his response, the pope urged the four women to pray for him and “for our common cause of unity.”The German theologian Martin Brüske described the pope’s letter as a clear and forceful signal to halt the work of the synodal committee.“The flagship of Peter has given the German Church a broadside across the bow,” said Brüske in a statement provided by New Beginning, a group of German Catholics

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA Vatican City, Nov 21, 2023 / 08:25 am (CNA). Pope Francis has written a letter to four German Catholic laywomen expressing his “concerns” about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany. The following is CNA’s English translation of the full text of the German letter, signed by the pope on Nov. 10 and first published by the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21: From the Vatican, Nov. 10, 2023Dear Professor Westerhorstmann,Dear Professor Schlosser,Dear Professor Gerl-Falkovitz,Dear Mrs. Schmidt,I extend my gratitude for your kind letter dated Nov. 6. Your concerns regarding the current developments within the Church in Germany have reached me, and I share your concerns. There are indeed numerous steps being taken by significant segments of this local Church that threaten to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church's common path. This doubtlessly includes the establishment of the synodal committee you referenced. This committee aims to set up a consultative and decision-making body. However, as outlined in the corresponding resolution, its proposed structure is not in alignment with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church. Consequently, its formation was forbidden by the Holy See in a letter dated Jan. 16, 2023, which received my specific endorsement.In my “Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany,” I sought not to find “salvation” in constantly evolving committees, nor to persist in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes. Rather, I aimed to reemphasize the importance of prayer, penance, and adoration. I urged an openness and a call to action to engage with our brothers and sisters, especially those found at the thresholds of our church doors, in the streets, within prisons, hospitals, public squares, and cities (as mentioned in section 8). I firmly believe that in these places, the Lord will guide us.I commend your contributions to theology and philosophy and thank you for your witness to the Faith. May the Lord bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary keep you. I kindly ask that you continue to pray for me and for our shared commitment to unity.United in the Lord,Francis

Flags of the German Synodal Way hang outside conference center in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 9, 2023. / Credit: Jonathan Leidl/National Catholic Register Rome Newsroom, Nov 21, 2023 / 09:10 am (CNA). In a striking personal intervention, Pope Francis has written a letter to four German Catholic laywomen who quit the German Synodal Way earlier this year.In the letter, published in the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21, the pope expressed deep reservations about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany, warning that steps currently being taken “threaten” to undermine unity with the universal Church.Chief among the pope’s concerns is a push to establish a permanent “Synodal Council,” a mixed body of laity and bishops that would govern the Catholic Church in Germany.Since its launch by Cardinal Reinhard Marx in 2019, the German Synodal Way has courted controversy. Participants have voted in favor of proposals calling for the priestly ordination of women, same-sex blessings, and changes to Church teaching on homosexual acts, prompting accusations of heresy and fears of schism.This is not the first time Pope Francis and the Vatican have expressed reservations about the German Synodal Way, also sometimes called the Synodal Path. Here is a timeline of their interventions:2023November: Pope Francis responds to a letter from four prominent German women — theology professors Katharina Westerhorstmann and Marianne Schlosser, philosopher Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, and journalist Dorothea Schmidt — who announced they were quitting the German Synodal Way in February.“I, too, share concerns about the numerous concrete steps that large parts of this local Church are now taking that threaten to move further and further away from the common path of the universal Church,” he says in a letter sent four days after the one he received.January: In an interview with the Associated Press published Jan. 25, Pope Francis decries the German Synodal Way as elitist, unhelpful, and running the risk of bringing ideological harm to Church processes.The pope says the global synod’s aim was to “help this more elitist (German) path so that it does not end badly in some way but so is also integrated into the Church.”2022June: Pope Francis speaks about the Synodal Way in Germany in a conversation with the editors of Jesuit journals published on June 14.He says he had told the leader of Germany’s Catholic bishops, Bishop Georg Bätzing, the country already had “a very good evangelical church” and “we don’t need two.”“The problem arises when the Synodal Path comes from the intellectual, theological elites and is much influenced by external pressures. There are some dioceses where the Synodal Way is being developed with the faithful, with the people, slowly,” he says.July: The Holy See intervenes in the German Synodal Way on July 21, warning of a “threat to the unity of the Church.”“In order to safeguard the freedom of the people of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to clarify that the ‘Synodal Way’ in Germany does not have the power to compel bishops and the faithful to adopt

Pope Francis met with 30-year-old Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin who shared his story during a meeting at the pope’s Vatican City residence Casa Santa Marta on Nov. 17. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Nov 18, 2023 / 12:15 pm (CNA). Pope Francis had an emotional meeting on Friday with an African migrant whose wife and six-year-old daughter died while crossing a desert in Tunisia. With tears in his eyes, 30-year-old Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin shared his story during a meeting at the pope’s Vatican City residence Casa Santa Marta on Nov. 17.Pope Francis meets with Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin, a 30-year-old man from Cameroon who shared his story during a meeting at the pope’s Vatican City residence Casa Santa Marta on Nov. 17. Credit: Vatican MediaCrepin, who has come to be known in Italian media by his nickname "Pato," is originally from Cameroon but decided to leave his home country after his older sister was killed amid the violence of Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis.While staying at a migrant camp in Libya in 2016, he met his wife, Matyla, who was from the Ivory Coast. The two of them attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe five times, including while Matyla was pregnant, each time ending up in Libyan detention centers after their attempts failed. In July 2023, the couple decided to flee to Tunisia with the hope that their daughter, Marie, would have access to education there, but upon their arrival, they were beaten by Tunisian police who left them in a remote desert without water. Pope Francis meets with Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin, a 30-year-old man from Cameroon who shared his story of losing his wife and daughter during a meeting at the pope’s Vatican City residence Casa Santa Marta on Nov. 17. Credit: Vatican Media“We walked for at least one hour before I lost consciousness, my wife and my daughter started to cry. I asked them to leave and leave me because if they stay they will die with me so the best it was to catch up with the others and enter Libya,” Crepin told the organization Refugees in Libya.During the night, Sudanese strangers happened upon Crepin lying in the desert,  gave him water, and brought him back to Libya. But upon his return, he learned that his wife and daughter had not made it, but had died in the desert. Pope Francis told Crepin that he had prayed a lot for his wife and daughter after hearing their tragic story and offered his blessing. Pope Francis has emotional meeting with African migrant, Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin, who lost his wife and daughter crossing the desert in Tunisia. Credit: Vatican MediaCardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Service of Integral Human Development, Father Mattia Ferrari, a chaplain for Mediterranea Saving Humans, and representatives from other organizations that had helped facilitate Crepin’s arrival in Italy this year were also present at the meeting.According to a Vatican communique, Pope Francis “thanked those present for their efforts and recalled the privilege of being born in places where

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 Vatican City, Nov 18, 2023 / 09:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis will meet with the families of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas at his next Wednesday general audience, and he will also meet separately with a group of Palestinians with relatives suffering in Gaza.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has confirmed that the pope will meet with the Israeli and Palestinian delegations separately on Nov. 22 on the sidelines of his public audience in St. Peter’s Square. “With these meetings, which are exclusively humanitarian in nature, Pope Francis wants to show his spiritual closeness to the suffering of each person,” Bruni told journalists.Pope Francis has frequently prayed for peace in the Holy Land in his public audiences since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month. He has also repeatedly called for the hostages being held by Hamas to be freed and for the protection and humanitarian support of civilians in Gaza. In his Angelus address on Nov. 12, he said: “I am close to all those who are suffering, Palestinians and Israelis. I embrace them in this dark moment. And I pray for them a lot.”“In Gaza, let the wounded be rescued immediately, let civilians be protected, let far more humanitarian aid be allowed to reach that stricken population. May the hostages be freed, including the elderly and children,” Pope Francis said.“Every human being, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God, and has the right to live in peace.”About 240 people are being held hostage by Hamas, according to the United Nations. Four hostages have been released so far and another was freed by Israeli forces in October. The Israeli military said on Nov. 16 that troops had recovered two bodies of hostages, Yehudit Weiss, 65, and Noa Marciano, 19.Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has underlined that the Holy See views the release of the hostages and a ceasefire as fundamental steps in the resolution of the conflict. “The release of the hostages is one of the fundamental points for the solution of the current situation, taking into consideration the humanitarian aspects of those who are being held — men, women, children, newborns, pregnant women," Parolin said on Nov. 17, according to Reuters.“The other (fundamental point) is a ceasefire, taking into consideration the humanitarian aspects that come with it — the arrival of aid, curing the injured, and other aspects,” he said.

Bishop Yao Shun of Jining and Bishop Yang Yongqiang of Zhouchun (right) of the People's Republic of China at the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican in October 2023. / Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Nov 17, 2023 / 11:56 am (CNA). A Chinese bishop who attended the Synod on Synodality assembly has spoken out about his experience, saying he was cheered to meet Catholics from all over the world and to discover that many showed great interest in and were praying for the Church in China.Bishop Antonio Yao Shun of Jining was the first bishop consecrated in China under the terms of the Sino-Vatican agreement. He was one of two bishops from mainland China who participated in the first half of the synod assembly in October before suddenly departing early without explanation. In an interview with the Pontifical Mission Societies’ information service, Agenzia Fides, published on Nov. 16, Yao said that he was very grateful to Pope Francis for inviting him and Bishop Joseph Yang to attend the synod.“We were very happy to meet all these bishops, priests, men and women of different religious and lay orders from all over the world during the synod. Everyone was friendly and cheerful. They welcomed us and showed us their consideration,” Yao said.“They all showed interest in the development of the Church in China, eager to know more and to pray for us.”Yao is the bishop of Jining, located in China’s northern Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia. Born in Ulanqab in 1965, he is a native of Inner Mongolia. He both studied and taught at the national seminary in Beijing. In the interview, the Chinese bishop shared a little bit about his Catholic roots and vocation story.“I was born into a Catholic family. My parents and grandparents were very devout and faithful. It is with them that I began to walk in faith and received many graces from God,” he said.Yao described how the greatest influence on his vocation came from an elderly priest. “His virtues and his selfless dedication to the Church inspired me,” he said.“Meanwhile, my parents’ encouragement and support further strengthened my will and determination to pursue the path of the priesthood.”After his ordination in 1991, Yao completed a degree in liturgy in the United States at St. John’s University in Minnesota from 1994 to 1998. He also spent some time pursuing biblical studies in Jerusalem.He went on to serve as the secretary and later vice director of the liturgical commission overseen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Council of Chinese Bishops, returning to the Diocese of Jining to serve as vicar general in 2010.The New York Times reported in 2019 that the Vatican had approved Yao as the successor of Bishop John Liu Shigong in the Diocese of Jining in 2010, but the Chinese government refused to approve him, even after Bishop Liu died in 2017 at the age of 89. Yao said that it is his impression that the “prevailing opinion” in China is that the provisional agreement signed

null / Credit: balipadma/Shutterstock Rome Newsroom, Nov 17, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA). The Vatican announced this week that it was partnering with the auto manufacturer Volkswagen as part of its broader initiative “Ecological Conversion 2030” to introduce an all-electric, zero-impact car fleet in the Vatican by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, a goal established by the pontiff in 2020. “The Volkswagen Group, which aims to become a zero-carbon company by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicles by 30% by 2030, is the first strategic partner for the project to renew the car fleet of the state with Volkswagen and Škoda brand cars through the medium and long-term rental formula,” according to the official press release of the governorate of Vatican City State. The Vatican’s efforts are not limited to overhauling its fleet but will also include the construction of its own network of charging stations for electric vehicles, both in Vatican City State as well as in the extraterritorial areas, a reforestation program, and the importation of energy coming exclusively from renewable sources — the last of which was achieved in 2019, according to Vatican News. Pope Francis has made ecological conservation one of the defining themes of his pontificate. But the pope has often lamented the tepid response from developed countries in implementing measures to curb the most dramatic effects of anthropogenic climate change, despite the actions called for by international treaties such as the 2015 Paris Climate Accords. In October of this year the Holy Father released the second installment to his seminal 2015 climate encyclical Laudato Si’. In the October apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, the pope criticized climate change skeptics and warned that “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”In October the pope received Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, president-designate of the United Nations’ COP28 UAE, at the Vatican to discuss the role that faith leaders and faith-based organizations can play in promoting the U.N.’s climate objectives. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is an annual meeting among U.N. member states and nonstate organizations to discuss common goals and measures to help reduce global carbon output and make the transition to renewable energy sources. Earlier this month the pope announced that he would be attending COP28, making history as the first pope to do so since the conference began in 1995. COP28 will be held at Dubai’s Expo City from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, though the pope will only be there for three days, from Dec. 1–3.