null / Credit: Carlos Perez via Cathopic Rome Newsroom, Dec 14, 2023 / 13:50 pm (CNA). The Vatican’s doctrine office published a letter on Thursday confirming that single mothers can receive Communion after going to confession and urging the need for further “pastoral work” in parts of the world where single mothers might still face harsh judgment. In the letter signed on Dec. 13, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández underlined that women who chose life and face difficulties because of this choice should be “encouraged to have access to the healing and consoling power of the sacraments.”“Pastoral work should be done in the local Church to make people understand that being a single mother does not prevent that person from accessing the Eucharist,” Fernández wrote.“As for all other Christians, sacramental confession of sins allows the person to approach Communion. The ecclesial community should, furthermore, value the fact that single mothers welcomed and defended the gift of life they carried in their wombs and struggle, every day, to raise their children.”The prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote the letter in response to an email he received from a Latin American bishop, noting that Pope Francis had also received several letters from laypeople on the same topic. Bishop Ramón Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera expressed concern in the email to the prefect that some single mothers in his diocese in the Dominican Republic abstained from Communion “out of fear of the rigorism of the clergy and community leaders.”In his response, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office cited a homily given by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2012 before he was elected pope. “There are priests who do not baptize the children of single mothers because [the children] were not conceived in the sanctity of marriage. They are the hypocrites of today,” Bergoglio said in the homily in September 2012.“They have clericalized the Church. They turn God’s people away from salvation. And that poor girl who could have sent her child back to the sender but had the courage to bring him into the world goes on pilgrimage from parish to parish to have him baptized.”Fernández also claimed that many in the Church emphasize Jesus’ words to the adulterous woman, “sin no more” (cf. Jn 8:1–11), when “this phrase does not constitute the central message of this Gospel pericope, which is simply the invitation to recognize that no one can cast the first stone.”“Indeed, there are ‘difficult situations’ that need to be discerned and accompanied pastorally. It can occur that one of these mothers, given the fragility of her situation, sometimes resorts to selling her body to support her family,” Fernández wrote.“The Christian community is called to do everything possible to help her avoid this very serious risk rather than judge her harshly. For this reason, ‘the Church’s pastors, in proposing to the faithful the full ideal of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, must also help them to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding

Ana de Lobera y Torres (1545-1621), better known by her religious name Sister Ana de Jesús, helped expand the Discalced Carmelites to France and Belgium. Painting in the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, Brussels, ca. 1650. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Vatican City, Dec 14, 2023 / 10:55 am (CNA). More than 400 years after her death, Pope Francis has recognized a miracle attributed to Carmelite Sister Ana de Jesús, a spiritual daughter of St. Teresa of Ávila and a friend to St. John of the Cross.In a decree signed on Dec. 14, Pope Francis authorized the beatification of Ana de Lobera y Torres (1545-1621), better known by her religious name Sister Ana de Jesús, who helped to expand the Discalced Carmelites to France and Belgium.Ana was orphaned at the age of 9 and in 1569 in the city of Toledo was introduced to St. Teresa, who saw Ana’s virtues and invited her to join the Carmelites. Ana and Teresa went on to form a strong bond and even shared a cell in the Salamanca monastery while Teresa was writing “The Book of the Foundations.”After Teresa’s death, Ana collected together all her literary works and sent them to a friar to be published. She continued Teresa’s legacy by founding new monasteries in France in Paris, Pontoise, and Dijon, and in Brussels.St. Thérèse of Lisieux later wrote in her spiritual autobiography “Story of a Soul” that Ana de Jesús had appeared to her in a dream and let her know that she would soon be able to go to heaven: “Without the least hesitation, I recognized Venerable Anne of Jesus, foundress of the Carmel in France. Her face was beautiful but with an immaterial beauty.”St. John of the Cross wrote the opening commentary on his “Spiritual Canticle” at Sister Ana’s request and entrusted the document to her while he was imprisoned in Toledo.Pope Francis advanced Ana’s cause for beatification on the feast of St. John of the Cross.The pope also recognized a miracle attributed to a Mexican priest, Father Moisés Lira Serafín (1893-1950), whose intercession healed an unborn child of fetal hydrops in 2004, according to the Vatican.Lira served as a priest amid the religious persecution during Mexico’s Cristero War. He expanded his clandestine apostolate in 1926 by forming groups of catechists to encourage young people in their faith. Lira went on to found the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity of Mary Immaculate in 1934.In Thursday’s decree, Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of five priests and one seminarian.Father Luigi Carrara, Father Giovanni Didonè, and Father Vittorio Faccin were Xaverian missionary priests from Italy serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo who were martyred by anti-religious guerrillas in the Kwilu Rebellion in 1964. Father Albert Joubert, a local diocesan priest born to a French father and African mother, was killed along with them.The pope also approved the martyrdom of Ján Havlík, a Slovak seminarian who was arrested and tortured by the communist government and sentenced to 10 years of forced labor

Pope Francis / Credit: Compañía de Jesús and ACI Press / Daniel Ibañez CNA Newsroom, Dec 13, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA). On Dec. 13, 1969, just four days before his 33rd birthday, Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio — who today is Pope Francis — was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano, archbishop emeritus of Córdoba, Argentina.That Dec. 13, 54 years ago, was a Saturday, the eve of the third Sunday of Advent. In the liturgy of the Church this day is known as Gaudete or Joy Sunday. According to the book “The Jesuit: Conversations with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio,” Francis discovered his vocation to the priesthood while on his way to celebrate Gaudete Day.When he passed by a church in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Flores to go to confession, he received special inspiration from the priest who welcomed him.On another occasion, the Holy Father recounted that initially his mother did not support his decision to enter the priesthood, even though she was a devout Catholic. However, when her son was ordained, she accepted his call and asked for his blessing at the end of the ceremony.Bergoglio continued his Jesuit formation from 1970 to 1971 in Spain. On April 22, 1973, he made his perpetual profession in the Society of Jesus.When he returned to Argentina he served as a professor at the San José School of Theology in the town of San Miguel (on the outskirts of the city of Buenos Aires), rector of the college, and on July 31, 1973, at the age of 36, he was appointed provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina.On May 20, 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, and he received his episcopal consecration on June 27 of that year from the local archbishop, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino.Bergoglio was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires on June 3, 1997. He assumed the pastoral government of the archdiocese in February 1998 upon the death of Quarracino.Then, in the consistory of Feb. 21, 2001, he was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.As a cardinal he participated in the conclave that elected Benedict XVI in April 2005, and on March 13, 2013, he was elected successor of Peter, assuming the name Francis.This article was originally published on Dec. 13, 2022, and has been updated.

Pope Francis speaks at his general audience Dec. 13, 2023, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 13, 2023 / 10:10 am (CNA). Pope Francis has said that he wants to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome because of his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.In a new interview broadcast on the Mexican television program “N+” on Tuesday night, the pope revealed that he has already made plans for his funeral and burial.Pope Francis, who turns 87 on Sunday, said that he has been working with the Vatican’s master of ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to simplify the Church’s papal funeral rites.“We simplified them quite a bit,” Francis told Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki.He said that a “place is already prepared” for his burial in one of the oldest and most important Marian shrines in the West.“I want to be buried in St. Mary Major,” Francis said. “Because of my great devotion.”Pope Francis would be the first pope to be buried outside of the Vatican’s grotto crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica in more than a century. (Pope Leo XIII was buried in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in 1903.)The last pope to have been buried in St. Mary Major was Clement IX, who died in 1669. He is one of six popes buried in the Marian basilica.Pope Francis has made more than 100 visits to the Basilica of St. Mary Major since becoming pope. He visits the basilica to venerate the icon known as the “Salus Populi Romani” — “Mary, Protection of the Roman People” — before and after every international trip. Recently, Pope Francis placed a Golden Rose before the icon on Dec. 8.In the interview, Francis recalled how he would also regularly visit the Marian basilica before he was pope on Sundays when he was in Rome, underlining his strong connection with the basilica.The interview, taped on Dec. 12 before Pope Francis presided over a Mass to mark the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was the pope’s first interview since slowing down his schedule due to a bout of acute bronchitis. “I feel good, I feel improved. Sometimes I’m told I’m imprudent because I feel like doing things and moving around. But I guess those are good signs, no? I am quite well,” Francis said.Pope Francis said that he now faces some “limits” in his ability to travel and that his international trips have to be “rethought.” The pope confirmed that he plans to visit Belgium in 2024 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the country’s two main Catholic universities. He added that trips to somewhere in Polynesia and his native Argentina are also “pending.”In the interview, Pope Francis said that he has never thought of resigning like his predecessor Benedict XVI but is open to the possibility.“I ask the Lord to say enough, at some point, but when he wants me to,” he said.When asked if he has become “more tough” since Benedict XVI’s death, the pope

Pope Francis speaks at his general audience Dec. 13, 2023, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 13, 2023 / 09:38 am (CNA). Pope Francis on Wednesday closed his catechetical series on apostolic zeal, delivered during his recent general audiences, by noting that the attitude of being open is a duty for every Christian and a precondition for authentically announcing the Gospel. “The Christian must be open to the Word of God and to the service of others,” the pope said during the audience. He went on to juxtapose this notion of openness with a mentality of “closure,” noting that the latter contradicts the central message of the Gospel and allows for people to fall into ideological ways of thinking. Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience Dec. 13, 2023, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Elizabeth Alva/EWTN“Closed Christians always end up badly, because they are not Christians, they are ideologues, ideologues of closure,” the pope said.The pope highlighted this openness by pointing to the Gospel of Mark when Jesus performs the miracle of healing a deaf-mute man, using “the decisive word” of “effatà,” which the Holy Father noted means “open up” in Aramaic.Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience Dec. 13, 2023, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media“And for this reason, this effatà, this ‘open up,’ is an invitation to all of us to open up,” he continued. While acknowledging the condition of “physical deafness,” the pope noted that in the biblical context it assumes a metaphorical character, conveying that “one who is deaf to the word of God is mute, who does not communicate the word of God.” Pope Francis blesses a pregnant women during his Dec. 13, 2023, general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican MediaPointing out that it is Jesus “who is capable of opening his ears and mouth,” the pope noted that this mandate to be open in evangelizing comes for all Christians at the moment of baptism when the priest, “touching the ears and lips of the baptized person,” says: “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf hear and the mute speak, grant you to quickly listen to his word and profess your faith.” “We too, who have received the effatà of the Spirit in baptism, are called to open ourselves. ‘Open yourself,’ says Jesus to every believer and to his Church: Open yourself because the message of the Gospel needs you to be witnessed and announced,” Francis continued. Pilgrims cheer during Pope Francis' general audience on Dec. 13, 2023, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Elizabeth Alva/EWTNThe Holy Father closed his remarks by suggesting that before becoming a witness to the Gospel, it is critical to have a moment of reflection and ask ourselves a series of key questions. “Do I really love the Lord, to the point of wanting to announce him? Do I want to become his witness or am I content with being his

Bishops process into St. Peter's Basilica for the closing Mass of the first assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 29, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 12, 2023 / 12:45 pm (CNA). Pope Francis will provide input on the “big questions” to focus on at the next session of the Synod on Synodality next October, the Vatican revealed in a new document Tuesday.Examples include questions related to the ordination of women to the diaconate, revisions to canon law pertaining to the Oriental Churches, and a review of the Vatican document Ratio Fundamentalis, which serves as the basis for the formation of priests and deacons.Those were among the topics deemed “matters of great relevance” that came up during the synod’s first session in October and require consideration “at the level of the whole Church and in collaboration with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” according to the new document.A list of these topics will be sent to Pope Francis for review, and the pope will indicate sometime in January which topics require further study. The new document does not detail who the experts are or how they will be selected.Released on Dec. 12 by the General Secretariat of the Synod, the Vatican office coordinating the ongoing synodal consultative process, the four-page document, titled “Towards October 2024,” details “the steps to be taken in the months between now and the Second Session of the Synodal Assembly.” The first monthlong session of the Synod on Synodality, a multiyear process initiated by Pope Francis to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church, concluded on Oct. 29 with the finalization of a 42-page synthesis report. The October 2024 session is expected to produce a final report, which will be presented to Pope Francis for his consideration in issuing any related teaching. The new document calls for feedback on the synthesis document from local and national levels. Emphasizing that this is not to be construed as a “a question of starting the synodal process from scratch or repeating the process of listening and consultation undertaken during the first stage,” it notes that “each local Church is invited to focus on those aspects that enable it to make a contribution in the light of its own situation, character, and experience, sharing good practices that represent visible and concrete signs of synodality.”According to the document, this process will be a moment for dioceses to reflect on the “fundamental questions” that are to be guided by the central aim of the synod’s central question: “How can we be a synodal Church in mission?”“The local Churches are also invited to go through the entire Synthesis Report and collect the requests that are most consonant with their situation,” the document states. “On this basis, they will be able to promote the most appropriate initiatives to involve the whole people of God.”Once this process is complete, these various reports submitted by the dioceses will be compiled into an eight-page document and sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod

Cardinal-elect Víctor Manuel Fernández was appointed by Pope Francis on July 1, 2023, to become the next prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of La Plata Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2023 / 11:36 am (CNA). Under certain circumstances, it may be permissible for a Catholic to keep a small portion of a deceased loved one’s ashes in a personal place of significance if some conditions are met, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.The guidance came from a letter written by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who serves as the prefect for the dicastery. The recently published letter was sent in response to an inquiry from Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy.According to Fernández, the ecclesiastical authority may consider and evaluate a request from a deceased person’s family “to preserve in an appropriate way a minimal part of the ashes of their relative in a place of significance for the history of the deceased person.”However, this can only be the case if the family rejects “every type of pantheistic, naturalistic, or nihilistic misunderstanding,” the letter emphasized. It added that the ashes of the deceased “are [to be] kept in a sacred place.”“The ashes of the deceased person … come from the material remains that were part of the person’s historical journey — so much so that the Church shows particular care and devotion concerning the relics of the saints,” Fernández added. “This attention and remembrance also leads us to have an attitude of sacred respect toward the ashes of the deceased, which we conserve in a sacred place suitable for prayer, sometimes located near the churches visited by the family and neighbors of the deceased.”The cardinal also said that it is permissible for the commingled ashes of deceased and baptized persons to be set aside in a permanent sacred place if the names of the person are indicated so as to not lose memory of them. In explaining Church regulations for the preservation of cremated ashes, Fernández cited a 2016 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith document that prohibits the spreading of ashes and requires that ashes be kept in a sacred place designated by ecclesiastical authority. The cardinal noted that these regulations are still valid. “The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the Christian community” in the case of cremation, according to the instruction Ad Resurgendum Cum Christo, Regarding the Burial of the Deceased and the Conservation of the Ashes in the Case of Cremation, which the cardinal cited in his letter.“It prevents the faithful departed from being forgotten, or their remains from being shown a lack of respect, which eventuality is possible, most especially once the immediately subsequent generation has too passed away,” the 2016 document adds. “Also it prevents any unfitting or superstitious practices.”Fernández in his letter this month referenced the Catholic doctrine

null / Oleksandr Kniaziev / Shutterstock ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 12, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis received in an audience on Monday the members of the Office of the Auditor General, a Vatican body established by the Holy Father to implement some financial reforms in continuity with the work already begun by Benedict XVI.The auditor general is in charge of auditing the accounts of the dicasteries of the Vatican Curia and the other institutions under the Holy See and the Vatican City State.In his Dec. 11 talk, the pontiff highlighted three aspects and values that characterize this office: independence, attention to international practices, and professionalism.IndependenceThe Holy Father noted that this office “is not organizationally under other bodies,” which involves “responsibility for operating in a manner that is always well-considered and inspired by the highest principle of charity.”He stressed that “it is important that the spirit of fraternal correction always guide you, even when it is necessary to point out accounting and administrative practices that do not conform to the rules and situations to be corrected.”“Let us remember these words that accompany correction: love and fatherhood, always, without giving in to the temptation of simple self promotion,” he noted.The Holy Father encouraged them to collaborate with the other dicasteries of the Curia, especially with the financial agencies, avoiding “competition that can easily turn into rivalry.”Attention to international practicesAs a second aspect, Pope Francis highlighted the importance of maintaining attention to international practices.He thus urged “promoting the application of the best [practices], promoting equity and alignment with the rest of the international community, as long as the norms do not contradict the teachings of the Church.”ProfessionalismFinally, he cited the need for constant training to acquire a certain professionalism, “a moral obligation for you to keep up to date with the constant evolution of the numerous and complex standards that govern auditing.”“Certainly,” the pontiff continued, “those who work in the Holy See and in Vatican City State do so with fidelity and honesty, but the lure of corruption is so dangerous that we must be vigilant.”For the Holy Father, this must be addressed “firmly and at the same time mercifully,” since “scandals serve more to fill the pages of newspapers than to thoroughly correct behavior.”Finally, he invited the members of Office of the Auditor General to help those responsible for the administration of the assets of the Holy See “to create safeguards” that can prevent “the very insidiousness of corruption” from materializing.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis meets with the prefects of the Italian Republic in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on Dec. 11, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 11, 2023 / 16:50 pm (CNA). Pope Francis on Monday received the prefects of the Italian Republic in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace and expressed his concern about the low birth rate in the country, lamenting that many times “dogs take the place of children.”The pope reminded that the task of these government authorities is to act as intermediaries “between the state and the territory, constantly linking the whole with the parts, the center with the peripheries, the common good with care for people.”The pontiff highlighted three challenges that the prefects face: public order, critical environmental issues, and taking care of the migrants flowing in.Regarding public order, the pontiff stressed that it’s a priority, where “respect for the law with care for humanity” must be combined.He stressed that “the protection of victims with the fair treatment of criminals” must be reconciled.“Added to this is the great responsibility you have to face the risks that members of the police forces face daily, whose care is also your concern,” he continued.Pope Francis also noted that “public order cannot be administered without personal and interior order. But when this exists, the responsibility of public order feels like a call to create that climate of harmonious coexistence through which difficulties can be addressed and resolved.”“I would say that yours is a kind of institutional fatherhood: exercised with conscience and dedication, it spares no sacrifices nor sleepless nights and deserves our gratitude,” he said.Later, Pope Francis reflected on the environmental issue and the “emergencies that are now frequent and involve everyone; linked to atmospheric phenomena that should be unusual and extraordinary, they have become common due to climate change.”The pope noted that it is the prefects’ responsibility to “manage the available resources in the best possible way and bring together public and private players.”“It’s important and urgent,” he stressed, “in the present as well as in the future, to join forces to protect our common home in time and with foresight.”Finally, he spoke of the flow of migrants into the country, a task that “is not easy, because the care of wounded and vulnerable people, often lost and recovering from terrible traumas, is entrusted to them.”The Holy Father reminded that migrants “are faces and not numbers,” who must be freed “from the tentacles of criminal organizations, capable of ruthlessly speculating on their misfortunes.”“You are entrusted with the arduous task of organizing an orderly reception on the ground, based on integration and constructive inclusion in the local fabric,” he highlighted.The pope also noted that “we must take care. We must welcome, accompany, promote, and integrate immigrants. If there isn’t this, there is danger; if there is not this path towards integration, there is danger.”He also highlighted his concern about the low birth rate in Italy, “a country that lacks children and the migrants come.”“I

Pope Francis delivers his Angelus message on Dec. 10, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 10, 2023 / 10:40 am (CNA). Pope Francis highlighted the importance of listening to God by embracing the example of John the Baptist, “the voice of one crying in the desert,” during his Angelus message on the second Sunday of Advent. While the desert is “an empty place, where you do not communicate,” it was an important backdrop for John’s ministry as it represents a place of encounter where we can authentically “listen to God,” the pope said to the nearly 25,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Dec. 10. Noting that the image of the barren desert as a place of preaching may “seem like two contradictory images,” they are in fact reconciled through the figure of John the Baptist as his voice “is linked to the genuineness of his experience and the clarity of his heart.”The pope also noted that the desert is a “place of silence and essentials, where someone cannot afford to dwell on useless things but needs to concentrate on what is indispensable in order to live.” The desert does not hold a central place in the biblical context, he said, but it is an allegory for us today as a place of contemplation and encounter with God and provides an example for living a good life. “To proceed on the journey of life, we need to be stripped of the ‘more,’ because to live well does not mean being filled with useless things, but being freed from the superfluous, to dig deeply within ourselves so as to hold on to what is truly important before God.” “Only if, through silence and prayer, we make space for Jesus, who is the word of the Father, will we know how to be freed from the pollution of vain words and chatter,” Francis observed. Following the recitation of the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father commemorated the anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. Noting that the 30-article document was a watershed moment that ushered in new norms and a universalized set of fundamental rights, he warned that there was a risk of going “backwards.”“The commitment to human rights is never finished! In this regard, I am close to all those who, without proclamations, in concrete everyday life, fight and pay personally to defend the rights of those who do not count,” the pope exclaimed. The pope also took a moment to draw attention to a recent prisoner exchange between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan. “I watch with great hope at this positive sign for relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, for peace in the South Caucasus, and I encourage the parties and their leaders to conclude the peace treaty as soon as possible,” the pontiff said. The prisoner exchange, which was announced by both governments on Thursday, Dec. 8, saw two Azerbaijani and 32 Armenian detainees exchanged and has been a major breakthrough in the relations between the two