Pope Francis receives Catholic Biblical Federation

Pope Francis addresses the Catholic Biblical Federation, June 19, 2015 - OSS_ROM

19/06/2015 14:42

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Biblical Federation on Friday. The CBF is a worldwide association of Episcopal Conferences and more than 200 Catholic Biblical institutions, representatives of which are gathered in the small town of Nemi near Rome from June 18^th-23^rd to explore Sacred Scripture as a source of evangelization, especially in light of the passage from the 1^st Letter of St. John (1:3): “What we have seen and heard we are proclaiming to you.”
Putting aside his prepared remarks for the occasion, which he nevertheless delivered in written form, Pope Francis reflected on two characteristics of Biblical evangelizers and teachers of the faith: parrhesia or ‘frankness’; hypomone or ‘patience’.
For his extemporaneous remarks, Pope Francis drew on the Mass reading of the day, which came from the 2^nd Letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, in which St. Paul lists the hardships and trials he has faced in service of the Gospel, only to conclude that his weakness is his only vaunt (cf. 2 Cor 11:30). Pope Francis also recalled St. Paul's insistence that his only glory is the Cross of Christ (cf. Gal. 6:14). “This is a Church that is outward-bound,” said Pope Francis, “a martyrial Church: it is a Church that goes through the streets, that goes out on its way.” The Holy Father went on to say, “Accidents happen along the way – as they might to anyone who undertakes a journey – but I prefer a Church wounded in [such an] accident, to a Church that is sick from being closed up and turned in on herelf – a Church with both frankness and patience: the patience that knows how to bear herself up under [adverse] circumstances, and also the tenderness to carry on its shoulders those wounded faithful, who have been put in her charge.”
This 9^th Plenary Assembly of the CBF is the first over which the Federation’s new president, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, is presiding, after being elected to succeed Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, who led the organization for more than a dozen years, starting in 2002.

Pope Francis’ Prayer for Jubilee Year of Mercy

A prelate reads from the papal bull or decree with which Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee Year of Mercy - AP

06/05/2015 13:33

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has composed a special prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy which will run from 8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016. In the prayer, the Holy Father entreats the Lord to make the Jubilee of Mercy a year of grace so that the Church, “with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.”

Below, we publish the text of Pope Francis’ prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,
you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.