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Pope Francis Delivers Message of Mercy to Crowd of 300,000 VATICAN CITY, March 17, 2013 Before an astounding crowd of some 300,000 in and around St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis today delivered his first angelus as pontiff, urging the faithful to be merciful and forgiving. Hours earlier, the humility and spontaneity of the 76-year-old Argentine was on display when he greeted onlookers near the edge of Vatican City. As the pope was entering a mass in St. Anna Parish, he decided to stop and greet a crowd of people awaiting his arrival. Walking up to the crowd, Francis shook hands,...

The Massachusetts Board of Education recently issued formal “guidance” to the state’s public schools, telling them how to implement new laws protecting against gender identity discrimination. The Board of Education insists that schools must not only provide equal access to educational activities programs but also proactively “create a culture” that would make gender-nonconforming and transgender kids “feel safe, supported, and fully included.” The result? Transgender children must be allowed to use the restrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex, if they so choose. Teachers will “work with” other students who object to the invasion of privacy, helping them over...

March 16, 2013, Saturday — Black Shoes“First of all I would say a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus Benedict XVI. Let us all pray together for him, that the Lord bless him and Our Lady protect him.” –Pope Francis, asking all to pray for Emeritus Pope Benedict, during his first public words after his election on March 13, 2013It is now official. Pope Francis, 76, will go to Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles outside of Rome, to meet Emeritus Pope Benedict, 85, on March 23, next Saturday, one week from today. It will be their first meeting since Benedict renounced...

The selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina to be the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church is being seen as a move that will continue to cement Catholic-Jewish relations and perhaps end the debate over the ChurchÂ’s actions during World War II. Bergoglio, 76, who took the name Francis and is the first Jesuit ever to be chosen pope, has publicly called for the opening of the Vatican archives to learn the true role Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust. There have been allegations that Pope Pius XII, who is on track to be canonized by the...

When he said Mass for the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, newly elected Pope Francis I warned these princes of the church against professing what he called “the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.” “Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil,” Francis said, quoting Leon Bloy, a French writer who died in 1917, and who converted from agnosticism to Catholicism. “When we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord,”...

The first 48 hours of the pontificate of Pope Francis have given the world a foretaste of what it is going to be like to have a Jesuit priest for the first time in history as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholic believers. Minutes after the election result was declared in the Sistine Chapel, a Vatican official called the Master of Ceremonies offered to the new Pope the traditional papal red cape trimmed with ermine that his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI gladly wore on ceremonial occasions. "No thank you, Monsignore," Pope Francis is reported to have replied. "You...

The Catholic Answers staff was gathered in the small office library, lights dimmed, EWTN feed from St. Peter’s Square projected onto the blank wall. We did our best to break up the nervous wait with jokes and chatter, and with last-minute predictions and side bets. Then, finally, the balcony curtains opened and we all cheered as Cardinal Tauran stepped out to confirm what the smoke and bells had already announced: We had a pope.Then a hush. We strained through our meager Latin to catch the name, but when it came—Bergoglio—the silence persisted. Who? That wasn’t one of the names...

Why believers of all stripes should care about the new head of the Catholic Church.When the new pope is consecrated, he will inherit a troubled global church. Internal scandal and unaddressed external problems pose great risks to the vitality of Catholicism. But the consequences of success or failure are huge for the church universal, the world's 2.1 billion Christians of every denomination. This is more than a butterfly effect. Rome is not Las Vegas—what happens in Rome will not stay within the borders of Vatican City. One consequence of globalization is that the walls that have long divided Catholics from...

Listers, habemus papam Franciscum. The world was stunned and the pundits proved wrong as the Argentinian Jesuit walked out on the Loggia of St. Peter’s. In a soft but strong voice, Pope Francis gave his first words as the Vicar of Christ: Brothers and sisters good evening.You all know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the earth to get him… but here we are. I thank you for the welcome that has come from the diocesan community of Rome.First of all...

A South African cardinal who helped elect Pope Francis has described paedophilia as a psychological illness and not "a criminal condition". The Catholic Archbishop of Durban, Wilfrid Fox Napier, said that people who were abused as children and became paedophiles were not criminally responsible for their actions in the same way as somebody "who chooses to do something like that". Cardinal Napier, who was among the 115 cardinals in the conclave at the Vatican that elected Pope Francis earlier this week, called paedophilia a "psychological disorder". He said: "What do you do with disorders? You have got to try and...

Pope Francis speaks to 5,000 journalists at Paul VI Hall. Credit: Estefania Aguirre Vatican City, Mar 16, 2013 / 08:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told thousands of journalists today he loved them and thanked them for their recent work. “I love you so much and I thank you for all that you have done,” Pope Francis told over 5,000 journalists today at Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. “We aren’t called to communicate about ourselves, but on this trinity of truth, goodness and beauty,” he told the journalists at 11:00 a.m. local time. The newly elected Pope from...

Posted by Ann Barnhardt - March 16, AD 2013 8:08 PM MST Here is the full video of Pope Francis' first Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The consecration of the Host happens at 51:47. The consecration of the Chalice happens at 52:32. I cannot believe I am about to type these words. The Pope DID NOT GENUFLECT after either consecration. He did a weird bow thing, but didn't feel the need to bend his knee to God Almighty, physically present in his hands upon the altar. HE. DID. NOT. GENUFLECT. This is absolutely stunning. And unprecedented. Oh yeah, we're in...

Sitting in his workshop in San Telmo, pencil in hand, goldsmith Juan Carlos Pallarols drafts one of his most meaningful works of art: a chalice that will be delivered to “Pope Jorge” on behalf of all Argentines. Pallarols knows that this is not just another piece amongst his many other works that have earned him the reputation of being one of the best goldsmiths in the world. This is special. “It’s a particular gift, it’s for a friend, for a good man, but this is not just a gift coming from me. It comes from the Argentine population,” he said,...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The focus of Pope Francis' papacy began to emerge Saturday as he offered some intimate insights into the conclave that elected him pontiff, describing how he was immediately inspired to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi because he wants to see a church that is "for the poor." His comments provided further evidence that this first Latin American papacy would be one that looks beyond the confines of the church itself to the most disadvantaged, named for a 13th-century friar who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and simplicity and...

Evangelist Luis Palau, who knows and has prayed together with Pope Francis on several occasions, called the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics a friend of evangelicals who is respectful of all sides of Christianity. "I exploded," Palau told oregonlive.com, of his reaction after his son, Kevin Palau, president of the Luis Palau Association, shared the news that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected pope this week. "I just couldn't believe it. In the last election, he was in the running but he told me he felt led by God to remove himself from the...

Rome Reports that Pope Francis has ordered Cardinal Bernard Law to stay away from the Basilica of St. Mary Major and is about to ship him off to a monastery are “completely and totally false,” according to a Vatican spokesperson.During a press briefing on Thursday about Pope Francis’ visit to St. Mary Major, one of the four pontifical basilicas in Rome, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Law had briefly greeted Francis and then exited the scene.The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, however, reported that Francis had told Law to stop appearing in public at the basilica, where he retired...

Cardinal Bernard Law in 2008. Boston Catholics (myself included) were rooting for Cardinal Sean O’Malley to ascend to the throne of St. Peter this week. That didn’t pan out, as we all know, but maybe Catholics there received something of a consolation prize.The British tabloid The Daily Mail writes that Italian media is reporting that Boston’s disgraced former archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, 82, is being banished from his cushy residence by Pope Francis: But first days are all about making a good impression – even when you’re the Pope.So when the appearance of a disgraced cardinal threatened to cast a...

Rome (CNN) -- The new pope gave an insight into his choice of the name Francis in an audience with journalists Saturday -- and said how he wished for a church that was both poor and "for the poor." His words came in his first meeting with the media since he became the only Jesuit and first Latin American to be chosen as leader of the Roman Catholic Church three days ago. Francis, who before he became pope was known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, said a fellow cardinal from Brazil had told him "don't forget the poor" as the votes...

One of the least Catholic and most pro-abortion members of Congress, Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has been added to the official U.S. delegation to attend the installation of newly-elected Pope Francis. Pelosi will join pro-abortion Vice President Joe Biden to attend the Inauguration Mass celebrating the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Francis, which will take place on March 19. The news comes as newwly-elected Pope Francis used his second-ever blessing as the head of the Catholic Church to bless a pregnant mother and her unborn child. Pope Francis, who as been hailed by pro-life advocates once called abortion a...

I am not a Catholic, but I find the concerted efforts to smear various Popes to be disgusting and contemptible.  In the case of Pope Francis, according to the Vatican, anti-clerical left-wing outlets are trying to accuse him -- without any evidence -- of wrongdoing during the reign of a military junta from 1976-1983.   Left-wingers in the United States responded predictably, with Michael Moore tweeting out a picture later revealed as a hoax, purportedly of Pope Francis offering communion to an Argentine dictator (to his credit, Moore issued a correction).It should be obvious that the attacks have nothing to...