Author: Eric Deabill

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – People who act shocked that a priest would bless a gay couple but have no problem with him blessing a crooked businessman are hypocrites, Pope Francis said.

“The most serious sins are those that are disguised with a more ‘angelic’ appearance. No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people, which is a very serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual – this is hypocrisy,” he told the Italian magazine Credere.

The interview was scheduled for publication Feb. 8, but Vatican News reported on some of its content the day before when the magazine issued a press release about the interview.

Pope Francis repeatedly has been asked about “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) on “the pastoral meaning of blessings,” which was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Dec. 18 and was approved by the pope. It allows for priests and other ministers to offer informal, non-liturgical blessings to gay couples and couples in “irregular” marriage situations as long as it is clear they are not blessing the couple’s union.

“We all have to respect each other. Everyone,” the pope told Credere. “The heart of the document is welcome.”

“I don’t bless a ‘homosexual marriage,’ I bless two people who love each other, and I also ask them to pray for me,” Pope Francis told Pauline Father Vincenzo Vitale, director of Credere. “Always in the confessional, when these situations come up, homosexual people, remarried people, I always pray and always bless. The blessing should not be denied to anyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone.”

(OSV News) – As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine marks its second year, an annual collection for Central and Eastern Europe’s Catholic churches will help “shine the light of Christ” in a region still scarred by the historical effects of communism, said a U.S. bishop.

On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, faithful across the country are being asked to donate to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Some dioceses may opt to schedule the collection at a different date, and faithful also may give directly to the campaign by visiting the USCCB’s #iGiveCatholicTogether website (usccb.igivecatholictogether.org/) and selecting the “Church in Central and Eastern Europe” collection.

Launched under St. John Paul II in 1991 as communist regimes collapsed throughout Europe, the appeal aids Catholics in 28 European countries in various stages of recovering from longtime totalitarian oppression: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia (Czech Republic), Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

“When Catholics give to this collection, they are actively participating in the rebuilding of the Church in places where decades of communism have left behind devastated churches and wounded spirits,” said Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton of Detroit, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Since 2001 alone, the collection has raised more than $187.5 million, according to Mary Mencarini Campbell, executive director of the USCCB’s Office of National Collections.

In 2023, the USCCB collection distributed $8.7 million in 329 grants, helping to rebuild churches, support seminary education and minister to families and youth.

More than $2 million was allocated for urgent humanitarian and pastoral relief to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which continues attacks launched in 2014. With at least 124,186 war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine since February 2022, the invasion has been named a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the unlawful deportation and transfer of 19,546 children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

In October 2023, Bishop Monforton visited Ukraine for the first time in two decades, and in a reflection written afterward, he recounted his experiences of visiting Catholic churches and social ministries there and praying with families of the dead.

“I entered crypts that are now well-stocked bomb shelters, with light and heat from generators supplied by the generous contributions of Catholics to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe,” he wrote.

Bishop Monforton added that “sadly, the rubble and fresh graves in Ukraine today remind us that the most insidious error of communism was not its economic policy, but its doctrine that human beings are mere cogs in the machine of state, rather than precious children of God.”

“That cruel assumption persists under other guises in the post-communist era,” he wrote. “We see it in the blatant disregard for human life that underlies the violence that has erupted in the region, especially in Ukraine. It pervades countries throughout the former Soviet Empire, where people struggle to build marriages and families. Its most pointed expression was the destruction of churches and the imprisonment or execution of clergy and faithful laity.”

As Russia’s war in Ukraine reverberates throughout Europe and the world, funds from the collection are helping the church to offer spiritual and material relief.

In Ukraine’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilsky, a grant from the collection enabled the training and deployment of psychotherapists, social workers and pastoral counselors to address war-related traumatic stress disorder in soldiers and civilians.

The collection also helped build a cathedral for the small but vibrant Catholic community in predominantly Muslim Kyrgyzstan — a faith community founded by prisoners who had been deported on account of their faith of their faith decades earlier by Soviet authorities to the region’s gulags.

In Romania, collection funds were applied by the Archdiocese of Fagaras and Alba Iulia to restore a landmark 18th-century seminary, while making it handicap accessible.

In Slovakia, the collection funded a pro-life counseling center serving hundreds of women in challenging pregnancies. Engaged and married couples in Lithuania received counseling and support from trained volunteer mentors, and in Albania, catechists and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist benefited from a three-year program of study.

“The ministries that you support through this collection bring the Bread of Life to people who hunger for the Word of God. They bring food, shelter and love to the Jesus who suffers among the poor,” wrote Bishop Monforton. “They prepare young people, informed by Scripture, and inspired by the witness of priests, sisters and catechists, to tell their neighbors about Jesus.

“It is my hope that you give generously to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe,” he wrote. “In doing so, you fight alongside St. Michael and St. John Paul II to free souls trapped by the forces of despair and lead them into the light of Christ.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians must let go of the God they think they know and convert every day to the God Jesus presents in the Gospel — the God who is the father of love and compassion, Pope Francis said.

When the faithful discover “the true face of the Father, our faith matures: we no longer remain ‘sacristy Christians’ or ‘parlor Christians,’ but rather we feel called to become bearers of God’s hope and healing,” he said Feb. 4 before reciting the Angelus prayer with about 15,000 visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

During his greetings after the noonday prayer, he also marked the celebration in Italy of the Day for Life.

“I join with the Italian bishops in hoping that ideological visions can be overcome so as to rediscover that every human life, even those most marked by limitations, has an immense value and is capable of giving something to others,” he said.

And he greeted the many young people from different countries who were in Rome to mark the World Day for Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking, which is celebrated Feb. 8.

“Many brothers and sisters are deceived with false promises and are then subjected to exploitation and abuse. Let us all join to counter the dramatic global phenomenon of human trafficking,” he said.

In his main Angelus address, the pope reflected on Jesus being continually on the move in the Gospel accounts of his ministry and how that “challenges us with some questions on our faith.”

“The Gospel lets us see that Jesus, after teaching in the synagogue, goes out, so that the word he has preached may reach, touch and heal people,” he said.

“He reveals to us that God is not a detached master who speaks to us from on high; on the contrary, he is a father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit,” the pope said.

“God makes himself close to accompany us, tenderly, and to forgive us,” he said. “Do not forget this: closeness, compassion and tenderness.”

Jesus’ journeying reminds the faithful “that our first spiritual task is this: to abandon the God we think we know, and to convert every day to the God Jesus presents to us in the Gospel,” he said.

Christians should reflect on whether they have “discovered the face of God as the father of mercy, or do we believe in and proclaim a cold God, a distant God? Does faith instill in us the restlessness of journeying or is it an intimist consolation for us, that calms us? Do we pray just to feel at peace or does the word we listen to and preach make us go out, like Jesus, toward others, to spread God’s consolation?” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said it continues to receive reports of Catholics, including priests, finding out all the sacraments they have received are invalid because they were baptized years earlier with a formula that was not approved.

When a priest or other minister changes the words, gestures or material prescribed for the celebration of the sacraments, he can “rob” the faithful of what they deserve and make the sacrament invalid, the dicastery said in a note published Feb. 3.

The note, “Gestis Verbisque” (“Gestures and Words”), passed unanimously by members of the dicastery during their plenary assembly Jan. 25 and was approved by Pope Francis Jan. 31, said the document, which was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, and Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of the dicastery’s doctrinal section.

Presenting the document, Cardinal Fernández wrote that in 2022 the cardinals and bishops who are members of the dicastery already had “expressed their concern for the multiplication of situations in which they were forced to acknowledge the invalidity of sacraments celebrated.”

As an example, the cardinal cited baptism ceremonies where, instead of saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” the minister will say, “I baptize you in the name of the Creator…” or “In the name of dad and mom, we baptize you.”

In 2020, the then-doctrinal congregation issued a note saying baptisms celebrated with the formula, “We baptize you …” also were invalid, setting off a large-scale effort in several dioceses, including in the United States, to trace people who were invalidly baptized.

The sacraments they subsequently received, including first Communion, confirmation and even ordination also were invalid since only a baptized Catholic can validly receive the other sacraments.

Cardinal Fernández said the situation is particularly painful for priests who not only find out their ordinations were invalid, but so were all the sacraments they subsequently celebrated for others.

A priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, who had been baptized with the wrong formula 30 years earlier, started over when the 2020 document was issued. He was baptized, confirmed, received the Eucharist, was ordained to the diaconate and to the priesthood in the space of 10 days. The archdiocese set up a webpage for people who thought they had received the sacraments from him prior to 2020.

“Modifying the form of a sacrament or its matter is always a gravely illicit act and deserves exemplary punishment, precisely because such arbitrary acts are capable of producing serious harm to the faithful People of God,” the cardinal wrote.

While the document did not specify a punishment, it explained the importance of using the prescribed words, exact matter — such as water, wine or oil — and gestures like anointing, laying on of hands and the sign of the cross.

“While in other areas of the Church’s pastoral action there is ample room for creativity,” the cardinal wrote in the foreword, “such inventiveness in the area of the celebration of the sacraments becomes a ‘manipulative will’ and cannot be invoked.”

“Because of their rootedness in Scripture and Tradition, the matter and form never depend nor can they depend on the desire of the individual or of the particular community,” the document said.

“Instituted by Christ, the sacraments are actions that realize, by means of sensible signs, the living experience of the mystery of salvation, making possible the participation of human beings in the divine life,” the document said. “They are the ‘masterpieces of God’ in the New and Eternal Covenant, forces that come forth from the body of Christ, actions of the Spirit working in his body which is the Church.”

“This is why the Church in the Liturgy celebrates with faithful love and veneration the sacraments that Christ himself has entrusted to her so that she may preserve them as a precious inheritance and source of her life and her mission,” the document said.

A priest celebrates the sacraments not only “in persona Christi” — in the person of Christ — but also in “nomine Ecclesiae” — in the name of the church, it said, which is why he must follow exactly the church’s approved liturgical texts, which indicate when and where local adaptations or variations are permitted.

The doctrinal note said that it applies to the entire church, although it asked the Eastern Catholic churches to draft their own versions of the document, using their particular theological language “where it differs from that used in the text,” and to submit it for approval to the dicastery before publication.

HAZLETON  – After serving more than 11,000 people in the greater Hazleton area in 2023, Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton is looking for the support of its community to keep its mission going locally.

Donations to the ‘Century Club 2024’ are now being accepted. This year’s theme is Caring Hearts, Stronger Communities. Since 1982, the annual membership campaign has solicited support for the programs of Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton.

“We are grateful for the response from the community to this campaign which is so vital to the support and continuation of the services offered through Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton,” Sue Farley, Advisory Board President, said.

A community agency and member of the Greater Hazleton United Way, Catholic Social Services reaches out to those in need, providing basic needs and programs supporting young adults with mental health concerns.

In 2023, Catholic Social Services in Hazleton served the community through the following programs:

• Saint Joseph’s Food Pantry provided assistance to 5,369 individuals
• Divine Providence Emergency Shelter helped house 229 individual clients
• Relief Assistance Program helped 5,610 individuals experiencing emergencies
• Maternal Health Programming had 200 appointments providing young families with material assistance for their babies but also emotional and educational support
• Bridge to Independence Program assisted 10 young adults with a mental health diagnosis (age 18-26) with life skills enabling them to live independently and attain self-sufficiency
• Christmas Gifts for Kids Program helped 302 families with presents for the holiday season

Catholic Social Services opened in Hazleton in 1939 during the Great Depression to help alleviate insecurity of food and basic necessities and 89 years later it continues to address these concerns. For this reason, the ‘Century Club’ is an essential part of providing the funding necessary to serve the community.  Catholic Social Services serves all people in the community regardless of age, gender, race, economic situation, or religious affiliation.

“Poverty continues to grow in the Hazleton area and Catholic Social Services could not do what we do for those in need without the community support,” Danielle Matarella, Director of Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton, explained. “We are so grateful to be located in a strong community with so many caring hearts.”

Membership in the ‘Century Club’ may be at any level or one may choose among the following designations: Diamond – $1,000; Platinum- $750; Gold- $500; Silver – $250; Century – $100. All contributions are tax deductible and will remain in the Hazleton community to help meet the needs of those who seek services. Gifts may be designated as a memorial or in honor of a friend and loved one.

For more information regarding Catholic Social Services’ programs or ‘Century Club’ 2024, please contact us at (570) 455-1521 or visit us online at www.dioceseofscranton.org.

 

SCRANTON – After gathering together hundreds, if not thousands, of faithful parishioners last year during Lent for a series of Holy Hours, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, is hoping for an even bigger showing this year!

Bishop Bambera plans to once again visit each of the 12 deaneries in the Diocese of Scranton to celebrate a Holy Hour this Lent.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which takes place this year on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and lasts for 40 days.

In conjunction with the National Eucharistic Revival that has been taking place in our country since Corpus Christi Sunday in 2022, each Holy Hour will feature exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Vespers, and a homily on the Most Holy Eucharist.

The Holy Hours this Lent will begin at Holy Family Parish in the Kingston deanery on Thursday, Feb. 15, and will end at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in the Scranton deanery on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

A three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops, the National Eucharistic Revival is nearing its midpoint. The first year focused on diocesan revival, inviting bishops, priests and diocesan leaders to deepen their relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. The Year of Parish Revival began in June 2023, with emphasis on reaching Catholics in the pews.

The coming calendar year will include the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that begins in mid-May and the National Eucharistic Congress in July, two large-scale efforts that lead into the revival’s final year, the Year of Going Out on Mission, which ends on Pentecost 2025.

Revival leaders hope the 10th National Eucharistic Congress – the first national congress in 83 years – which will take place in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024, can help cultivate a Eucharistic life in the tens of thousands of Catholics expected to attend.
Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, said Revival leaders had a private audience with Pope Francis last June.

“He spoke very powerfully of both our National Eucharistic Revival and our congress,” Bishop Cozzens said. “It was really an incredible moment for us!”

Every parishioner in the Diocese of Scranton is encouraged to make attending a Holy Hour a priority this Lent. The faithful do not have to attend the Holy Hour in their specific deanery if it does not fit into their schedule.

The full listing of 2024 Lenten Holy Hours is available in the graphic below:

 

SCRANTON – In advance of National Disability Awareness Month in March, the Diocese of Scranton will hold its annual Mass for Persons with Disabilities on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

All people, including those with special abilities, have gifts to contribute to the life of the Church. The Diocese of Scranton embraces and welcomes the talents of all individuals in building up the Kingdom of God.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist at this special Mass.

The Mass is open to everyone. It will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton. The Mass will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and links will be provided on all Diocesan social media platforms.

Partners in the annual Mass for Persons with Disabilities include Saint Joseph’s Center in Scranton, The Arc of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Order of the Alhambra.

(OSV News) – A new report shows a continued decrease in the number of permanent vocations to consecrated life in the U.S. — but key factors such as family life, devotional practices, Catholic education and personal encouragement can positively impact those numbers.

“Women and Men Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life: The Profession Class of 2023” was released Jan. 26 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, ahead of the church’s World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2.

The study – annually commissioned since 2010 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations – was written by CARA researchers Jonathon Wiggins and Sister Thu T. Do, a member of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of Hanoi.

The 101 religious members (53 sisters, 48 brothers and priests) who participated in the survey represented 70% of the 144 potential members of the profession class of 2023, as reported to CARA by 69% of the nation’s religious superiors.

Of the participating religious superiors, 87% reported their orders had no member profess perpetual vows in 2023, up from 82% in the 2022 report. In 2023, one in 10 institutes had one perpetual profession, while 4% reported between two to 15 members professed perpetual vows.

“We are finding that there’s a continuous decline in the number of men and women making a final profession to religious life each year,” Jesuit Father Thomas Gaunt, CARA’s executive director, told OSV News.

He also noted the length of time from entrance into religious life to perpetual profession can vary from “seven to 20 years,” with the Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, having a particularly long span.

The average age of the 2023 profession class is 36, with half of the survey participants age 33 or younger.

More than three quarters (76%) were born in the U.S., and 67% listed their primary race or ethnicity as Caucasian, European American or white. One in 10 or less identifies as Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian (12%); as Hispanic or Latino (9%); as African, African American or Black (7%); and as mixed race or other (5%).

An overwhelming majority, 94%, said that as children they had at least one parent who was Catholic, with 86% of the respondents stating both parents were Catholic. Almost all survey participants (99%) were raised by their biological parents during the most formative part of their childhood. Close to nine in 10, or 88%, were raised by a married couple.

Just over half of the class, 51%, attended a Catholic elementary school, and respondents were more likely than other Catholics in the U.S. to have attended both a Catholic high school (46%) and college (43%). About 14% reported being homeschooled at some point, with the average length of time being nine years.

“Generally, the more Catholic education, (the more) you increase the likelihood that someone will consider a religious vocation,” said Father Gaunt. “And it gets stronger often enough, if (that education extends) to Catholic high schools or colleges. Part of that is you’re just more exposed to a Catholic environment, and the consideration of a religious vocation will not be as countercultural, in one sense, as if you had not attended those Catholic schools. It makes (religious life) a little more thinkable.”

The report described the 2023 profession class as “highly educated,” with 62% entering their respective religious institutes after earning at least a bachelor’s degree, and 20% after obtaining a graduate degree.

At the same time, educational debt did not delay most survey participants from entering religious life; the 9% who reported educational debt experienced less than a year of delay as they cleared just under $37,000 in student loans, assisted by friends and family members.

While respondents said they were on average 18 years old when they first considered a vocation, some 82% had prior work experience before entering religious life – more than half (55%) had worked full time – with business, education and health care the top fields.

Respondents reported that Eucharistic adoration (82%), the rosary (72%) and retreats (72%) were among their most common formative prayer experiences, with four out of five respondents regularly practicing adoration prior to entering religious life.

Father Gaunt also highlighted the need to pay “attention to the cultural differences in devotions and practices” — such as processions, home altars, family prayers and other forms of popular piety — which are informing the one quarter of foreign-born religious aspirants to religious life in the U.S.

The study found that participation in religious programs and activities also correlated highly with vocations, as more than 93% of the respondents cited experience in ministries such as lector (55%), altar servers (54%), and youth ministry or youth group (45%).

“That’s a key element, and a piece of the invitation,” said Father Gaunt. “It’s just placing younger people in a ministerial role.”

Personal interactions also helped to foster consecrated life, with 82% of the respondents noting that they had been encouraged to consider a vocation by a priest (45%), religious sister or brother (44%), friend (41%), teacher or catechist (27%) or parent (mother, 26%; father, 23%).

At the same time, more than 55% reported that one or more persons had discouraged them from pursuing a religious vocation, with women more likely than men to report this experience.

Just under one third of the respondents (31%) said they first became acquainted with their respective religious orders through a sponsored institute, such as a school or hospital. Another 26% said they learned of their institute through print or online promotional material.

Almost all (94%) of the respondents said they had taken part in some form of vocational discernment program, particularly “come and see” experiences.

In many respects, creating a culture of religious vocations involves consistently doing “simple things … that are very important for us to keep in mind,” said Father Gaunt.

Young people are “getting a lot of reinforcement going in the other direction,” away from religious life, he said. “What’s the positive reinforcement that they find or experience? That would be the key.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Today’s wars and conflicts have put humanity on the brink of the abyss, Pope Francis said, calling for a worldwide cease-fire.

“I will never tire of reiterating my call, addressed in particular to those who have political responsibility: stop the bombs and missiles now, end hostile stances” everywhere, the pope said in an interview with La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, published Jan. 29.

“A global cease-fire is urgent: either we do not realize it or we are pretending not to see that we are on the brink of the abyss,” he said.

Asked specifically about the situation in Israel and Palestine, the pope said that the Oslo Accord is “very clear with the two-state solution. Until that agreement is implemented, real peace remains distant.”

The pope said the thing he fears most is a “military escalation” in which the conflict might “further worsen the tensions and violence that already mark the planet.”

However, he said he is also hopeful because “confidential meetings are taking place to try to reach an agreement. A truce would already be a good result.”

A key figure in the Vatican’s efforts concerning the Middle East, he said, is Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. “He is trying with determination to mediate.”

“The Christians and the people of Gaza — I don’t mean Hamas — have a right to peace,” the pope said.

He said he connects daily on the video platform Zoom with the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza to speak to them. Some 600 people sheltering in the parish compound are “living their lives looking death in the face every day.”

The other priority remains the release of the Israeli hostages, he added.

The Holy See continues with its diplomatic efforts regarding Ukraine, particularly through the papal envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is working to “build an atmosphere of reconciliation,” the pope said.

It is also still mediating for the exchange of prisoners, the return of Ukrainian civilians and repatriation of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia. One child has already returned to its family, he said.

Asked if there were such a thing as “just war,” the pope said it is better to use the term “legitimate defense.”

“If thieves come into your house to rob you and attack you, you defend yourself. But I don’t like to call this reaction a ‘just war’ reaction, because it is a definition that can be exploited,” he said.

“It is right and legitimate to defend yourself,” he said, so it is better to discuss situations of legitimate defense, “so we can avoid justifying wars, which are always wrong.”

World peace must be built on dialogue and the pursuit of human solidarity and fraternity, he said. “We can no longer kill each other, between brothers and sisters! It makes no sense!”

The pope also called for peace after praying the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square Jan. 28.

He highlighted the current conflict in Myanmar, joining the call of some Burmese bishops for turning weapons of destruction “into instruments for the growth of humanity and justice” and for allowing humanitarian aid to reach everyone in need.

“Peace is a journey, and I invite all parties involved to take steps in dialogue and to clothe themselves in understanding so that the land of Myanmar may reach the goal of fraternal reconciliation,” the pope said.

“The same must happen in the Middle East, in Palestine and Israel, and wherever there is conflict: the populations must be respected!” he said.

Thinking of all victims of war, especially civilians, the pope said, “Please, listen to their cry for peace: it is the cry of the people, who are tired of violence and want the war to stop. It is a disaster for the people and a defeat for humanity!”

The pope also thanked the boys and girls of Catholic Action, parishes and Catholic schools in Rome who came to Rome for the annual “Caravan of Peace,” organized by Catholic Action.

“Thank you for your presence! And thank you for your commitment to building a better society,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis again insisted that an informal blessing of a gay or other unmarried couple is not a blessing of their union but a sign of the Catholic Church’s closeness to them and its hope that they will grow in faith.

“The intent of ‘pastoral and spontaneous blessings’ is to concretely show the closeness of the Lord and the church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask for help to carry on — sometimes to begin — a journey of faith,” Pope Francis said Jan. 26 as he met members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The full membership of the dicastery was holding its annual plenary meeting at the Vatican.

While Pope Francis’ remarks to the members focused on their discussions about the sacraments, human dignity and faith, particularly the centrality of evangelization, he also mentioned “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) on “the pastoral meaning of blessings,” which was published by the dicastery and signed by Pope Francis Dec. 18.

The document said that while the church “remains firm” in teaching that marriage is only a life-long union between a man and a woman, in certain circumstances priests can give non-sacramental, non-liturgical blessings to “couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”

Reaction from bishops to the document ran the gamut from saying it did not go far enough to outrage and diocesan bans on implementing it.

Pope Francis told dicastery members that he wanted to make two points about the document. The first, he said, was that “these blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, do not require moral perfection to be received.”

Secondly, he said, “when a couple spontaneously approaches to ask for it, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who made the request together. Not the union, but the people, taking into account, of course, the context, the sensitivities, the places where people live and the most appropriate ways to do it.”

In early January, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the dicastery, issued a note clarifying that “prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different methods of application” of “Fiducia Supplicans.”

In his speech to dicastery members, Pope Francis also mentioned a document on human dignity that the dicastery is working on.

In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE Jan. 13, Cardinal Fernández said, “We are preparing a very important document on human dignity which includes not only social issues, but also a strong critique of moral issues such as sex change, surrogacy, gender ideologies, etc.”

“As Christians, we must not tire of insisting on the primacy of the human person and the defense of his or her dignity beyond every circumstance,” the pope said, adding that he hoped the new document “will help us, as a church, to always be close to all those who, without fanfare, in concrete daily life, fight and personally pay the price for defending the rights of those who do not count.”

Pope Francis began his speech to the group by quoting the dicastery’s main task as described by “Praedicate Evangelium,” which says it is “to help the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world by promoting and safeguarding the integrity of Catholic teaching on faith and morals.”

As the church prepares to celebrate the Holy Year 2025 and as it strives to preach the Gospel to a changing world, he said, the dicastery must lead the way in helping the church “reflect again and with greater passion on several themes: the proclamation and communication of the faith in the contemporary world, especially to the younger generations; the missionary conversion of ecclesial structures and pastoral workers; the new urban cultures with their many challenges but also unprecedented questions about meaning; finally, and especially, the centrality of the kerygma in the life and mission of the church.”

In his 2013 exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” Pope Francis summarized the “kerygma” as the message: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.”

“For us, that which is most essential, most beautiful, most attractive and, at the same time, most necessary, is faith in Christ Jesus,” the pope told dicastery members. “All of us together, God willing, will solemnly renew it in the course of the jubilee year and each one of us is called to proclaim it to every man and woman on earth.”