Pope Francis begins Sunday his fourth year as leader of the global Roman Catholic church. NCR wanted to mark the occasion by dipping into the some 2,500 stories we published mentioning the Argentine pontiff in 2015 and early 2016. Below are links to many of our reports accompanying the pope around the globe in the past year, followed by some of the most striking statements of his travels.
Read the article on the NCR website
See also
GENEVA/VATICAN CITY, 25 January 2016 - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Catholic Church will hold a joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation on 31 October 2016 in Lund, Sweden.
Pope Francis, LWF President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan and General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge will lead the Ecumenical Commemoration in cooperation with the Church of Sweden and the Catholic Diocese of Stockholm.
The joint ecumenical event will take place in the city of Lund in anticipation of the 500th Reformation anniversary in 2017. It will highlight the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and Lutherans and the joint gifts received through dialogue. The event will include a common worship based on the recently published Catholic-Lutheran “Common Prayer” liturgical guide.
“The LWF is approaching the Reformation anniversary in a spirit of ecumenical accountability,” says LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge. “I’m carried by the profound conviction that by working towards reconciliation between Lutherans and Catholics, we are working towards justice, peace and reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence.”
Press release Rome, November 20, 2015
Convention ‘Council 50’: Towards a Church – Inspired by the Gospel – for the world’ with more than 100 delegates of worldwide catholic reform movements in Rome, November 20-22, 2015.
This Coming weekend reform movements from diverse continents, countries, cultures and theological tendencies are gathering in Rome and will present a variety of fruits and projects grown from the Second Vatican Council for an inclusive Church for the 21st century. They are bringing their practice, experience and reflexions to Rome and hope to show their potentialities for a revival of the Church, as St Francis of Assisi did in his time.
‘Council 50’ aims to reaffirm the values and the spirit of the Council and to give space and opportunity of networking between the different experiences that sprang from it. ‘Council 50’ intends to revivify the disappointed hopes, to relight the flame of the Council, and to renew the impetus towards the future. So it is making visible the prophetic part of the ‘people of God’ in the Church too often hidden and unknown.
‘Council 50’ strongly supports Pope Francis’ efforts against all resistance: for the renewal of the Roman-Catholic Church, for interreligious dialogue and for a more just and peaceful world. ‘Council 50’ wants to help change the dogmatic and legalistic attitude of the Church into a pastoral and evangelic attitude inspired by the Gospel and in line with the Second Vatican Council. Hence the leitmotiv ‘Council 50: towards a Church – inspired by the Gospel – for the world’.
‘Council 50’ is a networking process that contributes to strengthen the ‘sensum fidei fidelium’ that is one of the key theological teachings of the theological thoughts of the Second Vatican Council as expressed in the dogmatic constitution ‘Lumen Gentium’. This Council brought so much hope 50 years ago but because of unsatisfactory decrees and Pope Francis’ predecessors the prophetic part of the Church at the peripheries of the world were too often ignored, hidden, and even condemned. The teaching of this Council is still waiting to be implemented.
Soon it will be the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Catacomb Pact, in which 40 Bishops and Council Fathers of the Second Vatican Councils committed themselves to a Church of the Poor. An occasion which has been all but forgotten for some time, but whose groundbreaking character manifests itself again in view of the disputes recently initiated in the Catholic Church by Pope Frances. Following the motto „Remembering and renewing the Pact of the Catacombs“ it is the aim of a congregation of more than two-hundred Christians to bring this pact to the attention of the public once more and at the same time highlight the importance of a Church standing alongside the poor and excluded.
On 16 November 1965 – three weeks before the end of the Second Vatican Council – 40 Bishops from all over the world met at the Domitilla Catacomb on the outskirts of Rome. In 13 commitments they promised to lead a simple life, to renounce the insignia of power and enter into a pact with the poor. What those bishops did later became known as the Option for the Poor: „Because there are poor people we have to make a new decision. The poor are the living proof that there is something wrong with society. Because of the poor we have to take an option. From this point of view the Church has to fight against injustice,“ explains Norbert Arnzt (Münster/Germany), who has researched the Catacomb Pact and the history of its effects on the development of Liberation Theology. For the Bishops of the Catacomb Pact it was all about a certain image of the church which reappears when Pope Francis writes, „With its words and gestures the 'awakening' Church places itself inside the daily life of others, shortens distances, lowers itself if necessary to the point of humiliation and embraces human life by touching the suffering body of Christ within the people.“ (Evangelii Gaudium 24)
20-22 November 2015
Friday 20th of November 2015
14:00 Opening of the registration arrival of delegates, installation of the fair,
18:00 Official openning of the fair and welcome party
19:30 dinner at at Casa Lasalle
20:45 -22:00 Aula Magna :
Welcome and introduction of delegates, presentation of the program, of the workshops and of the process to finalise the Charter:
Saturday 21st of November 2015
8: 00 to 9:00 visit of the fair contribution to the Charter, inscription to workshops
9:00 to 10:30 Plenary Session I Aula Magna
- Opening
- Prayer :Enrico Peyretti
- Perspectives open by Pope Francis for the evolution of the Catholic Church and reforms to meet the challenges of our evolving 21st century world : Dr Nontando Hadebe (woman theologian from Zimbabwe and South Africa)
- Discussion
10:30- 11:00 Coffe Break, visit of the fair and inscription for the workshops
11:00 to 12:45 Pleanry Session II in Aula Magna
Issues, experiences, expectations and proposals for the renewal of our Church and its implication in the world of to-day, from the different continents:
- Africa: Douglas Irvine (WAACSA, South Africa), Georges Obolo, (Gabon), President of the coordination of the African Network of Former Catholic Youth Students (RAJA)
- Latin America : Socorro Martinez Maqueo, (Mexico), Articulacion Continental de Comunidades eclesiales de base
- North America: Jamie Manson (USA), columnist and books editor for the National Catholic Reporter,(to be confirmed)
- Asia : Paul Hwang, (South Korea), Center for Asia Peace and solidarity under Woori Theology Institute, and Felicia Dian Revenska Parera (Indonesia), Pax Romana IMCS
- Europe : Alice Gombault (France), theologian, former professor at Institut catholique de Paris,(to be confirmed)
- Discussion
13h00 Lunch
14:00-14:30 visit of the fair contribution to the Charter
14:30 to 16:00 Workshops: 4 worhshops in parallel, (see details in attached sheet)
series I : Challenges of the world to be met by a Church inspired by the Gospel:
- I.1 Peace and war, non-violent solutions of conflicts Church and Christian actions for peace
- I.2 Social and economic justice, respect of Human Rights, migration, trafficking/ Commitment of Christians and Church, Church of the Poor
- I.3 Environment, sustainability/Commitment of Christians and Church, Encyclical “Laudato Si”
- I.4 Societal issues, family (synod results), person sexuality, gender, LGBT, impact of cultures and religions,
16:00 -16:30 Coffe Break and visit of the fair
16:30- 18:00 Workshops: 4 worhshops in parallel, (see details in attached sheet)
series II : A church inspired by the Gospel for elightening the world
- II.1 Organization of the Church, reform of ministries and inclusion of women in coherence with Women / Men equality for responsibilities, communities, functioning;
- II.2 Base Ecclesial Communities, Grass-Root communities, their experiences, their actions, their relationships with the institution.
- II.3 Inter and Intra religious dialogues, interconvictional dialogues, horizontal and vertical transcendences, universality of spirituality, cultures, beliefs and religions.
- II.4 The pact of Catacombs and renewal of our Church, outputs of the Colloquium on the revival of the pact of catacombs
18:15-19:30 CasaLaSalle Church: celebration and liturgy
San Romero Mass
19:30 Dinner
20:45-22:00 Open meeting of reporters, moderatores of workshops: preparation of the report of workshops and finalisation of Charter
Free time for discussion, visit of the fair
Sunday 22nd of November
9: 00 -10:30 Plenary Session III in Aula Magna:
- Overview of the work of the workshops
- Proclamation of the Charter
- Follow-up of the gathering
- Final prayer and Farewell:
10:30-11:15 Move to St Peter Square
11:15-12:30 Meeting at St Peter Square
14h30-16h30 Final optional meeting at Casa LaSalle
Organisation of a lively Network