Some pretty surprising numbers in this piece on Italy and the Ukraine refugee crisis: How is Italy responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis? (thelocal.it). I will follow this news and update reports as refugee arrivals continue to grow and welcome centers sponsored by churches, Caritas, the Sant’Egidio community and dozens of others step up to meet this crisis.
VATICAN INSIDER: THE LENTEN STATION CHURCHES OF ROME
On this first weekend of March – and of Lent – in what is normally the interview segment, I offer a mini-pilgrimage of sorts as we visit some of the Lenten Station churches in Rome, very special churches that tell a beautiful story over the 40 days of Lent, a story found only in Rome.
The first station church, as you will learn, is the Dominican basilica of Santa Sabina on Ash Wednesday:
file photo with Pope Francis:
The final station church, where Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday of Holy Week, is St. Mary Major:
There is a special side to this story for English-speaking Catholics as you will discover when you listen to this Special report. So, tune in to that after the weekly news update and the Q&A.
In the Q&A, by the way, I explain the original of papal and Roman Curia retreats. It’s timely because, in fact, Pope Francis and ranking members of the Roman Curia start their annual Lenten retreat this coming Sunday, They will not be together as has happened most years since 2014 when Pope Francis started retreats at a religious house in Ariccia, not far from Rome. In recent years, Covid issues persuaded the Pope to ask Roman Curia leaders to organize their own personal retreats, as he is doing.
IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: go to https://www.ewtn.com/radio/audio-archive and write the name of the guest for whom you are searching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.
Joan's Rome 