POPE EXPRESSES ‘HEARTFELT SYMPATHY’ AFTER DEADLY ITALIAN FLOODS

May 18, 1920 – Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland. Today would be the 103^rd birthday of the man who became Pope John Paul II. I have a veritable album of photos with John Paul taken during the years I worked at the Vatican. I miss him every day and pray often to him. And frequently I ask Mary, whom he so loved, for the same favor! This is the first time we met – at Mass in his private chapel in December 1995:

WYD in Denver, Colorado 1993:

The last time we met: December 2004 when he welcomed the entire staff of the Holy See Press Office to his library to mark the 20^th anniversary of Joaquin Navarro-Valls as director of that office. I had memorized how to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Polish:

POPE EXPRESSES ‘HEARTFELT SYMPATHY’ AFTER DEADLY ITALIAN FLOODS

Pope Francis expresses his heartfelt sympathy for the people killed, and thousands forced to evacuate their homes, as exceptional, torrential rains battered northern Italy, causing massive damage, as the climate crisis continues to provoke always more violent storms and severe consequences across the globe.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov (Vaticannews)
Nine people are dead and thousands were evacuated from their homes following exceptional, torrential rains which battered northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, and eastern provinces, triggering floods and landslides. (photos of various media)

Death toll mounts in Italy’s worst flooding for 100 years | Italy | The Guardian  (Video)

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According to Civil Protection Minister, Nello Musumeci, some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours. Rivers burst their banks and water washed through towns, and submerged thousands of acres of farmland, reported Reuters.

This catastrophe marks the latest episode of extreme weather and always-more-violent storms to strike the globe as the climate crisis intensifies.

Pope’s heartfelt sympathy, prayers

Pope Francis expressed his “heartfelt sympathy” to the suffering and affected by the extreme weather in Emilia Romagna, especially the eastern provinces, in a telegram of condolences. It was sent Thursday on his behalf by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Vatican’s Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, to the Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi.

The Holy Father asked the Cardinal to convey his sentiments of heartfelt sympathy to the relatives and friends of the victims for the disaster which struck the territory.

Comfort following ‘grave calamity’

While assuring fervent prayers of suffrage for the deceased and expressing condolences to their families, the Pope invoked comfort from God for the wounded, and consolation for those who are suffering the consequences “of the grave calamity.”

Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to all those, amid great difficulty, are working to bring relief and alleviate all suffering, and to diocesan communities “for their manifestation of communion and fraternal closeness to the most-tried populations.”

The Holy Father concluded by offering his Apostolic Blessing to all, as a sign of special spiritual closeness. He also relayed the prayers of Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

 

Climate Crisis provoking global tragedy

As the deadly Italian rains wreaked havoc, across the globe, various climate catastrophes are killing many people and causing dramatic damage.

 

Earlier this week, powerful Cyclone Mocha slammed between Myanmar’s port city of Sittwe and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, home to nearly one million mostly Rohingya refugees, killing at least six people, causing hundreds of injuries and provoking a vast communications blackout that has left relief workers struggling to assess the extent of the damage.

 

Meanwhile, the death toll in Malawi from tropical Cyclone Freddy has surpassed 1000, confirmed Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwer in April.

 

POPE RECEIVES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PILGRIMS – POPE FRANCIS MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO AILING NUN – 127 KILLED, 8 MILLION DISPLACED IN FLOODS IN INDIA

There is a stunning story from India, as you will read below. I cannot wrap my mind around these numbers! How does one even help this many people! They need homes, food, clothing, medicine, sanitary facilities and a ton of other things, I am sure, but all I could think of as I read this report is that we absolutely must pray for the displaced and for those trying to help them.

POPE RECEIVES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PILGRIMS

From Holy See Press Office: This morning in the Santa Marta residence, the Holy Father received a pilgrimage of faithful from Papua New Guinea, led by Fr. Martin Prado, an IVE missionary and their parish priest. During the audience, the pilgrims spoke of the situation in their country and performed some songs of their land. At the end of the meeting the Pope gave them his blessing. (Vatican media photo)

POPE FRANCIS MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO AILING NUN

Pope Francis visited an elderly nun at the Daughters of Charity’s house in Rome on Sunday, a gesture of kindness for her years of service at the Casa Santa Marta.
By Devin Watkins (vaticannews)

Sister Maria Mucci spent many years serving Pope Francis, as well as numerous Vatican visitors, at the Casa Santa Marta.

Having fallen ill, she is now in the infirmary at her congregation’s house in Rome, the Regina Mundi House. So, on Sunday evening, Pope Francis popped in for a quick visit to the ailing nun. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-07/pope-francis-surprise-visit-daughters-of-charity-rome.html

He also paused for a picture with members of the Daughters of Charity community staffing the residence, along with employees and guests. At the end of his visit, the Holy Father gave them all his blessing.

Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM, the Order’s Superior General, announced the news on his Facebook page.

Venerating his predecessor’s relic
Another special moment occurred when Pope Francis contemplated a relic of his predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II. The relic is the bloodstained shirt worn by the Polish Pope when he was shot by a gunman in St. Peter’s Square on 13 May 1981.

Gemelli Hospital, having treated Pope John Paul II after the assassination attempt, later gifted his bloodied shirt to the Regina Mundi House, where it is now venerated.

127 KILLED, 8 MILLION DISPLACED IN FLOODS IN INDIA

ucanews.com, Bhopal, India -July 30, 2019 – At least 127 people were killed and an astounding eight million displaced after rivers in Nepal burst their banks in the latest monsoons and swept through villages in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.

Catholic social work departments in the area are struggling to provide basic amenities to the affected such as temporary shelter, drinking water and sanitation facilities.

“Millions have been badly hit after the flood situation worsened over the past week,” said Bishop Cajetan Francis Osta of Muzaffarpur, the worst affected area.

Eleven of the 13 flood-hit districts are in the area of Muzaffarpur, which has been working with Caritas India.

“Our social work department is doing its best to provide tarpaulins, mosquito nets, bedsheets, soap and drinking water,” said Bishop Osta.

FOR MORE: https://www.ucanews.com/news/state-of-horror-millions-homeless-127-killed-in-bihar/85752

VATICAN INSIDER: INSIDE ROME’S LENTEN STATION CHURCHES – PAPAL TELEGRAM FOR VICTIMS OF FERRY BOAT SINKING – POPE DONATES €150,000 EURO FOR FLOOD RELIEF IN AFRICA

VATICAN INSIDER: INSIDE ROME’S LENTEN STATION CHURCHES

Tune in this weekend to Vatican Insider for a special I have prepared on a wonderful, multi-century tradition in Rome during Lent – the celebrated Lenten Station Churches, What are they? What is their history? Why are they special in Lent? You will definitely want to come to Rome some year to participate, even for a few days, in this tradition but this weekend you can visit with me!

IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at http://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 http://www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: http://www.ewtn.com/multimedia/audio-library/index.asp (write Vatican Insider where it says Search Shows and Episodes)

PAPAL TELEGRAM FOR VICTIMS OF FERRY BOAT SINKING

The following telegram was sent to Mosul, Iraq by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in the name of Pope Francis for the victims of a ferry boat accident in Mosul:

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of all who lost their lives following the tragic sinking of a ferry in the Tigris River in Mosul. Expressing his prayerful solidarity with those who mourn, His Holiness commends the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty, and prays for the local authorities and emergency personnel. Upon the whole Iraqi nation Pope Francis invokes the divine blessings of healing, strength and consolation.”

From AsiaNews and other agencies: The Iraqi Prime Minister has decreed three days of national mourning, after visiting the place where a ferry going across the Tigris sank yesterday afternoon near Mosul, killing nearly 100 people. According to state television, PM Adel Abdel Mahdi visited the injured in a hospital in the former “Caliphate” stronghold and the morgue where the bodies of the victims are held.

The ship, used for transporting people, was packed with families and tourists who celebrated the Nowrūz (Kurdish New Year).. First reports say there were around 200 people on board, more than the boat could contain.

The ship was heading towards the island of Umm Rabaen, a tourist resort about 4 km north of the center of the city of Mosul, one of the many stops planned for the trip organized in conjunction with the new year. According to some videos, the ferry suddenly tilted to the right, began taking on water, then capsized and was dragged downstream of the river.

POPE DONATES €150,000 EURO FOR FLOOD RELIEF IN AFRICA

A note today from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development stated that during the last week the floods caused by the cyclone Idai have devastated entire areas between Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The death toll – constantly increasing – refers to at least 300 confirmed victims, thousands of wounded and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. At least one million would be the people involved in the disaster.

Pope Francis, through this dicastery, has decided to send a first contribution of 150,000 euros (50,000 for each country) for the relief of the population in this first phase of emergency.

POPE AT AUDIENCE: GOD SEEKS EACH ONE OF US PERSONALLY – FRANCIS URGES SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF CYCLONE IDAI IN SOUTHEAST AFRICA

Keep your eyes and ears open in coming days as we might have an important announcement or two regarding some papal appointments, including the name of the new archbishop of Washington, D.C. Some red hats who are members of the Congregation for Bishops are in town and if I recall correctly, the congregation meets on the third Thursday of each month (which would be tomorrow) for some nominations.

POPE AT AUDIENCE: GOD SEEKS EACH ONE OF US PERSONALLY

At the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the Our Father, focusing on the third invocation, “Thy will be done”.

By Christopher Wells

“God is not ambiguous, He is not hidden behind riddles, He has not planned the future of the world in an indecipherable manner.” In his catechesis on the third petition of the “Our Father,” Pope Francis said that we can see the will of the Father expressed in the words of Jesus: God wills “to seek and to save that which was lost.” This, the Pope said, “without any shadow of doubt, is the will of God: the salvation of all human beings,” of each one of us individually.

Because of His love for us, God “knocks on the door of our heart” in order “to draw us to Himself, to lead us forward along the path of salvation.” The Pope said, “God is close to each one of us with His love, in order to lead us by the hand to salvation.”

“And we, in prayer, ask that God’s seeking might come to a good end, that His universal plan of salvation should be accomplished,” Pope Francis continued, “first, in each one of us, and then in the whole world.”

God’s desire for the salvation of human beings, and of the whole world, means that our prayer that His will be done does not mean “bowing our heads,” like slaves, to an unalterable fate. On the contrary, “God wants us to be free,” the Pope said. “It is His love that frees us.”

“Thy will be done,” he said, is “a courageous, even combative prayer” precisely because there is so much evil in the world, which is not according to God’s [antecedent] will.

The Our Father, Francis continued, “is a prayer that kindles in us the same love [that] Jesus has for the will of the Father, a flame that impels one to transform the world with love.” There is nothing of random chance in the faith of Christians, the Pope explained: “Rather, there is a salvation that waits to manifest itself in the life of each man and woman, and to be fully accomplished in eternity.” If we prayer, he said, “it is because we believe that God is able and desires to transform reality, overcoming evil with good.”

Pope Francis pointed to the example of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the Lord prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; but not my will, but yours, be done!” Although He is “crushed” by the weight of evil in the world, Jesus “confidently abandons Himself to the ocean of love of the will of the Father.”

In His love, God will never abandon us, the Pope insisted: “He will always be with us, beside us, within us. For a believer, more than a hope, this is a certainty.”

Concluding his catechesis, Pope Francis invited all those present in the Square to pray together the Our Father, each in their own language.

FRANCIS URGES SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF CYCLONE IDAI IN SOUTHEAST AFRICA

Pope Francis is urging prayers and support for the many victims of Cyclone Idai, which has caused widespread destruction and flooding in the southeast African nations of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.
By Devin Watkins

“In recent days, great floods have sowed mourning and devastation in various areas of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. I express my pain and closeness to those dear people.”

With these heartfelt words, Pope Francis expressed his condolences for the families of the more than 350 people killed by Cyclone Idai, as well as his solidarity with the millions of people affected. The powerful storm made landfall on the coast of Mozambique last Thursday before spreading death and destruction halfway across southeast Africa.

Pope Francis made the appeal at the Wednesday general audience held in St. Peter’s Square.

“I entrust the many victims and their families to the mercy of God, and I implore comfort and support for those affected by this calamity,” he said.

Hundreds dead in Mozambique
Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique’s port city of Beira with winds of up to 170 kph on Thursday last week. Drone footage taken by the Red Cross showed the devastation wreaked upon one area, with empty plots seen where winds had blown entire buildings from their foundations.

Mozambique started three days of national mourning on Wednesday for the victims, who currently number in excess of 200. President Filipe Nyusi says the death toll may reach 1,000 as rescuers continue to recover bodies and hundreds remain missing.

Officials say the full extent of the damage will only emerge when floodwaters recede, and forecasters predict persistent rains through Thursday.

Zimbabwe mourns
In neighboring Zimbabwe, the remnants of Cyclone Idai also caused massive flooding, killing at least 98 people. The number of victims may rise to around 300, say officials.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited the hard-hit mountain community of Chimanimani. The bodies of some flood victims may have been swept down the mountainside into nearby Mozambique.

A local resident took a video at Chimanimani’s Catholic Church, where funeral services were held and women wailed in mourning. “Lots of people suffering. People didn’t stand a chance here,” he said.

Unknown destruction in Malawi
Malawi has yet to release details of any casualties from the storm. But the UN’s World Food Programme said Tuesday that projections from satellite images indicate that Cyclone Idai affected some 920,000 people in Malawi. More than 1.7 million were in its direct path in Mozambique.

The United Nations has directed $20 million from its emergency response fund to help people suffering in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.