Vatican News

“Let Jesus draw you to Himself.." Pope Francis.

“The Holy Father intends to carry out a project with humanitarian purposes in Gaza or the West Bank, which can help the population resume a more dignified life and create job opportunities once the war is over,” Cardinal Gugerotti, said.

Faltas said, "We cannot remain indifferent to knowing that 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from hunger and malnutrition in their delicate and important condition: that of giving life.”

Pope Francis will open the eleventh edition of the '24 Hours for the Lord' Lenten initiative on March 8, Friday, dedicated to prayer and reconciliation, at the Roman parish of San Pio V., according to a statement from the Dicastery for Evangelization.

“I carry the pain and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis in my heart,” Holy Father said.

They also sought for "enactment of a negotiated release of those held as captives and prisoners" of the war.

"We all go through ordeals that generate sorrow in us because life makes us conceive dreams that are then shattered," said the Pope.

The project covers 55 hectares of the extraterritorial area at Castel Gandolfo, divided into 35 hectares of beautiful gardens and 20 hectares of agricultural and livestock land, greenhouses, and service buildings, said Vatican News.

“The negative impact of environmental destruction and social degradation continues to cause immense suffering for a vast number of our brothers and sisters around the globe,” Pope said.

Pope said, “Jesus will make us a pedagogue—patient, severe, sweet, or firm as we need in our discernment because He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He waits for, encourages, and supports us in all our journey.”

“Starting with the magisterium of Pope Francis and the great changes marking the present era .. theology is confronted with a new challenge, that of addressing the topic of the family in an adequate and renewed manner,” said Paglia.

"The Gift of the Priestly Vocation (Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis)," a foundational document on priestly formation from 2016 will be a key text in the conference.

The Lenten journey “will be concrete if… we realize that even today we remain under the rule of Pharoah. A rule that makes us weary and indifferent. A model of growth that divides us and robs us of our  future, said the Pope.

We “can always care for the sick person, caress them, even if healing is not always possible,” said the Holy Father.

Cardinal Aviz said the new style of walking together can be and must be learned this time when “an overly individualistic spirituality is emerging."

“Immediately stop the bombs and missiles and end hostile attitudes. Everywhere," said the Pope

Pope said it will range “from thanksgiving to intercession; from contemplative prayer to the prayer of consolation; from adoration to supplication.”

Pope noted that being a journalist is a vocation, something like that of a doctor, “who chooses to love humanity by caring for its illnesses” because they “choose to personally touch the wounds of society and the world”.

Pope Francis is likely to visit at the end of August four countries in Asia—Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea.

Pope Francis began the year 2023 by mourning Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and died on December 31, 2022.