When #PopeFrancis was elected 12 years ago, his request that people pray for him was stunning. But he's asked for prayers almost every day since, so it seems normal. Here's that moment from March 13, 2023: youtu.be/5eYlRhvNVBY?...
And a story: www.usccb.org/news/2025/pa...
#PopeFrancis still in critical condition, but showed some improvement today, doctors say. He is using the nasal cannula for oxygen, but with a lower flow. He worked today & this evening phoned the parish in Gaza to thank them for a video greeting they'd sent. (📸 at Gemelli hospital by Pablo Esparza)
Even with #PopeFrancis in the hospital, people continue making their Holy Year 2025 pilgrimage to the Vatican.
#PopeFrancis' doctors: 'Is the pope out of danger?' No, the pope is not out of danger" because of multiple factors, including being 88 & having double pneumonia. However, "if you ask, 'Is his life in immediate danger?' The answer is still, no."
Letter from Pope Francis to the Bishops of the United States on the Human Dignity of Migrants and Refugees.
«What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.»
vatican.va/content/france…
#PopeFrancis letter to US bishops: "I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, & all men & women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against & cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters."
#PopeFrancis re: @JDVance on "ordo amoris": "Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups." "The true ordo amoris ... is that which we discover by meditating constantly on parable of the “Good Samaritan”
On today's feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Catholic Church marks the World Day of the Sick. Read about the message #PopeFrancis wrote for the occasion. (📸Lola Gomez for CNS)
www.usccb.org/news/2025/ho...
Scenes from the rainy welcome ceremony for the Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security Personnel in Rome's Piazza del Popolo Feb. 8 by Chris Warde-Jones for Catholic News Service.
Pope Francis with children of Vatican employees just before Christmas
#PopeFrancis decides Vatican City State employees with three or more children will receive monthly bonus of €300 (about $309) until the child is 18 or, if continuing education, until 24. Also paid leave for new fathers, natural or adoptive, goes from 3 days to 5 days.
#PopeFrancis gets in on the act when the circus comes to the #Vatican.
#PopeFrancis, after a prayer service, goes to St. Peter's Square to see the Nativity scene and listen to the Swiss Guard band play Christmas carols. And he's distributed dozens of chocolate Santas to the children present.
The Holy Year 2025 and a long Christmas holiday mean big crowds at the Vatican
#PopeFrancis praises President Jimmy Carter's work for peace, human rights & care of the poor, and offers his condolences to those mourning the former president's passing.
Pope Francis waves; photo by Lola Gomez
Before saying arrivederci to 2024, a look back at Pope Francis' year.
www.usccb.org/news/2024/po...
Pilgrims walk together toward the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Before leaving Rome's Rebibbia prison after Mass, #PopeFrancis sends greetings to inmates unable to leave their cells and wishes everyone a Happy New Year, praying that 2025 will be a better year for all of them. And remember, he says, "hang on to hope" like you hang on to an anchor's rope.
#PopeFrancis at the Angelus (indoors because he has a cold): Whenever we meet a pregnant woman or a mother carrying a baby, "let us pray in our hearts and say, like Elizabeth, 'Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!'"
#PopeFrancis is holding his traditional pre-Christmas meeting with officials of the Roman Curia and College of Cardinals.
CNS staff members with St. Peter's Basilica in the background
The team at Catholic News Service Rome.
Simone Legno, creator of Luce, the Vatican mascot for Jubilee 2025, also created a Nativity scene that is among 100 on display under the colonnade around St. Peter's Square. (Here's Luce first, then the creche)
With a quick, 50-minute flight from Corsica back to Rome, #PopeFrancis briefly greeted reporters but -- for the first time on the way home from a foreign trip -- he did not hold an inflight news conference. (📷 Vatican Media)
#PopeFrancis (and several dozen journalists) is on his way to Corsica for the day.
A little story and more photos from the living Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. (Cardinal Makrickas checks on the "baby Jesus.")
www.usccb.org/news/2024/na...
#PopeFrancis this evening met with the people staging the living Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. Lovely photo by Pablo Esparza.
In letter to his nuncio in Russia, #PopeFrancis speaks of the victims of Russia's war on Ukraine. "Their cry rises to God, invoking peace instead of war, dialogue instead of the din of weapons, solidarity instead of partisan interests, because one cannot kill in the name of God."
The statue of the baby Jesus has been removed, but the Nativity scene is still there. There is a tradition of not placing the baby in the manger until Christmas Eve so it likely will be back in some form. (photo @lolagomez.bsky.social for @catholicnewssvc.bsky.social )
Pope Francis speaks at his weekly general audience
#PopeFrancis at his general audience: "The Christian cannot be satisfied with having hope; he or she must also radiate hope, be a sower of hope. It is the most beautiful gift that the Church can give to all of humanity, especially at times in
which everything seems to be dragging down the sails."
Paying homage to Mary ... near a statue way up high.
Story with beautiful photos by @lolagomez.bsky.social and Pablo Esparza.
www.usccb.org/news/2024/am...
A little summary video of Pope Francis creating 21 new cardinals today. (Includes a shot of Cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne wearing the Byzantine koukoulion instead of a biretta)
youtu.be/00SiAjMRG4k?...
