Religion

Pope Unavailable to Deliver Angelus Prayer at St Peter’s Square

By Web News 152

For the third week in a row, Pope Francis has been unable to deliver his traditional Angelus prayer in person, with the Vatican publishing his written comments instead.

The Vatican said the text, sent from his hospital room in Rome, had been written “in the past few days”. In it, the Pope thanked people for their prayers and thanked his medical team for their care.

“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” he wrote.

“At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”

The Pope told Catholics around the world that he felt their “affection and closeness”.

“I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people. Thank you all!” the text reads.

In the latest update from the Vatican, Pope Francis was said to be resting after a “peaceful” night.

On Sunday morning, according to the Vatican, “the Pope woke, had breakfast with coffee, continued his therapy and read the newspapers as he usually does”.

The Pope received two visitors in Gemelli hospital on Sunday – the first outside visitors the Vatican has mentioned since last Monday.

Once again, it was Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin and his deputy, Monsignor Pena Parra, who saw Pope Francis in his 10th-floor hospital room. There are no details about the length of time they spent with him or what was discussed.

On Friday, the Pope suffered a second breathing “crisis”, after which he was receiving extra oxygen support but was not intubated.

By Saturday evening, the Vatican described his condition as stable, with no fever and no further “crises” with his breathing. He was said to be “alert” and eating normally.

In his Sunday Angelus, the Pope also prayed for peace, including in “tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel”, adding: “From here, war appears even more absurd.”

On Sundays, visitors to the Vatican usually gather on St Peter’s Square to see the Pope appear at a window high up in the Apostolic Palace in the official Papal apartment.

However, Francis does not live there, opting for the simpler setting of the Vatican’s Santa Marta guest house.

Punch/Adebukola Aluko

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Religion

Pope Canvasses Diplomatic Solution to Niger Crisis

By Web News 436

Pope Francis on Sunday urged a diplomatic solution to a political crisis in Niger, sparked by a coup that threatens stability in the region.

“I am following with concern what is happening in Niger, and join the bishops’ call in favour of peace in the country and stability in the Sahel,” said Pope Francis, addressing the faithful in St Peter’s Square after his Angelus prayer.

“I join with prayer the efforts of the international community to find a peaceful solution as soon as possible for the good of everyone,” said the 86-year-old.

Army officers ousted  President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, making Niger the fourth West African nation to suffer a coup since 2020.

Punch/Simeon Ugbodovon

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Foreign

Pope Condemns Killing of Priests in Mexico

By Web News 479

The bodies of two Catholic priests and a tour guide who were shot dead inside a church in northern Mexico have finally been found.

The three were killed last Monday after a suspected run-in with a wanted drug trafficker in the state of Chihuahua.

Report says, the priests were gunned down while trying to help the guide, who ran into their church for help.


Pope Francis condemned the killings, calling it a shocking reminder of the level of violence in Mexico.

“We’ve found and recovered… the bodies of the Jesuit priests Javier Campos, Joaquín Mora and the tour guide Pedro Palma,” Chihuahua Governor Maria Eugenia Campos said in a video posted to social media.

Palma was fleeing an armed gang when he sought refuge in a church in the town of Cerocahui, before being shot dead along with the two priests who tried to intervene, the Chihuahua prosecutor’s office said.

The three bodies were then taken away by a group of men in a pickup truck, Luis Gerardo Moro, head of the religious order in Mexico, said in a radio interview.

The suspect, who was identified by another priest who was in the church, was already wanted for the murder of an American tourist in 2018, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. The suspect has been named as Jose Noriel Portillo Gil.

The president added that Palma’s wife was one of two people who were kidnapped on Monday before the killings, and is still missing

Pope Francis expressed dismay over the killings.

“So many murders in Mexico. I am close, in affection and prayer, to the Catholic community affected by this tragedy,” the pontiff said at the end of his weekly audience at the Vatican.

A reward of 5 million pesos, $249,300; £203,000, for information relating to the suspect’s whereabouts has been announced.

Some 30 priests have been killed in Mexico in the past decade, according to the Centro Catolico Multimedial, a Catholic organisation.


BBC /Taiwo Akinola