A New Forum on Pope Francis

Discussion in 'Pope Francis' started by padraig, May 8, 2013.

  1. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  2. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  3. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

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  4. Phillip

    Phillip Angels

    "Yes, I will give everything with persecution." "You cannot remove the Cross from the path of Jesus, it is always there." Yet, Pope Francis warned, this does not mean that Christians must hurt themselves. The Christian "follows Jesus out of love and when you follow Jesus out of love, the devil’s envy does many things." The "spirit of the world will not tolerate this, does not tolerate this witness":
    "Think of Mother Teresa: what does the spirit of the world say of Mother Teresa? 'Ah, Blessed Teresa is a beautiful woman, she did a lot of good things for others ...'. The spirit of the world never says that the Blessed Teresa spent, every day, many hours, in adoration ... Never! It reduces Christian activity to doing social good. As if Christian life was a gloss, a veneer of Christianity. The proclamation of Jesus is not a veneer: the proclamation of Jesus goes straight to the bones, heart, goes deep within and change us. And the spirit of the world does not tolerate it, will not tolerate it, and therefore, there is persecution."

    What Pope Francis says here is so true. People both outside and inside the Church are always trying to reduce Christianity to some kind of social work - it's ok to be Christian as long as your Christianity only manifests itself in charity work. But talking about Jesus, sin, repentance, and the Cross? Unacceptable!
     
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  5. Daria

    Daria Angels

  6. Glenn

    Glenn Guest



    Daria, simply put, after Pope Francis was elected, rumors were one of his first acts of Pope Francis will be that Pope Benedict XVI.'s appointed" master of ceremonies", Monsignor Guido Marini, is fired because he was too "Traditional" . Marini's style reflects the liturgical thinking and celebration style of the both Popes Benedict and Francis. I guess they wanted someone more "liberal" in their thinking.
     
  7. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  8. The man whom Pope blessed says he's seeking liberation from demons

    [​IMG]
    THE POPE LAYS HIS HANDS ON THE HEAD OF THE POSSESSED FATHER OF TWO, ANGEL
    Angel, the Mexican father of two whom Francis laid his hands on in St Peter’s Square on May 19 talks about his 14 year struggle to be liberated from demons

    GERARD O'CONNELLROME
    When Pope Francis laid his hands on a young man in a wheel chair, in St Peter’s Square, at the end of mass on Pentecost Sunday, May 19, many people at first thought he had actually carried out an exorcism. The Vatican flatly denied that, however, and said the pope had simply prayed over the man. The priest who accompanied the man also confirmed this.

    But one thing is certain, the man claims to be possessed by demons, and says he has been tormented in this state for the past 14 years. He revealed this May 22, in an exclusive interview in Rome with Irene Hernandez Velasco, the correspondent of the Spanish daily, El Mundo.

    The man, Angel V., a 43 year-old Mexican from the state of Michoacán, is married with two young children, said some ten exorcists, included the renowned Roman exorcist – Father Gabriel Amorth, have tried but failed to liberate him from his terrible predicament.

    Father Juan Rivas, who accompanied Angel to Rome and was with him when he met the Pope, confirmed all this when he spoke to El Mundo. He revealed that when the Pope met Angel, he told him, “Holiness, this person needs a blessing, he has had more than 30 exorcisms and the demons that live in him do not want to leave him.”

    Fr Rivas, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, described what happened that Sunday. He said: “The Pope greeted Angel, and he kissed the pontiff’s ring and in that instant fell into a trance. The Pope then laid his hands on his head and at that moment a terrible sound was heard (from him), like the roar of a lion. All those who were there heard it perfectly well. The Pope for sure heard it, and his bodyguards heard it as did a child who was at our side. But in spite of this horrific roar the Pope did not let himself be moved; he continued with his prayer, as if he had faced similar situations before.”

    continued below
     
  9. Angel listened to what Fr Rivas told El Mundo, and nodded his assent. He said he felt better now, and said the prayer of Pope Francis made him feel much good. Significantly, El Mundo’s correspondent noted that he came to the interview walking on his own two feet, whereas he was on a wheelchair when he met the Pope.

    Angel told El Mundo, “I still have the demons inside me, they have not gone away!” He recalled the very first time the demons entered into him, it was in 1999 when “I was returning home by bus from Mexico D. F. to my birthplace in Michoacán state”. He felt that “an energy had entered the bus. I did not see it with my eyes, but I perceived it. I noted that it came close to me, and then stopped in front of me. Then, suddenly, I noted that something like a stake pierced my chest and, little by little, I had the sensation that it was opening my ribs” It felt like a heart attack, he thought he would die. From that moment on, he said, his health started deteriorating: he vomited whatever he ate; he felt t pains in his whole body, as if he was full of needles; he began to have difficulty in walking, and breathed “I could not sleep, and when I managed to sleep I had terrible nightmares connected with the evil one”, he added. He began to fall into trances in which he blasphemed, and spoke in unknown languages.

    Medical doctors examined him and carried out tests but “could not get to the cause of my problems”, Angel said. Priests gave him Extreme Unction four times, but this only ‘relieved’ but did not remove his problem.

    Baptized a Catholic, Angel attended church regularly on Sundays but said he does pray enough. When he became afflicted with demonic possession, a first cousin who is a priest gave him a prayer card with a picture of the Lord of Mercy, and he began praying to this Lord and that helped.

    In 2004, at a conference in Morelia, the capital of Michoacán state, Angel met a man who had lived for some time with Padre Pio, and told his story to him. The man placed a relic of Padre Pio on his chest and, Angel said, “at that moment I saw a special light which surrounded me, and I felt great peace. At the same time, however, I felt that something filled me from inside, then pulled me to the ground, and began to manifest itself. I could do nothing. This presence was stronger than me, it dominated me.”


    Five years later, Angel learned that he was possessed by the devil, and a priest carried out the first exorcism on him. Knowing he was possessed, he said, “I felt much fear. I also felt very dirty, at the thought that there was an evildoer within me”. His family reacted with incredulity, while some of his siblings were skeptical and thought he was psychologically unbalanced, he said.

    From that moment on he began a desperate search to find an exorcist that could liberate him of the demons. He first went to one in Mexico City, who carried out four or five exorcisms on him. After trying another exorcist in Mexico some three years ago, Angel sought the help of the most famous Spanish exorcist, Fr Jose Antonio Fortea, who also carried out exorcisms on him, as did five others, but none of them could cast out his demons.

    His possession turned into “a nightmare”, he said, so much so that he had to close the publicity firm he owned and sell some real estate to support his family. “I just want to live a normal life, above all for my wife and my sons who are 6 and 11 years old. Fortunately, my children have never seen me in a trance, though they know I am ill”, he said.

    The past eight months have been a period of terror, he said; he could not go out of the house because he felt so ill. Then one night he had a dream about Pope Francis, and when he woke up from the dream he turned on the TV and saw the Pope celebrating mass exactly as he had seen in his dream “and then the idea came into my head that I should go to Rome”. At that time he was reading Fr Amorth’s book on “The last exorcist” in which he tells how both Benedict XVI and John Paul II carried out exorcisms and said liberating prayers for the possessed. Angel asked Fr Rivas, whom he has known for two years, to accompany him.

    Fr Rivas told El Mundo that they failed on three attempts to meet the Pope, but on May 19, “Divine Providence helped us and we were finally able to meet him, and he said a prayer”.

    A day after Angel was blessed by the Pope, Fr Amorth, 88, who has carried out 160,000 exorcisms told El Mundo, “ I have no doubt, he is possessed”. The exorcist considers Angel’s possession to be a very special kind: it’s a possession with a message. Not only is he possessed, but the devil who lives in him finds himself obliged by God to transmit a message.

    Fr Amorth said, “Angel is a good man, he has been chosen by the Lord to give a message to the Mexican clergy and to tell the bishops that they have to do an act of reparation for the law on abortion that was approved in Mexico City in 2007, which was an insult to the Virgin. Until they do not do this, Angel will not be liberated.”
     
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  10. Phillip

    Phillip Angels

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-jesus-plan-for-humanity-requires-catholic-church/

    Vatican City, May 29, 2013 / 07:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis began a new series of reflections by saying that although some people want Jesus but not the Church, “it is the Church that brings us Christ” and reunites us to God.

    “Even today, some say, ‘Christ yes, the Church no,’ like those who say, ‘I believe in God, but in priests, no.’ They say, ‘Christ: yes. Church: no.’ Nevertheless, it is the Church that brings us Christ and that brings us to God. The Church is the great family of God’s children,” the Pope said May 29 to around 90,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

    The pontiff also said what the Church is not. It is “not an organization founded by an agreement among (a group of) persons, but – as we were reminded many times by Pope Benedict XVI – it is the work of God: it was born out of the plan of love, which realizes itself progressively in history.”
     
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  11. Phillip

    Phillip Angels

    "He announced to the crowd that today he was beginning a new set of reflections on the Church, which he will illustrate using well-known phrases from the Second Vatican Council’s documents. "

    I can't wait to read those reflections! What a great Pope we have in Francis!
     
  12. Phillip

    Phillip Angels

  13. Carmel333

    Carmel333 Powers

    This is interesting. I had my boss approach me several years ago to see if I had an "in" with the Church as he wanted his 10 and 12 year old children baptised. Both he and his 3rd wife (mother of said children) were long away from the church and both married and divorced several times. I understood from what he told me that they were not about to go back to church, to amend their lives, or teach and uphold Catholic teachings.....they just felt better having their kids baptised "just in case". I was not of course able to help them, and suggested that they try a protestant church. My friend at work who was a very devout Lutheran said she would have the baptism set up right away, no problem. My boss was not interested, as he grew up Catholic and said he believed only the Catholic Church had the authority to baptise :D (gotta love those fallen away Catholics who were taught by the Nuns!) so he refused. I gently talked to him about the reason the Church did not baptise his kids, as it was very important from then on they must be taught the Truth of Christ and shown an example of Christian life, and suggested that they request the baptism from the Church for themselves in a few years when they were old enough. Anyway, I think in that case the Church was right to deny the baptism, considering what baptism actually is. However, if a priest has a young unwed mother who is willing to amend her life and raise her child Catholic it should be no problem at all.
     
  14. HOPE

    HOPE Guest


    I hope this man does get his children baptised. I think it's important in this time, to be able to receive the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church does accept baptism from protestant churches. Father Mitch Pacwa said on a show that the Catholic Church does not require protestant people coming into the Catholic Church to be baptised, that the only two churches that the Catholic Church does not accept people as being baptised from are the Jehova Witnesses and the church of latter day saints, Mormons.
     
  15. Mary Ann

    Mary Ann Guest


    Do you remember the miraculous light that came out of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe after the legalization of abortion? [​IMG] The light is shining right where Jesus is incarnate in the Virgin Mary. For this man's sake, I hope the Mexican bishops preach a time of reparation for the sin of abortion. My city was without an abortion clinic for most of the time we have lived here, but sadly within the last year one has opened within about 1.5 miles of the only Catholic church in this city. Not enough being done in my community to prevent this.
     
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  16. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  17. Daria

    Daria Angels

  18. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  19. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

  20. Glenn

    Glenn Guest

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