Obedience, now that's completely out of fashion. Yesterday I attended Mass which was said by a priest who publicly dissented with the bishops and advocated a yes vote in the recent referendum. He prayed at Mass that. We would all learn to respect the views of others and not feel treathned He and many others have no concept of obedience. The church fails to act and the blind are leading the blind. It's so heartbreaker.
What i have noticed is that Pope Francis on his travels is willing to talk openly and take questions on many different subjects from Homosexuality & Pedophiles to the Poor and Refugees but when it comes to mentioning Fatima & Medjugorje he plays his cards close to his chest. He must have a very big Hand. (I Hope)
Sarajevo, the Pope has broken the crozier Pontiff to set the stage with stick held by scotch http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/top...ale_a5ce9eee-76f0-4f20-bdaa-d892812a14f7.html (ANSAmed) - SARAJEVO, JUNE 6 - During the Mass at the stadium Kosevo Pope Francis was presented with the pastoral staff adjusted with tape. In the commotion that preceded the Mass, the stick is in fact fallen and is broken just below the crucifix. Monsignor Guido Marini, head of the pontifical ceremonies has tried before a new stick and then has recourse to an emergency solution, the fact of placing the stick with scotch.E 'the first time that a Pope is presented with a pastoral broken.
Pope Francis: seek Christ in Eucharist, in neighbour 12 0Print 2015-06-07 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Speaking to pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square, beneath the window of the Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, for theAngelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis focused his remarks ahead of the traditional Marian devotion on the Gospel reading of the day, which was in Italy and many countries around the world, that of the Feast of Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi – the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ – the great Eucharistic feast instituted in the 13th century for the entire Latin Church. “[The solemnity of Corpus Domini] evokes this message of solidarity and encourages us to embrace the intimate call to conversion to service, to love, and to forgiveness,” said Pope Francis. “It encourages us to become in our life, imitators of what we celebrate in the liturgy,” he explained. “Christ, who nourishes us under the consecrated species of bread and wine, is the same Christ, whom we meet during the course of everyday life: He is in the poor person who holds out his hand [in supplication]; He is the suffering person who implores [our] help; He is in the brother or sister who asks us to be there and awaits our welcome; He is in the child who knows nothing about Jesus, about salvation, who does not have the faith; He is in every human being, even the smallest and most defenseless.” Indeed, following the Angelus, the rights of children to life, to education, to safe environments for play, were the subject of Pope Francis’ expressions of support for the World Day against Child Labor, to be marked this coming Friday. “Many children in the world do not have the freedom to play, to go to school, and end up being exploited as cheap labor,” he said, adding, “I hope the international community will remain attentively and steadfastly committed to the active promotion and effective recognition of children’s rights.” Pope Francis also looked forward to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which will be celebrated this coming Friday as well. “[On] the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us think of the love of Jesus, of how He has loved us,” said the Holy Father. (from Vatican Radio)
Pope Francis: in-flight presser (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis spoke with reporters on the return flight from Sarajevo to Rome on Saturday. In response to the journalists’ questions, the Holy Father touched on a number of topics ranging from global peace and security to the need for prudence in choosing what television programmes to watch and how much time to spend on-line. “There are two different elements here: method and content. Regarding the method or way of doing things, there is one that is bad for the soul and that is being too attached to the computer,” said Pope Francis. “Secondly, the content,” he continued. “[T]here is a lot of filth that ranges from pornography to semi-pornographic content, to programmes that are empty, devoid of values; relativism and consumerism foment all this,” said the Holy Father, “and we know that consumerism is a cancer of society, relativism is a cancer of society.” The Holy Father also mentioned the process of evaluation of the claims of miraculous apparitions at Medjugorje (ongoing, and nearing completion), and confirmed that his new encyclical will be out before the end of this month. Source: Vatican Radio
The decision should not be lukewarm. The fruits have been overwhelming. Countless vocations and miracles have been the result of Medjugorje. My wife, Sheila, and I made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in 1995. An X-ray showed a nasty bone spur on the bottom of her heel. In Medjugorje, Fr. Jozo placed his hands on Sheila’s head and prayed. Sheila felt a little light-headed like she might pass out. From then on she walked without pain. Subsequent X-rays showed no evidence that she ever had a bone spur.
‘Atmosphere of war’ is engulfing world, says Francis in Sarajevo The planet is facing 'a kind of Third World War being fought in piecemeal', Pope says on trip to Bosnia To overcome fear, discrimination and conflict, people must have a deep desire to open themselves up to God and his mercy, and work actively for peace every day, Pope Francis has said. God’s plan for creation is peace, “which always meets opposition from humanity and the Devil,” he said during a day-long visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina. The cold reality today is that the world is facing “a kind of Third World War being fought in piecemeal” amid “an atmosphere of war” worldwide, he said on the 71st anniversary of D-Day, the World War II anniversary of Allied forces landing in Normandy marking the liberation of Europe. But the “ray of sunshine piercing the clouds” is Christ’s appeal to work for peace, the Pope said during an outdoor Mass in the capital’s Kosevo sports stadium, where more than 60,000 people gathered from different parts of the Balkan region under a hot, hazy sky. Signs of peace emerging from a war-torn nation stood out throughout the city, whose residents are mostly Muslim. Small groups of well-wishers and cheering families lined the main avenues from the airport as armed military helicopters circled the sky. Sleek modern glass and steel commercial buildings were scattered among rows of towering communist-era apartment buildings whose gray cement walls were riddled with bullet holes and gouged by shrapnel. The holes left behind are marked with large dark grey splotches where the newer cement was troweled on and left unpainted. Flowers adorned some gravestones in a makeshift cemetery on a grassy plot between a snarl of highway bypasses. During the years of urban warfare, it was difficult to bury the dead in established cemeteries on the outskirts of town, so parks and roadsides became burial grounds. More than 100,000 people died and millions more were displaced during the 1992-1995 conflict, which saw a Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims after the mostly Muslim nation declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992. “War means children, women and the elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means destroyed homes, streets and factories; it means above all, countless shattered lives,” the Pope said in his homily. While there are those who foment war and profit from it by selling weapons, he said, there are those who hear Jesus’s words, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” “He does not say, ‘Blessed are the preachers of peace’, since everyone is capable of proclaiming peace, even in a hypocritical or indeed, duplicitous manner,” the Pope said. “No. He says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’, that is, those who make peace.” Peacemaking requires putting justice into practice, and it takes patience, passion, experience and the tenacity to never give up, every day, “step by step”, he said. A vital step, one that cannot be skipped, he said, is personal conversion since nothing in the world can change without a change in the human heart – one that makes room for God, his love and mercy. Only with such change can a person see that former enemies “really have the same face as I have, the same heart, the same soul”, he said. Signs of unity were seen throughout the Mass. An ecumenical choir of 1,600 people from Catholic and Serbian Orthodox churches and the country’s national choir were accompanied by the nation’s military band. Behind the altar was an intricately detailed chair for the pope, hand carved from dark walnut wood by a Muslim father and son. A large cross placed near the altar still bore the punctures of ammunition from the three-year long conflict. In just the first hours of his visit, the Pope said he saw signs of hope in the joy and smiles of the Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and Catholic children who greeted him at the airport. He told government and religious leaders during a morning meeting at the presidential palace, that “I saw hope today in those children. … That is hope. Let’s bet on that.” “In order to successfully oppose the barbarity of those who would make of every difference the occasion and pretext for further unspeakable violence, we need to recognize the fundamental values of human communities,” values that help people communicate, forgive, build and grow, Pope Francis said. “This will allow different voices to unite in creating a melody of sublime nobility and beauty, instead of fanatical cries of hatred,” he said. Source: Catholic Herald
Pope Francis: in-flight presser 81 218Print 2015-06-07 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis spoke with reporters on the return flight from Sarajevo to Rome on Saturday. In response to the journalists’ questions, the Holy Father touched on a number of topics ranging from global peace and security to the need for prudence in choosing what television programmes to watch and how much time to spend on-line. “There are two different elements here: method and content. Regarding the method or way of doing things, there is one that is bad for the soul and that is being too attached to the computer,” said Pope Francis. “Secondly, the content,” he continued. “[T]here is a lot of filth that ranges from pornography to semi-pornographic content, to programmes that are empty, devoid of values; relativism and consumerism foment all this,” said the Holy Father, “and we know that consumerism is a cancer of society, relativism is a cancer of society.” The Holy Father also mentioned the process of evaluation of the claims of miraculous apparitions at Medjugorje (ongoing, and nearing completion), and confirmed that his new encyclical will be out before the end of this month. (from Vatican Radio)
Below is "stuff" we can do without but it's "Out-There" ... just who, exactly, is advising Papa on these matters? The whole Global Warming Hoax is just a scam for godless government to tax and control your home, business and farm ... and apparently your Church "Retired NASA Scientists Take on Pope" http://www.aim.org/aim-column/retired-nasa-scientists-take-on-pope/ GOD GUIDE AND SAVE US AND POPE FRANCIS!!
So "the Pope has broken the crozier" - just as well I am an osteopath - physician heal thyself takes on a new meaning "and held by Scotch." Just as well I am Scottish too. It's all about me
Pope’s new encyclical will provoke backlash, says Peruvian archbishop The Archbishop of Huancayo says encyclical released this month will have 'many critics' The Archbishop of Huancayo, Peru has said that Pope Francis must prepare himself for criticism following the publication of his encyclical on the environment. Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo, Peru, told Catholic News Service: “(The encyclical) will have many critics, because they want to continue setting rules of the game in which money takes first place. We have to be prepared for those kinds of attacks.” The archbishop said that there would controversy once people had read the Pope’s new encyclical because resisting the “throwaway culture” by being satisfied with less means “putting money at the service of people, instead of people serving money.” Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on ecology and climate is expected to send a strong moral message – one message that could make some readers uncomfortable, some observers say. “The encyclical will address the issue of inequality in the distribution of resources and topics such as the wasting of food and the irresponsible exploitation of nature and the consequences for people’s life and health,” Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno said. “Pope Francis has repeatedly stated that the environment is not only an economic or political issue, but is an anthropological and ethical matter,” he said. “How can you have wealth if it comes at the expense of the suffering and death of other people and the deterioration of the environment?” The encyclical, to be published June 18, is titled “Laudato Sii” (“Praised Be”), the first words of St Francis’ “Canticle of the Creatures.” Although Archbishop Barreto was not involved in the drafting of the encyclical, he worked closely with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in 2007 on a document by the Latin American bishops’ council that included an unprecedented section on the environment. The encyclical is not expected to be a theological treatise or a technical document about environmental issues, but a pastoral call to change the way people use the planet’s resources so they are sufficient not only for current needs, but for future generations, observers said. The document “will emphasise that the option for stewardship of the environment goes hand in hand with the option for the poor,” said Carmelite Father Eduardo Agosta Scarel, a climate scientist who teaches at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and the National University of La Plata in Buenos Aires. “I think the Pope wants us to become aware of this,” said Father Scarel, who was involved in preparatory consultations about the encyclical. “He is aiming at a change of heart. What will save us is not technology or science. What will save us is the ethical transformation of our society.” The pontiff probably foreshadowed the encyclical during his first public Mass as Pope on March 19, 2013, Father Agosta said. In his homily, he said, “Let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” Although the document will be published in the wake of a seminar on climate change in April at the Vatican, it will not be limited to that issue and will probably focus on the relationship between people and their environment, Archbishop Barreto said. “What the Pope brings to this debate is the moral dimension,” said Anthony Annett, climate change and sustainable development adviser to the Earth Institute at Columbia University and to the nonprofit Religions for Peace. “His unique way of looking at the problem, which is deeply rooted in Catholic social teaching, resonates with people all across the world.” Annett called the timing of the encyclical “extremely significant.” A month after it is published, global representatives will meet at a conference on financing for development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In September, the Pope will address the United Nations at a session that is likely to see the approval of a new set of global development objectives, the Sustainable Development Goals, which include environmental criteria. And in December, negotiators and world leaders will converge on Paris to finish hammering out a treaty aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Some politicians have already questioned the Pope’s credentials for wading into the issue of climate change, but that is only one of several environmental problems the Pope is likely to address, said David Kane, a Maryknoll lay missioner in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, who works with Maryknoll’s Faith-Economics-Ecology Program. The Pope has spoken out in the past on the “throwaway culture, both of material goods that we buy and use for a few months and then throw out, and also throwaway people,” he said. Kane hopes the encyclical will help people understand that overusing resources, from forests to fish to water, results in scarcity that can both increase and be exacerbated by climate change. He expects Pope Francis will remind people of the responsibility of caring for God’s creation. “Whether you think climate change is a problem or not, you cannot deny that running out of fish, oil, water and other resources is a really big problem. The solution is a radical change in our concept of what makes a person happy. We need to move away from the idea that the more things we have, the happier we’ll be,” Kane said. Source: Catholic Herald
Pope offers ‘Stone Age’ tips to youth living in the digital world We have a responsibility to seek the good and reject the vulgar, says Francis Pope Francis has given “Stone Age” advice to young people on how to live well in the digital world, saying they should choose television programmes that strengthen values, “that build up society, that move us forward, not drag us down”. Whether you still stick to books or magazines or get everything online, the Pope said all media should encourage and edify, not enslave. “Back in my day – the Stone Age – when a book was good, you read it; when the book was bad for you, you chucked it,” he told hundreds of youth in Sarajevo on Saturday. The Pope ended his one-day visit to the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina with young people of different religions and ethnicities who volunteer together with the archdiocesan St John Paul II Centre. He set aside his prepared text saying he would rather take some questions. What led the Pope to stop watching TV, one young man asked. Pope Francis said he decided to stop in 1990 because “one night I felt that this was not doing me good, it was alienating me” and he decided to give it up. But he did not give up on movies. When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires he would go the archdiocesan television station to watch a recorded film he had picked out, which didn’t have the same isolating effect on him, he said. “Obviously, I am from the Stone Age, I’m ancient!” the Pope said. Times have changed, and “image” has become all important. But even in this “age of the image”, people should follow the same standards that ruled back “in the age of books: choose the things that are good for me”, he said. Those who produce or distribute content, like television stations, have the responsibility of choosing programmes that strengthen values, that help people grow and prepare for life, “that build up society, that move us forward, not drag us down”. Viewers have the responsibility of choosing what’s good, and changing the channel where there is “filth” and things that “make me become vulgar”. While the quality of content is a concern, it is also critical to limit the amount of time one is tied to the screen, the Pope said. If “you live glued to the computer and become a slave to the computer, you lose your freedom. And if you look for obscene programs on the computer, you lose your dignity,” he said. Later, in response to a journalist’s question on the papal plane from Sarajevo back to Rome, Pope Francis said the online or virtual world is a reality “that we cannot ignore; we have to lead it along a good path” and help humanity progress. “But when this leads you away from everyday life, family life, social life, and also sports, the arts and we stay glued to the computer, this is a psychological illness,” he said. Negative content, he said, includes pornography and content that is “empty” or devoid of values, like programmes that encourage relativism, hedonism and consumerism. “We know that consumerism is a cancer on society, relativism is a cancer on society, and I will speak about this in the next encyclical” on the environment, to be released on June 18. Pope Francis said some parents do not allow their children to have a computer in their own room, but keep it in a common living space. These are “some little tips” that parents find to deal with the problem of unsuitable content, he said. Source: Catholic Herald
Pope Francis attacks ‘gender ideology’ Differences between male and female are not just social convention, Francis says The differences between men and women must be recognised and valued, Pope Francis said yesterday. Efforts to convince people that the differences between male and female are simply social conventions, which limit individual freedom, ignore the fact that men and women need each other in order to understand themselves, Pope Francis said. “The differences between man and woman are not of the order of opposition or subordination, but rather of communion and generation,” which is why the human person, male and female, can be said to be made in the image and likeness of God, the Pope told bishops from Puerto Rico. “Without mutual commitment, neither of the two will be able to understand the other in depth,” the Pope said. “The complementarity of man and woman – the summit of divine creation – is being questioned by what is called ‘gender ideology’ in the name of a society that is freer and more just.” Meeting the bishops of the Caribbean archipelago on Monday during their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican, Pope Francis urged them to care for family life, which is “one of the most important treasures of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples”. The Pope spoke about “gender ideology” after listing a number of “serious social problems besetting” the family in Puerto Rico, including “the difficult economic situation, emigration, domestic violence, unemployment, drug trafficking and corruption. They are realities that generate concern,” he said. Source: Catholic Herald
"Shadow Synod" participant is new Archbishop of Berlin The Holy See today announced the appointment of Heiner Koch, 61 years old, Bishop of Dresden-Meiβen, as the new Archbishop of Berlin. His appointment comes after his election by the Berlin Cathedral Chapter, which is required under the complex system of concordats that governs Church-State relations in Germany. Nevertheless the final ratification of such elections still lies with the Pope. Berlin is a small diocese by German standards, but due to its immense social and political importance for all of Europe, six of its seven Ordinaries from 1935 to 2014 have been raised to the Cardinalate while in office. The Archbishop-elect heads the German hierarchy's Commission for Marriage and Family and is one of the three German delegates to the 2015 Synod along with Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Munich and Franz-Josef Bode, Bishop of Osnabruck. Despite some conservative-sounding statements made by the Archbishop-elect during the Benedict years (such as a 2012 statement on the futility of discussing matters already closed by the Magisterium) he is now without question aligned with the "progressivist" camp. All three German delegates to the 2015 Synod have publicly come out in favor of the Kasper "hypothesis" and all three attended the now-infamous "Shadow Synod" held on May 25 at the Gregorianum in Rome. Archbishop-elect Koch succeeds Rainer Cardinal Woelki, 58, who was Archbishop of Berlin from 2011 until transferred by Pope Francis to Germany's largest and richest Archdiocese, Cologne, in 2014. Cardinal Woelki was largely assumed to be a "conservative" during the Benedict XVI years despite some evidence to the contrary, but has shown his progressivist leanings more openly during the current Pontificate; he is reportedly in favor of Kasper's proposal and more recently was identified as the "leading figure" in the German hierarchy's decision to change its labor laws, opening the way for the almost unlimited employment by the Church of persons who enter into same-sex civil "unions" (known as "registered life partnerships" in German law), and all but ending the possibility of their dismissal. The Archdiocese of Berlin is in deep crisis, forcing then-Archbishop Cardinal Woelki to announce in January 2013 the reduction of the Archdiocese's 105 parishes to just 30 by 2020. (Only six years before, the late Cardinal Sterzinsky of Berlin had halved the number of parishes in the Archdiocese.) The new appointment does not give much hope for even a modest turnaround. Despite impressive numbers of faithful and clergy on paper (407,000 Catholics, 421 priests and 668 religious) it would seem from the need to drastically cut down parishes that the great majority of priests on Berlin's clergy roll are very old and are either unable to serve any longer, or will be unable to continue serving for long.
Francis approves system to hold bishops accountable for abuse failures Pope gives Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith authority to hold bishops to account Pope Francis has approved the outline of a new system which will hold bishops who fail to act on clerical abuse accountable. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Vatican announced today that the Pope had approved the system on the advice of both the Council of Cardinals and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The move is regarded as a breakthrough on clerical abuse because the new system gives power to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops “with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors”. It would also see the establishment of a new office at the congregation to take on work as a tribunal in the judgment of bishops who fail to act on abuse. Abuse survivor Marie Collins and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told the Catholic Herald: “Accountability was a priority for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors from the beginning as we said at our first press conference last year and in our first press release in May 2014. I am very pleased that the Holy Father has approved our proposal.” A Vatican spokesman said that the Pope would continue to have the final say on the removal of bishops, but that he normally accepts the advice of his offices. According to Vatican Radio, the Pontifical Commission’s five proposals, approved by Pope Francis, were as follows: 1) That because the competence to receive and investigate complaints of the episcopal abuse of office belongs to the Congregations for Bishops, Evangelisation of Peoples, or Oriental Churches there is the duty to report all complaints to the appropriate Congregation. 2) That the Holy Father mandate the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors. 3) That the Holy Father authorise the establishment of a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and appointment of stable personnel to undertake service in the Tribunal. The implementation of this decision would follow consultation with the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 4) That the Holy Father appoint a Secretary to assist the Prefect with the Tribunal. The Secretary will have responsibility for the new Judicial Section and the personnel of the Section will also be available to the Prefect for penal processes regarding the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy. This appointment will also follow the consultation with the Prefect of the Congregation. 5) That the Holy Father establish a five-year period for further development of these proposals and for completing a formal evaluation of their effectiveness. Source: Catholic Herald
Pope Francis hears testimony from two priests and a nun who were tortured People lined the streets and sang for Pope Francis as he made his way to the Cathedral of Sarajevo on the Popemobile. As the Pope entered the Cathedral alongside the cardinal from Sarajevo, priests and nuns snapped photographs and waved to him. The smiling Pope stopped to talk, shake hands, and even hug. Cardinal Vinko Puljic received this chalice from Pope Francis. In return, he gave the Pope this painting. Afterward, the Pope heard testimony about the persecution of Catholics during the war. The conflict ended 20 years ago and some 250,000 people died. This nun worked as a nurse in a civilian hospital, but foreign troops arrested her, a priest, and several lay people. Nun "The militants forced the pastor, Father Vinko, to put my rosary under his shoes. He refused to do so. One of the militiamen, unsheathing his sword, threatened to hit me if he did not trample and desecrate the rosary. Then I said to the pastor: "Father Vinko, let them kill me, but, for the love of God, do not trample our sacred object!” This priest was arrested and beaten badly. He had to receive six blood transfusions. Priest "I forgive with all of my heart those that do evil and I pray for them and for a merciful God to forgive them and that they convert to the path of good.” In 1992, this Franciscan friar was taken to a concentration camp with many of his parishioners. Priest "We lived without basic hygiene. We were not able to wash, shave, or cut our hair. We were physically abused every day, beaten, tortured for fun. They used different tools, their hands, and their feet. God sent me his help, in the form of food from a Muslim woman, Fatima, and her family, who now live in America. Visibly moved, Pope Francis set aside his prepared remarks and spoke about what he had just heard. POPE FRANCIS "You have no right to forget your history. Not for revenge, but to make peace. Not to look at them as something strange, but to love as they have loved.” The Pope said that the three religious who spoke are martyrs. He was impressed that the word "forgiveness” had been repeated so many times. POPE FRANCIS "There is a word that has been in my heart. It's... 'sorry.' A man who is dedicated to serving the Lord but does not forgive, he does not serve.” He also expressed appreciation for the Muslim woman's gesture. He said that she looked beyond their differences and did good by feeding the priest. Before leaving, he gave the audience an assignment: to pray for the families who have many children and to pray that many of them turn their lives over to God. Source: Rome Reports
Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin discuss Ukraine and Middle East during meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin was late to his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, but once he stepped out of his limousine, there were only handshakes and grins. Putin approached Pope Francis with a slight grin on his face, and the two shook hands. Next, the two met privately for about 50 minutes. The discussion focused on the ongoing war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. According to a Vatican spokesman, Pope Francis told Putin said that both sides in Ukraine must abide by the ceasefire agreement and that humanitarian workers should be allowed access. The Pope told Putin that the international community must come together for peace in Iraq and Syria, and to protect religious minorities. After their private session, the two exchanged gifts. The Russian leader explained the embroidery that he gave to the Pope. "This is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior that was destroyed during the Soviet era and rebuilt later. It was made by hand with gold thread.” In return, Pope Francis gave President Putin a medallion of the Angel of Peace and a copy of "Evangelii Gaudium.” "This is the angel of peace that overcomes all wars.” "These are my...religious, human, geopolitical, and social reflections.” And with that, the meeting was over. The two shook hands, and the Pope made a familiar request. "Thank you for your visit. I will pray for you, and I ask that you pray for me.” "Thank you very much. It's been my pleasure and a great honor to be with you.” Following his meeting with Pope Francis, the Russian president spoke with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States. Source: Rome Reports
