Pope’s visit a wake-up call

At the time, Napier said that the interim summary “is not what we’re saying at all” and added that the message “is not a true message” and did not capture “the feeling of the whole synod”.

In a solemn mass held in St Peter’s Basilica, the Pope set a largely merciful tone by urging religious leaders to do more to “seek out and care for” marginalised believers, but reaffirmed Catholic opposition to gay marriage.

The synod of more than 300 bishops, delegates and observers, including 13 married couples, will be meeting for three weeks in the presence of Pope Francis to discuss how the 1.2 billion member Church can confront challenges facing the modern family.

“So many things have [previously] turned me off from church and church folks”, Johnson said.

The aim of the GNRC network was to “support each other, and others more vulnerable than ourselves… especially in countries which criminalize us, and even think they are honouring God by killing us”. I’m not Catholic. But, I’d bet that many of us, believers or non-believers, would find it hard not to respect or love a pope who lives in a guest house, eats with street people, advocates for migrants and was a club bouncer (in his youth) in Argentina.

They included Pope Francis franks, Pope corn (popcorn), people potatoships (chips), holy watermelon and liturgical lemonade, all of which were provided by the parish’s Knights of Columbus. He didn’t inspire a boost among Catholics as the shy, scholarly and strict former Pope Benedict XVI did when he visited the U.S.in 2008.

“We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to enjoy hearing what the Pope had to say”, said Rodriguez, formerly of Argentina, which is where Pope Francis is from. The opening of the synod has been overshadowed by Saturday’s announcement by Polish-born priest and Vatican theologian Krzyszt of Charamsa that he was in a gay relationship and was prepared to become an advocate “for all sexual minorities and their families who have suffered in silence”.

“No one meets with the pope unless the pope approves of the meeting and is aware of the person with whom he is meeting and background checks are appropriately done”, Staver said. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? 50% of Catholics also have more positive opinions, with 22% non-Catholics favoring the Church as well.

Pope Francis’ six-day US visit, which included New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., highlighted a few of his top concerns, such as religious freedom, celebrating immigrants’ heritage, the importance of women to the Catholic Church, climate change, and economic inequality, Yahoo!

Francis also signaled openness to the salvation of all, including atheists. It’s not explicitly what he said to Congress, but Pope Francis is the Vicar of Christ.