Pope on Ash Wednesday: Let’s share, be more sensitive

Donald Trump called Pope Francis “a very political person” who doesn’t understand America’s immigration problem when asked on Thursday about the Pope’s plan to stand with migrants at the U.S.-Mexican border on Friday.

New details about the possible effects of the Zika virus on the fetal brain emerged Wednesday as US health officials say mosquito eradication here and overseas is key to protect pregnant women until they can…

This year unlike others, he said he was thinking about the declaration from Pope Francis of 2016 as the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Pope Francis celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica alongside the Missionaries of Mercy, who concelebrated with the Pope and received their official mandate from him during the ceremony.

He told the missionaries that they need to recognise that people’s desire for forgiveness might be obscured by their inability or embarrassment to talk about their sins. Before the main altar were the mortal remains of St. Padre Pio and St. Leopold Mandic, two Capuchins popular as miracle workers and known particularly for the long hours they would spend hearing confessions. When someone forgets the necessity of being forgiven, they slowly forget God, the Pope explained.

People can not keep going on their own, and that is why the apostle Paul doesn’t urge people to “do something, but to let themselves be reconciled by God, to allow him to forgive us”, he said.

Pope Francis “opened the door” for a meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in November 2014, when he said that he would meet with the Russian prelate any time, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity told Vatican Radio.

“I want to come as a missionary of mercy and peace”, Francis said in a pre-trip video message. “If this person comes it’s because they want to change, not to do it again, to be another person”, he continued.

It will be the third time in his life that Francis has visited the “Morenita” (the brunette virgin), a revered icon for many Mexicans. Confessors should be respectful and encouraging, he said, because the penitents can easily feel exposed and vulnerable “with their weakness and limitations, with the shame of being a sinner”. “Forgiveness is a seed, a caress of God”.

Priest Mana Thembalethu from South Africa, 39, said the confessors would be forgiving those who take part in abortions – but warned “we’re not saying abortion is cool, everybody must do it. It still remains a sin”.

Universal: That prisoners, especially the young, may be able to rebuild lives of dignity.