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A rebounding Pope Francis adds an overnight visit to France to his busy travel schedule

FILE - Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience Wednesday, June 28, 2023. The Vatican says Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September. The announcement on Saturday, July 29, 2023 adds more travel to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will be making in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

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ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September, adding to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will soon be making only weeks after leaving hospital following abdominal surgery .

Early this year, Francis had said that he would go to the port city to participate in a meeting of Mediterranean-area Catholic bishops, but until the Vatican released his schedule on Saturday for the Sept. 22-23 pilgrimage, it wasn’t clear how long he would stay.

On his second day in Marseille, Francis will meet with the bishops and in late afternoon preside at Mass in the city’s soccer stadium.

Francis heads on Aug. 2 to Lisbon, Portugal, on a five-day trip centered around a Catholic youth jamboree. While in Portugal, he’ll make a helicopter trip to Fatima, site of a popular shrine to the Virgin Mary.

Then on Aug. 31, he is scheduled to fly to Mongolia for the first-ever visit by a pontiff to that Asian country, which has a tiny Catholic community.

Three trips in a span of two months will test how well Francis has rebounded from abdominal surgery in June to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring from previous surgeries. In 2021, Francis underwent in Rome surgery to receive a section of his bowel that had narrowed. Earlier this year, Francis was hospitalized to receive antibiotics intravenously to treat bronchitis.

His pilgrimage to Marseille begins in the afternoon on Sept. 22. Upon arrival at Marseille’s airport, Francis will be officially welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official Vatican schedule.

Francis and diocesan clergy will have a prayer service in the city’s Notre Dame de la Garde basilica. Early that evening, the pope will preside at what the Vatican calls a “moment of reflection with religious leaders” near a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea.

During his papacy, Francis has repeatedly decried the loss of migrants’ lives in the Mediterranean while attempting to cross the sea in smugglers’ unseaworthy vessels launched from the shores of northern Africa.

On his final day in Marseille, the pope’s schedule begins at the archbishop’s residence with a private meeting with people struggling with economic problems. Before heading to the stadium for Mass, Francis will meet with Macron for talks, an exchange of gifts and an official photo opportunity, the Vatican said.

Sunday, June 02, 2024 4:55 am (Paris)

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Why Pope Francis is coming 'to Marseille, not to France'

The pope's visit to the melting pot Mediterranean city comes against the backdrop of the migration crisis, a subject close to his heart, while the concerns of French Catholics appear secondary.

By  Sarah Belouezzane

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A majestic imperial residence, built on the orders of Napoleon III for Empress Eugénie, the Palais du Pharo offers a breathtaking view of Marseille's port. It is there, in this monument symbolizing the power of the French state in the 19 th century, that Pope Francis will conclude his visit to the Mediterranean city with a speech on Saturday, September 23.

The country's second-largest city, with an identity inseparable from the waves of immigration that have shaped it, Marseille is the setting of Pope Francis's second trip to France on Friday and Saturday. In 2014, he went to Strasbourg for a visit to the European Parliament, conceived as a meeting with the EU member states, rather than specifically with France.

The logic, this time, remains the same. "I'll go to Marseille, but not to France," Pope Francis openly declared on the plane back from the World Youth Days in Lisbon in early August, before adding that he had nothing against France.

The head of the Catholic Church has never made any secret of the fact that Europe is not his priority. Focusing on the marginalised, he has made Asia, Africa, and smaller, poorer countries and those at war his major preoccupations. He has visited Canada to acknowledge the suffering of indigenous peoples, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan to call for an end to war, and Mongolia to pay tribute to a minority church.

The Mediterranean 'graveyard'

In responding to the invitation to visit this multicultural city by the sea, Pope Francis is, above all, coming to talk about migrants, a subject particularly close to his heart. This theme has marked his 10-year pontificate, which has seen him make trips to Greece in December 2021 and to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, just a few months after his election.

"Who is responsible for the blood of these brothers and sisters? No one is. We all answer like this: it's not me, it's probably someone else... We've lost the sense of fraternal responsibility," he said then, referring to "boats that instead of being a path of hope have been a path of death". These words resonate still today on Lampedusa , which over the past year has become the main gateway for migrants seeking to reach Europe. Since January, almost 130,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea, twice as many as at the same time in 2022, and the island is in crisis.

The tragedies are neverending. Whether off Lampedusa in August, or in the Ionian Sea in June, when 79 bodies were recovered, they continue to turn the Mediterranean into "a graveyard," as Francis said in August.

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Pope's visit to France stirs debate over immigration, secularism

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Reporting by Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris and Philip Pullella in Rome; Editing by David Gregorio

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Pope's Visit to France Stirs Debate Over Immigration, Secularism

Pope's Visit to France Stirs Debate Over Immigration, Secularism

Pope Francis meets people on the day of the weekly general audience at the Vatican, September 13, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Francis' scheduled visit to France next week has stirred debate in the French political class, with left-wing politicians criticising the president for attending Mass while the far-right objects to the pope's positive views on immigration.

Francis will travel to Marseille, France's second city and a historic gateway for immigrants, where he is expected to send a message of tolerance towards migrants and give his Sunday Mass to an expected 60,000 at the city's famous soccer stadium.

The Elysee Palace confirmed on Thursday that President Emmanuel Macron will attend the Mass, immediately causing a barrage of criticism from left-wing politicians who said it goes against the French state's secular values.

"A president should not show preference for one particular religion," the head of the French Communist party, Fabien Roussel, said.

France, which once prided itself on being the so-called "eldest daughter of the Church" for its historical role as a bastion of Roman Catholicism, has since the early 20th century enforced a strict separation of state and faith.

Debates over France's particular brand of secularism, known as laicite, regularly inflame political talk-shows, from whether nativity scenes can be placed in public buildings, or if the state should still observe religious holidays.

Macron's advisers said French leaders had attended Mass before, and there was "confusion" as to what secularism means.

"The Republic neither recognises nor funds any religion, but that does in no way rule out the fact that the Republic should cultivate relations with all religions," one adviser said.

Macron will not take communion at the mass, they said.

Meanwhile, the far-right took aim at the pope's welcoming message on immigration. Leading the charge was Marion Marechal, niece of far-right leader Marine Le Pen and a candidate for European parliament elections next year.

"I disagree with Pope Francis," Marechal said on BFM TV on Thursday. "He has his the prism of a South-American pope who doesn't actually know the type of immigration we know and who, clearly, doesn't fully realise what we're dealing with."

Francis has made support of migrants a major theme of his pontificate. His impassioned speeches that called their exclusion "scandalous, disgusting and sinful" have put him on a collision course with right-wing politicians in Europe.

France, home to Europe's largest Muslim community, is regularly convulsed with debates on immigration.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris and Philip Pullella in Rome; Editing by David Gregorio)

Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters .

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Visiting France, Pope Francis challenges European nations to open ports to migrants

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Pope Francis challenged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to open their ports to people fleeing hardship and poverty, insisting Saturday that the continent isn’t facing a migration “emergency” but rather a long-term reality that governments must deal with humanely.

For a second straight day in the French port city of Marseille, Francis took aim at European countries that have used “alarmist propaganda” to justify closing their doors to migrants, and tried to shame them into responding with charity instead. He called for migrants to have legal pathways to citizenship, and for the Mediterranean Sea that so many cross to reach Europe to be a beacon of hope, not a graveyard of desperation.

The Mediterranean, Francis told Macron and a gathering of regional bishops, “cries out for justice, with its shores that on the one hand exude affluence, consumerism and waste, while on the other there is poverty and instability.”

The pope’s visit to the city in southern France, which drew an estimated 150,000 well-wishers Saturday, comes as Italy’s far right-led government has reacted to a new wave of arriving migrants by threatening to organize a naval blockade of Tunisia and to step up repatriations. The French government, for its part, has beefed up patrols on its southern border to stop migrants in Italy from crossing over.

READ MORE: Pope Francis goes to Marseille to show solidarity with migrants, but will Europe listen amid an influx?

After the bishops’ meeting ended, Macron and Francis held a private, half-hour meeting. They spoke about migration issues and a series of other topics, the French presidency said, adding that both leaders share a “joint will” to bring human solutions to the situation.

France is a “host country” to migrants — especially to asylum seekers — and is supporting European solidarity policies, including through financing and fighting human trafficking, the French presidency said. The Vatican provided no readout of the meeting.

Macron’s centrist government has taken a harder line on migration and security issues after coming under criticism from French conservatives and the far right. With elections for the European Union’s parliament set for next year, Macron is pushing for the EU to strengthen its external borders and to be more efficient in deporting individuals who are denied entry.

Macron greeted Francis on a wind-swept promenade overlooking Marseille’s old port, and helped him walk into the Palais du Pharo for the Mediterranean bishops meeting. With his wife by his side, the French leader listened as a young Italian volunteer working in Greece and the bishop of Tirana, Albania, who fled to Italy during Albania’s communist rule, spoke of the welcomes they received in foreign countries.

“May we let ourselves be moved by the stories of so many of our unfortunate brothers and sisters who have the right both to emigrate and not to emigrate, and not become closed in indifference,” Francis said. “In the face of the terrible scourge of the exploitation of human beings, the solution is not to reject but to ensure, according to the possibilities of each, an ample number of legal and regular entrances.”

Francis’ two-day trip was scheduled months ago, but it is taking place as mass migration to Europe is once again making headlines. Nearly 7,000 migrants who boarded smugglers boats in Tunisia came ashore on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa within a day last week, briefly outnumbering the resident population.

Nevertheless, Francis said talk of a migration “emergency” only fuels “alarmist propaganda” and stokes peoples’ fears.

“Those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they look for welcome, for life” he said. “As for the emergency, the phenomenon of migration is not so much a short-term urgency, always good for fueling alarmist propaganda, but a reality of our times.”

In addition to Macron, the pope’s audience on Saturday included European Commission Vice President Margarítis Schinás, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has said France would not take in new migrants from Lampedusa.

The French president and first lady Brigitte Macron later attended Francis’ final Mass at the Marseille Velodrome that drew an estimated 50,000 people and featured a giant banner of the pope hoisted up in the stands. The Vatican, citing local organizers, said 100,000 more lined Marseilles’ central Avenue du Prado to cheer as his popemobile passed by.

History’s first Latin American pope has made the plight of migrants a priority of his 10-year pontificate. For his first trip as pope, he traveled to Lampedusa to honor migrants who had drowned while attempting to cross the sea.

In the years since, he has celebrated Mass on the U.S.-Mexico border, met with Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees and, in a visible display of his commitment, brought home 12 Syrian Muslims on his plane after visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece.

READ MORE: Pope decries modern-day treatment of migrants as he declares 2 new saints

Migrants and their advocates living in Marseille, which has a long tradition of multicultural hospitality, said Francis’ call for charity and paths to citizenship gave them hope that at least someone in Europe was sympathetic to their plight.

“It is a very beautiful opportunity for us,” said Francky Domingo, who is part of a Marseille-based association representing migrants seeking official identification documents. “We really want the pope to be our spokesperson to the politicians because the European policy on migration is very, very repressive for us migrants.”

Stephanie Tomasini, a 48-year-old Marseille resident who attended the mass, said the pope sent an important message. “We must be able to … extend a hand and share, all of us should do that. Today, we’re not faced with difficulties, but we could be tomorrow, and we will want someone to open the doors for us,” she said.

Many faithful came from across French regions to see the pope, who last visited the country almost a decade ago. Catherine Etienne, from Brest in western France, watched Francis’ parade with joy. “We are really happy to have seen the Pope. We’re very moved,” she said.

In his remarks, Francis also repeated his opposition to euthanasia, which he has long decried as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” which treats the elderly and infirm as dispensable. Listing euthanasia as a “social evil,” he criticized supporters of assisted suicide as providing “false pretenses of a supposedly dignified and ‘sweet’ death that is more ‘salty’ than the waters of the sea.”

The issue is current in France, where Macron is expected in the coming weeks to unveil a bill that would legalize end-of-life options in France. French media reported that he delayed the presentation of the measure until after the pope’s visit to keep the sensitive topic from interfering.

No details of the government’s proposal have been released, but several options are under consideration, including legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia for adult patients with incurable conditions under strict conditions that guarantee their free and informed consent.

The French presidency said Francis and Macron discussed the issue during their bilateral meeting but didn’t enter into the details.

Associated Press writers Nicolas Garriga, Helena Alves and Masha Macpherson contributed to the story.

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Pope Francis set for Marseille visit 500 years in the making

Papal trip to france comes as europe faces turbulent political and religious times.

Leading prayers at the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica will be the centrepiece of Pope Francis's visit to Marseille. AFP

Pope Francis will fly to France’s second city on Friday about 500 years since the last papal visit to Marseille, on a mission of hope for countries on the Mediterranean afflicted by natural or man-made disasters.

From the drownings of migrants trying to cross in overcrowded, ramshackle boats, to deadly conflict and the unimaginable horrors of the Moroccan earthquake and Libyan floods , the region has been scarred by human tragedy.

Pope Francis has made facing up to challenges the defining preoccupation of his pontificate. The Mediterranean, with more than 20 countries extending to 46,000km of coastline, is a deeply troubled region.

Even Marseille’s malaise, as a city in the grip of drug-related killings police appear powerless to prevent, fades into insignificance as death and suffering occur at sea and on land around the basin.

The Pope will lead prayers at the imposing Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica perched high above Marseille and during the highlight of his visit, an open-air Mass at the Velodrome, home to Olympique de Marseille, a football club with a proudly multicultural history.

Up to 300,000 people, including pilgrims from every corner of France and far beyond, are expected in the city to greet the pontiff.

The 67,000-seat stadium will be full and many more will gather outside during his Popemobile tour, alongside the vast beaches and green spaces of the Prado.

The visit, marking the end of a week-long series of debates in Marseille on key issues affecting the region, immediately follows the presence in France of the British monarch King Charles III and coincides with the Rugby World Cup currently being held in the country.

France are to play Namibia at the Velodrome on the eve of the Pope’s arrival.

With three major events clashing, French security services are stretched. The papal visit alone will be policed by 5,000 officers and 1,000 security personnel, and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told fellow ministers to avoid non-essential travel.

The Notre-Dame de la Garde, first on the itinerary of Pope Francis’s two-day visit, offers a stunning spectacle to anyone arriving in Marseille by air, sea, road or rail.

The basilica’s statue of the Virgin Mary stands as a symbol of protection for all on land or at sea. Nearby is a commemoration of the lost lives of sailors and migrants.

Amid warfare, disaster and seafaring tragedy, the global head of the Catholic church may well reflect on the limits of the protection the statue actually bestows upon the city itself and the wider region.

If ever a religious figure’s healing powers were needed, now is the time.

Rencontres Mediterraneennes ( Mediterranean Meetings), as the conference is called, has brought together Catholic clerics and young, multifaith delegates from around the Mediterranean.

It covers economic inequality and climate change as well as migration, and the Pope will address the closing stages.

He will also meet President Emmanuel Macron . A wide-ranging discussion is expected, although the alarming escalation of the migration crisis – thousands of African immigrants streamed ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa in just 48 hours – may well dominate their exchanges. The Elysee says the pair will also discuss the war in Ukraine , turmoil in the Sahel, climate change and poverty.

Papal visits to France have been rare in recent years. Pope Francis has travelled to the country only once.

On an away-day trip to Strasbourg, in north-eastern France, in 2014, he addressed the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, where he urged Europe to shake off a “somewhat elderly and haggard” image and forge a united response to prevent the Mediterranean becoming a “vast cemetery” for migrants.

Then as now, he characterised his visit as one to the city in question, not France. And he and Mr Macron will be less than wholeheartedly in agreement on migration , given the President’s inclination to pursue policies that appease populist sentiment.

The plight of migrants is close to the Pope’s heart. Within months of taking office in 2013, he made Lampedusa the destination of his first pastoral visit.

The President’s entourage accepts that the Pope’s emphasis is on a “duty of protection, assistance, reception”, but insists this should not produce “permanent opposition”.

A senior presidential aide cited the pope’s “strong interest for the answers to be constructed at a European level” and his belief that the solutions should be those that avoided mass exodus from the migrants’ own countries.

The momentous challenge of migration lends great importance to the Pope’s stay in Marseille and the conference preceding it, a significance comparable to that of the last papal visit there.

In 1533, Pope Clement VII, an enthusiastic strategic matchmaker, shrugged off illness to travel from Rome to officiate at the lavish wedding of Catherine de Medici and the future King Henry II of France at the Eglise Saint-Ferreol les Augustins.

The bride and groom were only 14 years old but Catherine would become, in the view of some historians, Europe’s most important woman of the 16th century.

It is tempting to wonder what 21st-century social media and opportunist politicians would have made of that event and its relevance to a continent in turbulent political and religious times.

Mr Macron’s decision to attend the Velodrome Mass has provoked predictable controversy in France.

The far-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, never slow to rise to indignation, according to the commentator Denis Carreaux, accuses the President of gatecrashing the visit in flagrant defiance of France’s secular status, established by its 1905 law separating church and state.

Communists share Mr Melenchon’s view but Mr Macron, by no means the first French president to attend a religious service, brushes the polemic aside. “I think it's my place to be there,” he said.

“I won't be there as a Catholic, I'll be there as President of the republic, which is indeed secular. I will not carry out any religious practice during the Mass.”

There are, inevitably, people in Marseille who resent the cost, fuss and inconvenience of a papal visit.

“It's going to be unmanageable, the equivalent of three Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain football games all over the Prado,” one disgruntled resident told French media.

For the Catholic church, however, it is an uplifting, socially inclusive occasion.

“When the Pope celebrates Mass at the Velodrome, a place that brings together Marseille in all its diversity, it will be as if he were visiting every Marseillais,” Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, told the official Vatican news service.

“He comes to Marseille to draw our attention to the Mediterranean, the challenges it has to face.”

For the Marseille tourist office, the visit is a “fantastic opportunity” for a city that personifies the spirit of vivre ensemble (different cultures in harmony).

To the archbishop, it is another step in a pilgrimage that began in Lampedusa and has taken Pope Francis to 43 countries, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Palestine.

It has been a punishing schedule for a man now 86.

In 2019, he visited Abu Dhabi where he jointly signed, with the Egyptian Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.

There are political as well as religious dimensions to Pope Francis’s trip to a beautiful and vibrant city that is currently ill at ease with itself, a gesture Cardinal Aveline sees as a reminder that faced with the drama and human misery of the Mediterranean, France “cannot just look away”.

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Pope Francis Itinerary & Schedule in DC, New York, and Philadelphia

Washington, dc     sept. 22–24.

Arrival from Cuba

His arrival at Andrews Air Force Base marks the first time the pope will set foot on U.S. soil. He will be greeted by President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill.

Welcoming ceremony

Pope Francis will appear at an official welcoming ceremony on the White House South Lawn. He will meet with President Obama following the South Lawn appearance.

Vatican Pool/Getty Images

Papal parade

After leaving the White House, Pope Francis will travel in the "popemobile" along 15th Street, Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, NW. The parade will be free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Gates will be opening for the Ellipse and the National Mall at 4:00 a.m.

Meeting with U.S. bishops

His Holiness will lead a midday prayer from the Liturgy of Hours, alongside Bishops from the United States at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Holy Mass and canonization of Junipero Serra

Approximately 25,000 people are expected to attend this mass and it will serve as a canonization for Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra, a Spanish-born Franciscan Friar known for starting nine Spanish missions in California in the 1700s.

George Rose/Getty Images

U.S. Capitol

Pope Francis will address a joint meeting of Congress, making him the first pope in history to do so. Video screens will be set up on the West Front of the Capitol toward the National Mall so thousands can watch the speech from outside.

Visit to the Charitable Center of St. Patrick Parish and meeting with the homeless

The pontiff will make a brief visit to the oldest Catholic church in the nation’s capital. Following the visit to St. Patrick's Parish, Pope Francis will give a blessing to clients of the St. Maria Meals program of the Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Washington. The pope is expected to enjoy a meal of chicken, green beans, carrots and pasta salad with the charity’s homeless clients.

Departure for New York

Pope Francis heads to the Empire State from the same base where he landed on Tuesday.

New York     Sept. 24–26

Arrival in New York

An hour later, Pope Francis arrives at JFK airport in New York City. The Diocese of Brooklyn picked five Catholic school students who will greet Pope Francis when he touches down.

Evening prayer (Vespers)

The pope will lead the evening prayer at a Vespers service held in the St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The event is only open to clergy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but a live stream will be available. Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to have visited the renowned cathedral. The young students will give the pontiff a bouquet filled with a list of prayers and good works from Catholic school students from Brooklyn and Queens.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Address to the United Nations

The United Nations is used to having high-profile attendees but Pope Francis will be breaking the mold on Friday. He is expected to address the General Assembly on strategies to combat poverty and protect the environment. His visit coincides with the UN's 70th anniversary.

Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial

The pontiff will visit the 9/11 Memorial site in lower Manhattan. He will then meet with local representatives of the world religions inside the museum's Foundation Hall, as part of a multi-religious meeting for peace.

Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images

Visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School

Pope Francis will then visit a third grade class at Our Lady Queen of Angels, an elementary school in East Harlem.

Papal procession

A trip to “The Big Apple” wouldn’t be complete without a stroll through Central Park, so Pope Francis will motorcade between 72nd and 60th streets. More than 93,000 people entered a lottery for a free pair of tickets to the processional, and 80,000 tickets were given out.

The pope will hold Mass in the same famous arena that houses playoff games and sold-out concerts. Madison Square Garden can hold up to 20,000 people.

Departure for Philadelphia

Pope will travel by closed car to a downtown heliport, to catch a helicopter to JFK.

Philadelphia     Sept. 26–27

Arrival in Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and the mayor of Philly Michael Nutter will roll out the red carpet for the Catholic leader. Pope Francis will be the second pope to visit the city.

This Mass is closed to the public and tickets have been limited to 1,600 people. The cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the largest Catholic church in the state.

John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images

Visit to Independence Mall

Standing in front of America’s birthplace, the pope will give a speech about immigration and religious freedom. Following his speech, Francis plans on touring Independence Hall, which is expected to include a stop at the Liberty Bell.

Festival of families

The Festival of Families is the closing ceremony for the World Meetings of Families conference. Actor Mark Wahlberg will be hosting the outdoor ceremony and performers include Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli, and the Fray. The pope will watch the celebration, hear from six families from different continents and give a speech.

St. Charles is where Pope Francis will sleep while he’s in Philly. The seminary prepares men for the priesthood and the diaconate.

Visit to Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility

Pope Francis will visit the city’s largest jail, where most of the inmates are serving a maximum of two years or awaiting trial. The pope will give a speech in the gymnasium and after he’ll individually greet some of the 100 prisoners.

Holy Mass concluding the World Meeting of Families

Before the pope gives the Holy Mass, he’ll ride down the mile-long street in his “popemobile.” This open-air Mass is the main event and is expected to attract over a million people.

Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Visit with organizers, volunteers and benefactors of the World Meeting of Families

Approximately 500 people will bid Pope Francis farewell as he heads back to the Vatican. Vice President Biden and his family will lead the ceremony before His Holiness boards his return flight.

Departure for Rome

Arrivederci Pope Francis! The pope will hold an on-board press conference before taking off. His plane is slated to touch down on Monday.

Watch CBS News

Pope Francis visits Venice in first trip outside of Rome in seven months

April 28, 2024 / 3:18 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Pope Francis made his first trip out of Rome in seven months on Sunday with a visit to Venice that included an art exhibition, a stop at a prison and a Mass.

Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Francis' visit on Sunday stood out.

Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See's pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice's women's prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis' belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society's most marginalized.

His trip began at the courtyard of the Giudecca prison, where he met with women inmates one by one.

"Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," Francis told them.

The 87-year-old pontiff then met with Biennale artists in the prison chapel, decorated with an installation by Brazilian visual artist Sonia Gomes of objects dangling from the ceiling, meant to draw the viewer's gaze upward.

The Vatican exhibit has turned the Giudecca prison, a former convent for reformed prostitutes, into one of the must-see attractions of this year's Biennale, even though to see it visitors must reserve in advance and go through a security check. It has become an unusual art world darling that greets visitors at the entrance with Maurizio Cattelan's wall mural of  two giant filthy feet , a work that recalls Caravaggio's dirty feet or the feet that Francis washes each year in a Holy Thursday ritual that he routinely performs on prisoners.

The exhibit also includes a short film starring the inmates and Zoe Saldana, and prints in the prison coffee shop by onetime Catholic nun and American social activist Corita Kent.

Francis' dizzying morning visit, which ended with Mass in St. Mark's Square, represented an increasingly rare outing for the 87-year-old pontiff, who has been hobbled by health and mobility problems that have ruled out any foreign trips so far this year.

"Venice, which has always been a place of encounter and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty available to all," Francis said. "Starting with the least, a sign of fraternity and care for our common home."

During an encounter with young people at the iconic Santa Maria della Salute basilica, Francis acknowledged the miracle that is Venice, admiring its "enchanting beauty" and tradition as a place of East-West encounter, but warning that it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and depopulation.

"Venice is at one with the waters upon which it sits," Francis said. "Without the care and safeguarding of this natural environment, it might even cease to exist."

in the exhibit as tour guides and as protagonists in some of the artworks.

Ahead of his trip, Francis sat down with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell during an hourlong interview at the guest house where he lives in Rome. 

During the interview, Francis pleaded for peace worldwide amid the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza .

"Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace," said the pope, speaking through a translator.

He also had a message for those who do not see a place for themselves in the Catholic Church anymore. 

"I would say that there is always a place, always. If in this parish the priest doesn't seem welcoming, I understand, but go and look elsewhere, there is always a place," he said. "Do not run away from the Church. The Church is very big. It's more than a temple ... you shouldn't run away from her."

The pope's Venice trip was the first of four planned inside Italy in the next three months, Reuters reported. He is scheduled to visit Verona in May and Trieste in July, and is expected to attend the June summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders in Bari.

In September, he is also set to embark on the longest foreign trip of his papacy, traveling to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An extended version of O'Donnell's interview with Pope Francis will air on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET. On Monday, May 20, CBS will broadcast an hourlong primetime special dedicated to the papal interview at 10 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network and streaming on  Paramount+ . Additionally, CBS News and Stations will carry O'Donnell's interview across platforms. 

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Pope Francis Visited Washington

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The Schedule

For up-to-date information about road closures and security announcements for Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia, please visit www.secretservice.gov/events/pope/ .

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

4:00 PM: 

Pope Francis arrives in D.C. at Joint Base Andrews.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

White House Arrival Ceremony and personal meeting with President Obama (watch it live here at WH.gov/popevisit).

The White House Arrival Ceremony is not open to the public. Guests must have a ticket to attend.

Following the Pope’s meeting with the President, he will tour the Ellipse and parts of the National Mall.

There are no tickets required for the papal parade, but security around the secure area will be strict. Gates will open at 4 a.m. and close promptly at 10 a.m. after which no one will be allowed in the secure area. For more information on the parade route and access, visit the Archdiocese of Washington's website here .

There will be four entrances to the parade viewing area, including:

• East of the Ellipse on Constitution Avenue
• West of the Ellipse on Constitution Avenue
• East of the Washington Monument near Jefferson Drive and 15th Streets NW
• West of the Washington Monument near 17th Street NW

Midday Prayer with U.S. bishops at Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in D.C.

This event will be closed to the public

Junipero Serra Canonization Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Tickets to the Mass will be distributed through local parishes. The Catholic University Campus will be closed to members of the public during the Mass.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Speech to the Senate and House of Representatives (Joint Session of Congress). The speech will be broadcast live on jumbotrons on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

Visit to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in D.C. and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington

After his visit to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in D.C. and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, the Pope will travel to New York.

Departure for New York from Joint Base Andrews (D.C.)

Arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York)

Evening prayer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral (New York)

Friday, September 25, 2015

Address to United Nations General Assembly

Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center

Visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem

Papal motorcade through Central Park

Madison Square Garden Mass

Saturday, September 26, 2015

On the morning of Saturday, September 26 to the Pope will travel from New York to Philadelphia, the final stop on his trip to the United States.

Departure for Philadelphia from John F. Kennedy International Airport

Arrival in Atlantic Aviation hangar at Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia

Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul

Visit to Independence Mall

Visit to Festival of Families at Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Prayer Vigil with World Meeting of Families.

Access to certain areas of the parkway will require tickets, but tickets are not necessary to attend this day’s events. Forty jumbotrons, located down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and other locations in the city, will show the events live, including the public coverage of Pope Francis. For more information about attending this event, visit their website here .

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Papal meeting with Bishops at St. Martin’s Chapel, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

Visit to Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. This event will be closed to the public.

Papal Mass for World Meeting of Families

Visit with organizers, volunteers and benefactors of the World Meeting of Families at Atlantic Aviation.

Departure for return to Rome.

Answers to Questions About the Pope's Visit

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• Welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into our communities

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Visiting Congo, Pope Francis Embraces the Poor and Exploited

The Central African country is wracked by war, poverty and environmental plunder — and it may be the future of the Catholic Church.

By Jason Horowitz and Ruth Maclean

Jason Horowitz, based in Rome, flew on the papal plane with Francis to Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and will travel with the pope throughout his trip in Africa. Ruth Maclean reported from Senegal, where she is based.

In his 10 years leading the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has called attention to the plight of refugees and the poor and to the plunder of the earth’s natural riches. He has traveled to the peripheries of the church to touch the wounds of its afflicted and most forgotten. And he has welcomed young Catholics, especially in the booming global south, to a more inclusive church.

On Tuesday, Francis landed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that crystallizes all those priorities. He is the first pope since 1985 to visit the nation, where local church leaders have declared a moral emergency desperately in need of the pope’s, and the world’s, attention.

The turnout to welcome Francis was overwhelming in Kinshasa, the capital. Tens of thousands of people lined the road from the airport, cheering and waving flags in colorful local dress and Catholic school uniforms under enormous billboards of Francis (often alongside the country’s president).

Overpasses were packed with thousands more people. They crowded bus stops and poured out of shanty streets and ran alongside the motorcade, accompanied by armed soldiers in open jeeps.

“Torn by war, the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to witness within its confines conflicts and forced migrations, and to suffer from terrible forms of exploitation, unworthy of humanity and of creation,” Francis said.

“This country, so immense and full of life, this diaphragm of Africa, struck by violence like a blow to the stomach, has seemed for some time to be gasping for breath,” the pope said.

Francis, 86, who often uses a wheelchair, will also visit South Sudan, where the church is deeply involved in peace negotiations and democracy building, on a trip that will last until Sunday. He had originally planned to visit the countries last year but postponed the trip because of a knee ailment that has since improved.

In the meantime, violence in Congo’s embattled east has flared up again, with more than 120,000 people fleeing rebel attacks in the countryside and seeking shelter in the city of Goma. The fighting has forced Francis to scrap that leg of the trip, and victims of the region’s violence will instead come to see him in the capital of Kinshasa.

“The visit of the Holy Father can have a positive impact on how the country is governed,” said Boniface Deagbo, secretary executive of Caritas Congo, the charity arm of the Catholic Church. “We hope that the visit is a good opportunity for doing advocacy for ending the war and for security in the D.R.C.”

That is a tall order. Congo is home to one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. It is fueled by a legacy of colonialism and the genocide across the border in Rwanda, which has helped fill refugee camps with more than 5.5 million people.

Rebel groups, some supported by Rwanda and Uganda, pillage villages, steal livestock, murder residents and rape women. Vast rainforests are plundered for gold, cobalt and other resources, partly to pay for weapons and war. Some local church officials say widespread corruption is at the heart of the problem.

But as much as Congo embodies the wounds that Francis hopes to heal, it is also a country with potentially great influence on the church’s future.

About half of Congo’s more than 95 million people are Catholic, making it the faith’s deepest well in Africa, the continent many hope will replenish the church as attendance shrinks in the West. In 2022, Agenzia Fides, a Vatican news agency, estimated that Africa’s 265 million Catholics made up about 20 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion followers. And that number is growing.

On Tuesday, Francis compared the country to a diamond, saying that its people were “of inestimable worth,” and that he and his church “believe in your future, the future that is in your hands.”

The Catholic Church has always played a role in Congo, especially in promoting democracy and human rights. John Paul II visited Congo, then known as Zaire, in 1980 and returned in 1985. Mr. Deagbo, the official of Caritas Congo, said that the church provided health care, food programs and education to many millions of Congolese.

Since the 1990s, the church has also been instrumental in trying to hold the country’s leaders to account. The Congo bishops’ conference, the most vocal in Africa, did not shy away when President Joseph Kabila postponed elections after the completion of his term in December 2016. It organized protests and brought the issue to international attention, helping to force Mr. Kabila to renounce a third term.

The church later deployed about 40,000 observers for a presidential election in 2018, announcing that there was a clear winner , but stopping short of saying who it was. Experts agreed that it was Martin Fayulu, the leading opposition candidate, but another opposition figure, Félix Antoine Tshilombo Tshisekedi, took power. Still, it was the country’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since it achieved independence from Belgium in 1960.

In January 2020, Francis met Mr. Tshisekedi to discuss improved relations between the Holy See and Congo. Another election is set to take place this December.

On Tuesday, Francis called for “free, transparent and credible elections” and urged an end to corruption and the manipulation of violence. Political exploitation gave way to an “economic colonialism” that was equally enslaving, he said. As a result, the country was “massively plundered,” he added.

“Power is meaningful only if it becomes a form of service,” Francis said, admonishing authoritarianism and greed.

Catholics have remained politically engaged. After celebrating Mass on some Sundays, congregations across the country have marched straight from church in large-scale demonstrations, making it more difficult for the authorities to crack down on them. Protesters have demanded fresh elections and an end to the war in the east.

But that remains only an aspiration. Esperance Lwabo Nyende, 30, took her three young daughters and fled for safety when Rwandan, Congolese and Ugandan rebels of the M23 insurgency recently attacked her village in Rutshuru.

“I was very tired because of being pregnant,” she said, outside her family’s new home, assembled from twigs and a sheet of tarpaulin, in a makeshift camp. “This is a miserable life. There’s diarrhea, famine, cold,” she added, wishing that decision makers had “the courage to talk like men so we can go home.”

The east of Congo has been in episodic turmoil since 1994, when the genocide across the border in Rwanda sent millions of refugees — including perpetrators of the massacres — over the border and into huge camps. But there has been a recent escalation in the long-running conflict driven by the re-emergence of M23, or the March 23 Movement, which refers to a failed peace agreement signed on that date in 2009.

There are also more than 120 other armed groups and self-defense militias fighting for land and power in the North and South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika provinces.

“We’re in a situation of total insecurity,” said Dady Saleh, a professor in Goma. “For more than 90 percent of people, it’s extreme poverty, extreme insecurity.”

Francis sent condolences this month after Islamist militants attacked a Pentecostal church in the North Kivu Province, killing at least 14 and wounding more than 60 people. Explosions claimed by the Islamic State hit a Catholic church and a market in Beni.

Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani, who is also president of the bishops’ conference, has said church officials are anxious about continued attacks by armed groups against civilians in displacement camps. The violence has killed scores of people, including the Italian ambassador to Congo, Luca Attanasio, in 2021, while he was leading a World Food Program delegation near Goma.

Tuesday marked Francis’ fifth trip to Africa. When he was younger and more mobile, he waved from inside an open popemobile as he traversed the dirt roads of the Central African Republic in 2015. In trips to Madagascar, Mauritius and Mozambique in 2019, he underlined his commitment to Africa’s poor and to the protection of its natural resources.

That is a message he will take up again in Congo, a country rich in gold, copper, diamonds and two-thirds of the world’s cobalt.

China and the United States have been racing to gain control over the global supply of cobalt, an essential part of electric car batteries. Almost all of Congo’s gold ends up in the hands of regional powers, and is then smuggled out to international markets.

The competition for Congo’s wealth leads to the exploitation of mine workers, violence against the communities living around mines and fuels conflicts, particularly in the country’s east.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered,” Francis said. “We cannot grow accustomed to the bloodshed that has marked this country for decades, causing millions of deaths that remain mostly unknown elsewhere. What is happening here needs to be known.”

Caleb Kabanda contributed reporting from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gaia Pianigiani from Siena, Italy.

Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. He previously covered the 2016 presidential campaign, the Obama administration and Congress, with an emphasis on political profiles and features. More about Jason Horowitz

Ruth Maclean is the West Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Senegal. She joined The Times in 2019 after three and a half years covering West Africa for The Guardian. More about Ruth Maclean

• HISTORY & CULTURE

Pope Francis’ historic visit to Iraq, seen through a photographer’s eyes

Members of Iraq’s shrinking Christian community and others draw hope from the first-ever papal tour of the country—despite the pandemic and security concerns.

The last time I visited Qaraqosh in 2016, a predominantly Christian city in northern Iraq, it was devoid of life. Iraqi forces and their allies, in their push to reclaim Mosul, had just liberated the city from ISIS fighters. All that remained was graffiti, rubble, and rotting food—everyone, the ISIS militia and the locals before them, had left in a hurry. You could feel what it was like to run for your life.

This past weekend, I again found myself in Qaraqosh while photographing Pope Francis on his historic tour of Iraq. Along the once-empty streets, multicolored balloons bobbed in the breeze. Buildings and walls glistened with fresh coats of white paint. Throngs of followers, waving Iraqi and Vatican flags, flocked to the city to get a glimpse of the pontiff.

“I wish the pope came every year!” joked a fruit seller at a bustling, open-air market.

Since I began reporting from Iraq almost 20 years ago, I have seen the country and its people become deeply scarred by conflict. However, while trailing Francis, I saw a spark of hope and validation I haven’t seen before. It felt like a turning point, for people of all faiths, to have a person of his stature come to Iraq—despite the pandemic, despite security concerns, despite all these obstacles.  

Francis is the first sitting pope to visit Iraq, but not for lack of effort. Both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI attempted to visit, but could not due to conflict and war within Iraq. So when Iraq’s President Barham Salih, sent an invitation to Francis in July 2019, he readily accepted. After a 15-month hiatus from international travel due to the pandemic, Francis chose Iraq as his first destination.  

The trip nearly didn’t happen. Although the 84-year-old pope was vaccinated in January, many worried the virus would spread among those who attended his events. Iraq is currently experiencing its worst bout of new COVID-19 cases since the country’s previous peak in September. Plus, there were endless security concerns—Baghdad was bombed only a few days before Francis arrived. Vatican guards, Iraq’s military, and local policemen created a heavily armed barrier around each event space and corridor.

At the welcome party for the pope, I was corralled behind the president’s guards while Francis and Salih made their way down a line of traditional dancers and musicians. After some time, I managed to maneuver down the procession, closer to the pope. As I neared, I noticed he was limping and clearly in some kind of pain. Later I learned that Francis suffers from sciatica nerve damage and has previously canceled events due to the condition. On Friday, however, he managed along smiling and chatting with the president. By the end of his trip, Francis would ask Salih and several religious leaders for greater religious tolerance and unity.

The Pope, a saint, and the Islamic world

I was raised Catholic, although I do not consider myself religious. Still, I knew about Francis and his reputation as a man of the people. As a cleric in Buenos Aires, he was known to ride the subway and mingle with followers in the slums. He once exclaimed , “How I would like a church which is poor and for the poor!” ( Will Pope Francis change the Vatican or will the Vatican change him? )

Francis is the first pope to choose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake, a saint known as a champion of the impoverished and a bridge-builder with the Islamic world. During the fifth crusade in 1219, Francis of Assisi risked his life to meet with Egyptian sultan al-Malik al-Kamil. Both men left the encounter with a deeper appreciation of the other’s beliefs.

“[Francis of Assisi] had this incredible intuition that we identify as universal kinship: the brother and sisterhood of all peoples. That was the cornerstone of Francis of Assisi’s life and message. Pope Francis has totally understood that,” explains Sister Kathleen Warren of the Diocese of San Diego, who wrote a book about the meeting with the sultan. “[Pope Francis] had a profound message that was so similar to the message that Francis of Assisi took to the Muslim people of Egypt 800 years ago.”

On Saturday, Pope Francis traveled to Najaf to meet with Iraq’s Shiite spiritual Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a reclusive figure who rarely meets with foreigners. Later that day, Francis spoke of unity in his sermon in the city of Ur while overlooking the plains where many believe Abraham once lived—a significant religious figure to Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike.

“Yet if we want to preserve fraternity, we must not lose sight of heaven. May we—the descendants of Abraham and the representatives of different religions—sense that, above all, we have this role: to help our brothers and sisters to raise their eyes and prayers to heaven,” Francis said. ( Read 10 of Pope Francis’s most provocative quotes. )

Returning home

Before the pope’s arrival in the country, I spent several days with the Christian community in Qaraqosh and came to recognize that by rebuilding, they were claiming their place in Iraq.

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On a small hill on the outskirts of town, I met Mari Salebu, a monk who, after 15 years of living in Lebanon, had returned to repair a small monastery. The one-story building had no electricity and a small chapel with only a handful of chairs, but Salebu is determined to transform it back into a place of worship. He has planted trees nearby in hopes of one day creating a place for Christians to picnic.

After returning to Rome on Monday, Francis stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary Major with a bouquet of flowers from Iraq in hand. Inside, he placed the arrangement at the foot of an icon of the Virgin Mary, Maria Salus Populi Romani , and thanked her for protecting him throughout his trip. He then returned to his two-bedroom home at the Vatican to rest.

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Pope Francis may visit United States in September after UN invitation

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Rome Newsroom, Apr 25, 2024 / 07:22 am

Pope Francis is reportedly considering returning to the United States in September to speak before the United Nations General Assembly.

The news was initially reported by the French Catholic newspaper La Croix and has not yet been officially confirmed by the Vatican. A source from the Vatican Secretariat of State, meanwhile, told CNA this week that “a formal invitation has arrived from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Pope Francis seems inclined to respond positively.”

If the New York trip occurs, the pope would visit the United Nations during its “Summit of the Future,” which the international body will convene from Sept. 22–23.

The possible trip to the United States could change the pope’s already-busy September travel schedule. The Holy See Press Office has announced that Pope Francis will be in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Singapore from Sept. 2–13.

Pope Francis is also expected at the end of September in Belgium, where he is scheduled to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the University of Louvain, which has been divided into two different linguistic entities since the 1960s. The Holy Father told Mexican television network Televisa last December that he intended to travel to Belgium in 2024.

According to a source familiar with the planning of papal trips, Pope Francis’ trip to Louvain could be postponed to 2025. The postponement of the journey would leave room at the end of September for the visit to the United Nations.

During his planned stay in Belgium, Pope Francis will also celebrate Mass at the national shrine of Koelkenberg. There are also rumors that the pontiff will stop in Luxembourg, one of the small nations favored by the pope for trips to Europe. Luxembourg officials have denied the visit, but the Vatican Secretariat of State has indicated the trip is possible.

The September summit’s objective is to strengthen the structures of the United Nations and global “governance” to face more fully the “new and old challenges” of the coming years, the U.N. has said. 

The meeting will lead a “pact for the future” to advance rapidly toward realizing the U.N.’s “sustainable development goals.”

In a meeting with students in April, Pope Francis described the summit as “an important event,” with the Holy Father urging students to help ensure the plan “becomes concrete and is implemented through processes and actions for change.”

Pope Francis, who is 87, has undergone two surgeries in the last four years and is under regular medical screening. A planned trip to Abu Dhabi to participate in the COP28 meeting was canceled last December due to health reasons. 

The pope was last in the United States in 2015, during which he also appeared before the United Nations.

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By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis' monthly prayer intention this June is for "those fleeing their own countries."

The Pope invited the Church to pray for this intention in this month's The Pope Video, released on Tuesday. The prayer intention is entrusted to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network during the month in which the United Nations commemorates World Refugee Day on 20 June.

Produced in collaboration with Tele VID and with the support of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Pope Video for June is a story about the borders in various parts of the world.

In his video, the Pope reminds Christians that “whoever welcomes a migrant welcomes Christ,” and expresses how often this context is forgotten.

Number of displaced exceeds World War II

In recent years, the number of people who have been displaced has exceeded that during the Second World War.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in 2023, there were 110 million people forcefully displaced throughout the world.

In this context, Pope Francis has repeatedly asked throughout his pontificate that migrants be accompanied, promoted and integrated.

At the beginning of the video, the Pope says, “The feeling of uprootedness or not knowing where they belong often accompanies the trauma experienced by people who are forced to flee their homeland because of war or poverty.”

'God walks with His People'

For this reason, he exhorts, “we promote a social and political culture that protects the rights and dignity of migrants, a culture that promotes the possibility that they can achieve their full potential.”

Consistent with the intention of this video message, each year since 1914, the Church has invited the faithful to pray for migrants on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

“God walks with His People” is the theme chosen for the 2024 Day, which will be held on 29 September.

Cardinal Czerny: Protecting rights enhances communities

Cardinal Michael Czerny, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which organizes the World Day, reflected on Pope Francis' reminding us that God is journeying alongside His people.

"The Holy Family," the Prefect recalled, "had to take refuge in a foreign land because Baby Jesus’s life was in danger," and therefore, he invited, "All of us are invited to welcome, protect, promote and integrate any person who has fled their homeland to save their lives or who are searching for a dignified future."

"By protecting the rights of migrants, the integral human development of every person," Cardinal Czerny reaffirmed, "is promoted," and "communities that welcome them, are enriched in multiple ways.”

Fr. Fornos: 'We are one human family'

Father Frédéric Fornos S.J., International Director of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, reflected on this month's intention, likewise recalling the drama of migrants and refugees.

“Migrants fleeing from war and hunger, often survivors of desperate journeys, are the object of political battles,"he lamented. "It is important to remember that they are not numbers or statistics; they are people. Our personal and collective histories are marked by migration. Rather than treating migrants like a burden or a problem, we should find solutions based on compassion and respect for their human dignity. "

"This vision," he continued, "is rooted in the Gospel and prayer and the Church’s magisterium reminds us of this.”

The Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network

The Pope Video is an official global initiative with the purpose of disseminating the Holy Father's monthly prayer intentions. It is carried out by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer). Since 2016, The Pope Video has had more than 203 million views across all the Vatican’s social networks and is translated into more than 23 languages, receiving press coverage in 114 countries.

The videos are produced and created by The Pope Video Prayer Network team, coordinated by Andrea Sarubbi, and distributed by La Machi Communication for Good Causes. The project is sponsored by Vatican Media.

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is a Vatican foundation, with the mission of mobilizing Catholics through prayer and action in response to the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. These challenges are presented in the form of prayer intentions entrusted by the Pope to the entire Church.

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Breaking news, pope francis apologizes for using vulgar italian slur to refer to lgbtq community.

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Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gays to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement acknowledging the media storm that erupted about Francis’ comments, which were delivered behind closed doors to Italian bishops on May 20.

Italian media on Monday had quoted unnamed Italian bishops in reporting that Francis jokingly used the term “faggotness” while speaking in Italian during the encounter. He had used the term in reaffirming the Vatican’s ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.

Bruni said Francis was aware of the reports and recalled that the Argentine pope, who has made outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy, has long insisted there was “room for everyone” in the Catholic Church.

“The pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who were offended by the use of a term that was reported by others,” Bruni said.

Francis was addressing an assembly of the Italian bishops conference, which recently approved a new document outlining training for Italian seminarians. The document, which hasn’t been published pending review by the Holy See, reportedly sought to open some wiggle room in the Vatican’s absolute ban on gay priests.

The Vatican ban was articulated in a 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and later repeated in a subsequent document in 2016, which said the church cannot admit to seminaries or ordain men who “practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.”

Francis strongly reaffirmed that position in his May 20 meeting with the Italian bishops, joking that “there is already an air of faggotness” in seminaries, the Italian media reported, after initial reporting from gossip site Dagospia.

Italian is not Francis’ mother tongue language, and the Argentine pope has made linguistic gaffes in the past that raised eyebrows. The 87-year-old Argentine pope often speaks informally, jokes using slang and even curses in private.

He has been known for his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, however, starting from his famous “Who am I to judge” comment in 2013 about a priest who purportedly had a gay lover in his past.

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Vatican delegation arrives in Indonesia to arrange pope’s visit

President Jokowi previously invited the 87-year-old bishop to the country with the world’s largest Muslim population as part of an effort to promote religious tolerance.

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he Vatican delegation has reportedly arrived in Indonesia to arrange Pope Francis’s first-ever visit to Indonesia next September.

"The Vatican delegation and the committee are currently working with related parties to prepare for the Pope's visit," said Thomas Ulun Ismoyo, the spokesperson for Pope Francis’ visiting committee, as quoted by Tribunnews.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Catholic Bishops' Conference (KWI) secretary general Paskalis Bruno Syukur said the three-day visit from Sept. 3-6 would revolve around the theme of “Faith, Paternity and Compassion”.

“[Pope Francis] prioritizes good relations among humans regardless of ethnicity or religion,” Paskalis stated. 

Read also: Indonesian Catholics welcome pope’s visit plan with glee

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo previously invited the 87-year-old bishop to the world’s largest Muslim population as part of an effort to promote religious tolerance.

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Indonesia itself is home to roughly 242 million Muslims and 29 million Christians; 8.5 million of whom are Catholics, based on a 2022 report by the Religious Affairs Ministry.

Pope Francis will be the third pope to visit Indonesia, after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1989. Both were greeted by former president Soeharto.

Before coming to Indonesia, Pope Francis is expected to visit Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste in August.

Since his election by cardinals in 2013, Pope Francis has made 44 trips abroad.

The Asia and Oceania trip has been on the papal agenda for some time, but there have been doubts about whether the 87-year-old pontiff would embark on it given his increasing frailty and a record of skipping engagements because of health problems.

His last international journey was a two-day stay in Marseille, France, in September last year. In November of the same year, he pulled out of a trip to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai because of a lung inflammation.

In recent months, the pope has been suffering on and off from what the Vatican has described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza, and he needs a wheelchair or a cane to move around because of a knee ailment.

Catholics in Indonesia welcomed the Pope’s upcoming visit with glee. They prayed for his health during the last Easter Sunday mass so the plan could be carried out as prepared.

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News and analysis from the day’s top stories., the vatican apologizes after reports of pope francis using anti-gay slur.

By Clarissa-Jan Lim

The Vatican has apologized after Pope Francis reportedly used an anti-gay slur in a closed-door meeting, saying he did not mean to "offend or express himself in homophobic terms."

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni referred to reports about the pope's use of the offensive slang to describe gay men, saying in a statement Tuesday that Pope Francis "extends his apologies to those who felt offended" by the reported use of the word.

"As he has said on several occasions, ‘In the Church there is room for everyone, everyone! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, everyone,’" Bruni said.

Italian media first reported that the pope, who is Argentinian and speaks Italian as a second language, used the offensive term in an annual meeting with bishops last week while describing his opposition to admitting openly gay men into seminaries. Local media described several bishops as being in "shock" by his reported use of the slur, and some speculated that it might not have been deliberate or malicious, according to NBC News.

The 87-year-old pope is known for his marginally inclusive approach to homosexuality relative to the Catholic Church's historically discriminative view of LGBTQ people.

The church's overall views on sexuality and gender identity remain conservative, however. Last year, he said priests can bless some same-sex couples but reaffirmed the church's ban on same-sex marriages. He also approved a document last month that criticized the criminalization of homosexuality, while characterizing gender fluidity, gender transition surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.