VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin told Pope Francis of his harrowing journey to Italy and about the deaths of his wife and 6-year-old daughter in the desert along the border between Libya and Tunisia, the pope told him he had been praying for them since July. Nyimbilo, known as “Pato,” sobbed Nov.…
Reading 1 1 Mc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 [From the descendants of Alexander’s officers]there sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes,son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome.He became king in the year one hundred and thirty sevenof the kingdom of the Greeks. In those days there appeared in Israelmen who were breakers of the…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The material, cultural and spiritual poverties that exist in the world are a “scandal” that Christians are called to address by putting their God-given capacity for charity and love into action, Pope Francis said. The poor, whether “the oppressed, fatigued, marginalized, victims of war,” migrants, the hungry, those without work or…
Reading 1 Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 When one finds a worthy wife,her value is far beyond pearls.Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,has an unfailing prize.She brings him good, and not evil,all the days of her life.She obtains wool and flaxand works with loving hands.She puts her hands to the distaff,and her fingers ply the…
Reading I Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9 When peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent, Your all-powerful word, from heaven’s royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land, bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the month Catholics traditionally honor the dead, the Vatican Museums opened a new entrance to an ancient necropolis where carved marble sarcophagi sit near open graves filled with bones. In the Via Triumphalis Necropolis, some of the tombs and cremation urns have the person’s name on them. Others also include…