Pope prays for victims of New Orleans attack
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” to learn of deaths and injuries caused by the attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, which killed 15 people. “In assuring the entire community of his spiritual closeness, His Holiness commends the souls of those who have died to the loving mercy of almighty God and prays for the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved,” said a telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and issued on the pope’s behalf. The telegram was sent Jan. 2 to Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans.
According to law enforcement agencies, a U.S. Army veteran, apparently inspired by the Islamic State group, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people celebrating the new year in New Orlean’s famed French Quarter early Jan. 1 before he was killed in a shootout with police. In addition to the 15 people who died, some 30 other people were injured. “This violent act is a sign of utter disrespect for human life,” Archbishop Aymond said in a statement Jan. 1. “I join with others in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in offering prayerful support to the victims’ families. I give thanks for the heroic duty of hundreds of law enforcement and medical personnel in the face of such evil.”
Destination of Holy Year pilgrimage is encounter with Jesus, pope says
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — When Catholics come to Rome for the Holy Year, their journey should have the specific goal of encountering and listening to Jesus, Pope Francis said. With a jubilee, the destination is the Holy Door, which “represents Jesus Christ, his mystery of salvation, which allows us to enter into the new life, free from the slavery of sin, free to love and serve God and neighbor,” he said in a talk to young members of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired. The pope met the group at the Vatican Jan. 3.
The pope told his young guests that they should always be “on the move” and “also pilgrims, that is, eager to meet Jesus, to know him, to listen to his word.” The Lord’s word, the pope said, gives meaning to life and “fills it with a new joy, a different joy, a joy that does not remain ‘outside’ on the surface, but which fills the heart and warms it, a joy that is peace, that is goodness, that is tenderness.” Jesus “is the hope for every man, woman and also for the world,” Pope Francis said. “Let us follow this road, and we too will become little signs of hope for those we meet.”
Pope preaches ‘very strong bond’ between adoration and service
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — During the Holy Year 2025, Christians should deepen their spiritual lives through adoration and then transform their prayer into concrete acts of service, Pope Francis said. “There is a very strong bond between adoration and service, which we must not forget,” the pope told members of the Archconfraternity of Sts. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist of the Knights of Malta from Catanzaro, Italy.
Pope Francis praised their regular practice of Eucharistic devotion and acts of charity, encouraging them to use the Holy Year to reinvigorate their commitment to prayer and service. “Especially in this Holy Year, I invite you to cultivate prayer with great commitment, personally and communally,” he said Jan. 3. The archconfraternity traces its roots back to 1457, when a temple was built for the group in southern Italy. It has a special bond to the bishop of Rome through its donation each year of the Easter candle used in the Basilica of St. John Lateran — Rome’s cathedral.
Pope Francis praised this enduring tradition, linking it to the group’s ongoing mission of embodying Christ’s love through tangible works of mercy. “When you take care of the poor, each time you visit the sick, while you are in the presence of someone who suffers, you serve the Lord,” he said.
[Eucharistic Adoration opportunities in the Diocese of Wilmington]
Migrants, refugees, victims of war have a right to education, pope says
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has asked Catholics around the world to pray with him in January that migrants, refugees and victims of war will have a chance for an education. “Let us pray for migrants, refugees and those affected by war, that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a better world, might always be respected,” was the prayer intention he chose for the start of the New Year.
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, formerly called the Apostleship of Prayer, is a Jesuit-run outreach that has given Catholics the pope’s monthly prayer intentions since 1890. Pope Francis records a short video reflection on each month’s prayer, and his first video for 2025 was released Jan. 2.
