Beauty queen promotes morality in recent interview

Quezon City, Philippines, Oct 24, 2013 / 12:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The first ever Filipina-American to be crowned Miss World revealed her traditional values in a recent television interview.

Megan Young, the 23 year-old who was crowned Miss World on Sept. 28, said in a recent television interview that she is pro-life, rejecting both abortion and contraception.

Young, who was born in Virginia but moved to the Philippines with her family as a child, was interviewed on ANC, a Filipino news network, when she was asked about the country's recent adoption of a reproductive health law, which was signed by president Benigno Aquino III on Dec. 21, 2012.

The new law mandates sex education in middle and high schools and subsidizes contraceptives, including potentially abortion-inducing drugs.

Young indicated opposition to the law, saying, “I'm pro-life, and if it means killing someone that’s already there, then I’m against that of course. I'm against abortion.”

Asked about contraception, she added that, “I don't engage in stuff like that,” going on to say she believes that “sex is for marriage” and “should be with your partner for life.”

“I'm actually against divorce,” she added, “because I've seen that in my family. So I think that if you marry someone, that should be the person you should be with forever, through sickness and health, through good or through bad.”

When asked how a single woman as “gorgeous” as herself could remain abstinent, Young replied with a laugh, “you just say no, that’s it.”

“If they try to push you, then you step away because you know that that person doesn’t value you, doesn’t value the relationship as much.”

She said that a gentleman would not pressure a woman into premarital sex in the first place, while at the same time recognizing that abstaining from sex before marriage takes character.

“If the guy is willing to sacrifice that,” she said, “then that means a lot.”

Young said she chose to compete in the Miss World pageant rather than Miss Universe because Miss World’s “main focus is charities and helping out and giving back.”

“After you win your main focus, your duties, will all be helping out with charities.”

The newly crowned beauty queen is also a stage performer and actress and is know for her kindness as well as her talent.

EU proposes $38 million to advance 'reproductive health'

New York City, N.Y., Oct 31, 2013 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates are voicing concern over abortion funding after a report revealed that the European Commission has set aside 28 million euro, roughly $38.4 million, for projects related to “sexual and reproductive health.”

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.

“The specific objective is to contribute to improved universal access to reproductive health,” said the European Commission of its grant program, “Investing in People: Good health for all.

The commission added that it is concerned especially for “developing countries which have the worst indicators.”

The commission explained that the programs will fund maternity programs and “universal access” to a range of services falling under “reproductive and sexual healthcare, services, supplies, education and information (including information on all kinds of family planning methods).”

J.C. von Krempach, of Catholic Family and Human Rights, an organization monitoring international law and activism, explained in an Oct. 29 blog post that international organizations often use the term “sexual health” as code in order to “carry out abortions in developing countries.”

“Very cynically, those abortions are often dubbed as 'menstrual regulation', a term specifically coined to mislead, so that the women concerned do not even know what is done to them.”

In addition, he said, grant money from projects such as “Investing in People: Good health for all” “feeds organizations like the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Marie Stopes International (MSI), and Ipas.”

The document explaining the European Commission’s program later clarified that the “wider range of family planning methods” did include the promotion of contraceptives and abortion.

Primary “health care should, inter alia, include,” the document said, “abortion,” alongside “prevention of abortion and the management of the consequences of abortion,” maternal care, infertility treatment, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, infections, and other health care conditions.

Krempach explained that the provision of abortion violates definitions of “sexual and reproductive health” adopted at a 1994 meeting of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, which “clearly excludes abortion from the scope of” health care.

Nevertheless, the “European Commission and the above-mentioned NGOs pretend that abortion is included” in proposals such as these, he said.

He argued that “it would be necessary for a ‘call for proposals’ such as this to contain a clarification that abortions, whatever name is given to them, will not be funded,” to correct the error and conform with international definitions of sexual and reproductive health.

“The present call for tender does not contain such clarification,” Krempach said.

Food is a human right, Vatican archbishop tells UN

New York City, N.Y., Oct 31, 2013 / 04:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The archbishop leading the Holy See’s delegation to the United Nations has praised international efforts to combat hunger, malnutrition and poverty, urging that more be done to secure “the human right to food.”

“While improvements in food production remain an important goal, food security will be achieved by all only when we change social structures and when we learn to show greater solidarity towards the poor and the hungry,” Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the apostolic nuncio leading the Vatican’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations, said Oct. 29.

“Hunger is not just a technical problem awaiting technological solutions,” he added. “Hunger is a human problem that demands solutions based on our common humanity.”

The archbishop addressed the second committee of the 68th session of the U.N. General Assembly on agriculture development, food security and nutrition.

Archbishop Chullikatt said that hunger is not caused by the lack of sufficient food, noting that an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year. He cited Pope Francis’ words that it is “truly scandalous” for millions to be suffering and dying of starvation.

“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being,” the Pope said June 20 in a speech to participants in a conference run by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

“Whenever food is thrown out, it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor, from the hungry!” the Pope insisted.

Archbishop Chullikatt told the U.N. committee that wasting food is sometimes tolerated because it can be more financially profitable than providing it to those in extreme need.

Hunger is caused by “exclusion,” he explained. Agriculture policies must promote inclusion and “respect for the dignity and rights of those still on the margins of today’s society” as well as respect for the well-being of future generations.

He also warned that food access can become a “weapon” for controlling or subjugating populations instead of “a tool for building peaceful and prosperous communities.”

The archbishop invoked subsidiarity, the principle of Catholic social teaching that human activities be carried out at “the most local and immediate level possible.” This principle encourages helping people become self-sufficient in food or helping them earn a livelihood whose products they can exchange for food.

Food security should be a singular goal, the archbishop said, “so that there will be ever fewer people suffering from poverty and hunger in our world.”

Pope Francis: No one can be Christian without love of God

Vatican City, Oct 31, 2013 / 10:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his daily homily, Pope Francis spoke of the necessity of God’s love in order to be faithful, and encouraged those present to make love the center of their lives.

“Without the love of Christ, without living this love, without recognizing it, without nurturing this love, you cannot be Christian,” the Pope reflected during his Oct. 31 homily.

The Pope celebrated his Mass this morning in the St. Sebastian Chapel near the tomb of Bl. John Paul II inside St. Peter’s Basilica, where a group of Polish faithful gather to celebrate the Eucharist every Thursday.

Saint Paul’s words to the Romans from the day’s first reading when he tells them that “no one can separate me from the love of Christ” formed the basis for the Pope’s reflections.

Having lived through many difficulties, including persecution, illness and betrayal, the pontiff noted that at the center of Paul’s life was a specific reference; “the love of Christ,” and that without recognizing and allowing that love to grow in us, we cannot be true Christians.

“The Christian is one who feels loved by the Lord,” he stressed, “with that beautiful gaze, loved by the Lord and loved until the end. The Christian feels that his life has been saved by the Blood of Christ.”

“And this is what love is: a relationship of love.”

Pope Francis went on to contrast this attitude with the image of the “sorrow Jesus when he looks to Jerusalem,” who did not understand his love, which is like that of a mother hen who wants to gather her chicks under her wings.

“It didn't understand the tenderness of God,” he said, noting that this is the opposite of how Paul felt when encountered with the love of God.

“Yes, God loves me, God loves us, but in an abstract way, it is something that does not touch my heart, and I organize life the way I want. There is no fidelity there.”

The cry in Jesus’ heart, stressed the Pope was “’Jerusalem, you are not faithful, you have not allowed yourself to love, and you have entrusted yourself to many idols that promised you everything, they said that they'd give you everything, and after they have abandoned you.’”

At the heart of the suffering love of Jesus, he pressed, was “a love that was not accepted, was not received.”

Before us, urged the Pope, we have the image of Saint Paul, who remains faithful to the love of Christ until the end, and who, even when faced with his weakness and sinfulness, “has strength in the love of God, in that meeting he had with Jesus Christ.”

On the other hand, noted the pontiff, we have the Jerusalem, who is unfaithful and who “does not accept the love of Jesus, or even worse, eh? But this love that lives in half: a bit 'yes,’ a little 'no,’ according to their convenience.”

In the face of these two images, “What can we do?” the Pope asked, challenging those present to ask themselves “am I more like Paul or Jerusalem? Is my love for God as strong as that of Paul, or is my heart tepid, like that of Jerusalem?”

“May the Love, through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II, help us to answer this question,” he concluded, “So be it!”

National abortion rallies ignore pain of women, critics say

Washington D.C., Oct 30, 2013 / 05:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A national campaign to depict abortion as a normal and positive experience has drawn criticism for overlooking the harm that abortion causes to women and their unborn children.

“This campaign reinforces the political beliefs about the goodness of abortion without giving women a chance to be honest about how they feel about their abortion or their lost child,” said Tina Whittington, executive vice president for Students for Life of America.

The problem with “encouraging women to fit into this mold that says 'I am okay with my abortion and I feel no regrets,'” she told CNA on Oct. 30, is that “it takes away their rights to feel regret, loss or sadness.”

“This is part of the reason why it takes women so long to seek help” for counseling after an abortion, Whittington continued. Rather than dealing with the pain they experience, women feel pressured to “stand behind a message point.”

Ultimately, she said, the campaign tells women, “We don't care about your complicated emotional or psychological health, all we care about is getting this political agenda moved forward.”

Whittington responded to a nationwide effort to re-energize the abortion movement in the U.S., led by Advocates for Youth and supported by other groups including NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

The campaign has involved the coordination of more than 130 events in some 30 states and 100 college campus in order to promote abortion access and oppose regulations on abortion.

At the center of the campaign is an effort to “destigmatize abortion and promote access” by promoting stories showing abortion as a normal and positive experience for women. The initiative centers on the findings from a 2011 survey from the Guttmacher Institute stating that 1 in 3 women in the United States would have an abortion by the age of 45.

However, pro-life advocates noted that the campaign fails to take into account the stories of women who have had traumatic or negative experiences from their abortions, nor does it mention the children who were adopted after their mothers chose life in difficult and challenging situations.

“Many of these 1 in 3 are deeply wounded and struggle daily with the decision they made or were coerced into,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List.

Overlooking these stories is overlooking the well-being of these women, she said.

“This is just another example of how pro-abortion forces put the institution of abortion above the wellbeing of individual women.”

Dannenfelser told CNA that “post-abortive women who speak out about their experiences have been instrumental in encouraging other mothers to choose life and winning hearts and minds to the pro-life cause.”

One of the rallies, held Oct. 28 in Washington, D.C., featured comments from Advocates for Youth president Deb Hauser, who explained that “every good story that mobilizes needs a villain.”

According to rally organizers, one of the purposes of the event was to fight those who would “shame” women who have had abortions. A poem read at the rally criticized individuals who pray near abortion clinics, saying that they express “judgment” and oppose “freedom.”

Dannenfelser explained that the campaign is pushing for abortion to “be normalized in our society.”

But ultimately, she stressed, “the pro-life argument that there are two unique people – a mother and a child – at the center of every abortion decision will always win out.”

Egypt suffers terrorism, not religious conflict, priest says

Alexandria, Egypt, Oct 30, 2013 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A  priest of the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria has rejected claims that attacks on Egyptian Christians are a religious conflict, noting that terrorists in the country are attacking many groups.

“The idea that this involves a conflict between Muslims and Christians simply isn’t borne out by reality. Not only Christians are being attacked, but state institutions as well,” Fr. Hani Bakhoum Kiroulos, secretary of the patriarchate, said Oct. 25.

While police are stationed at many churches, terrorists “strike completely unexpectedly.”

Fr. Kiroulos told Aid to the Church in Need, “this is a problem that affects all Egyptians equally, not only the Christians.”

“Egypt is conducting a war on terrorism.”

Fr. Kiroulos’ comments come after an Oct. 20 attack on a Coptic wedding in Cairo when unidentified gunmen killed a Christian family of four and wounded several others, both Christian and Muslim.

That was the latest in a series of attacks since a military coup July 3. In August, some 80 churches were attacked, and both Muslims and Christians were killed.

The priest said that such attackers “want to provoke Christians into calling for Western intervention, from the U.S. or European countries.”

He said this would “internationalize” the conflict and “disrupt national unity.”

“The extremists’ goal is also to embroil the Christians in a civil war. But this tactic won’t work – Christians have shown that they are genuine Egyptians.”

Fr. Kiroulos said extremist elements are trying to block the majority of Egyptians, who desire a democratic state that guarantees civil liberties and religious freedom.

In his view, Egypt needs a new constitution, and elections for president and parliament. The terrorist elements destabilizing the country “must be eliminated.”

He also called for “genuine reconciliation between all groups in Egypt.”

“Hence, the Muslim Brotherhood must put the interests of Egypt before its own. This is the only way will we be able to build a genuinely democratic state.”

Christians tended to oppose to the rule of former president Mohammed Morsi, who was elected with backing from the Muslim Brotherhood in June 2012. The Egyptian military removed Morsi from power in a July coup.

The Muslim Brotherhood has voiced sympathy for the victims of the wedding shooting, though Fr. Kiroulos said he was not able to judge the group’s sincerity.

“I can say that during the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood many terrorists entered the country and we are now suffering from the consequences of their policies.”

Fr. Kiroulos reported that the Sinai region is heavily infiltrated by terrorists, who are active throughout Egypt.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need’s new report on Christian persecution, “Persecuted and Forgotten?”, said that a rise in anti-Christian violence and intolerance was expected given the political unrest in Egypt.

However, the scale of attacks has exceeded even the “bleakest predictions.”

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million people. An estimated 200,000 Christians have left the country since February 2011.

Nun called 'the prison angel' dies in Mexico at 86

Los Angeles, Calif., Oct 29, 2013 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Mother Antonia Brenner, who married and divorced twice before converting to the Catholic faith and devoting herself to prison ministry for nearly 39 years in Tijuana, died Oct. 17 at the age of 86.

“Humanly speaking, this is an irreparable loss, but from the point of view of the mission that she had, I think we have won something,” Archbishop Rafael Romo Munoz of Tijuana said after receiving news of her death.

“She is a woman with the characteristics of a saint. I say that because I knew her and loved her a lot. I also received much affection from her. She has the traits of a saint, and that is why the Church has come out winning.”

Mother Brenner was born Mary Clarke and was the mother of eight and lived in Beverly Hills prior to her conversion, which was effected by a dream. Even before this, she had done volunteer work for the poor in both Mexico and California.

In 1969 she dreamt she was a prisoner at Calvary preparing to be executed. Suddenly, Jesus appeared and offered to die in her place, which she refused, saying she would never leave him no matter what happened to her.

After this dream, Mother Brenner decided to devote her life to the Church.

Despite initial difficulties due to her status as a divorcee, in 2003 she founded the order of the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, which was founded for older women who feel called to serve the poor.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1982 about her prison ministry, Mother Antonia said, “Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars. … when I left, I thought a lot about the men. When it was cold, I wondered if the men were warm; when it was raining, if they had shelter.”

“I wondered if they had medicine and how their families were doing. …when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I'd come home.”

Both for the guards and the inmates at La Mesa penitentiary, Mother Brenner was the prison angel. But behind bars she was known as “Mama.”

In her interview with the Times, Mother Antonia said the prisoners needed “to accept that they're wrong. They have to see the consequences. They have to feel the agony … but I do love them dearly.”

Mother Antonia and her Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour carried out their work from the Heart of Mary Home in Tijuana, where candidates for the congregation spend a period of discernment and formation before fully joining.

Love of God 'scorches' our selfishness, Pope says

Vatican City, Oct 30, 2013 / 05:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his general audience Pope Francis continued his reflections on the Creed, stressing the centrality of the Communion of Saints in the faith and how that communion embraces and purifies the Church.

“The love of God,” Pope Francis told thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square Oct. 30 for his weekly  address, “scorches our selfishness, judgments and divisions.”

The Pope opened his remarks by saying “Dear brothers and sisters, today I want to talk about a very beautiful reality of our faith: 'the Communion of the saints.'”

He noted that the expression has two different yet related meanings – the first being a communion in “holy things,” and the second a communion “between holy people,” as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“The communion of saints is the deepest reality of the Church,” he said, emphasizing that the second connotation “reminds us that there is a communion of life between those of us that believe in Christ.”

Through Baptism, the Pope added, “we have incorporated ourselves” in Christ and in the Church, and have been made “sharers in the communion of life and love which is the Blessed Trinity” and “are united to one another in the Body of Christ.”

Reflecting on the unity of the Trinity, Pope Francis stressed that “The relationship between Jesus and the Father is the 'womb' of the link between Christians.”

“If we are rooted in that womb, in this burning fire of love which is the Trinity, we can become able to possess one heart alone and one soul alone, because the love of God scorches our selfishness, judgments and divisions.”

The pontiff then used the analogy of a big family to describe dynamic of the Communion of Saints, urging that we should help one another and that “through this fraternal communion we draw nearer to God and we are called to support one another spiritually.”  

He then challenged those present, encouraging them to ask themselves “Do we know how to share the uncertainties of our itineraries of faith, looking for fraternal help in prayer and spiritual comfort? Are we available to listen and help all those who ask for it?”

The Communion of Saints, he noted, “thanks to the resurrection of Jesus, establishes a deep and indissoluble link between those who are pilgrims on earth, the souls of Purgatory and those who enjoy celestial bliss.”

It is to the Saints in heaven, he urged that we must “unite ourselves as a Church, which finds the highest form of solidarity in the prayer of intercession,” highlighting how the upcoming Feasts All Saints and All Souls are both an example and opportunity to ask for assistance from those seated with God in heaven.

“As we rejoice in this great mystery,” he concluded, “let us ask the Lord to draw us ever closer to him and to all our brothers and sisters in the Church.”

Among the pilgrims present at the audience today were groups and individuals from England, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Vietnam, the United States, Argentina, El Salvador, and México.

Texas pro-life law takes effect after some portions struck down

Austin, Texas, Oct 29, 2013 / 05:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A ban on abortions when an unborn baby can feel pain took effect in Texas today, one day after a federal judge blocked other new restrictions on abortion practices in the state.

“The American public understands the importance of this law. Pain-capable unborn children should be protected from the violent act of a dismemberment abortion,” Mary Spaulding Balch, National Right to Life’s director of state legislation, said Oct. 29. “Sadly, 40 states still allow it. We continue to work for a day when mothers and their children are fully protected and respected by our laws and our society.”

“Unborn children and their mothers deserve better than the violence of abortion,” she said.

The law bans abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy on the grounds that an unborn baby can feel pain at this point. Nine other states also bar late-term abortions on the basis of fetal pain.

The Texas state legislature passed the ban in July as one of several provisions in a bill restricting abortions.

On Oct. 28, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled against two other provisions of the law, but not the late-term abortion ban.

Yeakel said that a separate provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic was unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against it. The judge said the provision creates a “substantial obstacle” and an “undue burden” for a woman seeking “an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” He said the provision was not rationally related to state interests in preserving and promoting fetal health and a woman’s health.

Judge Yeakel, a George W. Bush appointee, also issued a limited injunction against a provision of the law requiring that all abortions take place in surgical centers, a provision which would have ended the practice of giving women abortion drugs to take at home, the Washington Post reports.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office said the state immediately appealed the ruling.

The lawsuit has been filed by 11 abortion clinics and three abortion-performing doctors who said the provisions would end abortions in over 33 percent of the state’s licensed abortion facilities. They said the law would end abortions in Fort Worth and five other major cities.

Texas Right to Life said the bill provisions were intended to “protect women and life” and to “raise standards for abortion providers.” The organization charged that Judge Yeakel’s decision “further jeopardizes the health of abortion-vulnerable women.” 

Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, said the decision showed “contempt for women’s safety.”

“Pro-life organizations and independent concerned citizens have documented ambulance after ambulance shipping injured mothers from abortion facilities to hospitals,” she said Oct. 28. “This should be proof enough that these doctors are woefully unqualified to mend the horrors they regularly wreak on women. But furthermore, women across the country should ask themselves: ‘If my doctor can’t earn a hospital’s trust, do I really want him treating me?’”

Democratic State Sen. Wendy Davis drew national attention to the law in June, when she held a filibuster opposing it for more than 10 hours at the close of the Texas legislature’s first special legislative session of the year.

The legislative session closed in controversy, with some abortion supporters in the legislature’s upstairs gallery disrupting the attempt to vote on the bill.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry subsequently called a second special session of the legislature to pass the abortion restrictions and other laws, amid displays of support from pro-life groups. 

Commenting on the recent ruling, Balch observed that although opponents of the legislation had challenged “smaller pieces” of the new law, they never challenged the protections for “pain-capable children.”

“Even our opponents realize this legislation, and the extensive science behind it, is sound,” she said.

Pope Francis warns faithful not to be 'rosewater Christians'

Rome, Italy, Oct 24, 2013 / 08:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his daily homily, Pope Francis focused on the fact that we have been “re-created” in Christ, urging those in attendance to take their faith seriously, rather than committing halfway.

“People do not take it seriously! Lukewarm Christians: ‘But, yes, yes, but, no, no.’ Neither here nor there - as our mothers said, ‘rosewater Christians’ - no!”

The Holy Father offered his reflections to those present for his Oct. 24 daily Mass in the Saint Martha guesthouse of the Vatican.

“We have been re-made in Christ,” urged the Pope at the beginning of his homily, “What Christ has done in us is a re-creation: the blood of Christ has re-created.”

“If before the whole of our life: our body, our soul, our habits, were on the road of sin, iniquity; after this re-creation we must make the effort to walk on the path of righteousness, sanctification… holiness.”

Pope Francis then reflected on how our parents made an act of faith for us at the moment of our Baptism, stressing that it is our responsibility to make this faith our own, and that to live as Christians “is to bring forth this faith in Christ.”

Emphasizing the fact that we are often weak and that we commit sins through our imperfections, the Pope urged that this is a path to sanctification if we do not “get used” to living in that state.

He cautioned that if a person has the attitude that “’I believe in Jesus Christ, but I live the way I want to’ Oh, no, that will not sanctify, that is wrong! It is a contradiction!”

“If, however, you say, ‘I, even I am a sinner, I am weak,’ and if you go always to the Lord and say: ‘But, Lord, You have the strength, give me faith! You can make me clean,’ (and if) you let yourself be healed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation – yes, even our imperfections are used along the way of sanctification.”

Christians, urged the pontiff, have been created “anew” by the Blood of Christ, and are on the path of righteousness, but “we must take it seriously!”

In order to take the faith seriously, the Pope stated that we must carry out “simple” works of righteousness, noting that the first act should always be to “worship God.”

“God is always first! And then do what Jesus advises us to help others.”

Noting that there are some Christians who live their faith at “half-speed” Pope Francis emphasized to those present that “We are holy, justified, sanctified by the blood of Christ: Take this sanctification and carry it forward!”

For those who have the attitude of “a little touch here and there, of Christian paint, a little ‘paint catechesis,’” he stressed that “inside there is no true conversion.”

“There is no such conviction as that of St. Paul: ‘Everything I gave up and I consider garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.’”

This, he stated, “was Paul's passion and that is the passion of a Christian,” urging that we must detach ourselves from everything that distracts us or takes us away from Jesus.

“You can do it!” encouraged the Pope, “as did St. Paul and also many Christians.”

The pontiff concluded his reflections by urging that the question posed for us today is whether or not we want to “live our Christianity seriously, if we want to pursue this re-creation.”

He invited all those in attendance to ask for the intercession of Saint Paul, that we may obtain the gift of grace needed in order to live our Christian faith seriously, and “to believe that we truly have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ.”

Pope: Sacrament of Confession is not a 'torture chamber'

Vatican City, Oct 25, 2013 / 08:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his daily Mass Pope Francis centered his homily on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, stressing that sin is an everyday struggle which requires accountability through “face-to-face” contact.

“Confessing our sins is not going to a psychiatrist, or to a torture chamber: it’s saying to the Lord, 'Lord, I am a sinner,' but saying it through the brother, because this says it concretely. 'I am sinner because of this, that and the other thing.'”

The Pope offered his Oct. 25 reflections to those gathered in the chapel of the Vatican's Saint Martha’s guesthouse, where he has chosen to reside.

Pope Francis opened his homily by reflecting that for many believing adults, the idea of confessing one's sins to a priest is either so unbearable that they completely avoid the Sacrament, or the process is so painful that the truth is transformed into a form of fiction.

Recalling St. Paul’s words in his letter to the Roman’s from the day’s readings, the Pope noted that the apostle did the opposite, confessing publicly that “good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh,” and that he doesn’t do the good that he wants, but only the evil which he hates.

The Pope stressed that it often happens in the life of faith that “when I want to do good, evil is close to me.”

“This is the struggle of Christians. It is our struggle every day. And we do not always have the courage to speak as Paul spoke about this struggle.”

Often, noted the pontiff, we seek to justify our sins by making excuses and saying that “we are all sinners,” and that this fight “is our struggle.”

“If we don’t recognize this, we will never be able to have God’s forgiveness,” urged the Pope, “because if being a sinner is a word, a way of speaking, a manner of speaking, we have no need of God’s forgiveness. But if it is a reality that makes us slaves, we need this interior liberation of the Lord, of that force.”

Pope Francis then emphasized that the most important element for Saint Paul in finding a way out of this justification was to confess his sin to the community, noting that “he doesn’t hide it,” and that the confession of one’s sins with humility is something which the Church requires of us all.

“Confess your sins to one another,” he said, repeating the words of Saint James, not to be noticed by others, but rather “to give glory to God” and to recognize that it is only him who can save.

This is why, stressed the Pope, we go to a “brother priest,” to confess, urging that when one confesses, it must be done with “concreteness.”

“Some say: ‘Ah, I confess to God.’ But it’s easy, it’s like confessing by email, no? God is far away, I say things and there’s no face-to-face, no eye-to-eye contact,” while “others (say)‘No, I go to confession,’ but they confess so many ethereal things, so many up-in-the-air things, that they don’t have anything concrete. And that’s the same as not doing it.”

Concreteness, honesty, and the genuine ability to be ashamed one’s mistakes are all qualities needed in order to be open to the forgiveness of God, as well as the deep awareness of his love, the Pope noted.

Concluding his reflections, Pope Francis stressed that in the face of confession, we should have the attitude of a small child, because “when a child comes to confess, he never says something general.”

“‘But father, I did this and I did that to my aunt, another time I said this word’ and they say the word. But they are concrete, eh? They have that simplicity of the truth.”

Although “we always have the tendency to hide the reality of our failings,” the Pope noted that “there is something beautiful: when we confess our sins as they are in the presence of God, we always feel that grace of shame.”

“Being ashamed in the sight of God is a grace. It is a grace: ‘I am ashamed of myself.’”

When we think of this kind of shame, the Pope stressed, “We think of Peter when, after the miracle of Jesus on the lake, (he said) ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner.’”

Christ preaches Gospel through you, Pope tells new bishops

Vatican City, Oct 26, 2013 / 07:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At a Mass on Thursday at Saint Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis consecrated two men as bishops and exhorted them to be faithful to Christ, for he reaches men through their ministry.

“Christ, in fact, is who through the ministry of the bishop continues to preach the Gospel of salvation and sanctifies believers, through the sacraments of the faith,” the Bishop of Rome preached in his homily at the Oct. 24 Mass during which he consecrated Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich and Archbishop Giampiero Gloder.

The two have both been appointed to serve in the Vatican's diplomatic corps. Archbishop Speich, who was a priest of the Strasbourg archdiocese, has been appointed apostolic nuncio to Ghana; and Archbishop Gloder, who was a priest of the Padua diocese, is president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains priests for the diplomatic corps.

“Reflect attentively on what great ecclesial responsibilities these, our brothers, are called to,” Pope Francis said, reflecting on their place in the apostolic succession instituted by Christ for the sanctification of mankind.

“So as to perpetuate from generation to generation this apostolic ministry, the

Twelve gathered collaborators, passing on to them by the laying on of hands the gift of the Spirit received from Christ, who conferred the fullness of the sacrament of Orders.”

He noted that “thus, through the unbroken succession of bishops in the living tradition of the Church … the Savior's work continues and develops up to our time. In the bishop surrounded by his priests there is present among you the same our Lord Jesus Christ, high priest forever.”

Pope Francis said that Christ “in the fatherhood of the bishop adds new members to his body, which is the Church. And Christ in the wisdom and prudence of the bishop guides the people of God through he earthly pilgrimage to eternal happiness.”

“As for you, Jean-Marie and Giampiero, chosen by the Lord, reflect that you have been chosen from among men and for men, you have have been appointed for those things regarding God.”

The office of bishop, he advised them, “is in fact the name of a service, not of an honor,” and that bishops are called to “compete” in serving – rather than “lording it over” – their flocks.

“Always in service, always,” the Pontiff said.

Pope Francis exhorted them to “proclaim the Word in every opportunity: in season and out of season. Admonish, reprove, exhort with all magnanimity and teaching.”

Focusing on the grave importance of prayer, he went on to tell the newly consecrated that in this way, they will be able to “draw from the holiness of Christ the multiform richness of divine grace.”

“A bishop who does not pray is a bishop half-way. And if you do not pray to the Lord, you end up worldly.”

Following his discussion on prayer, the Roman Pontiff turned to the necessity of love.

“The love of a bishop: love, love with the love of a father and of a brother all whom God has entrusted to you. In the first place, love the priests and the deacons.”

He exhorted them to be attentive to their priests, not waiting to see them when the priests ask to see them: “respond immediately,” he exclaimed. “Be close to them.”

“But also love the poor, the helpless and those who need welcome and assistance. Exhort the faithful to cooperate” with you.

Pope Francis also advised the bishops to have care for those who are not Catholic or Christian, “because they too have been entrusted to you in the Lord. Pray much for them.”

He also noted the importance of collaboration among bishops, telling them to remember that “you need to bring with you a solicitude for all the Churches, aiding generously those who are most in need of assistance.”

“Keep watch in the name of the Father, who makes present the image; in the name of Jesus Christ, his Son, by whom he made you teachers, priests and pastors. In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church and by his power sustains us in our weakness,” he concluded.