Pope Francis has prayed for the victims of several terrorist attacks which had taken place in the hours before his Sunday Angelus.

In Egypt, a bomb outside St. Mark’s Coptic Cathedral in Cairo killed at least 25 people on Sunday morning; in Somalia, a suicide bomber killed over a dozen people in Mogadishu on Sunday morning; and in Turkey, at least 38 people were killed in twin bomb attacks outside a football stadium in Instanbul on Saturday evening…

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning, focusing his remarks following the readings of the day on the need for priests to serve as authentic mediators of God’s love, rather than as intermediaries – “go-betweens” or “middle-men” – concerned  only with advancing their own interests.

No to “go-between” priests, yest to priests who are mediators of God’s love

The role of the mediator is not that of the intermediary – and priests are called to be the former for their flock:

“The mediator gives himself (lit…

Pope Francis visited the Piazza di Spagna in Rome on Thursday for the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, where he laid a bouquet of white roses near the Column of the Immaculate Conception and prayed especially for families and for workers.

The Holy Father made his way to Rome’s Spanish Square to pay homage to the Immaculate Virgin, just as the Bishop of Rome has done annually for the past 50 years…