Saying people and not money create development, Pope Francis called on Thursday for courageous initiatives to rethink our economic system and not become slaves of money. His remarks came in a video message delivered to participants attending a Festival of Social Doctrine in the Italian city of Verona promoted by the local Church.  

The Pope urged people not to become discouraged by the economic crisis but instead turn their energies towards ways of “rethinking our economic model and the world of work.”  He warned that “the great temptation” when faced with these difficulties is to concentrate “on tending our own wounds and use that as an excuse to not heed the cry of the poor” and all those who are suffering because they have lost their jobs and the dignity that goes with that…

Pope Francis has made a heartfelt plea to Israelis and Palestinians to put an end to the violence which has plagued Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land in recent weeks.  His appeal follows an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue Tuesday in which 2 Palestinian men armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed three U.S.-Israeli rabbis and a British-Israeli man.  An Israeli policeman later died of his wounds…

“Every state of life leads to holiness, always”, but only if we are open to the grace of God’s gift, said Pope Francis Wednesday speaking of the universal call to holiness of all baptized at his general audience.

Below is the Holy Father’s catechesis:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.

A great gift of the Second Vatican Council was to have retrieved a vision of the Church founded on communion, and to have also embodied the principle of authority and hierarchy in this context…

Human rights and Christian values in Europe and ecumenism and interfaith dialogue in Turkey top the Pope’s busy agenda next week as he prepares for his 5th and 6th pastoral visits abroad.

At a press conference on Monday morning, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, Director of the Vatican Press Office illustrated the Pope’s schedule for the last week in November which will take him to Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament and Council of Europe, and only two days afterwards  to Ankara and Istanbul in occasion of the festivity of Saint Andrew…

Pope Francis on Monday confirmed he will be attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia next year.

“I wish to confirm according to the wishes of the Lord, that in September of 2015, I will go to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families,” said Pope Francis.  “Thank you for your prayers with which you accompany my service to the Church…

Pope Francis met with the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors on Saturday. He urged them to resist “false compassion” and “witness by word and by example that human life is always sacred, valuable, and inviolable.”

I welcome you on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors. In particular, I address a cordial greeting to the chaplain, Msgr…