Tag: Christianity

The apostolic nuncio to Syria says he hopes the war-torn nation will “move toward reconciliation” and at least “some prosperity” under democratic rule, following former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by rebel groups.

Cardinal Mario Zenari spoke with Vatican News hours after rebels entered the capital of Damascus, which Assad was reported to have fled sometime on Dec. 8, after being absent from the public eye during most of the rebels’ two-week campaign. Assad and his family are now in Moscow and have been granted asylum there, according to state media in Russia, a key backer of the Assad regime.

Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News he had been unable to sleep amid the “constant gunfire” in Damascus, but noted the “shooting in the streets” was “celebratory” amid a stunning transition of power that happened without a bloody contest for the capital.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said in a recorded video message posted Dec. 8 that he was “ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people, and provide all possible support to ensure a smooth and systematic transition of government tasks, and the preservation of state facilities.”

The rebel offensive ended the five-decade rule of the Assad family, which has been marked by violent repression and brutal crackdowns on dissent. During his three decades in power, Assad’s father Hafez established a Soviet-style economy and quashed opposition. Initial hopes that Bashar Assad — who assumed power in 2000 after his father’s death — would prove more moderate were extinguished when Assad turned to longtime family allies to exert an increasingly authoritarian rule.

When pro-democratic protests sparked civil war in 2011, Assad responded with brutal force that ultimately saw more than 500,000 killed and countless atrocities marked by detention, torture and executions, prompting the United Nations to convene an independent international commission of inquiry on Syria.

As of 2024, 16.7 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid. More than half of Syria’s 23 million pre-war population is displaced, with 5.2 million refugees and 6.8 million internally displaced persons, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency.

“Now, the path ahead is steep,” Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News, noting that “those who have taken power have promised to respect everyone and to build a new Syria.”

A number of local, regional and international parties have participated in the long-running Syrian conflict, including some allied with Islamic extremists. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (“Organization for the Liberation of the Levant”), which led the rebel forces, was initially linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida, but reestablished itself in 2016 under its current name while looking to move away from extremist roots. The U.S. still designates HTS as a foreign terrorist organization.

HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani told The New York Times in an interview posted Dec. 6, “Our goal is to liberate Syria from this oppressive regime.”

Golani has sought to reassure Syria’s small Christian population — concentrated in Aleppo, and currently estimated at about 30,000, down from some 200,000 at the start of the civil war — that his forces would “ensure your protection and safeguard your property.”

“Aleppo has always been a meeting point for civilizations and cultures, and it will remain so, with a long history of cultural and religious diversity,” he said in a statement posted to the Telegram messaging platform.

Agence France Presse reported Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Aleppo told worshippers during a recent Divine Liturgy there, “Do not fear, dear brothers. We have received assurances from all parties. Continue living normally, and everything will remain as before, even better.”

“The rebels met with the bishops in Aleppo immediately after their victory, assuring them that they would respect the various religious denominations and Christians,” Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News. “We hope they will keep this promise and move toward reconciliation.”

“As for the situation of the Christians all over Syria, we have been in contact with many of our partners, and all information received says that the rebels have sent many messages to all minorities to reassure to them that the goal is to turn over the Assad regime and not to (seek) revenge from anyone,” Michel Constantin, regional director for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria, told OSV News in a Dec. 8 email.

CNEWA, established in 1926 by Pope Pius XI to support the Eastern churches, administers the Pontifical Mission, which was founded as the Pontifical Mission for Palestine by Pope Pius XII in 1949 to care for Palestinian refugees. The mandate of the mission, which was subsequently placed under CNEWA’s direction, has been extended by several pontiffs to care for all those affected by war and poverty in the Middle East.

Constantin said in his email that “after almost 10 days of occupation (in) Aleppo, all incoming information from our Christian partners say that so far no one has touched any Christian house or church or institution.”

He noted that “we will need more time to figure out how the transfer of power will be implemented and how the political process will evolve,” especially given the number of factions and their international backers — whose interests both overlap and conflict — that are involved.

“At the social level, it seems that the rebels are well organized, but of course many difficulties remain very challenging for the inhabitants and the population,” Constantin said.

He pointed out that prices have increased sharply, since “the currency has been changed” from the Syrian pound to the Turkish lira or the U.S. dollar, while “the majority of people” only have Syrian currency.

Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News that “beyond reconciliation, we hope Syria can also find some prosperity because people have reached their limit,” with people “unable to survive in the country as it had become.”

He also expressed hope that the international community would assist the nation in its task of rebuilding as “a new Syria based on democratic principles.” He cited as an example “abolishing sanctions, as they are a burden that weighs heavily on the poor.”

As Syria stands at a crossroads, “we hope that a door of hope may open because what we witnessed was hope dying — or already dead,” Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News. “So we now hope that, with the help of the international community and the goodwill of all Syrians, a path toward reconciliation, reconstruction, and a minimum of prosperity for all people can begin.”

Pope Francis celebrated Mass with the College of Cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, marking the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and concluding a historic week in which 21 new cardinals were inducted into the Catholic Church’s most senior advisory body.

Hundreds of priests and bishops attended the celebration, and the new cardinals concelebrated their first papal Mass after receiving their red hats at Saturday’s consistory.

The Mass honored one of the Church’s most significant Marian feasts, commemorating the dogma formally defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854 that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved free from original sin from the moment of her conception.

In his homily during the solemn liturgy, Pope Francis reflected on Mary’s “pure harmony, candor, and simplicity,” focusing on her roles as daughter, bride, and mother.

“‘Hail, full of grace,’” the pope began, quoting Luke 1:28. “With these words in the humble house of Nazareth, the Angel revealed to Mary the mystery of her immaculate heart, preserved free from all stain of original sin from the moment of her conception.”

Drawing parallels between the Virgin Mary and the Church, Pope Francis emphasized that Mary was a “handmaid” not in a servile sense but as one who was “trusted and esteemed” by God.

“There is no salvation without a woman, for the Church herself is also woman,” the pope said, highlighting Mary’s pivotal role in salvation history.

Francis also sharply critiqued contemporary materialism and individualism, warning against “hearts that remain cold, empty, and closed.” He challenged believers, asking: “What is the use of having a full bank account, a comfortable home, and virtual connections if they come at the cost of true love, solidarity, and care for others?”

Addressing the newly created cardinals — representing the universality of the Church across five continents — the pope urged them to be servants to the global Catholic community. “They bring great wisdom from many parts of the world to contribute to the growth and spread of the kingdom of God,” he said.

Concluding his homily, Pope Francis called for spiritual renewal. “Let us look to Mary Immaculate and ask her to conquer us through her loving heart. May she convert us and lead us to become a community where filial, spousal, and maternal love reign as the rule of life.”

When corporations spend big money on advertising, they target that empty spot in men’s and women’s hearts that might just be filled perfectly with the product or experience on offer. 

Of course, in a consumerist society like ours, the most effective ads don’t simply aim to fill an empty space — but to create the space itself. 

You didn’t know, for example, that your middle-aged hair could look silky and shiny again, as it did in your youth, if you could just get your hands on that hair dryer that emits negative ions and reduces frizz. More importantly, the TV ad suggested the possibility of a better life, one in which you are filled with the self-confidence of a woman with gorgeous hair, at ease in any social situation: a new space to be filled.

In short, ads are aspirational, and only work if they are touching some deep and universal chord in the human psyche. A woman’s desire to be beautiful, for example, is universal, and there are very few, if any, women who have lost the attractive physical characteristics of youth without regret. Ergo the expensive hairdryer in my bathroom cabinet (which is ionic but doesn’t seem to have any magical qualities that reduce frizz).

Some ads work entirely on mood and atmosphere, saying almost nothing about the product but simply allying it to the vision of a noble, shared ideal. In 1971, Coca-Cola released one of the world’s most famous commercials: “I’d Like to Buy the World A Coke,” in which young people of assorted races and national origins stand on a hilltop, each holding a Coke and singing in harmony. 

The ad was a phenomenal success. It spoke directly to a culture enraptured by the idea of peace as an urgent possibility, one that depended on idealistic youth wresting control from the elders who had dragged the world through two world wars and now fighting painfully but halfheartedly against communism in the Far East. The effervescent sweetness of Coca-Cola was offered, like peace, as something that every corner of the world was thirsting for and could enjoy.

Recently the car companies Jaguar and Volvo have regaled us with two very different commercials, which similarly seek to strike an attitude or paint a vision of the good life, and wrap them around their brand. For Jaguar this has been described as a “Bud Light” moment, referring to the episode in which Budweiser used a man who dresses as a woman, Dylan Mulvaney, to promote their beer. The ad, all vivid pinks and shocking hair-dos, no cars, is all about transgression, or the demolition of boundaries around sex and personal appearance. It reminds me of nothing so much as a Cirque du Soleil set, with its colorful dystopic feel (although Jaguar’s man in an orange tutu would be a bridge too far even for that circus company). 

The vision they offer consumers is one with a dead end, when you consider that the thriving of future generations depends on men and women doing the old-fashioned, natural, lovely thing: marrying and having children. That might be why the ad has been roundly denounced online as unabashedly woke (and why Jaguar’s stock has since dropped).

Volvo’s long Instagram ad, meanwhile, has garnered rave reviews and assurances of affection for the brand itself. 

Released around the same time as Jaguar’s, it begins with a man telling his mother about his girlfriend’s pregnancy. He talks about his dreams and hopes, his feelings of trepidation at the thought of raising a daughter. Interwoven scenes pull at the viewer’s heart, of the mother in labor, and a little girl in spectacles brushing her teeth.

“I just want to do the right thing,” he says, and “I think she might be the reason we tie the knot,” and “One day I’m going to have to let her go.”

At the critical moment, a Volvo automatically brakes when about to hit the newly pregnant mother as she crosses the street. All the glorious benedictions of family, fatherhood, of love that forgets itself entirely, saved by a car company that declares in large lettering, that it is “For Life.”  

The Volvo ad succeeds like the old Coca Cola one because it aims for spaces in our hearts which do, in fact, exist, and that we are universally longing to fill. One is the space for peace, without which the world is a tragic mess and our existence is bleak. Another is the space for hope in a life of deep meaning and the irreplaceable bonds of family love. No, fizzy drinks and cars can’t deliver what we need, but they are smart companies that present to us our prettiest aspirations, and tell us that their brand also embraces what we long for.

Becoming a cardinal is an insistent call to put Jesus at the center of one’s life, to love the poor as he did and to strengthen the bonds of unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said as he created 21 new cardinals from 17 nations.

“To walk in the path of Jesus means, in the end, to be builders of communion and unity,” the pope told the new cardinals during an afternoon consistory Dec. 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, a 99-year-old former Vatican diplomat, was the first to receive his red hat from Pope Francis. And Cardinal Domenico Battaglia of Naples, whom Pope Francis added to the list of new cardinals in November — a month after announcing the others — was the last.

Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto was the only North American among the new cardinals.

Pope Francis presided over the prayer service with a large bruise on the lower part of his right cheek and chin. He had fallen early Dec. 6, and photos from his audiences that morning showed him wearing a small bandage on his chin.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said the pope had hit his chin on his bedside table.

The creation of cardinals took place within a prayer service, which included reading the Gospel of St. Mark’s account of the Apostles James and John asking Jesus to “grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”

The disciples’ concern about earthly glory also can infect followers of Jesus today, the pope said. “Our hearts can go astray, allowing us to be dazzled by the allure of prestige, the seduction of power, by an overly human zeal for the Lord. That is why we need to look within, to stand before God in humility and before ourselves in sincerity, and ask: Where is my heart going? Where is it directed?”

“Among the disciples, the worm of competition was destroying unity, while the path that Jesus walked was leading him to Calvary” and the ultimate sacrifice, Pope Francis told the new cardinals and thousands of people — including current members of the College of Cardinals — who gathered to celebrate with them.

On the cross Jesus fulfilled his saving mission, the pope said, and he tore down “the dividing wall of hostility” so that “all might see themselves as children of the same Father and as brothers and sisters of one another.”

“For this reason, the Lord is looking to you, who come from different backgrounds and cultures, and represent the catholicity of the church,” the pope told them. “He is calling you to be witnesses of fraternity, artisans of communion and builders of unity.”

In one reflection of the church’s diversity and universality, four of the new cardinals were not wearing a red cassock with a white surplice, topped by a red cape. Instead, the two cardinals from Eastern Catholic churches — Cardinals Mykola Bychok, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic, and George Jacob Koovakad, a Syro-Malabar Catholic — wore vestments from their church traditions. And the two Dominicans — Cardinals Timothy Radcliffe, a theologian, and Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers — wore their white habits.

Pope Francis gave each of the new cardinals from the Latin-rite church a red zucchetto, a red biretta and a ring. Cardinals Bychok and Koovakad received special headdresses.

And echoing the practice centuries ago when the clergy of Rome elected the pope, the bishop of Rome, each of the new cardinals was assigned a title or “titular” church in the city, making them members of the diocese’s clergy.

Pope Francis asked the cardinals to wear the cardinals’ red as a reminder of their call to “be fearless witnesses to Christ and his Gospel in the city of Rome and in faraway regions.

During the consistory, the new cardinals made a profession of faith by reciting the Creed in Latin and made an oath of fidelity to Pope Francis and his “canonically elected” successors.

With the consistory, the College of Cardinals reached 253 members, 140 of whom were under the age of 80 and eligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Cardinal Acerbi thanked Pope Francis and emphasized how the new cardinals were committed to strengthening the unity of the church and promoting peace at a time when, “unfortunately, the human family is disturbed and disfigured by inequalities, wars and poverty in many parts of the world.”

In his homily, the pope told the new cardinals that the Lord was calling them to be “a radiant sign in the midst of a society obsessed with appearances and power” by not arguing over who is the greatest or who is right most often.

“Love one another with fraternal love and be servants to one another, servants of the Gospel,” Pope Francis told them.

Moments after Pope Francis placed red hats on the heads of 21 new cardinals, the newest members of the College of Cardinals, many far from their places of ministry, were united with friends, family and their flock to celebrate.

St. Peter’s Square was filled with visitors, many taking a break from Christmas shopping to see the official lighting of the Christmas tree and the unveiling of the Vatican’s Nativity scene.

Then, on the other side of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the Vatican hosted the fifth edition of its “Concert for the Poor.” More than 6,000 people in need and those who assist them attended the event, which featured Hans Zimmer, the two-time Oscar and four-time Grammy award-winning composer

The police presence and security were very heavy, especially for the long lines weaving around wooden barricades for the hundreds of faithful, some with flags in hand of their home countries, waiting to see the new cardinals inside the Apostolic Palace.

A continent away from home, Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, welcomed some 45 members of his flock in the palace’s Lapidary Gallery — a vast corridor housing the Vatican’s richest collection of ancient inscriptions, sarcophagi and stone artifacts.

“It is normal in Ivory Coast to make great voyages for your family,” Father Ambroise Mandah, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Abidjan, told Catholic News Service following the consistory. “This is an honor for the cardinal, but also for all of us. The whole church in Ivory Coast is honored by this nomination, so it is natural to celebrate it together.”

Several of the visitors from Ivory Coast wore colorful scarves, headbands or entire dresses bearing the logo of the church in the country.

Cardinals from 17 different countries received their faithful from their current dioceses, and those from previous regions where they served, in a festive atmosphere as several decorated Christmas trees were scattered throughout the palace and the halls of the Vatican.

A large group of Ukrainians gathered around Cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia, to sing an old traditional Christmas song. Two guards in charge of keeping order tried in vain to convince the crowd to form a line behind the velvet ropes forming the reception line.

Volodymyr Babiy came from London with his wife and child, and all three were wearing the colorful traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt or vyshyvanka. Babiy and his family are from the cardinal’s hometown of Ternopil, Ukraine, and his sister-in-law is married to the cardinal’s brother.

“He’s very down-to-earth, a very simple man and very easy going,” he said of the new cardinal.

“It means a lot to have a cardinal from Ukraine,” he said, “especially during this hard time of war. It’s very symbolic as we’re struggling to defend the country and Christians have it hard as well,” Babiy told CNS.

Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto has also been able to see first-hand how different Christian communities live out their faith as he served in the nunciature in Australia and served briefly at the Holy See’s mission in Bangkok, Thailand, and at the Holy See’s study mission in Hong Kong.

These postings “gave me an international perspective that I would not have had otherwise,” he told CNS.

“Seeing the church present and active and vibrant and suffering in different parts of the world, I think allows me to see, to discern maybe a little better the signs of the times and see how things are done and lived elsewhere from which we can learn,” he said. It also gives him “a greater sensitivity to the suffering of those that we serve here at home, having experienced it and seen it elsewhere.”

Born to Italian parents who immigrated to Canada after World War II, a small group of the cardinal’s Italian relatives traveled from Calabria for the ceremony.

“Our fathers are cousins,” said Francesca and Monia Straticò. Monia also studied in Rome at the same time Cardinal Leo was doing his studies at the Vatican’s school for diplomatic service. “So we are like brother and sister,” she said.

Holding a tiny Lithuanian flag, Vilija Oke was standing in line to greet Lithuanian Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas. A longtime Vatican diplomat, the new cardinal spent some years at the nunciature in Sweden where Oke lives.

“He worked in Africa, the United States, Europe, so he knows how to unite people. He knows their different needs and perspectives,” Oke said.

For Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, the consistory became a reunion with Argentinians he knew back home that are now based in Rome, including the pope.

Cardinal Bokalic served as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires from 2010 to 2013, when Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, led the archdiocese.

He told journalists Dec. 6 that Archbishop Bergoglio’s leadership was characterized by “listening” and promoting dialogue.

“It was a learning moment for us, to learn that style,” which the cardinal noted is continuing through the promotion of synodality in the church.

Some 120 people were expected at the Vatican to greet Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The cardinal told CNS that many from the large Ecuadorian communities in Genoa and Milan made the trip to Rome to join in the celebration.

The cardinal was a president delegate at the assembly Synod of Bishops on synodality in October, which coincided with the pope’s announcement of then-Archbishop Cabrera’s nomination as cardinal.

Cardinal Cabrera said he approached the pope at the synod to thank him for the nomination, and in return the pope gave him a warning of the greetings which follow the consistory: “When you become a cardinal you will become red, not from the clothes but from embarrassment at all the attention.”

The solemn reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral put Paris in the center of the Catholic world on the evening of Dec. 7 as the archbishop of France’s capital struck the magnificent door with his pastoral staff, marking the moment of the iconic Catholic church’s rebirth.

The Gothic masterpiece answered with music as Archbishop Laurent Ulrich struck the cathedral’s doors three times — with the moment of door opening causing millions to hold their breath as the cathedral started breathing anew.

“Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy, celebration and praise,” Pope Francis wrote to the archbishop of Paris — a message read in Notre Dame by the papal ambassador to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.

“May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France,” the pope said in his Dec. 7 message.

The reopening marks the “rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the church,” one Catholic witnessing the ceremony noted.

The city saw exceptional security services deployed for the Notre Dame celebration, mobilizing 6,000 police and gendarmes, as well as bomb disposal units, snipers and the river brigade on the Seine River. These in turn were further reinforced by the U.S. security contingent deployed for President-elect Donald Trump’s visit as well as the security for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both leaders were in Paris for the celebration and met in the Elysee Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Bad weather forced the change of logistical plans. Macron, initially scheduled to speak on Notre Dame’s forecourt, spoke inside the cathedral due to howling winds. But nothing could overshadow the moment Parisians and “tout le monde entier,” the whole world, awaited for the last five years, since the inferno of April 15, 2019, that devastated the cathedral’s interior and collapsed the now-rebuilt spire.

“I stand before you to express the gratitude of the French nation, our gratitude to all those who saved, helped and rebuilt the cathedral,” Macron said, adding that France had “achieved the impossible,” renovating Notre Dame in five years — a feat some experts predicted would take decades.

“Tonight we can together share joy and pride. Long live Notre Dame de Paris, long live the Republic and long live France,” he said.

The cathedral, which for the last five years was home to hundreds of various trade workers, felt as if all the crowned heads and riches of the planet wanted to witness her resurrection, with Prince William, the heir to the British throne, and billionaire businessman Elon Musk present among many. But it was Archbishop Ulrich that opened the cathedral up for the world.

“Notre Dame, model of faith, open your doors to gather in joy the scattered children of God,” Archbishop Ulrich called out in front of the central door, before striking it three times with the tip of his crosier. The pastoral staff itself was made from a beam from the cathedral’s roof structure that escaped the fire.

The cathedral then “responded” with the singing of Psalm 121 three times.

“I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about,” the psalm reads.

It was pitch-dark when the bells of Parisian churches rang out across the capital, announcing the arrival on Notre Dame’s forecourt of the liturgical procession of bishops from the Paris region, their chasubles billowing in the wind — with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York among them.

The archbishop of Paris then entered the cathedral, followed by President Macron, his wife Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. At the entrance, the archbishop paused for a long moment as La Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris choir sang the Marian hymn and President Macron took his place next to President-elect Trump.

Firefighters, craftsmen and representatives of the 250 companies and sponsors involved in the restoration then paraded through the nave of the cathedral to prolonged applause. Outside, illuminated “Thank you” messages in several languages appeared at the same time on the facade of the cathedral.

“I salute all those, especially the firefighters, who worked so courageously to save this historic monument from catastrophe,” Pope Francis wrote in his message, which was released as he was at the Vatican for the consistory in which he created 21 new cardinals.

“I salute the determined commitment of the public authorities, as well as the great outpouring of international generosity that contributed to the restoration. This moment is a sign not only to art and history, but even more — and how encouraging! — the sign that the symbolic and sacred value of such a building is still widely perceived by many, from those youngest to those oldest,” the pope said.

“We return it to Catholics, to Paris, to France, to the whole world,” Macron said of Notre Dame, which is a state-owned building under French law on the separation of state and church from 1905. He evoked the sound of the cathedral’s bells ringing again, like “a music of hope, familiar to Parisians, to France, to the world,” which have “accompanied our history.”

He spoke of “an unprecedented fraternity” that has “brought together so many people who have contributed to its rebirth.”

“Transmission and hope, that is the meaning of our presence this evening,” he stressed.

Pope Francis also praised those whose work of hands made the cathedral rise again so quickly.

“It is beautiful and reassuring that the skills of yesteryear have been wisely preserved and enhanced,” he wrote, emphasizing that many of the workers and craftsmen “testify to having lived this restoration adventure as part of an authentic spiritual process. They followed in the footsteps of their fathers whose faith, lived out in their work, was the only way to build such a masterpiece.”

The ceremony itself was an example of a masterpiece in moments such as the archbishop blessing the organ and addressing the massive instrument eight times, singing himself, with the organ responding each time in more and more powerful tones, as part of awakening the organ that had to undergo cleaning and restoration after the 2019 fire.

Among those gathered inside the cathedral were disadvantaged people specially invited through the charitable associations of the archdiocese, along with representatives of Paris’ 113 parishes.

“We were able to walk around the cathedral before the ceremony began, with the other guests, ministers, bishops, famous artists, in a smiling atmosphere,” Xavier de Noblet, 50, told OSV News. He represented the parish with the oldest church in Paris, Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, which is located on the famous hill just a few meters from the landmark hilltop Basilica of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre.

“This new Notre Dame is a jewel,” he said. “It is hard to imagine that this was done in five years, and not in 107 years, as in the Middle Ages!” de Noblet said, particularly looking forward to the organ’s revival. “It really is the voice of the cathedral,” he explained. “It is going to be a great thrill to hear it again, as if the cathedral were starting to speak anew.”

Father Gaëtan de Bodard, new chaplain of the iconic Paris fire brigade that saved Notre Dame — and successor to Father Jean-Marc Fournier, who courageously ran into the burning cathedral to first preserve the Blessed Sacrament, bless the burning church and then save the crown of thorns — was also full of admiration Dec. 7.

“The cross at the back of the choir shines brightly! What a contrast to the desolate photos of the day after the fire,” he told OSV News. “The simple style of the medieval frescoes that have been restored is touching and prayerful,” he added.

Outside the cathedral, chilling December rain had not prevented crowds from gathering in the famous Latin Quarter just across the Seine River. Giant screens had been set up to allow some 40,000 people to follow the ceremony.

“It is cold, and it is raining, but it is really worth being here,” student Agnès Boüan told OSV News. “Everyone here cheered when they heard the bells, then when they saw on the big screens the firemen and craftsmen marching,” she said. “And for me, as a Catholic, it is also a bit of a symbol of the rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the church.”

Among the large number of French people who watched the event on television, one of them, Alain de Layre, was particularly pleased. In 2020, he donated six oak trees from his family forest, located two hours west of Paris, for the renovation of Notre Dame’s roof structure, after having them blessed by his parish priest.

“I am very moved by this resurrection of Notre Dame, and very happy to have supplied some beams,” he told OSV News. “It is a great pride for me to have contributed to this fabulous undertaking. I hope that this extraordinary undertaking will be a symbol of a new stage in the life of our church!”

For his part, Pope Francis invited “all the baptized who will joyfully enter this Cathedral” to feel “justifiably proud,” and to “reclaim their faith heritage,” when Notre Dame is back for Paris and the world, ahead of the inaugural Mass Dec. 8.

Praying for peace throughout the world, Pope Francis made an urgent appeal to world leaders to help bring about a global ceasefire in time for Christmas.

“We are continuing to pray for peace in battered Ukraine, in the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, now Syria, in Myanmar, Sudan and everywhere people are suffering from war and violence,” he said after praying the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square Dec. 8.

“I am appealing to leaders and the international community that we may get to the Christmas holiday with a ceasefire on all war fronts,” he said.

Another issue close to his heart, the pope said, was granting clemency to or commuting the death sentence of inmates awaiting execution in the United States.

He asked everyone “to pray for the detainees in the United States who are on death row.”

“Let us pray for their sentence to be commuted, changed. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death,” Pope Francis said.

Two men are scheduled for execution in December in Indiana and Oklahoma, while seven men are scheduled to be put to death in Texas and Ohio next year. All 22 executions scheduled for 2025-2028 are in Ohio, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Twenty-three prisoners have been executed in eight states in the U.S. so far in 2024.

While federal executions are much rarer than state executions, there are 40 federal death row prisoners, according to the information center.

U.S. President Joe Biden, whose term ends in January, had promised in 2020 to end the federal death penalty during his administration. About 60 members of Congress and others have urged him to grant clemency to the men on federal death row, especially as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to use and expand the federal death penalty when he takes office.

After the Angelus prayer on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the pope also expressed his closeness to and called for prayers for the church and the people in Nicaragua as they were celebrating the Immaculate Conception of El Viejo, also known as “La Purisima” or “La Chinita.”

As the faithful were “raising to her a cry of faith and hope,” the pope prayed that Mary would “be a consolation for them in their difficulties and uncertainties and open the hearts of everyone so that we may always seek the path of respectful and constructive dialogue in order to promote peace, fraternity and harmony in this nation.”

Under Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his vice president and wife, Rosario Murillo, more than 200 religious leaders and clergy members have been expelled from the country. Bishop Carlos Herrera Gutiérrez of Jinotega, president of Nicaragua’s bishops’ conference, was forced into exile in November — the fourth Nicaraguan bishop forced out of the country since 2019.

Prague, December 6, 2024

Photo: radiokontaktplus.org     

A successful humanitarian campaign has delivered 240 New Year’s packages to Serbian children living in Kosovo and Metohija enclaves, with the Serbian Orthodox Church playing a key role in distribution through Draganac Monastery.

The initiative was organized by the Serbs in the Czech Republic association and its director Marina Perović. The campaign raised 120,048 Czech crowns and 61 euros (total of $1,240), which was enough to provide 240 gifts for children in the most difficult conditions in Kosovo, reports radiokontatkplus.org

The gifts have been transported from Prague to Belgrade and then delivered to Draganac Monastery in Kosovo, from where Serbian Orthodox priests will distribute them to children in the enclaves during the upcoming holidays. This distribution network, centered around the monastery, ensures the packages will reach children living in the most isolated and challenging circumstances.

“The action started from a heart that remembers what it’s like to be a child in Kosovo and Metohija,” says Perović. “I myself grew up in those difficult circumstances, where fear and uncertainty were everyday experiences.”

The successful implementation was made possible through cooperation between multiple organizations, including the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, local entrepreneurs, and individual donors from various countries.

The Serbs in the Czech Republic organization has been supporting Serbs and foreigners in the Czech Republic for 12 years through humanitarian, cultural, and advisory activities.

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We have just read the Gospel narrative about the Savior healing the woman who was bent over, having suffered from this infirmity for eighteen years. This healing was wrought by Jesus’ word and His laying on of hands upon the infirm woman (Lk. 13:10-17).

Reading this narrative about the Savior’s healing of the bent, or hunched woman, I’m reminded, my brethren, of the penitential prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah, in which he, confessing his iniquities to God, likens them to iron bonds that have bent him over so severely that he can’t lift up his head: I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up mine head (Prayer of Manasseh). And indeed, the infirm woman mentioned in today’s Gospel reading represents the whole of mankind bound with sin, meaning you and me, my brethren. The Savior, having healed the woman of her infirmity, is also our Savior, Who daily frees us from the bonds of sin. Ah, who among us has not and does not daily experience that our sins and the enemy of mankind cripple our souls, if not our bodies, preventing the soul from freely gazing toward its Heavenly homeland, but forcefully inclining it toward the earth, binding, and even seemingly nailing it to earthly goods and pleasures!

Thus, the infirm woman, healed by the Savior, indicates our soul, crippled by sin and the devil. And what would have become of our souls had Jesus Christ not come to earth to save mankind from the violence of the devil and the passions; what would have happened were He not constantly saving us, loosing the bonds of sin? We’d all be like this infirm woman, bound by many iron fetters, and like animals, would all be crawling upon the earth, looking only at the ground, never looking to our Heavenly homeland; and we would have no lofty, Heavenly thoughts, desires, and aspirations, but would only drown in vain earthly concerns and affairs.

What am I saying? Are there not even now those among Christians who do not have the Spirit of Christ, people whose thoughts and aspirations, words and deeds are only earthly? There are, and how many! Who are they? All those who rave and bustle about earthly happiness, about abundance of money, about fashionable clothes, about the magnificent decoration of temporary dwellings, about diverse and beautiful dishes, about formal dinners, evening parties, feasts, about card games, about dancing, about theater, about various pleasures and vain pastimes. Do you not see that all these and similar people are like this bent over woman mentioned in the Gospel in that they don’t look toward Heaven, they look only at the earth, like animals, as though they weren’t made according to God’s image; as though the earth were their permanent homeland; as though they’d never even heard of the Heavenly homeland; as though they weren’t called to it by the Gospel, the Church, Jesus Christ and the Apostles; as though they were created only to get dressed up, to kill time in idle talk, in games, in laughter, or in acquiring wealth?

But these people are infirm by their own will, by whim, by passion, which means they themselves are guilty and inexcusable in their infirmity. And the crippled woman mentioned in the Bible was deformed physically, although, perhaps, for a spiritual sin—meaning she deserved pity for her infirmity. She couldn’t free herself from her infirmity, she couldn’t straighten up and look directly at Heaven. But the infirm among us, or rather all of us, can by the grace of God free ourselves from the crookedness of the passions and lusts, stand straight on the path of Christ’s commandments, and see Heaven. We can abandon earthly, worldly attachments, and love with all our hearts the Lord God Who created us according to His image and likeness, and our neighbor, especially his soul, as ourselves, and the city of Jerusalem on high.

My brethren! Why did the Lord God create us with an upright posture, with heads raised upward, not bent down to the ground like animals? So that we may gaze unceasingly at Heaven, as beings created for Heaven, so that we may strive toward Heaven. Is it natural for the human body to be hunched and bent toward the earth, unable to stand straight? No, it’s painful, unnatural. Understand why this is being said.

Furthermore, in this Gospel narrative, our attention is drawn to the hypocrisy of the synagogue leader, who was indignant at the Lord for healing the infirm woman on the Sabbath, as if it were sinful to do good deeds on the Sabbath or to perform necessary daily tasks that can’t be put off, such as watering a horse, ox, or donkey, and so on. The hypocritical ruler of the synagogue didn’t consider it a sin to envy the Divine Wonderworker, His miracles, and the woman who received His blessing, but considered it a sin to do good on the Sabbath.

So too today, many Christians consider it a sin to do something on a feast, such as some necessary work, but don’t consider it a sin to envy their neighbor, to harbor hostility, to seek revenge, to drink to drunkenness, to sing inappropriate songs, to spend time in distraction, in gambling for profit, in reading empty books, in idle talk, in jesting, in foul language! Or they consider it a sin to eat, even due to bodily weakness, non-fasting food on a fast day, yet they despise or judge their neighbor, their acquaintances, or they offend or deceive others, give false weights and measures, or indulge in carnal impurity without any pangs of conscience.

O hypocrisy, hypocrisy! O failure to understand the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Christian faith! Does not our Lord God first and foremost require inner purity, meekness, and humility from us? Should we not first clean the inside of cups and dishes, so that the outside may be clean? Is not external fasting given in order to aid inner virtue? Why then do we pervert the Divine order? Oh, let us hate hypocrisy and cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).

Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters!

Photo: ekbmiloserdie.ru For those who live according to the flesh, their birthday is the most important day of the year. For those who live according to the spirit, the day of the resurrection of the soul from eternal death is the most important day, not only of the year, but in their entire life.

Therefore, in commemorating a saint, the Church doesn’t remember and doesn’t look to find out from historians what day he was born, but testifies before God about the day on which he was resurrected—specifically resurrected, because death for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ or the ascetic feats of piety that the saints performed are the beginning of eternal life, the true resurrection in the Holy Spirit before the general resurrection of bodies. Physical death doesn’t have complete power over saints. It becomes only a temporary qualitative change in the life of a God-pleasing person. They’re completely delivered from the eternal death that may come after the universal judgment of Christ.

Today we glorify Holy Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria

“>St. Catherine, in whose life this mystery of the spiritual life was revealed with tremendous force. It’s not only that she was reborn in spirit, but many around her who didn’t know the One true God became faithful to Him. You all know the life of St. Catherine, an eighteen-year-old girl from Alexandria who, knowing the joy of communion with Christ, rejected all the worldly pleasures and delights that were readily available to her as a daughter in the royal family. She followed Christ so decisively that many pagans, after briefly conversing with her, became Christian martyrs. First, she converted fifty pagan philosophers to God, then the wife of the pagan emperor, Augustus, then the commander Porphyry and 200 soldiers. After that, she gave her soul to God, accepting death at the hands of tormentors.

For modern man, the life of the Great Martyr Catherine is something extreme, hard to imagine, almost like a fairy tale. And why is that? Because modern man lives differently, enslaved by comfort. Pleasure and enjoyment have become the main incentives in life. Living by faith, renouncing pleasures for the sake of Christ, has become a thing of the past.

The life of the holy Great Martyr Catherine says that when she was being led to execution, the Alexandrian women tried in every possible way to persuade her to take mercy upon herself and submit to the pagan emperor. They clearly didn’t understand the reasons for her obstinacy; they couldn’t imagine how someone could refuse the sea of pleasure offered her in exchange for renouncing Christ. They didn’t understand because they didn’t have true faith—true not only in the sense of correct, but above all, in the sense of deep faith, encompassing the entire soul, which is the foundation and most important value of human life. St. Catherine tried to answer them and called on them to leave aside their useless crying and instead rejoice, because she was about to meet her Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ. “Weep not for me, but for yourselves,” St. Catherine said, “because your unbelief will lead you into the endless fire to suffer forever.”

It’s not known whether these women heard her words. However, it’s important that we hear these words. For quite often our progress along the path of the spiritual life is inhibited or even halted because of our lack of faith and love of pleasure, because of our inability to make a volitional effort over ourselves and somehow limit ourselves. It often happens that a man who is seemingly intelligent and sensitive yet whose will is damaged by sin remains a spiritual invalid until the end of his life, drowning day after day in the same sins, because in order to take the next step on the path of the spiritual life, he must step over his “beloved” sins, for which he lacks the necessary willpower. It sometimes happens that such a man is even afraid to pray for deliverance from such sins.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

“>St. Seraphim of Sarov, when asked why we don’t find such great ascetics of piety with whom the Church abounded in the first centuries of its existence in our day, would answer that modern believers don’t have the determination to live according to the commandments of God that people had in antiquity. But God gives strengthening grace from above precisely in accordance with our determination to follow Him. In this regard, St. Catherine is an obvious example. Resolutely abandoning the life of glory and luxury she was accustomed to, she was immediately filled with such grace-filled power that when she drew a cross on a stone with her finger, the impression immediately appeared as if she had drawn on sand rather than a rock. And further in her life, she overcame all temptations not by her natural powers, but by the power of God that worked through her. We can say the saint allowed her tormentors to kill her, because before that they repeatedly subjected her to deadly tortures, but she didn’t die.

When we remember her labors, the question inevitably arises: Why is the life of not only the great saints, but a God-pleasing life in general so sorrowful and always paired with suffering? After all, God is good and He loves all people; the world He created is also “very good.” Men are created by God according to His image, so then why does a God-pleasing life lead to suffering; why does the Savior teach that strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life (Mt. 7:14); why does the Apostle Paul say that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12)?

This is both a very important and difficult question, and its answer lies in the fact that after the Fall of our forefathers, good was mixed with evil in the nature of every man. They’re mixed so thoroughly that indulging in both good and evil has become something natural. In the darkness of abandonment by God, man can’t discern the movements of good and evil within himself. Everything seems natural; he strives to do everything he wants, failing to distinguish God-pleasing deeds from sin. Only in the light of the Gospel, by comparing his life with the commandments of Christ, does the believer gradually come to realize how sinful are his desires and aspirations.

And if he starts living according to the Savior’s commandments, then good is separated from evil within him—that spiritual purification written about by the Holy Fathers. This takes place with pain and suffering, because it has become deeply natural for us to live according to the law of sin, and renouncing this life seems almost unnatural. And if not for the grace of Christ strengthening believing souls on this path, none would have been able to be cleansed from sin. Therefore, all those who have embarked on this path must bear its weight, but there’s no other way. Some people’s souls are cleansed by the grace of God over the course of their lifetime, while the souls of others, such as St. Catherine, are purified within a matter of days. This is in the hands of God’s providence. For our part, we must have complete determination and humility to accept His all-powerful activity in our lives, which is carried out through all kinds of temptations, sicknesses, and sorrows.

However, the life of St. Catherine reveals to us not only this much-suffering side of Christian life, but another mystery of the spiritual life is also revealed with greater force: the mystery of recompense. Those who abandoned sinful vices and habits for the sake of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and moreover, abandoned even earthly things, received much more of the Heavenly. St. Catherine was from a royal family, and accordingly was offered royal glory, but she received much more from Christ—the Kingdom of Heaven and Divine glory. She was a wise and educated virgin, but in following Christ, she received wisdom from above and recreated and adorned the image of God within herself. She had wealth and nobility, but having left all this behind, she received eternal blessedness and grace for all eternity.

This is also a spiritual consolation for us, the weak and sinful, because everything sinful that we give up in striving to live in a God-pleasing manner will be replaced by the grace of God with a much greater gift from above—this is a law of the spiritual life, and it cannot be otherwise. But in order for this to happen, you have to believe and make the first steps towards God and begin to live as the Lord commands, as the Holy Orthodox Church He founded instructs. St. Catherine did it; the saints did it. All Christians are called to do it—to experience the power of God’s words: He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him (Jn. 14:21).

Amen.