Despite risks, Iraqis want Pope Francis to go ahead with visit
- Mar 4, 2021
For Pope Francis, 2019 included his sixth anniversary as pope, his 83rd birthday and his 50th anniversary as a priest, but it also was a year that saw him still confronted with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and with Vatican financial scandals.
As part of the celebrations for his 50th anniversary of priesthood, Pope Francis chose to personally present a multi-volume collection of writings by his longtime spiritual director, the late Jesuit Father Miguel Angel Fiorito.
The Catholic faithful across the United States are being invited to pray for Pope Francis as he celebrates 50 years as a priest.
In Caravaggio’s painting of Matthew, the sinful tax collector being called by Jesus to “Follow me,” Pope Francis sees the same unexpected, grace-filled moment found in his own call to the priesthood.
Pope Francis marked his sixth anniversary as pontiff in prayer Wednesday, attending a weeklong spiritual retreat with his closest advisers. Elsewhere in the world, one of his cardinals was sentenced for sex abuse and a new poll found American Catholics are increasingly questioning their faith because of the scandal.
Catholics cannot place blame for the sexual abuse crisis on “those who came before us” in an attempt “to present ourselves as ‘pure,'” said the editorial director of the Vatican media outlets.
In just five years as leader of the universal church, Pope Francis has made 22 international trips, traveling 154,906 miles — the equivalent of six times around the world.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro – the Apostolic Nuncio to India – and 33 bishops from all over India celebrated Mass to mark the 5th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis.