Sharing goods not communism but 'pure Christianity,' Pope says
- Apr 11, 2021
Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Japan in a very personal way Tuesday, spending the morning with his Jesuit confreres in the community that would have been his own had his dream to be a missionary come true.
Beauty, creation and each human life are gifts of God to be treasured and shared, not enslaved to current societal ideas of what is valuable, perfect or productive, Pope Francis said at a Mass in the famous Tokyo Dome.
A former Japanese professional boxer who spent 48 years in prison for murders he says he did not commit was among some 50,000 people greeting Pope Francis as he entered Tokyo Dome stadium to celebrate Mass on Monday.
Over half a century since joining the Jesuits with the hope of becoming a missionary in Japan, Pope Francis finally fulfilled the dream of visiting this land, following in the footsteps of the co-founder of his religious order.
Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three cities in three days is the schedule for Pope Francis’s Nov. 23-26 visit to Japan, a land to which he dreamed of being a missionary when he was a young seminarian studying to become a Jesuit priest in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Pope Francis will visit Thailand and Japan in November in a visit expected to highlight his call for complete nuclear disarmament and honor the small Catholic communities in each country.
Blanka Vlašić is a world champion high jumper who suffered a serious injury before the Rio Olympics and put her fate in God’s hands. She ended up winning the bronze medal, and then gave it to a Marian shrine back home in Croatia as a gesture of gratitude and faith.