CNEWA

The Catholic Church’s commitment to dialogue with other churches and with other religions flows from the Gospel, but Pope Francis said he knows some Catholics disagree. Often you must take a risk to promote harmony, he told reporters on 8 March as he flew back to Rome from Baghdad. There are some criticisms: ‘The pope isn’t courageous, he’s reckless.’ He’s doing things against Catholic doctrine. He’s a step away from heresy.’ Still, he said, through prayer and listening t...o the advice of experts and aides, he has become convinced that God wants the church and all humanity, for that matter to continue promoting a sense of belonging to one human family. And, he said, it does not matter if some religions, sects or groups seem further from sharing that vision. The rule of Jesus is love and charity, the pope said. But how many centuries did it take us to put that into practice? Preaching and living human fraternity recognizing that all men and women, created by God, are members of the same human family and brothers and sisters to one another is a process that requires effort, emphasis and repetition. You are human. You are a child of God. You are my brother or sister, the pope said. https://cnewa.org/returning-from-iraq-pope-talks-about-ris/

Having witnessed or even experienced persecution for their faith, the Christians of Iraq must be careful not to harbor thoughts of revenge, Pope Francis told them. After a full morning paying tribute to the victims of Islamic State violence, Pope Francis reached the last major event of his trip to Iraq: Mass on 7 March with some 10,000 people at Erbil’s Franso Hariri Stadium. After blessing the altar with incense, Pope Francis blessed a partially restored statue of Mary from... a parish in Karmless. The Islamic State militants decapitated the statue and cut off its hands. The restoration re-attached the head, but left the hands dangling. Here in Iraq, how many of your brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens bear the wounds of war and violence, wounds both visible and invisible, the pope told the crowd. The temptation is to react to these and other painful experiences with human power, human wisdom, but the path of Jesus was to serve, to heal, to love and to offer his life for others. Referring to St. John’s Gospel account of Jesus cleansing the temple, Pope Francis said Jesus did not want his Father’s house to be a marketplace, and neither does he want our hearts to be places of turmoil, disorder and confusion. https://cnewa.org/cleanse-your-hearts-of-anger-live-the-go/

Pope Francis’ historic visit to the Middle East’s most conflict-riven nation gives hope and comfort to Iraqis of all faiths, and some would even say to Arabs beyond Iraq’s borders. The pope’s visit has been very well received by Muslims in the region. Did you see anyone on the news protesting against his visit? I myself am a Muslim, and we are very excited, said Dania Koleilat Khatib, an analyst affiliated with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International A...ffairs at the American University of Beirut. I think it’s well-received by most people. There is no survey, so I can’t say how many people, but this is an impression I have, she told the Catholic News Service by phone from Dubai. https://cnewa.org/papal-trip-to-iraq-influences-muslims-be/

If God is the God of life for so he is then it is wrong for us to kill our brothers and sisters in his name. If God is the God of peace for so he is then it is wrong for us to wage war in his name. If God is the God of love for so he is then it is wrong for us to hate our brothers and sisters.... Pope Francis in Mosul, today. To read more, see: https://cnewa.org/life-triumphs-over-death-as-christians-r/

The beatitudes are not a call for a moment of heroics, but about imitating Jesus each day, Pope Francis said in his homily today at the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph in Baghdad. That is how the world is changed: not by power and might, but by the beatitudes. Jesus overturned the worldly order of things, he said. It is no longer the rich that are great, but the poor in spirit; not those who can impose their will on others, but those who are gentle with all; not those acc...laimed by the crowds, but those who show mercy to their brother and sisters. The poor, those who mourn, the persecuted are all called blessed, he said, not the rich and powerful. The beatitudes do not ask us to do extraordinary things, feats beyond our abilities, the pope said. But they ask for daily witness. The blessed are those who live meekly, who show mercy wherever they happen to be, who are pure of heart wherever they live, he said. The beatitudes are not a call for a moment of heroics, but about imitating Jesus each day, Pope Francis said. That is how the world is changed: not by power and might, but by the beatitudes. https://cnewa.org/living-the-beatitudes-can-change-the-wor/