Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Pope: murdered missionaries of charity are martyrs of indifference

Pope: murdered missionaries of charity are martyrs of indifference

Last updated on: March 6, 2016 at 12:36 pm by CNA Daily News

Pope: murdered missionaries of charity are martyrs of indifference 2016-03-06T12:36:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, Mar 6, 2016 / 05:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis lamented the world’s indifference to the recent killing of four Missionaries of Charity, calling them the ‘martyrs of today’ and asking that Bl. Mother Teresa intercede in bringing peace.

“I express my closeness to the Missionaries of Charity for the great loss that affected them two days ago with the killing of four religious in Aden, Yemen, where they assisted the elderly,” the Pope said March 6.

The sisters who were killed “are the martyrs of today…they gave their blood for the Church, (yet) they are not in the papers, they are not news,” he said.

Francis lamented that the sisters are not only the victims of their killers, but “also of the indifference of this globalization of indifference, which doesn't care.”

He prayed for the sisters and the other 12 people killed in the attack, as well as their families, asking that Mother Teresa would accompany her “martyr daughters of charity” in paradise, and intercede in obtaining peace “and the sacred respect of human life.”

Pope Francis’ spoke to pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his March 6 Angelus address, just two days after a March 4 attack at a Missionaries of Charity convent and nursing home for the elderly and disabled persons in Aden, the provisional capital of Yemen, left 16 dead.

Four of the victims were sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the community founded by Blessed Mother Teresa. Other victims of the attack included volunteers at the home, at least five of whom were Ethiopian. Many were Yemenis. The nursing home had around 80 residents, who were unharmed.

Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest from India who had been staying with the sisters since his church was attacked and burned last September, has been missing since the attack, Agenzia Fides reports. Sources close to CNA say the priest was abducted from the convent chapel.

In his address, Pope Francis pointed to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which was recounted in the day’s Gospel from Luke. A better name for the parable could be that of “the merciful Father,” the Pope said, noting how the father in the passage is “a man always ready to forgive and who hopes against all hope.”

In tolerating the younger son’s decision to leave home when he could have easily opposed, the father is respecting his son’s freedom, as God does with us, Francis explained.

“God lets us be free, even to make mistakes, because in creating us he gave us the great gift of freedom,” he said.

However, the father continues to carry the younger son in his heart, “faithfully awaiting his return,” Francis said, explaining that the father has the same attitude of tenderness toward his older son.

He reminds the older son not only of how they have been together and what they have in common, but he also expresses the need for the older son to welcome his brother with joy.

Francis then pointed to a third, “hidden son” in the parable, describing him as the one who “did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”

This “Servant-Son,” Jesus, is the extension of God’s hand and heart, the Pope said, explaining that he is the one who welcomed the prodigal son, prepared his “banquet of forgiveness” and taught us to be merciful like the father.

Turning to the image of the father in the parable, Pope Francis said that he reveals the heart of God, and shows us “the merciful Father who in Jesus loves us beyond all measure, always waiting for our conversion each time we err.”

Just like the father in the parable, God continues to consider us his children even when we are lost, the Pope said, explaining that even the most serious mistakes we make “don't scratch the fidelity of his love.”

The Sacrament of Confession, he said, is our opportunity to start again, and is the place where God welcomes us and “restores to us the dignity of his children.”

Pope Francis closed his address with an appeal to intensify their path of interior conversion throughout the rest of Lent.

“Let us allow ourselves to be reached by the gaze of our father, full of love, and return to him with our whole heart, rejecting any compromise with sin,” he said.

After leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, Francis gave a shoutout to the new pilot program “Humanitarian Corridors,” aimed at helping refugees.

An joint-ecumenical initiative of the Sant'Egidio Community, the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, the Italian government and the Waldensian and Methodist churches, the projects provides aid and safe passage to those fleeing war and violence.

The first 100 out of the 1,000 refugees who will come from camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia, have already transferred to Italy. Among them are sick children, disabled persons, elderly and widows of war with children.

Vatican

Previous Post

March 5, 2016

How Pope Francis changed the life of a California teen inmate

Next Post

March 6, 2016 There's no question – the Missionaries of Charity 'died as martyrs'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Elijah" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God heals God is judge God saves My God is Yahweh