Tag Archives: Fratelli Tutti

Pope Francis’s encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, published in 2020, set the universal context as to how our response should be to migrants and refugees. It expresses the need to “acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.”  In today’s context, this concept is increasingly under threat from nationalist or ...

The Church has been celebrating the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) since 1914 as an opportunity to express concern for different vulnerable people on the move; to pray for them as they face many challenges; and to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers.  Every year the WDMR is the last Sunday of September; in 2023 it will ...

The World Youth Day from the 1-6 August 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal was truly a moment of God for all of us who could connect with it in any way – there was no distance! When a lamp is put on the lampstand there is no limit to where the light can reach.  At his weekly General Audience in Rome on ...

On the 13th June (Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Patron of the Poor) Pope Francis published his Message for the 7th Annual World Day of the Poor, on Sunday 19th November, 2023.  The theme for this year’s Message is:  “Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor” (Tob 4:7)  This Message is a reflection on the Book of ...

Ten years have passed since 13 March 2013, the day Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected to the See of Peter. Pope Francis’ pontificate has been marked by a passion for evangelisation and a constant journey to reform the Church to make it more missionary. A decade during which new processes have been initiated, and the Church has been enriched in  ...

Wednesday, 8 February, is the Feast of St Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese nun, who as a child had the traumatic experience of being a victim of human trafficking. Organised by Talitha Kum , the Unions of Superiors and Superiors General of Religious Institutes together with representatives from an international group of partner organisations, are promoting a Day of Prayer and Awareness ...

Speaking with the heart ~ “The truth in love” (Eph 4:15) After having reflected in past years on the verbs “to go and see” and “to listen” as conditions for good communication, with this Message for the 57th World Day of Social Communications (21 May 2023), the focus by Pope Francis is on “speaking with the heart”.  (See full text HERE) ...

We reach the final day of the octave of prayer for Christian Unity (18 to 25 January 2023). The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) is celebrated, as an ecumenical initiative in which Christians from all over the world belonging to different traditions and confessions, gather spiritually in prayer for the unity of the Church.  The theme of this ...

We prepare to mark the 6th World Day of the Poor on Sunday, 13th November (a Day established by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter “Misericordia et Miser” in 2016, to celebrate the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy). This day has been an important focus point for advocacy and action every year since then. Its aim after all is ...

The World Day for Migrants and Refugees is Sunday 25th September.  Every single day is often a huge  survival challenge for Migrants and Refugees.  World Days are important as they focus our attention, prayers and actions in a world where information fatigue can often interfere with our capacity to open our hearts and minds to understand what our contribution can ...