1. Brazil (22-29 July 2013)Pope Francis visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day. He urged the pilgrims gathered (about 3.5 million) not to be “part-time Christians,” but to lead full, meaningful Christian lives. During his vigil address, he said: “Dear friends, never forget that you are the field of faith! You are Christ’s athletes! You are called to build a more beautiful Church and a better world. Go and don’t be afraid of serving.”

2. Israel, Jordan, and Palestine (24-26 May 2014)

Pope Francis visited Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusa-lem during his three-day trip to the region from 24 to 26 May. He arrived in Jordan on 24 May and after meeting with King Abdullah II, celebrated mass at Amman International Stadium. Pope Francis conclud-ed his tour by meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I promising to continue interfaith dialogue with the Or-thodox Church.

3. South Korea (14-18 August 2014)Pope Francis arrived in Seoul Air Base on 14 August to start his five-day visit to South Korea on the occa-sion of the Sixth Asian Youth Day. Upon arrival, he was greeted by South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Pope Francis held a private meeting with the families of the victims of the MV Sewol ferry disaster. Speaking at the Presidential Office in Seoul, he said: “I came here thinking of peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.”

4. Albania (21 September 2014)The 11-hour visit was the first European trip made by Pope Francis. He said: “With this brief visit, I want to confirm the Church of Albania in the faith, and bear witness to my encouragement and love for a country that has suffered for so long in consequence of the ide-ologies of the past.” He said that he had chosen Alba-nia as the first destination because it has set a model for harmony between the various religions.

MAJOR VISITS

The Vocation and mission of the family in the church and contemporary

world

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5. France and Turkey (28-30 November 2014)

Pope Francis made a four-hour visit, the shortest made by any Pope abroad, to Strasbourg on 25 November 2014, where he addressed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe raising issues such as the dig-nified treatment of immigrants arriving illegally in Eu-rope and better conditions for workers. He said: “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cem-etery, the absence of mutual support within the Euro-pean Union runs the risk of encouraging ... solutions which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing social tensions.”Pope Francis arrived at Esenboğa International Airport on 28 November where he met Turkish dignitaries. He then travelled to the Presidential Palace where he met with President Erdoğan and urged interfaith dialogue to counter fanaticism and fundamentalism and called for a renewed Middle-East peace push, saying that the region had “for too long been a theatre of fratricidal wars.” He addressed to the orthodox church leaders: “I want to assure each one of you gathered here that, to reach the desired goal of full unity, the Catholic Church does not intend to impose any conditions except that of the shared profession of faith.”

6. Sri Lanka and Philippines (13-19 Janu-ary 2015)

Pope Francis visited Sri Lanka (3-15) January and Philippines (15-19) in January 2015. His visit to Phil-ippines was the fourth papal visit to the island nation. Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines in January 2015 had become the largest papal event in history with around 6 million having attended his final mass at Ma-nila surpassing the then largest papal event at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue 20 years earlier.

7. Bosnia and Herzegovina (6 June 2015)Pope Francis’ visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina placed importance on ecumenical dialogue. It is estimated that 67,000 people attended the event the heigh point of which was the mass at Koshevo stadium. Most pil-grims were from Croatia and Bosnia but there were also 1000 pilgrims from Serbia, many groups from Hungary, Slovenia, Macedonia, communities of Croats from Germany, Austria, the United States of America, and a group of nuns from Panama and even Egypt.

8. Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay (5-13 July 2015)

In the course of his visit to Ecuador, Pope Francis met President Rafael Correa. His concluding Mass in Ecua-dor drew about 1.5 million people. Arriving in Bolivia on 8 July, Pope Francis was welcomed by President Evo

Morales at El Alto International Airport near La Paz. His Holiness visited also the Cathedral of La Pazand; after leaving La Paz he travelled to Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the eastern part of Bolivia. On 9 July Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in connection with the opening of the Fifth Nation-al Eucharistic Congress. He also attended the World Meeting of Popular Movements, taking place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

9. Cuba and the United States of America (19-27 September 2015)

On 19 September 2015 Pope Francis departed from Rome’s Fumicino International Airport, to Havana. He paid a courtesy visit to the President of the Council of State and of the Council of Ministers of the Republic in Havana. Before departing for Santiago de Cuba, he gave a blessing to the city, from Loma de la Cruz, in Holguín. After the blessing of the city of Santiago from the square in front of the Cathedral of Santiago, he left with a farewell ceremony from Santiago Airport, en route to Washington, D.C.On Wednesday, 23 September, the Pope met with President Barack Obama at the White House. It was the third visit by a Pope to the White House. On 24 September, Pope Francis addressed the Joint session of the Congress of the United States of America, the first Supreme Pontiff to do so. On Friday, 25 September, Pope Francis addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

10. Kenya, Uganda, and Central African Republic (25-30 November 2015)

On Wednesday, 25 November, Pope Francis arrived in Nairobi. During a speech, the pope touched on the im-portance of the youth and the environment, address-ing poverty and inequality, reconciliation, and peace. On 26 November, in an interfaith dialogue with local faith leaders at the Apostolic Nunciature, Pope Fran-cis appraised the importance of interfaith dialogues as “essential.” In the University of Nairobi campus, he celebrated his first papal Mass in Africa with an esti-mated crowd of 1.4 million people. The pope urged Kenyans to support families and inclusive societies and “resist practices which foster arrogance in men, hurt or demean women and threaten the life of the inno-cent unborn. In his speech addressing Kenyan priests, seminarians, and devotees, the pope stressed on the importance of consecrated life that is only achieved by “staying true to the calling” and their commit-ment to service. He also urged to continue the act of prayer and to avoid “the sin of indifference and lukewarmness,” saying that “indifference makes God vomit.”

Sourec: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30180667Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastoral_visits_of_Pope_Francis_outside_ItalySource: http://www.romereports.com/2015/11/04/survey-shows-pope-francis-visit-boosts-standing-in-the-us

INSPIRING and SURPRISING MOMENTS

A woman prayed at Our Lady of Madhu Shrine in Sri Lanka. Pope Francis travelled to the jungles of war-torn northern Sri Lanka to show solidarity with the victims of the country’s 25-year long civil war and urged forgiveness and reconciliation. “Only when we come to understand, in the light of the cross, the evil we are capable of and have even been a part of, can we experience true remorse and true repentance. Only then can we receive the grace to approach one another in true contrition, offering and seeking true forgiveness.”

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Pope Francis reached out for a child from the pope mobile that was brought to him, during a parade in Washington, on Wednesday, 23 September 2015. A 5-year-old girl in a brilliantly colored dress and braids who was handed up to Pope Francis for a blessing during a parade shared a message with the pontiff about immigration. The girl, Sophie Cruz of South Gate, California, delivered a bright yellow T-shirt and a letter expressing wishes that Sophie’s mother and father and millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally are allowed to remain in the country. The T-shirt read: “Pope: rescue DAPA, so the legalization would be your blessing.”

Pope Francis held private meeting with same-sex couples in the USA. Yayo Grassi, an openly gay man, brought his partner, Iwan Bagus, as well as several other friends to the Vatican Embassy on 23 September, 2015 for a brief visit with the Pope. Grassi and Francis greeted each other with a warm hug.

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2 1 Pope Francis was named “Time

Person of the Year 2013.” “He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a

church of healing,” Time wrote in its announcement. “The septuagenarian superstar is poised to transform a place that measures change by the

century.”

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Pope Francis paid a surprise visit to the homeless shelter in Rome set up by the Vatican near St. Peter’s Square. He listened to about 30 homeless men sharing their stories, and then gave them a blessing. The Vatican reported, on Friday, 16 October 2015 that Francis spent about 20 minutes with the men and the volunteers who run the shelter, greeting each one and getting a tour of the dormitory and other rooms of the facility.

‘‘Time Person of The Year 2013’’In Jungles of War-Torn

Northern Sri Lanka

Suprise Visit to the Homeless

A Little Girl Shares Immigration Message

Meeting with Same-Sex Couple

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“The educational partnership has been broken” as families, schools and society

are “no longer united together for the child. Pope Francis video

chats with a Salvadoran student in the gang-

infested neighbourhood of La Campanera, San

Salvador, on 4 September. The pope said that the whole society needs to

help children and young people who are homeless,

exploited, victims of violence or without any

prospects.

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When a baby emerged from the crowd in the arms of an adult guardian along Constitution Avenue during the papal parade, a security officer took the baby in his arms and carried the child to the Pope for a holy kiss. Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy said: He was gracious enough to allow us to follow the Pope Mobile through the Vatican square, so we could get a good feel for how people react to the pope and how he reacts to the people in Vatican square.”

Pope Francis blessed a girl in wheelchair at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Pope Francis began his New York trip with a special moment inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. After he walked into the church, he turned to a girl in a wheelchair and approached her. Francis looked down, took the girl’s hands and moved his face close to hers. He then placed his hands on her face and blessed her. The girl smiled and onlookers in the packed church burst into an applause.

Pope Francis is ranked fourth most powerful person in the world by Forbes Magazine. It is the second year in a row that he has been designated. The publication described the Pope as someone who “preaches compassion for the poor and a greater role for women.” It added that he is transforming the Church’s image. They measured “power” four ways: how many people they influence; how much money they control; whether they are influential in different areas; and whether they actually make use of their power. The Presidents of Russia, Germany, and the United States of America are ranked ahead of Pope Francis. However, the Holy Father was determined to have more sway than other notables like Bill Gates and the President of China. The Pope also stands out as one of the most humble people on the list. In the list, he is the only one who took a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience

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Pope cries with a Brazilian child who wants to be a priest. “As of today, your vocation is set”, Pope Francis told little Nathan de Brito. “Your Holiness, I want to be a priest of Christ!” - Nathan de Brito brought Pope Francis to tears during one of his motorcades through the streets of Rio de Janeiro on 26 July, when the boy broke past barriers to deliver an important message to the Holy Father. “I am going to pray for you, but I ask you to pray for me,” Pope Francis told him. “As of today, your vocation is set,” said the Pope, moved to tears and embracing de Brito. Onlookers noticed that the boy did not want to leave the Holy Father. One of the security guards stopped to console the boy before bringing him back to his waiting family.

Blessing a Girl in Wheelchair Pope Chats with Teens

Online A Holy Kiss to Baby

Fourth Most Powerful Person in the World

Pope Cries with a Child who wants to be a Priest

He too became a Child, When He Met with Young Children

INSPIRING PICTURES

Pope Francis Kissing Prisoners’ Feet

Greeting a Disfigured Man

Pope Francis Declared Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Euphrasia Eluvathingal Saints on November 23, 2014.

Little Boy Makes Himself at Home on Stage with Pope Francis

Pope Francis Kisses Vinicio Riva who Suffers from Rare Disease Neurofibromatosis

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Pope Francis Depicted as a Superhero on a Wall Near the Vatican.

A Prayer for a Child: The Pope Blesses the Womb of a Pregnant Woman Who Was among the Recent Brides

Gathered in St. Peter’s Square to Receive a Papal Benediction

A Quick Exchange: A Bishop Crouches to Greet the Pope as He Enters a Meeting of Bishops and Cardinals

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Pray Together in Castel Gandolfo

1. “How I would like a Church that is poor and for the poor!”

2. “To become a priest or a religious is not primarily our choice; it is our answer to a calling, a calling of love.”

3. Today’s religious men and women need to be prophetic, “capable of waking up the world,” of showing they are a special breed who “have something to say” to the world today.

4. Preparing new members for religious life is “a craft, not a police operation. We must include the formation of hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mould the people of God. This really gives me goose bumps.”

5. Thinking formation is completed after seminary studies “is hypocrisy, fruit of clericalism.”

6. “And the ministers of the Church must be ministers of mercy above all. In pastoral ministry, we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds.”

7. “God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else, God is in this person’s life.”

8. “In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide op-portunities.”

9. “Let us be protectors of creation, protec-tors of God’s plan, inscribed in nature, protector of one another and of the envi-ronment.”

10. “The church, in this time of great histori-cal change, is called to offer more evident signs of God’s presence and closeness.”

INSPIRING QUOTES

In Africa, Pope Francis Makes His First Visit to a War Zone Pope Francis’ Gift to Castro: A Challenging Message from Cuban Leader’s Old Teacher

In Sri Lanka, the Pontiff Focused on Interfaith DialogueGovernor Hogan Opens up about Special Blessing from Pope Francis

Pope Francis Meets Chilean Miners Five Years after Rescue Pope Francis in a Cordial Meeting at the Vatican with  Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskait

Pope Francis Hugs Convicts in Philadelphia Jail Pope Francis Mingles with High and Low during His New York Visit

Pope Francis to Obama: Religious Freedom is beyond Price Pope Francis and Russian President Vladimir Putin Shake

Hands on the Occasion of Their Private Audience

INSPIRING ENCOUNTERS

“Voice of Pope Francis” is a brainchild of Rev. Dr. Thomas Aykara CMI, Rector, Dharmaram College, and it

spreads the fragrance of Pope Francis’ messages in Dharmaram Campus

Online: dharmaramdailywordpress.com/popeContact us: dharmaramadaily1@gmail.comCompiled by Thomas Kollasseril CMI & Bijosh Moolekudiyil CMIFront Page Layout by Sebastian Palathingal CMIPublished by Dharmaram College, Bengaluru (For Private Circulation only)

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