Time to prepare yourself better

Addressing boys and girls during his Regina Caeli last Sunday Pope Francis said:

“In the month of May, in many parishes it is traditional to celebrate the Masses for First Communion. Clearly, due to the pandemic, this beautiful moment of faith has had to be postponed. …Dear boys and girls, I invite you to live this time of waiting as an opportunity to prepare yourselves better: praying, reading your catechism to deepen your knowledge of Jesus, and growing in goodness, and in service to others. I wish you a good time of preparation.”

The Polish Pope would have understood

The following is an excerpt from a letter published by the Polish Bishops’ Conference on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of St Pope John Paul II:

“If the Polish Pope lived today, he would surely understand people who are in isolation and quarantine. He would pray for the sick, the dead, and their families. He himself was repeatedly sick and suffered in conditions of isolation hospital, with no possibility of celebrating Mass with the faithful. His brother Edmund died at the age of 26, as a young doctor when he contracted an illness from a sick patient, giving while attending to them.”

Alarm raised over possible Amazon collapse

In a statement released by the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) last Monday raising alarm regarding the possible “structural collapse” of the Amazon region, REPAM president Cardinal Claudio Hummes noted that “indigenous peoples asked that the Church be their ally, a Church that would stand with them, a Church that would support their decisions, what they want and how they seek to build their future at this difficult time of pandemic”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)