The shortest papacies

If you think Blessed John Paul I’s 33-day pontificate from August 26 to September 28, 1978, was one of the shortest, think again. Urban VII was pope for 13 days; Celestine IV reigned for 15; Boniface VI for 16; Theodore II  for 20; Sisinnius was pope for 21 days, Marcellus II for about 22 days; Damasus II for 24; Pius III and Leo XI for 27; and Benedict V for 33. John Paul I was beatified on September 4, 2022.

Pope Francis: Be creative

In his Angelus address last Sunday Pope Francis urged Catholics “to be creative in doing good with the prudence and the cleverness of the Gospel, using the goods of this world, not only material but all of the gifts we have received from the Lord, not to enrich ourselves, but to generate fraternal love and social fellowship. Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she may help us be like herself poor in spirit and rich in works of charity for one another.”

Celibacy and priesthood

In a pastoral letter on the Synod, Pascal Wintzer, Archbishop of Poitiers, France, commented about priestly celibacy: “I have known several young people who had the desire to be priests, but they could not see themselves living without a wife or children. They would have made excellent priests, I am certain, but bad celibates. The rule of mandatory celibacy thus deprives the Catholic Church of some excellent priests and some excellent pastors.

“Of course, this life makes you feel the absence... of an emotional life, of a sexual life, of touching someone else’s body. The absence of children, of intellectual intimacy... For each person the absence will take on a different aspect. Yet, what human life is not without some kind of absence?”

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)