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“This is the Pasch of Christ, the revelation of God’s power: the victory of life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, the rebirth of hope amid the ruins of failure. It is the Lord, the God of the impossible, who rolled away the stone forever,” the pope said on Saturday.
The Holy Father delivered the homily late in the evening at the vigil in St. Peter's Basilica.
During the Good Friday liturgy, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa reflected on the triumph of the cross, noting that it is an event that revealed God's humility.
In an apparent last-minute decision, Pope Francis skipped the Way of the Cross ceremony held at Rome's Colosseum on Friday to safeguard his health ahead of Easter liturgies.
For the first time in his 11-year pontificate, Pope Francis has written his own spiritual meditations for Friday’s Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) in Rome.
The Good Friday Reproaches are a series of antiphons, known also as “Popule Meus” (“My people”), coming from the opening lines of the Latin text of the recitation.
Pope Francis encouraged the priests to turn their gaze upon the crucified Lord and weep over their sins in repentance, saying tears can “purify and heal the heart.”
Pope Francis has appointed Mons. John Kiplimo Lelei as Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Eldoret that is under the leadership of Bishop Dominic Kimengich.
“Dear brothers and sisters, allow me to tell you once more that you are not alone. We will never leave you alone,” the pope wrote in his Holy Wednesday letter.
The Holy Father called attention to two men present at his general audience in the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday, one Palestinian, one Israeli.
The reflection will be based on the theme “In Prayer with Jesus on the Way of the Cross.”
In a meeting with Nigerians living in Rome on March 25, the pope said that he was grateful for all that Nigerian Catholics have done to bear witness to the Gospel.
“Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!” Pope Francis wrote in a letter to young people signed on March 25.
Members of the Association of Catholic Teachers (ACT) in Ghana’s Catholic Diocese of Konongo-Mampong have pledged their support for the newly appointed Catholic Bishop for the Ghanaian Diocese.
Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the “vile terrorist attack” in Moscow at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican.
On Palm Sunday, hundreds of priests, bishops, cardinals, and laypeople solemnly carried large palm branches in procession through St. Peter’s Square to begin the first liturgy of Holy Week.
The pope spoke of “the devious plans of those who seek to influence public opinion in an ideological manner, lying and disintegrating the social fabric.”
The Holy Father has accepted the retirement of Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu from the pastoral care of the Catholic Diocese of Konongo-Mampong in Ghana appointed Mons. John Opoku-Agyemang as his successor.
The new regulations place emphasis on spiritual work and pastoral care and appointing a coadjutor archpriest of the West’s oldest Marian shrine.
“War is always a defeat. You can’t go on in war. We must make all efforts to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war. Let’s pray for this,” the pope said Wednesday.