Exhorting South Sudanese Christians to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world,” as the day’s Gospel reading called them to be, Pope Francis told the people, “This country, so beautiful yet ravaged by violence, needs the light that each one of you has, or better, the light that each one of you is.”

“Jesus ‘reaches out’ to tell us that God’s mercy is for everyone,” Pope Francis has said in his homily during Mass in St Peter’s Basilica speaking on Sunday 22 January, the church’s celebration of Sunday of the Word of God.

By Justin McLellan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Ncxkv-w8M Pope Francis told young people to always "look to the horizon" and open their hearts to other peoples and cultures. In a video message to the 400,000 participants registered for World Youth Day 2023, Pope Francis encouraged young people not to "put up walls" that close them in but to "thirst for the horizon" that makes t...

St John the Baptist, who had been preaching and gathering followers, “goes from prophet to disciple,” Pope Francis said.
Yet, “he is not interested in having a following for himself, in gaining prestige and success, but he bears witness and then takes a step back, so that many would have the joy of meeting Jesus.”

The Holy Father, who had praised the Cardinal for keeping his faith “with perseverance even in the hour of trial,” arrived in St Peter’s Basilica at the end of the Mass to preside over the final rite of commendation, as he usually does for cardinals who die in Rome.

Welcome to Issue 38 of The Record Magazine. Firstly, we feature a special interview with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and America Magazine journalist, Gerard O’Connell, who tells of Archbishop Costelloe’s words to Pope Francis, “The church in Australia is alive!”

The interconnected “moral, social, political and economic crises” facing the world cannot be solved if individuals and nations continue to focus only on their own, immediate interests, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2023.

Since late August, the Holy Father has been using his general audience talks to explain the process of spiritual discernment according to the teaching of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

Meeting Pope Francis on 28 November, Relator General of the Synod, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxemborg, said the synod process has faced “temptations” along the way. Particularly in the media, he said, there is a temptation to politicise the church, looking at it “with the logic of politics.”

Meeting some 600 schoolchildren, teens and their teachers, Pope Francis said he wanted to draw the students’ attention to two important witnesses to peace: St John and Rev King.