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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
www.catholic-sf.org
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
APRIL 26, 2013
$1.00 | VOL. 15 NO. 13
Vatican: Romero sainthood cause ‘unblocked’
Cardinal: Build ‘civilization of love’ after bombings
CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
VATICAN CITY – Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and the official promoter of the sainthood cause of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, said the process to beatify and eventually canonize the slain Salvadoran archbishop has been unblocked. Archbishop Paglia, who has been the postulator of Archbishop Romero’s cause for years, made the announcement in a homily April 20, just a few hours after meeting with Pope Francis. The Italian archbishop, who was preaching at a Mass in the Italian city Molfetta to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of the diocese’s Bishop Antonio Bello – widely known by the diminutive Don Tonino SEE ROMERO, PAGE 18
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
(CNS PHOTO/KAREN CALLAWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD)
Catholic academy students mark ‘Pope Day’ Nathaniel Akroush, dressed as Pope Francis, makes his way through the halls of Everest Academy in Lemont, Ill., as the school marks its annual “Pope Day” April 19. Students at the Catholic academy learned about the pope and what he does as spiritual leader. They also chose a peer to represent the pontiff, basing their selection on character, spirituality and dedication to serving others.
BOSTON– Even though “the culture of death looms large” today, the light of Christ the good shepherd “can expel the darkness and illuminate for us a path that leads to life, to a civilization of solidarity and love,” said Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley. “I hope that the events of this past week have taught us how high the stakes are,” the cardinal told the congregation at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross April 21, referring to the Boston Marathon bombings April 15 and the subsequent manhunt for the perpetrators. “We must build a civilization of love, or there will be no civilization SEE BOSTON, PAGE 18
Battle with the devil: Pope frames fight in Jesuit terms CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
VATICAN CITY – In the teaching of Pope Francis, the devil has a more dastardly agenda than just convincing people to break one of the Ten Commandments; “the enemy” wants them to feel weak, worthless and always ready to complain or gossip. In his first month in office, Pope Francis continually preached about God’s love and mercy, but he also frequently mentioned the devil and that sly dog’s glee when people take their eyes off of Jesus and focus only on what’s going wrong around them. In the book “On Heaven and Earth,” originally published in Spanish in 2010, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, said, “I believe that the devil exists” and “his greatest achievement in
these times has been to make us believe he doesn’t exist.” “His fruits are always destruction: division, hate and slander,” he said in the book. As pope, his comments about the evil one reflect pastoral knowledge of the temptations and injustices oppressing people, but they also echo the Ignatian spirituality that formed him as a Jesuit, said one of his confreres, U.S. Jesuit Father Gerald Blaszczak, secretary for the service of faith at the Society of Jesus’ headquarters in Rome. “Francis comes from a tradition – the Jesuit tradition – where the presence of the evil spirit or ‘the enemy of our human nature’ is mentioned frequently,” Father Blaszczak said.
‘The enemy’ thrives on despair
In almost all his homilies, the Jesuit
said, Pope Francis talks about “the battle” people face between following the crucified and risen Christ and “falling prey to negativity, cynicism, disappointment, sadness, lethargy” – and the temptation of the “dark joy” of gossiping or complaining about others. In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, and in his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits, sowing pessimism and despair “is the MO of ‘the enemy,’” Father Blaszczak said. St. Ignatius believed making progress in following Christ gives birth to a sense of peace and harmony, even in the face of challenges, he said. The enemy doesn’t like that and tries to disrupt it, particularly by tempting Christians to focus all their attention on themselves SEE THE DEVIL, PAGE 18
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Pope Francis leads his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 17, one of several occasions on which he mentioned the devil.
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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . .4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . 20