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POPE MONITOR
“WITH A HEART BROKEN” POPE PRAYS FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE
POPE FRANCIS TO MEET MIGRANTS IN MALTA
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Pope Francis said his heart was “broken” by the war in Ukraine as he pleaded, “Silence the weapons!”
“Many times, we prayed that this path would not be taken,” he told people gathered in St Peter’s Square for the midday recitation of the Angelus on February 27. But rather than giving up, he said, “we beg God more intensely.”
With many of the people in the square holding Ukrainian flags, Pope Francis greeted them with Slava Isusu Chrystu, meaning “Glory to Jesus Christ”.
The pope has continued to personally express his concern about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to appeal for peace. The previous evening, he phoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The president thanked Pope Francis “for praying for peace in Ukraine and a ceasefire. The Ukrainian people feel the spiritual support of His Holiness.”
Pope Francis also made the diplomatically unusual gesture of going to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See to express his concern about the war. Usually, a head of state would have an ambassador come to him.
He also phoned Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, who remained in Kyiv with his people, taking refuge with others in the basement of Resurrection Cathedral and sending out daily videos of encouragement.
“With a heart broken by what is happening in Ukraine – and let’s not forget the wars in other parts of the world, such as Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia – I repeat: Silence the weapons!” Pope Francis told those gathered.
“God is with the peacemakers,” he said, “not with those who use violence.”
Pope Francis is to visit Malta on April 2-3, with the highlights of the visit to include a meeting with refugees.
On the afternoon of the second day of the visit, the pope will meet a group of refugees at the John XXIII Peace Lab Centre for Migrants in Hal Far where he will deliver a speech.
The theme of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Malta is: “They showed us unusual kindness”, taken from Acts 28:2. It is meant to highlight the plight of the migrants who cross the Mediterranean toward Europe, and to be a source of encouragement for a new evangelisation in the island nation. The passage references the hospitality shown to St Paul by the Maltese people when the ship carrying him to Rome was shipwrecked there in 60 AD.
The pope will visit St Paul’s Grotto in the Basilica of Rabat, commemorating the shipwreck of the ‘Apostle of the peoples’, and will travel to Gozo, the second Maltese island, where he will preside over a prayer meeting at the national shrine of Ta’ Pinu.
He will also meet with civil authorities and with members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
Two previous popes have made apostolic visits to Malta: Pope John Paul II visited Malta in 1990 and 2001, while Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2010.
The Vatican has amended its law to include three days of paid paternity leave for employees who have a new child through birth or adoption.
The March 1 rescript, approved by Pope Francis last December, added an article to the Vatican’s 2017 law on family benefits for lay employees.
The law already included five months of paid maternity leave, in line with Italy’s national maternity leave policies. It also foresaw a transfer of maternity leave to the father in the circumstance that the mother died or was physically incapacitated after birth.
From March 1, an employee who is a new father – through birth, adoption or fostering – will have the right to be off for three working days while receiving his full salary.
The Vatican also updated the General Regulations of the Roman Curia to introduce the possibility of offering “on-call work contracts”, also sometimes called “intermittent work contracts”.
Both texts were signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who said that Pope Francis had granted the incorporation of the new articles into existing Vatican and Holy See law in a meeting with him on December 13.
