Pope Francis Warns Church

The New Pope - Pope Francis

Pope Francis warned on Thursday that the troubled Catholic Church risked becoming little more than a charity with no spiritual foundations if it failed to undergo renewal.

The 76-year-old Argentinian told the cardinals who elected him as Latin America’s first pope that the Church could “end up a compassionate NGO.”

“I would like all of us after these days of grace to have the courage to walk in the presence of the Lord,” Francis said in his first mass, amid the splendor of the Sistine Chapel.
He warned the cardinals against “the worldliness of the Devil.”

“Walking, building and confessing are not so easy. Sometimes there are tremors,” the pope said, in a homily that will be scrutinized for clues to the style of his leadership.
The new head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, who was formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, had begun his reign by meeting people in Rome and laying a bouquet of flowers in homage to the Virgin Mary in a basilica.

The pope also prayed at the altar of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order to which he belongs.

He returned to the priests’ quarters where he stayed before the conclave and settled his own bill.
The election of the son of an Italian emigrant railway worker, who was considered a rank outsider, was met with widespread surprise and expressions of hope for change in a Church riven by scandal and internal conflict.

His elevation was also seen as recognition of the Church’s power in Latin America, which now accounts for 40 percent of the world’s Catholics, while it is in decline in Europe.

“The choice of Bergoglio shows that the Church is determined not to remain in mourning for the crisis in Europe but has opened its doors to the revitalizing energy of Catholicism’s biggest continent,” Vatican expert Luigi Accatoli told AFP.

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Cardinal Tagle Has A Big Chance To Be The Next Global Catholic News Site

Cardinal Luis Tagle

Considered a darkhorse contender for Pope, Luis Cardinal Tagle has just received what virtually amounts to an endorsement by the world's leading Catholic news agency.

"He is one of the cardinals most frequently mentioned as a possible pope," declares the US-based Catholic News Service (CNS) in a newly posted glowing profile of the Filipino cardinal. "His youthful energy, his pastoral experience, his theological training and his communications skills impressed cardinals and bishops from around the world even before Pope Benedict XVI inducted him into the College of Cardinals last November."

The CNS's coverage of the Vatican is closely followed around the world. Its articles about religion are widely published by Catholic publications and presumably read by the cardinals who will be selecting the next Pope.

Continue at GMA News

Pope’s Final Public Blessing

Over 200,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Sunday to hear Pope Benedict XVI final public blessing before he retires.

“The Lord is calling me to ‘climb the mountain,’ to devote myself to prayer and meditation,” the Pope told the crowd as he appeared at the window of his apartment overlooking the square.

“But this does not mean abandoning the Church. If God is asking me to do this, it is so because I can continue to serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love, with which I have done thus far, but in a way that is better suited to my age and my strength,” the Pope said.
“Thank you for your affection,” he added.

Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world earlier this month with the announcement he would step down as head of the Catholic Church on February 28 due to old age and failing health.


“I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant,” Vatican Radio quoted the Pope, who is 85, as saying in a declaration.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said.

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