The Pope Francis Thread

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The Right to Migrate

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Amid Hungary’s ‘no migrants’ policy, Pope Francis urges open doors and welcome

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Pope Francis delivers his speech during a mass in Kossuth Lajos' Square in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (CNS) — To be Christian is to be open and welcoming to others, Pope Francis said as he celebrated Mass outside Hungary's Parliament building.

"We, like Jesus, must become open doors. How sad and painful it is to see closed doors," especially the "closed doors of our selfishness," isolationism and indifference to the poor and the sick, he said at the Mass April 30 in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos Square.

In a country that has assisted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war but otherwise maintains a "no migrants" policy, the pope decried "the doors we close toward those who are foreign or unlike us, toward migrants or the poor."

[…]

Pope Francis returned to the topic of borders and welcome at the end of Mass before leading the recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer.

Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest had described Hungary as being "the eastern border of Western Christianity for a thousand years."

Pope Francis commented, "It is a beautiful thing when borders do not represent boundaries that separate, but points of contact, and when believers in Christ emphasize first the charity that unites us, rather than the historical, cultural and religious differences that divide us."

Before leading the Marian prayer, he told people in the square he wanted to entrust to Mary "the faith and the future of the entire continent of Europe, which has been on my mind in these days and, in particular, the cause of peace."

"Blessed Virgin," he prayed, "watch over the people who suffer so greatly. In a special way, watch over the neighboring, beleaguered Ukrainian people and the Russian people, both consecrated to you."

"Instill in the hearts of peoples and their leaders the desire to build peace and to give the younger generations a future of hope, not war," the pope prayed, "a future full of cradles not tombs, a world of brothers and sisters, not walls and barricades."

In his homily at the Mass, Pope Francis focused on the Gospel reading, John 10:1–10, where Jesus describes himself as a shepherd who calls his sheep by name and as the gate for the sheep.

Jesus brings people into the fold, the community, the church, the pope said, and then he sends them out.

"We too were first gathered into God's family to become his people," he said, "then we too were sent out into the world so that, courageously and fearlessly, we might become heralds of the good news, witnesses of the love that has given us new birth."

Jesus is an open door, the pope said, welcoming people into the community and sending them out again in his name.

Pope Francis said he is saddened to see "closed doors also within our ecclesial communities: doors closed to other people, closed to the world, closed to those who are 'irregular,' closed to those who long for God's forgiveness."

"Please," he told Hungarian Catholics, "let us open those doors! Let us try to be — in our words, deeds and daily activities — like Jesus, an open door: a door that is never shut in anyone's face, a door that enables everyone to enter and experience the beauty of the Lord's love and forgiveness."

Saying he was speaking particularly to himself and to his fellow bishops and priests, Pope Francis said they must be good shepherds like Jesus, who "does not take advantage of his role; he does not lord it over the flock entrusted to his care; he does not occupy spaces that belong to his lay brothers and sisters; he does not exercise inflexible authority."

The call extends to "those with political and social responsibilities," he said. "Be open and inclusive, then, and in this way, help Hungary to grow in fraternity, which is the path of peace."


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Humanae Vitae / Contraception

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Pope Francis upholds Catholic ban on contraception

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Pope Francis blesses a baby as he arrives for his general audience at St Peter’s square at the Vatican. (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Pope Francis has sent a message to a Natural Family Planning (NFP) conference in which he upheld the central teachings of Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical of 1968 that prohibited married Catholics from using contraception.

The Pontiff stated that the unitive and procreative aspects of sexual intercourse were “inseparable” and he called for a counter-sexual revolution.

He warned Catholics that the widespread use of contraception had impoverished many societies and that some countries were now in danger of demographic collapse.

“There is a need always to keep in mind the inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings of the conjugal act,” he said in a message to a Rome conference celebrating the Billings Ovulation Method of NFP.

The Pope said: “When these two meanings are consciously affirmed, the generosity of love is born and strengthened in the hearts of the spouses, disposing them to welcome new life.

“Lacking this, the experience of sexuality is impoverished, reduced to sensations that soon become self-referential, and its dimensions of humanity and responsibility are lost.”

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that “the use of methods based on the natural rhythms of fertility should be encouraged, emphasising the fact that they ‘respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favour the education of an authentic freedom’.”

“In the aftermath of the so-called sexual revolution and the breakdown of taboos, we need a new revolution in our way of thinking,” reported Catholic News Agency.

“We need to discover the beauty of human sexuality by once again turning to the great book of nature, learning to respect the value of the body and the generation of life, with a view to authentic experiences of conjugal love.”

“In a world dominated by a relativistic and trivialised view of human sexuality, serious education in this area appears increasingly necessary,” Pope Francis said, “requiring an anthropological and ethical approach in which doctrinal issues are explored without undue simplifications or inflexible conclusions.”

The Pope also pointed out the benefits of the Billings method and others for using modern scientific findings to help couples struggling to conceive.

A greater understanding of the procreative processes, he said, “could help many couples make informed and ethically sound decisions that are more respectful of the person and his or her dignity”.

“Today the ideological and practical separation of the sexual relationship from its generative potential has resulted in the quest for alternative forms of having a child, no longer through marital relations but through the use of artificial processes,” he said.

“However, while it is appropriate to assist and support a legitimate desire to conceive with the most advanced scientific knowledge and technologies that can enhance fertility, it is wrong to create test tube embryos and then suppress them, to trade in gametes and to resort to the practice of surrogate parenthood.

“At the root of the current demographic crisis is, along with various social and cultural factors, an imbalance in the view of sexuality.”

Pope Francis also spoke about the importance of an authentic sexual education and “the connection between sexuality and the fundamental vocation of each person, the gift of self, which finds particular fulfilment in conjugal and family love.”

He said: “This truth, while present in the heart of each human being, requires education in order to achieve full expression,” he said.

The remarks of Pope Francis will inevitably disappoint people who were hoping that he might attempt to reverse or modify the teachings of Pope St Paul VI, whose encyclical [Humanae Vitae] shocked many Catholics when it clarified the teaching of the Church against contraception.

The Holy Father explained in his address that the plea by Pope St Paul for scientists to discover new and effective ways of fertility regulation which respected Catholic moral teaching were already fully realised.

Francis said: “In the second half of the last century, as pharmacological research for fertility control expanded and the contraceptive culture was on the rise, John and Evelyn Billings conducted careful scientific research and developed a simple method, accessible to women and couples, for natural knowledge of fertility, offering them a valuable tool for the responsible management of procreative choices.

“In those years, their approach might have appeared outdated and less reliable in comparison with the purported immediacy and security of pharmacological interventions. Yet in fact, their method has continued to prove timely and challenging.”

He said the proven efficacy of NFP has spurred “a serious reflection” on “the need for education in the value of the human body, an integrated and integral vision of human sexuality, an ability to cherish the fruitfulness of love even when not fertile, the building up of a culture that welcomes life and ways to confront the problem of demographic collapse”.

The Pope’s message was sent to participants in an international conference called “The ‘Billings Revolution’ 70 Years Later: From Fertility Knowledge to Personalized Medicine”.

[…]


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Humanae Vitae / Contraception

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Just to be clear, for the sake of this confusing headline:

A "ban" is a temporary discipline that may be lifted, such as when the Jesuits were suppressed in 1773 by papal decree, and later restored in 1814. There is no "ban" on contraception that any pope is able to "uphold" or "reverse."

The Christian teaching is that we must live according to God's plan for us. God created us in His image, male and female He created us, and our natural fertility is the gift of participation in God's creation of new life. By God's design, sexual activity is "both unitive and procreative," and any attempt to separate these is unnatural, disordered, and sinful. "Filching the pleasure while shirking the responsibility," as Chesterton says.

There are many sins against God's life-giving gift: Fornication, adultery, prostitution, participating with prostitutes, masturbation, homosexuality, rape, divorce, and contraception are all condemned in Sacred Scripture. We have invented more such sins since biblical times: Pornography, hormonal contraception, in vitro fertilization, surrogate gestation, cloning, abortion.

The thing that no Catholic pope can ever do: He cannot teach that any such sins are no longer sinful.

A much better headline would be "Pope Francis Talks About Contraception and Other Sins Against Life."
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Ukraine

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Close papal aide says Ukraine peace mission could bear fruit in 3 months

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Professor Stefano Zamagni, former president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. (Credit: Vatican Media)

ROME — A close papal advisor has said that despite a spate of denials, the secret Vatican peace mission to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that Pope Francis referenced over the weekend does in fact exist and could yield results within a few weeks’ time.

Speaking to Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quoditiano, Italian economist Stefano Zamagni said, “The pope has been working continuously for peace for more than eight months. But it’s no surprise: It is obvious that both the Kremlin and Kyiv deny it because there is still no official document.”

A professor at the University of Bologna and until recently president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Zamagni was once one of the highest-ranking laymen at the Vatican and is rumored to have been a leading ghost writer of the pope’s 2015 eco-encyclical, Laudato Si’.

Though he stepped down from leadership of the Pontifical Academy just over a month ago, Zamagni is still widely believed to enjoy a close relationship with Pope Francis and is apparently still involved in the Ukraine peace “mission,” described by Fatto Quoditiano as a dossier he helped to write.

Zamagni said that when it comes to the Ukraine peace process, he himself wrote a seven-point plan in September, “wanting to get ahead of the times,” and that this “mission,” as Pope Francis defined it, has been carried forward the past few months.

[…]

Speaking to Fatto Quoditiano, Zamagni said that both Kyiv and the Kremlin denied any knowledge of the Vatican’s “mission” because it involves “a path that has nothing official and canonical, but which gathers the fruits of the intervention of various people,” including the Pontifical Academy itself, which at the end of last year published the concluding document of a workshop on the topic of the Ukraine war.

This document, Zamagni said, voiced hope “for the mediation of the Pope and the Vatican secretariat in seating the parties around the table.”

Zamagni said that right now, “we are on the finishing straight. If not within the next few weeks, then within the next three months we will surely see if this effort for peace on the part of the Vatican will have received the go-ahead, if it arrives to a red-light.”

“It was to be imagined that a dialogue would have been reached, even underground, given that we are at a point where nothing can be resolved with weapons. The alternative to peace would be war by exhaustion,” he said, adding, “Only Bergoglio as super partes can guarantee peace,” even if it is not “perfect peace.”

“Better an unjust peace than a just war,” Zamagni said.

He also touched on the role of both China and the United States in the conflict, saying, “to sit around a table must be Biden and Xi, and the pope has strong influence on both for different reasons, but he is not party to either.”

“The two paths of negotiation (the Chinese one and the Vatican one) proceed in parallel,” he said, saying, “it is evident, and it is a consequence of the nature of the conflict: the clash between the United States and the other part of the world with China in the lead.”

Zamagni insisted that the peace mission the pope referred to exists despite denials, and noted that within the past week, the pope has met with officials on both sides of the conflict.

The day before departing for his April 28–30 visit to Hungary, Pope Francis met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Vatican. While in Budapest, he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is widely considered one of Russia’s most sympathetic European leaders, and he also met with Hilarion.

Also noteworthy is the quiet visit paid by Metropolitan Anthony to the Vatican Monday, where Anthony met with the president of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Eastern Churches, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti. He also greeted Pope Francis briefly Wednesday at the end of the pontiff’s weekly general audience.

According to a communique published on the Moscow Patriarchate’s website, Anthony traveled to Italy for “a short working visit,” and that during the meeting with Gugerotti, “a wide range of issues of mutual interest were discussed.”

Zamagni in his remarks said he believed there have been signs of openness on the part of Russian Orthodox officials to work negotiate, noting how on the Orthodox celebration of Easter, Kirill urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pursue a “just peace.”

A Vatican official contacted by Crux for clarification on the nature of the secret peace mission declined to comment.


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Ukraine

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I hope and pray that the real Pope Francis is more effective and holy than the American left-wing media's Pope Francis.
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Ukraine

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Parolin confirms Ukraine peace mission, ‘surprised’ at denials

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Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. (Credit: Vatican Media)

ROME — Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has confirmed that a peace mission is underway to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, saying he was surprised by the denials from both sides, as they had each been informed.

“There will be a peacekeeping mission. As far as I know, the two sides were informed at the time,” Parolin told journalists at a book presentation Wednesday, saying, “I’m surprised they say otherwise,” in reference to the denials of any knowledge of the initiative from both Ukrainian and Russian officials.

“As far as I know, they know. Then you know how it is, in the middle of the maze of bureaucracy it may be that communications do not arrive where they should arrive. But mine are only interpretations, I know that both sides have been informed,” he said.

Parolin voiced doubt on whether “the conditions exist today for a ceasefire,” saying, “We hope so, I believe that even the Vatican initiative, if there will be one, intends to go in that direction.”

Parolin’s remarks come after Pope Francis on his return flight from Budapest Sunday made cryptic remarks about a secret peacekeeping mission to end the Russia-Ukraine war, telling journalist on board that, “right now a mission is underway, but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it.”

He offered no further details, and in the confusion that followed both Ukrainian and Russian officials denied having any knowledge about a peacekeeping mission.

[…]

In his remarks Wednesday, Parolin also commented on recent drone attacks on the Kremlin, saying they make achieving peace more difficult.

“All actions of war, especially if they intend to create an even more hostile climate, do not lead to peace, and certainly do not bring peace closer,” he said, saying the Vatican would like for both sides “to arrive at a cessation of fighting and then start a peace process.”

He spoke on the margins of a presentation at Rome’s LUMSA University of a book on Italian priest Don Tonino Bello for the 30th anniversary of his death, having carried out a peace mission in Sarajevo to stop the war in the Balkans shortly before he died.

Parolin referred to the visit of Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the Moscow patriarchate’s foreign minister, to Rome this week, where he met with the president of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Eastern Churches, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, and greeted Pope Francis briefly Wednesday at the end of the pontiff’s weekly general audience.

Anthony’s visit “is part of the normal communications that occur from time to time,” Parolin said, saying the metropolitan’s visit “has nothing to do with” the peacekeeping mission. “Anthony has always said that communications continue, and he is the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate.”

He reiterated the pope’s invitation to both Russian and Ukrainian officials to “find points of agreement and put an end to this massacre, which is severely affecting Ukraine but which also has considerable implications for Russia.”

Asked for details about the Vatican’s peacekeeping mission, Parolin declined, saying the pope mentioned it, and “we leave it to him to give any further information.”

Parolin reiterated his surprise at denials of the mission from Ukrainian and Russian officials, saying, “I don’t know what motivation or reasoning it responds to.”

He pointed to the figure of Don Tonino Bello, saying, “he really worked hard for peace, especially for the Gulf War, and then the Balkan War, and he proposed concrete signs of peace by exposing himself personally and asking for a commitment, not only verbal, in favor of peace.”

“Perhaps we need prophets of peace in our day,” he said.


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The Pope Francis Thread

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Amen! Pope Francis Smacks Down ‘Dog Moms’
The pope’s comments came on Friday during a conversation with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The two were discussing Europe’s dwindling birthrates, and Francis used two anecdotes to explain how that is impacting the continent.

“Two weeks ago, my secretary was in the square and a mother came in with a child’s [stroller’],” he explained, “A tender priest approached to bless the child … It was a little dog!”

Then, he shared another story. “At the Ash Wednesday audience, I was saying goodbye, and I arrived in front of a woman, more or less 50 years old … I greet the lady, and she opens a bag, and says, ‘Bless my child!’ A little dog!”

Francis, who is sometimes known for his short temper, had had enough.

“I didn’t have patience, and I scolded the lady. ‘Madam, so many children are hungry, and you with this little dog!'”

.....

Ultimately, Francis’ message was essentially, “Have kids, not pets.” God bless him for that chastisement.
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Ukraine

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Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/vatican/vatican-news/pope-francis-meets-ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-wartime-encounter-vatican
Pope Francis meets with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in wartime encounter at Vatican

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Rome — Amid the Holy See's efforts to push for peace, Pope Francis met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 13, marking a rare wartime encounter at the Vatican between a pontiff and a head of state and on the eve of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia.

Zelenskyy's closely watched visit comes two weeks after the pope told reporters that he is engaged in a secret mission to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Since that time, both Russian and Ukrainian officials have said they are unaware of any such plans and have not authorized any peace negotiations. The pope's top diplomatic aides, however, have insisted that plans are underway.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2022, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have made regular appeals for the pope to visit the war-torn country. The pope has said he is willing to visit, but only if he could travel to Moscow, as well, to make an appeal for peace.

But on day 443 of the war, Zelenskyy instead came to pay a visit to the pope.

[…]

Francis greeted Zelenskyy at the door of the Vatican's Pope Paul VI Hall, rather than the Apostolic Palace, which is traditionally used for meetings with heads of state.

"Thank you for this visit," the pope said to Zelenskyy in Italian. "A great honor," Zelenskyy replied in English, placing his hand over his heart.

The pope and the president met for 40 minutes behind closed doors, with Zelenskyy giving the pope a bullet-dented plate and a poster in the style of an icon titled "Loss." The image memorialized the lives of children who died in the early days of the conflict.

A Vatican readout of the meeting said the pope assured Zelenskyy of his constant prayers and emphasized an urgent need for "gestures of humanity" to help victims of the war. In a tweet, Zelenskyy emphasized that he asked the pope to condemn Russian war crimes, writing that "there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor."

He also said that he asked the Vatican to back Ukraine's peace formula, which includes the withdrawal of Russian forces from the country, a restoration of all of Ukraine's sovereign territory, Russian war reparations and postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.

Following his meeting with the pope, Zelenskyy met with the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, for 30 minutes.

The Vatican has made multiple overtures to serve as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine since the start of the war, though some experts have questioned what role the Catholic Church can play in ending a conflict between the two predominantly Orthodox countries.

While the pope has explicitly stated that Ukraine has a right to self-defense, including receiving arms from allies, he has also called for both sides to lay down their weapons and negotiate an end to the 15-month conflict.

At various points throughout the war, Ukrainian government officials have expressed frustration at the pope's joint calls for both Russia and Ukraine to end the war, saying it gives the impression that both parties bear some of the responsibility.

Following a meeting at the Vatican with the pope last month, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal emphasized that he believed the Holy See could serve a primarily humanitarian role in the conflict, specifically by aiding in the return of what is estimated to be thousands of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland.

En route home from a trip to Hungary last month, Francis told reporters the Vatican would work towards that goal, noting that the Holy See had already been involved in brokering successful prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.

The pope has spoken with Zelenskyy three times by phone since the beginning of the conflict, the last conversation taking place on August 12, 2022.

Despite repeated efforts — including an unprecedented visit by the pope to the Russian Embassy to the Vatican the day after the war began to express his concerns — Francis has not been able to speak directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The May 13 visit marks Zelenskyy's second visit to the Vatican since being elected president of Ukraine in 2019. His last visit took place on Feb. 8, 2020, just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A Vatican readout of that meeting made reference to Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea, noting at the time that the conflict was still afflicting Ukraine.

Three years later, Zelenskyy's arrived here in Rome on May 13 facing far graver challenges, seeking both the pope and the Italian government's continued support for his beleaguered country.

During his brief one-day stay in Rome, Zelenskyy also met with Italy's President Sergio Matarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni prior to heading to Germany where he, along with the Ukrainian people, will receive the International Charlemagne Prize, an annual award given for contributions towards European Unity.

"An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!" Zelenskyy tweeted.


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Wosbald wrote: 16 May 2023, 09:26 +JMJ+

Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/vatican/vatican-news/pope-francis-meets-ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-wartime-encounter-vatican
I'm not going to read a Fishwrap article without having enough context to measure their Democrat party spin.

I respect the Pope's efforts to broker a cease-fire too much. I wish he had the full support of America's current regime.
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The Pope Francis Thread

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Source: Crux
Link: cruxnow DOT com/vatican/2023/05/vatican-stamp-inspired-by-monument-celebrating-colonial-era-stirs-controversy
--> --> Link to Stamp Pic: wp.cruxnow DOT com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/WYD-stamp.jpg
Vatican stamp inspired by monument celebrating colonial era stirs controversy

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ROME — One of the hard lessons about being pope is that while it can require massive effort to accomplish something positive, it doesn’t take much at all to get you into trouble. As proof of the point, Pope Francis is facing blowback right now over a tiny piece of paper that measures less than two inches by 1.3 inches.

The paper in question is a new Vatican postage stamp promoting the next World Youth Day, to be staged in Lisbon, Portugal, August 1–6.

The stamp depicts Francis leading a small coterie of youth in pointing toward the horizon and, therefore, toward the future. It’s inspired by a famous statue in Lisbon called the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, or the “Monument of the Discoveries,” which was erected in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, and thus to celebrate Portugal’s Age of Discovery.

The choice has generated objections, both in Portugal and elsewhere, among critics who see it as celebrating colonial exploitation and oppression, finding it especially ironic that the Vatican would embrace such imagery just weeks after formally disowning the colonial-era “doctrine of discovery.”

It doesn’t help that the statue in Lisbon was erected under the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, with several observers on social media pointing out that the Vatican stamp bears comparison to imagery employed by Portugal’s “Secretariat of National Propaganda” during Salazar’s Estado Novo, or “New State.”

Even one of the pontiff’s own officials, Portuguese Bishop Carlos Alberto de Pinho Moreira Azevedo, delegate to the Pontifical Council for Social Sciences, declared that he found the stamp to be in “poor taste.”

“Certainly, Pope Francis does not identify with this nationalist image,” Azevedo told a Portuguese new outlet, “[which] contradicts universal fraternity.”

[…]

As of yesterday, several Portuguese media outlets were reporting that the stamp had been withdrawn, as it was no longer available for sale in the Vatican post office on St. Peter’s Square. With an initial run of 45,000 copies, the stamp was issued Tuesday with a face value of 3.10 Euro.

In the presentation of the stamp by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Family, Laity and Life, the department which oversees World Youth Day, there was no reference to the complicated history of the statue which inspired it.

“Just as in the monument Prince Henry the Navigator guides the crew to the discovery of the new world, on the stamp, Pope Francis guides the youth and the Church, represented by Peter’s boat, to the discovery of ‘this epochal change,’ as the Holy Father stated at the Ecclesial Convention in Florence, without quietly giving in to the habit of sailing by sight, to the point of removing the very reality of the port that awaits them,” a statement from the dicastery said.

Rosa Pedroso Lima, a spokesperson for the World Youth Day Foundation in Lisbon, stressed that “Pope Francis is committed to respect, breaking down walls, expanding borders, communicating with peoples, cultures and religions,” calling any other interpretation of the stamp “abusive” with regard to the pope’s intentions.

Though the Vatican has not officially confirmed Pope Francis’s participation in the World Youth Day gathering, the pontiff released a video message May 4 in which he told young people preparing for the event, “I’ll see you in Lisbon.”


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