Cardinal Robert Sarah.(Credit: CNS/Crux Now) Official Sunday of the Word icon unveiled at Vatican
An icon of the encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus was chosen as the official logo for the worldwide celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God.
The colourful logo is based on an icon written by the late-Benedictine Sr Marie-Paul Farran, a member of the Our Lady of Calvary Congregation, who lived and worked at its monastery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
The logo was presented to the press at a Vatican news conference last week, ahead of the newly established Sunday of the Word of God, which is being celebrated on January 26 this year. Pope Francis has asked that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time each year be observed as a special day devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God.
The logo shows the resurrected Christ holding in his left hand a scroll, which is “the sacred Scripture that found its fulfilment in his person”, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, told reporters.
By his side are two disciples: Clopas and his wife, Mary. They both fix their gaze on Christ while Clopas holds a stick to indicate a pilgrimage.
Cardinal Sarah meets with Benedict to iron out alleged book controversy
Cardinal Robert Sarah has met with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to discuss the controversy following around their recently-published book From the Depths of Our Hearts, and insisted that there is no ill feeling between the two.
The book, presented as a co-authored work by the two, is subtitled ‘Priesthood, Celibacy, and the Crisis of the Catholic Church’. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s contributions have been the subject of controversy since the book was announced on last Sunday, and conflicting statements on the extent of Benedict’s involvement in the project have been released over the last month.
Cardinal Sarah issued a series of statements via Twitter last Friday, saying that his meeting with the former Pope went well. “Because of the incessant, nauseating and deceptive controversies that have never stopped since the beginning of the week, concerning the book From the Depths of Our Hearts, I met Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI this evening,” said Sarah.
The tweets were published in French and signed ‘-RS’.
“With Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, we have seen how there is no misunderstanding between us,” said Sarah. “I came out very happy, full of peace and courage from this beautiful interview.”
Pope visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor possible
A visit from Pope Francis to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor may happen in September, according to an Indonesian Muslim leader who met with the Pope this week.
Sheikh Yahya Cholil Staquf leads the 50 million member Nahdlatul Ulama movement, which calls for a reformed “humanitarian Islam” and has developed a theological framework for Islam that rejects the concepts of caliphate, Sharia law, and “kafir” (infidels).
Staquf met with the Pope last week, while in Rome for a meeting of the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative, which gathers Christians, Muslim and Jewish leaders to discuss the promotion of peace and fraternity.
After that meeting, Staquf reported that the Pope said he plans to visit Indonesia, East Timor, and New Guinea in September. The Vatican has not yet confirmed such a trip.
Indonesia is home to the largest population of Muslims in the world. The country’s 229 million Muslims make up more than 12% of the global Muslim population. Nearly all of Indonesia’s Muslims are Sunni.