All faiths must protect Jerusalem’s current status
Christians, Muslims and Jews who are sincere about their faith must be committed to protecting the special character of Jerusalem and to praying and working for peace in the Holy Land, Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar University.
Only a special, internationally guaranteed statute on the status of Jerusalem “can preserve its identity and unique vocation as a place of peace”, the Pope wrote. And only when the city’s “universal value” is recognised and protected can there be “a future of reconciliation and hope for the entire region”.
“This is the only aspiration of those who authentically profess themselves to be believers and who never tire of imploring with prayer a future of brotherhood for all.”
El-Tayeb hosted a meeting with Christian and Muslim clerics and political leaders from 86 countries in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and to begin preparations to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Hero cardinal’s remains will finally be returned home
In his last will and testament, a cardinal exiled to Rome, who survived the Nazis’ Dachau prison camp and 17 years of communist persecution, requested to be allowed back home to the Czech Republic for burial.
But as Cardinal Josef Beran – who had cancer – wrote down his wishes, it never occurred to him that the hostility against him by communist officials was so great. They not only denied him the right to return while alive, they would not even want him back dead.
“That’s why, even after his death in 1969, he couldn’t go home,” Pavel Vosalik, Czech ambassador to the Vatican said.
“He was such a gentleman, he couldn’t imagine their hatred was so deep,” he said, which meant the cardinal’s written request went unanswered for so long and was almost forgotten.
Now, nearly 50 years later, the former archbishop of Prague and symbol of heroic resistance against totalitarianism is finally going home.
Pope Francis recently approved a request by the cardinal’s relatives and the current archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Dominik Duka, to remove and permanently transfer Cardinal Beran’s casket from the grottoes under St Peter’s Basilica.
Love is 36,000 feet in the air
Pope Francis performed an impromptu wedding ceremony aboard his flight in Chile during his Papal trip.
During the flight to Iquique, the Pope was approached by flight steward Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriaga and asked for a blessing for him and his wife, stewardess Paula Podest Ruiz.
The couple were supposed to be married in their home parish in Santiago on February 27 in 2010.
Tragedy struck when an earthquake destroyed the church. Eight years later, they remained only civilly married.
Ciuffardi told journalists aboard the flight that, after he explained their story, he asked the Pope for their blessing.
At that moment, he surprised the couple by offering to marry them on the plane.
Ciuffardi said the Pope asked the couple: “Well, do you want to get married?”
“I said, ‘Well, yes. Are you sure?’ Then the Pope said, “Are you sure?’ I told him, ‘Yes! Let’s get married,’” Ciuffardi recalled excitedly.
The newlywed said he asked his boss and president of LatAm airline, Ignacio Cueto, to be his best man and one of the Vatican prelates drew up a handwritten marriage certificate.