Quote
“Gossiping is terrorism because the person who gossips is like a terrorist who throws a bomb and walks away, destroying; they destroy with their tongue, they don’t make peace.”
| Pope Francis, delivering his homily during morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae. (Catholic News Service)
In the news
Leading by example
MANCHESTER, England– Britain’s most senior Catholic and Jewish leaders have expressed hope that their good relations may inspire greater tolerance of religious minorities facing harassment and persecution.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth said they were “disturbed” by the treatment of religious minorities around the world.
In a jointly authored column in the London-based Daily Telegraph published Sept. 3, the day the pair met Pope Francis in the Vatican, the leaders noted that “in many places to be a person of faith can be, in and of itself, an act of courage.”
“To confess your belief in God no longer commands universal respect for a deep commitment to a lofty ideal, self-discipline and moral conviction,” they wrote. “In many societies you are more likely to be dismissed as naive, unsophisticated and narrow-minded.”
Cardinal Nichols and Rabbi Mirvis met Pope Francis to mark the 50th anniversary of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council declaration on the relationship of the church to non-Christian religions. (CNS)
Saints under 40
Embracing injustice
Jesuit Father Miguel Agustin Pro worked in secret to aid Catholics and the poor during a period of religious persecution in Mexico in the early 20th century. His work was cut short, however, by a false accusation that he was behind the attempted assassination of a Mexican general. Father Miguel did not fight his fate and in fact prayed while awaiting death by firing squad.
Father Miguel, born in Guadalupe, Mexico, in 1891 was a priest for just two years when he and two brothers were arrested for the assassination attempt. The real culprit had stepped forward, but the government sought to make an example out of Father Miguel and upheld his death sentence. Father Miguel forgave one of his captors and the firing squad before he was shot in 1927 at age 36. He was beatified in 1988. (www.loyolapress.com)
