Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“I assure you of my prayers for the numerous victims of the landslide in a mine in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Pope Leo told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his February 1 Angelus address. “May the Lord sustain those people who suffer so much!”

The Pope’s remarks about the mine collapse were omitted from the Vatican’s English translation of his words.

“Whether prince or pilgrim, patriarch or postulant, the solicitude of the Successor of Peter remains the same towards all and loving towards each one,” Pope Leo said during the February 1 audience, which took place in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “The sober beauty that characterizes papal protocol is reflected in in your every gesture.”

“Thinking of the history of those who have gone before you, bear witness to their values with a consistent life, knowing well that the service of honor certainly requires a particular code of ethics, but even more so a solid faith, and therefore a spiritual style marked by devotion to the Church and the Pope,” the Pontiff said. “May your daily actions, posture and gaze always be a shining reflection of this.”

“The Holy See does not claim to calm every storm,” Cardinal Parolin preached. “But it seeks, humbly and persistently, to keep alive the conviction that no one should be lost, that peace is possible, and that dialogue is never in vain.”

Recalling St. Paul’s shipwreck on Malta, Cardinal Parolin said, “May we learn from St. Paul to trust, from the Maltese people to welcome, and from St. Peter to remain united—so that, even amid the storms of our time, all may be brought safely to land.”

“The possibility of spreading different opinions, and of offering different interpretations of the facts, is the concrete foundation of that free exchange of ideas without which there is no freedom of thought,” Pope Leo wrote in his letter to Claudio Cerasa. “It is necessary to promote dialogue and not surrender to an extremist and deceptive polarization that reduces reality to its parody, cultural and religious roots almost to labels to be exhibited, thought to a calculation,”

In the letter, dated January 23 and published on January 30, the Pope added that a free press “requires a great sense of responsibility, for example in the distinction between the most objective narration of the facts possible and the exposition of opinions on them, always dutifully open to discussion.”

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, was present in Washington for the cardinal’s birthday party on January 30 and read aloud the papal telegram. Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was also present at the gathering.

Cardinal Pierre was appointed apostolic nuncio to the United States in 2016. He was previously apostolic nuncio to Uganda (1999-2007) and Mexico (2007-2016).

Warning of the risk of chaos and violence, the bishops of Cuba called for “structural, social, economic, and political changes” in the Caribbean nation, including “respect for the dignity and exercise of freedom of every human being.”

“These beautiful images we are contemplating today recall the greatness of the vocation to which God calls us, namely, the universal vocation to holiness,” Pope Leo continued. “I encourage you, with God’s grace, to be witnesses and examples of that holiness in today’s world. For that is God’s will: our own sanctification.”

The event took place on the afternoon of January 31, with the Peruvian bishops, the ambassador of Peru to the Holy See, and the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State in attendance.