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Pope Francis speaks to staff and students from St. Paul Theological School in Catania, Italy, during an audience at the Vatican Dec. 6, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Studying theology in Sicily means fighting Mafia, pope says


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Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The study of theology must include reference to the context in which its students live and will minister, Pope Francis said, so in Sicily that means it must have something to say about the Mafia.

“The mission of a theological school cannot ignore the territory in which it is located,” the pope said Dec. 6 during a meeting with staff and students from St. Paul Theological School in Catania, an ancient port city on the Italian island of Sicily.

“Your land has wonderful natural and artistic beauty,” the pope told them, but it also is “unfortunately threatened by Mafia speculation and corruption, which hold back development and impoverish resources,” often leading young people to flee the island or to join criminal gangs.

“The Mafia always impoverishes, always,” he said.

“Sicily needs men and women who can look to the future with hope and train the new generations to be free and transparent in caring for the common good, to eradicate old and new poverty,” the pope said, urging the students to work to build “in this world the kingdom of love and justice” promised by Christ.

The theological school, the pope said, must be a place that trains academics and pastoral workers to serve the people of Sicily, especially the poor and the many migrants who land on the island from North Africa.

Sicily “has always been a crossroads of peoples,” he said. “I urge you to be welcoming, to be creative in fraternity.”

“Please,” the pope told them, “let us not extinguish the hope of the poor, of those poor who are migrants.”

Pope Francis also urged the students and staff to value the diversity found at the theology school, recognizing the gifts that each person brings to the school community and to the local church.

“Over the years, there has been an increasing number of female students, who now have tasks of pastoral responsibility or religious or academic teaching in your ecclesial communities,” the pope noted. “This, too, is a sign of the times in an area where women have often been devalued in their social role. But let us not forget that Sicily is the homeland of the martyr saints Agatha and Lucia, who were ‘seeds’ of robust faith, capable of renewal and of generating ever new witnesses” for Christ.

As Pope Leo marks birthday, more positive views of US Catholics may be on horizon, says scholar

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As the first U.S.-born pope marked his birthday, a Catholic scholar told OSV News he sees a potential shift toward more positive views of Catholicism in the U.S. compared to the past two decades.

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Continue Reading As Pope Leo marks birthday, more positive views of US Catholics may be on horizon, says scholar

2 decades after Regensburg, Church leaders say Pope Benedict’s speech was misinterpreted but prophetic

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Of all the discourses he delivered in his nearly eight-year pontificate — with the exception of his 2013 resignation — Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept. 12, 2006, address at the University of Regensburg sparked unprecedented global reaction.

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Continue Reading 2 decades after Regensburg, Church leaders say Pope Benedict’s speech was misinterpreted but prophetic

Pope Leo commemorates 9/11, praying for all who ‘bear wounds of that tragic day’

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Pope Leo XIV commemorated the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in his Sunday Angelus address, praying for “those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day.”

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Continue Reading Pope Leo commemorates 9/11, praying for all who ‘bear wounds of that tragic day’

Pope aims to help Europe find ‘new momentum’ with France trip, says postulator of Schuman cause

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Pope Leo XIV will put Europe and peace in the spotlight on Sept. 28, when he visits Metz as part of his trip to France from Sept. 25 to 28.

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Continue Reading Pope aims to help Europe find ‘new momentum’ with France trip, says postulator of Schuman cause

Find room in your heart for everyone, pope tells new bishops

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Everyone needs to feel there is room for them in their bishop’s heart, Pope Leo XIV said.

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Continue Reading Find room in your heart for everyone, pope tells new bishops

Belarusian Catholic dissident returns home, urges prayers for imprisoned following papal audience

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Andrzej Poczobut, a Belarusian Catholic dissident and journalist, returned to Belarus Sept. 8, following an audience with Pope Leo XIV and after five months in exile in Poland, saying he was prepared to risk arrest and urging Western Catholics to remember Christians imprisoned by the regime.

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Continue Reading Belarusian Catholic dissident returns home, urges prayers for imprisoned following papal audience

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