The Homeless Jesus comes to the Vatican

 By ANDREA TORNIELLI in Vatican Insider, 3/03/2016

A life-size sculpture of the Nazarene, depicted as a homeless person lying down on a bench, has been placed at the entrance of the Office of Papal Charities. It was created by Canadian sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz

 (Note: “From the Peripheries.” That is how Francis started his pontificate: “Go out into the peripheries…..yes, out, out of your churches of sacristies to the far-flung outcasts and cast outs who live in the peripheries, “favellas” and of whom you know nothing about.” These faceless, homeless, broken-down humans represent the “crumbling church of St.Damian” a St. francis was asked to “Go and repair” and not churches built of  brick and mortar. Note the “homeless Jesus sleeping covered in blanket before the papal office. In it we should see the image of the ongoing crucifixion of Jesus. In earlier Notes CCV wrote, “Jesus wandering about dressed in a tunic (over which they caste lots) never had even a home address. Such homeless persons in the shanty towns are the living-crumpling-temples of God, His Church today has to build or rebuild, and not 50-crore and one-crore monstrosities (towers of Babel) of pride and worldly glory. Stop therefore forthwith the present “church building mania”, and go about our neighborhood, imitating Jess doing good, feeding, heeling, comforting, helping, totally immersed in the works of mercy in this Year of Mercy. james kottoor, editor)

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From Iglesia Descalza, by Rebel Girl

This prayer for women priests and the sketch to the right, were produced by a Benedictine nun at the Monasterio de Sant Benet in Catalonia, Spain, Sr. Montserrat Unterlöhner (photo), and were originally published in Catalan on Sr. Teresa Forcades y Vila's Facebook page earlier this month. I have translated the prayer into English. -- RG

by Leonardo Boff, Theologian-Philosopher, Earthcharter Commission

Pope Francis' speeches are not framed either by the doctrines or dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. It is not that he does not appreciate them, but that he understands that they are theological works created during different historical times. Those doctrines and dogmas provoked religious wars, schisms, excommunications, the burning of theologians and women (such as Joan of Arc and the women considered witches) at the stake of the Holy Inquisition. That lasted for several centuries and the author of these lines had a bitter experience in the cubicle where the accused were interrogated in the forbidding building of the former Inquisition, located to the left of the Basilica of Saint Peter.

Pope Francis has engendered a revolution in the thinking of the Church, returning to the praxis of the historical Jesus. He is restoring what is now called "The Tradition of Jesus", that precedes the present Gospels, written 30-40 years after His execution on the cross. The Tradition of Jesus, or as it is also called in The Acts of the Apostles, “the path of Jesus”, is grounded more on values and ideals than on doctrine. The essentials are  unconditional love, mercy, forgiveness, justice and preference for the poor and the outcast, and a total openness to God the Father. Jesus, to put it bluntly, did not intend to found a new religion. He wanted to teach us how to live. To live with fraternity, solidarity and caring for each other.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During Holy Week and in the Easter season, the Vatican will take part in several initiatives highlighting the importance of ecology and the care for creation.

The Governorate of Vatican City State announced March 18 that the thousands of floral arrangements for the Easter morning Mass and the pope's solemn blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and to the world), will be repurposed after the celebrations.

Thousands of bushes, flowering trees, tulips and other flowering bulbs, which are a gift of growers in the Netherlands, will be replanted in the Vatican gardens. The plants also will be distributed to various pontifical colleges and institutions "so that they may bloom in the coming years," the governorate said.

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Dhaka: 

As darkness descends, Montu Tolentino makes his way to a house in Chorakhola village situated about 40-kilometers from Dhaka.

Once at the house the 45-year-old farmer joins around 30 Catholic villagers in singing traditional Lenten songs called koshter gaan (songs of sorrow).

"Koshter gaan is an important tradition we have been carrying out for generations," says Tolentino.

"Our families have handed down this tradition and we are proud to continue it," he says.

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