Thursday, March 27, 2014

Amazing! Pope will Celebrate Mass in the Upper Room

by Steve Ray on March 27, 2014

Our group praying in the Upper Room on Mount Zion in Jerusalem

This is quite incredible since it has not been done since Pope John Paul II received permission from Israel to celebrate Mass there on his visit to the Holy Land. Pope Francis will do the “not allowed”–he will celebrate Mass in the Upper Room.

Seems odd, eh, that the place where the first Eucharist was celebrated by Jesus is not open for Catholics to worship. It is a “secular” building like a museum where anyone can walk through, sing, make noise, whatever. But the one thing we cannot do is celebrate Mass.

Pope’s Detailed Holy Land Schedule

Three, maybe four, sacraments were instituted in this room: ordination, Eucharist, Reconciliation and we can also suggest Confirmation since the Holy Spirit descended in fire upon 120 in this room on the day of Pentecost. 

Now, I have been informed the Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in the Upper Room. I hope he can convince Israel to give it back to the Catholic Church.

(See Zenit Report)

Pray!

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Obama Meets the Pope: the Spin Begins

by Steve Ray on March 27, 2014

By Phil Lawyer | March 27, 2014 2:07

Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Pope Francis, President Obama said that Church concerns about religious freedom and individual conscience were “not really a topic of conversation” during the exchange.

Sorry, but I can't help asking myself, "What is wrong with this picture? The Pope and the ... "

That’s funny. The Vatican summary of the discussion mentioned “questions of particular relevance for the Church, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection..” Since the entire Vatican summary of the conversation encompassed just 98 words, that suggests that the Pope laid heavy emphasis on those questions. Maybe the President wasn’t listening carefully.

Obama did say that he spoke with the Holy Father about “the poor, the marginalized, those without opportunity, and growing inequality.” That sounds entirely plausible, doesn’t it? And yet here’s the interesting thing: The Vatican statement doesn’t mention any of those topics. Not a single word.

If the subject of economic inequality was the main topic of the conversation, why didn’t the Vatican even mention that subject? I can think of two possible explanations:

1) The people who prepared the official Vatican statement aren’t terribly enthusiastic about promoting the Pope’s agenda.

2) The people who prepared the official Vatican statement aren’t terribly enthusiastic about promoting someone else’s agenda.

Read CWN article HERE.

Zenit Article

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