The Society of Jesus has taken precautionary measures against Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, an internationally renowned artist.

The measures mean he is not allowed to hear confessions, conduct retreats or give spiritual direction. He may not carry out any public activity without the permission of his local Superior.

This website, known for its religious information and opinion pieces, was the first to publish articles regarding Fr. Rupnik. The Society of Jesus subsequently released a statement in that regard.

In the statement, the Jesuits confirm that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith received a complaint against Fr. Rupnit in 2021. The complaints regarded accusations concerning the way Fr. Rupnik performed his ministry. It also states that there were no minors involved.

The statements explains that, following the Dicastery's directions, the Society of Jesus appointed an external expert to carry out the investigation. After studying the results of the investigation, the Doctrine of the Faith concluded in October 2022 that the events reported were beyond the statute of limitations. In the same statement, the Jesuits point out that precautionary measures had already been taken against Fr. Rupnik during the investigation. These are still in place today.

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The day after the inauguration of the Vatican's Nativity scene and lighting of its Christmas tree, Pope Francis prayed the Angelus in St. Peter's Square. 

The Pope gave the crowds gathered there advice for living out Advent, the liturgical season leading up to Christmas. 

POPE FRANCIS
Each one of us must confess, to ourselves before anyone else, our own sins, our faults, our hypocrisies. We need to come down from our pedestal and immerse ourselves in the waters of repentance.

He insisted on the importance of living humbly, and without looking to others to compare ourselves.

POPE FRANCIS
We forget that there is only one case in which it is permitted to look down on others from above: when it is in order to help the other get up. This is the only case. All other instances of looking down from above are not allowed.

Just days before its feast day, Pope Francis said each person should entrust themselves to the Immaculate Conception. On that day each year the Pope pays a special tribute to a statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome's Piazza di Spagna. 

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This is the moment in which the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square came to life. It is a set of hand-carved wooden pieces from Udine, Italy, near its border with Austria. 

And the tree lighting was no less exciting. 

It comes from the central Italian region of Abruzzo. Though it's arrival in St. Peter's Square was a surprise. The original tree selected for this year turned out to be planted on a nature reserve, and an environmental activist stopped it from being cut down, and another tree was chosen at the last minute. 

The rain forced the inauguration ceremony inside the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall. In attendance were the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez, and its secretary general, Sister Raffaella Petrini. 

That morning, Pope Francis met with the delegations that donated the tree and Nativity scene, and asked them to live out the spirit of Christmas, embodied by a God willing to become a child out of His love for humanity. 

POPE FRANCIS
It is necessary to lower yourself, to make yourself small, to leave all vanity behind, in order to reach where he is.

In addition to two delegations from Italy, a third came from Guatemala, which donated the Nativity scene placed inside the Paul VI Audience Hall. 

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The Vatican's confirmation of Pope Francis' trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan has been a source of joy for Caritas South Sudan. The organization is already preparing for the visit that will take place from January 31 to February 5.

GABRIEL YAI KUOL AROP
Executive Director, Caritas South Sudan
The visit of the Pope we are going to prepare. And there's a committee, which is formed already by the government of South Sudan and the Church. So we're ready to receive the Pope.

The director of Caritas in South Sudan believes that the Pope's visit can strengthen peace in the country, which gained independence in 2011. But from 2013 to 2019, it has been embroiled in a civil war.

GABRIEL YAI KUOL AROP
Executive Director, Caritas South Sudan
It will mean a lot because actually this country we're suffering. There is many issues Pope can really help us specially to mantain the peace in the country because now we have relative peace and we hope that this peace will continue so that we live peacefully in our country.

The Vatican has made efforts to help promote peace in South Sudan. With Pope Francis' trip to the country, the people hope he will help cement a still-fragile peace.

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The Nativity scene and Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square will be inaugurated at 5 p.m., local time.

The Nativity scene is from Sutrio, a town near Venice. The tree is a 100-foot-tall spruce from Palena, a town of about 1,200 residents in Italy's Abruzzo region.

The Pope will not attend the event, but on Dec. 31, he usually goes to St. Peter's Square to admire it.

The Pamplona Cathedral in Spain has transformed the traditional Parcheesi game into one called “Claucheesi,” that highlights saints from the region.

The original idea for “Claucheesi” is based on the designs of the 18th century Spanish artist, Ventura Rodríguez. 

GONZALO GARCÍA ESCOBAR
General Manager, Pamplona Cathedral Museum
During the night visits we do [at the Cathedral], where many people sign up, we usually show the plans for the façade made by Ventura Rodriguez, a famous Spanish architect. He made his plan and directed the work. But, there is a very curious thing in the original plan. That is, the work took longer than expected and more money had to be spent on it. And they obviously ran out of money.

This explains why there are currently several empty spaces on the façade of the church.

Two of them, next to the door, are dedicated to St. Peter and Paul. And in the upper part, four pedestals, today empty, were made for the four saints of Navarre, Spain.

GONZALO GARCÍA ESCOBAR
General Manager, Pamplona Cathedral Museum
One was intended for St. Fermin; another was for St. Francis Xavier. With these, we already have the co-patron and patron saints of Navarre. On the other hand, we had one made for Saint Saturnin, the patron saint of Pamplona.
And the figure of St. Honest also appears, the fourth saint of the region. Well, from there, there are four saints like the four houses of Parcheesi. It is just a matter of changing it around. So from there we make 'Claucheesi,' which comes from the words cloister and Parcheesi.

“Claucheesi” is a twist on the traditional family friendly board game. But for those interested in the saints and architecture, it becomes a game that reaches beyond a single generation.

GONZALO GARCÍA ESCOBAR
General Manager, Pamplona Cathedral Museum
The truth is that stores that usually sell board games tell us that Parcheesi is one that has survived it all, but with an amazing advantage. Above all, the difference is not so much digital, but material—I would dare to say even analogical. People want to play with the pieces and, above all, it can be inter-generational, which is our goal. It works for the grandma and it works for the grandson; it works for the granddaughter and it works for the grandpa. The whole family can play.

The Cathedral of Pamplona hopes that “Clauchessi” can help many people learn about these four saints, especially the most often forgotten, Saint Honest. The game can be a source of fun and education for people not only in Spain, but throughout the whole world. 

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“Leaders for Peace” is an organization comprised of 40 international leaders of different nationalities ranging from the United States, Iran, Morroco, Burkina Faso, France and Russia. 

Pope Francis met with them at the Vatican, and asked them to promote changes to the usual structures of international relations to make them have a greater element of solidarity. 

POPE FRANCIS
We cannot forget the sacrifice of human lives, the suffering of the people, the indiscriminate destruction of civilian buildings. Violating human principals is not a “collateral effect” of war, no, it is an international crime. We need to say this and repeat it.

Among Leaders for Peace's members are the ex-Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and former Russian Ambassador to France, Alexandre Orlov. 

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The Vatican is putting its final touches on its preparations for the lighting of its Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square, and the inauguration of its Nativity scene, which will take place on Saturday December, 3 at 5 PM Rome time. 

Cardinal Fernando Vérgez, president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, and its secretary general, Sister Raffaella Petrini, will attend the inauguration ceremony. 

This year, the nearly 100-foot tree comes from a town of about 1,200 residents in Italy's Abruzzo region. It takes the place of a white fir tree that wasn't able to be cut down because of its protected status. 

The hand carved Nativity scene comes from Sutrio, a town near Venice. 

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The president of the Spanish NGO, Messengers of Peace, Father Ángel Rodriguez, traveled to Rome to meet with Pope Francis. After the meeting, he said that they talked about the human and the divine.

FR. ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ
Messengers of Peace
Pope Francis is a true pastor, who continues both to have his feet on the ground and to dream.
We spoke about normal things, everyday things—man's problems, war, the problems of those who are far from the Church or who we have distanced from the Church.

Fr. Ángel has visited Pope Francis so many times he has lost count. But he knows it has been more than ten times. He also saw the Pope on his trip to Jordan. In this meeting in Rome, Fr. Ángel gave him a red scarf like the one he is known to wear.

The two also talked about being welcoming and about homelessness—two problems that Pope Francis has focused on throughout his papacy. Fr. Ángel said Pope Francis follows the work the Messengers of Peace do.

FR. ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ
Messengers of Peace
He had already known her for many years. From Buenos Aires, where we had also been. And he encouraged us to continue. After 60 years he said to continue with this work, which is the work of the Church. That it is the work of all of us.
He is a true messenger of peace. I mean, how many times does he go out to this balcony to give those messages of peace and to ask that please stop the war.

Founded in 1962, Messengers of Peace is a Catholic-inspired association that helps various vulnerable groups. Especially children, refugees and homeless people.

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In 2021, during the post-pandemic period, a statue of the Virgin Mary arrived in Zaragoza, Spain. From May 1 to October 12, it traveled throughout Spain beginning at the Basilica del Pilar and ending at the Cerro de los Ángeles in Getafe. 

The pilgrimage covered over 6,700 miles, stopping at shrines, churches, hospitals and prisons. Those who saw the statue said that they really felt the presence of the Virgin Mary.

One of these people was Ale. Her mother became ill with ALS when she was 6 years old and she has been afraid of losing her ever since. When the Virgin arrived in a nearby town, a friend took Ale to the church. She approached the statue, expecting to touch stone. But when she touched it, it was flesh. 

ALE RODRIGUEZ
Testimony in Madre Ven
I touched it and it was alive and warm. It was like touching the foot of a living person. I don't remember much of what happened around me because it was all very amazing. But, I felt that the Virgin was with me, and that I had another mother. It gave me a lot of hope to say, 'Yes, your mother is sick. Yes, anything can happen, but you have another mother who is always with you, and who loves you and takes care of you every day.'

When Ale returned home, she told her mother what happened with the statue. Her mother was very emotional. However, Ale explains that it wasn't until the film preview that her mother understood what that moment had meant to Ale. 

MARIA DÍAZ
Testimony in Madre Ven
I always say that, in Ale, I saw a kind of hope, a light that enables me to say: 'Well, no matter what happens, I will get through it because I know that I am being taken care of from Heaven.'

Madre Ven is a film made in a documentary format, set 30 years in the future. It tells the story of a man who discovers old photos of a Marian pilgrimage on his 80th birthday that will change the course of his family's life. 

JOSEPMARIA ANGLÈS
Co-writer, Madre Ven
The documentary is partly intertwined with a fictional story with actors and another director to make it more enjoyable. Sometimes a very long documentary with many testimonies can end up being a bit too long or a bit tiresome. There are light and funny moments but also emotional parts in this story.

The original Marian statue is in Toledo. Throughout the pilgrimage, a copy traveled through several places in Spain, such as the Picos de Europa and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 

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In his video message with prayer intentions for the month of December, Pope Francis says that 'the world needs volunteers and organizations committed to seeking the common good.' He believes that 'commitment' is a word 'many today would like to erase.''

The Pope urged people to become 'artisans of mercy' and to work 'with the people you serve.'

Pope Francis points out that the 'work of volunteer not-for-profit organizations is much more effective when they collaborate with each other.' And he calls for volunteer organizations to 'find people willing to...ceaselessly seek new paths of international cooperation.'

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Last June, knee problems forced Pope Francis to postpone his trip to two of the world's most war-torn countries: South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

POPE FRANCIS
I really feel a lot of regret for having to reschedule this trip that I care so much about.

The trip was supposed to take place in July. The Vatican has now confirmed that the Pope will try to make the trip from January 31 to February 5. This confirms what Pope Francis said when he was returning from his trip to Canada. During the in-flight press conference, he said he would try to make the trip in early 2023.

The Pope will first visit the Democratic Republic of Congo. One change from the original visit is that he will not travel to the eastern part of the country to meet with victims of the armed conflicts raging in the Kivu region. Instead, they will travel to see the Pope at the nunciature in the capital city of Kinshasa.

On February 3, Pope Francis will travel to South Sudan. Since the civil war began in 2013, more than 2 million people have had to flee their homes.

The Community of Sant'Egidio, the Pope and other Christian leaders, such as the Anglican Primate, have long worked to foster peace among the main actors in the conflict. The most notorious event, perhaps, was the meeting organized at the Vatican. 

POPE FRANCIS
I ask you as a brother, stay in peace.

There Francis kissed the feet of the warring leaders to implore them to end the war.

In South Sudan the Pope will also limit his movements somewhat more, although he practically maintains the same agenda as the July trip.

The Vatican also informs that this is not just any trip because this visit to South Sudan is defined as an 'Ecumenical Peace Pilgrimage'. Francis will travel accompanied by other Christian leaders.

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