Pope Francis expressed condolences on Sunday to the households of victims of a tragic aircraft crash in South Korea by which 179 individuals died.
“My ideas are with the numerous households in South Korea who’re mourning in the present day following the dramatic aircraft crash. I take part prayer for the survivors and the lifeless,” Pope Francis mentioned on the finish of the Angelus prayer.
The pontiff additionally prayed for the households affected by battle in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Sudan and North Kivu within the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Giant crowds of trustworthy gathered in St. Peter’s Sq. to see the pope ship his Sunday prayer from his balcony.
Final Sunday he determined to not seem on the window due to a persistent chilly and as a precaution forward of a busy Christmas interval.
Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Pope Francis’s Vicar Basic, additionally opened the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John Lateran on Sunday.
The ceremony marks the third Holy Door that has been opened in honour of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope 12 months. The primary was opened on Christmas eve on the St. Peter’s Basilica, and the second at Rome’s important jail, with a message of hope to inmates whom he vowed can be an vital a part of the 2025 jubilee 12 months.
The opening of the Holy Doorways kicks off the Catholic Church’s once-every-quarter-century celebration, which is anticipated to draw about 32 million pilgrims to Rome. The jubilee is a practice that dates again to 1300.
The ultimate grand occasion of the Jubilee is a particular Mass for inmates at St. Peter’s on 14 December 2025.
