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Why the Holy Doors are only in Rome: Navigating the Jubilee
Posted on 02/16/2025 07:08 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
On December 24, Pope Francis opened the first Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, inaugurating the Jubilee. This door, bearing 15 bas-relief panels recounting the story of man’s redemption, is the most symbolic, marking the launch of the Jubilees since the year 1500. Rome also offers four other holy doors: those of the three other Read More…
Why the Holy Doors are only in Rome: Navigating the JubileeHigh school filmmaking contest against human trafficking
Posted on 02/16/2025 07:00 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
High school students in the US with an eye for filmmaking should not miss their chance to participate in a 2025 video contest from Alliance to End Human Trafficking. Participants will have the chance to raise awareness about this important human rights issue, while subsequently adding to their portfolio, and there’s even a chance to Read More…
High school filmmaking contest against human traffickingPope Francis spends peaceful second night at hospital, prays for peace at Angelus
Posted on 02/16/2025 07:00 AM (Catholic World Report)
Homily prepared by Pope for Jubilee of artists
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:57 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
As the Pope is starting his third day in the hospital, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça read the homily that he had prepared for today’s Mass with artists. The cardinal is the prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education; he urged the entire assembly, from the beginning of the Mass, to pray for the Read More…
Homily prepared by Pope for Jubilee of artistsPope’s Angelus message from hospital: Pray for medical staff
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:46 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
“I thank you for the affection, the prayers, and the closeness with which you have accompanied me these days,” said Pope Francis, currently hospitalized for infectious bronchitis at the Gemelli Polyclinic, in his message released by the Holy See for the Angelus of February 16, 2025. Also thanking the doctors who are taking care of Read More…
Pope’s Angelus message from hospital: Pray for medical staffJosef Pieper on why our incompleteness means hope
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:30 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
Back in the halcyon days of my childhood, each summer our family would pile into our baby-blue minivan and drive to Florida. During the entirety of the 12-hour drive, my brothers and I would go wild, arguing over who got to sit in which seat, quibbling over who was invading the sovereign territorial space already Read More…
Josef Pieper on why our incompleteness means hopeA quick and fun way to stay close with kids from far away
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:19 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
I’m lucky enough to be the godmother of four beautiful children, but because they live far from me, I don’t get to see them very often. Last year, I was thinking and praying about how to keep in touch with these beloved children from far away. I know that when a little kid doesn’t see Read More…
A quick and fun way to stay close with kids from far awayDoctors prescribe ‘absolute rest’ for Pope Francis
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:15 AM (Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture)
The medical teams at the Gemelli clinic have prescribed “absolute rest” for Pope Francis, who is therefore not leading the midday Angelus prayer on February 16, 2025, the Holy See Press Office announced in a statement released the early evening of February 15. Shortly after noon on February 16, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy Read More…
Doctors prescribe ‘absolute rest’ for Pope FrancisEcologists at center dedicated to St. Kateri help children integrate faith and nature
Posted on 02/16/2025 06:00 AM (Catholic World Report)
Cardinal Mendonça delivers pope’s message to artists: Be witnesses to ‘revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes’
Posted on 02/16/2025 04:59 AM (Catholic World Report)

CNA Newsroom, Feb 16, 2025 / 04:59 am (CNA).
Powerful proclamations to painters, poets, and performers highlighted Pope Francis’s message to artists on Sunday, calling them to participate in the “revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes” and transform suffering into Hope.
In a papal homily read by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça at a Mass for the Jubilee of Artists in St. Peter’s Basilica on Feb. 16, artists were urged to be “witnesses to the revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes.”
“Your mission is not only to create beauty, but to reveal the truth, goodness and beauty hidden within the folds of history, to give voice to the voiceless, to transform pain into hope,” the pope’s message stated.
The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education delivered the homily as Pope Francis remains at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is recovering from a respiratory infection.
Drawing on the day’s Gospel reading of the Beatitudes, the papal message emphasized that authentic art must engage with “the drama of human existence” rather than offering superficial comfort.
“We live in a time when new walls are being erected, when differences become a pretext for division rather than an opportunity for mutual enrichment,” the homily noted, calling artists and cultural figures to “build bridges, create spaces for encounter and dialogue, enlighten minds and warm hearts.”
The homily concluded with a reminder that artistic gifts are not random but represent a calling: “Hope is not an illusion; beauty is not a utopia; your gift is not chance, it is a vocation. Respond with generosity, with passion, with love.”
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