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December 17th, 2013
10:32 AM ET
Pope celebrates birthday with homeless men (and one cute dog)By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - Pope Francis marked his 77th birthday on Tuesday by welcoming three homeless men to a Mass and a meal at the Vatican, according to Catholic officials. The Pope wanted a "family" environment, with just a few top aides, the staff of Casa Santa Marta - the Vatican guesthouse - and the homeless men, one of whom brought his dog, the Vatican said. (The Vatican originally said four homeless men joined the Pope's birthday celebration before revising the number late Tuesday.) Afterward, the group sang "Happy Birthday" to Francis, and he invited everyone to eat breakfast with him at the hotel's dining room, according to the Vatican. The homeless men were brought by the Pope's aide in charge of charity, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who has been taking Francis' concern for the poor directly to the streets of Rome. The Vatican's sharing of the Pope's birthday plans is sure to burnish Francis' image as "the People's Pope," a man who eschews pomp and ceremony, favoring small and intimate gatherings instead. Francis has famously refused to live in the sumptuous papal apartment, picked out a used Fiat to scoot around Rome and dropped the fancy papal vestments and high theological language of his predecessors. Emphasizing his common-man roots, Francis said recently he was a janitor and a bar bouncer in Argentina before becoming a priest. Pope: I was once a bar bouncer Perhaps as a birthday present to himself, the Pope, without going through the usual church channels, announced the canonization of a 16th-century Jesuit priest on Tuesday. The Rev. Pierre Favre (known in the United States as Peter Faber) was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, the Catholic order of priests to which Pope Francis himself belongs. Francis has praised Favre's "careful interior discernment" and "simple piety." In September, the Pope used a similar process to announce the canonization of the late Pope John XXIII, who will officially be made a saint, along with Pope John Paul II, in April. In the Pope's birthplace of Buenos Aires, where Francis was an archbishop, Catholics are celebrating his birthday by pitching a "missionary tent" in one of the city's most troubled areas, where they will minister to migrants, prostitutes, the homeless and jobless, the Vatican said. "God has always walked alongside his people," beginning with the Hebrew patriarchs, the Pope preached at Tuesday morning's Mass. God became man at Christmas to redeem and share in the lives of saints and sinners alike - even "high-level sinners," Francis said.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Helping the homeless is everyone's responsibility not just the duty of a church here and there. The fact that there are homeless people tells me our society is broken.
I suppose he could open up the Vatican vaults and help even more homeless if he wanted to.
I agree when you are talking about a wealthy nation with large numbers of homeless. Every city in the world, however, has either some homeless of an agressive involuntary committment program for the mentally ill.
You also have to be aware that the term 'homeless' does not mean a person is living on the street. Even people in very nice temporary state accommodations are counted as homeless by most demographics. Yes, it's a big problem, but even in the best regulated societies it's difficult if not impossible to eliminate completely.
The fact that the RCC is still protecting child abusers and very few seem to care tells me our world is broken.
Luke 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
So where do you lay your head?
Now here's one who walks the walk.
I give most of the credit to the boys in the Vatican Marketing & Sales Department. They have earned their xmas bonus this year!
So much better than the youth Nazi.
all the same as this pope continues the cover ups.
Each of us are given different talents. God bless Pope Francis & Benedict.
The homeless men were brought by the Pope's aide in charge of charity and then promptly asked to leave after the party was over, relegated back to the street slums where they were found and dragged off to "feast" with the Poop.
No other private organization on the planet feeds, cares, and hospitalizes more of the poor than the Catholic Church.
...or molests little kids, then covers up the crimes.
Are you aware of any private organizations that have more members? This is just a product of size. It's like saying "no other country in the world provides more public education than China. So?
SO – instead – they have to rent yet ANOTHER apartment for him, wasting even MORE of the Catholic Cult's blood money they suck from poor people to amass art treasures and real estate.
and they deny food to starving children, all to continue their wealth building
No organization on the planet feeds and hospitalizes more of the poor than the Catholic Church.
They could house a few in the Vatican and in the churches. There is a building there is room for some.
lol....you do realise he lives in Vatican City, right? Where did you think they were "renting" this aparetment?
What – you think he was going to invite them to bunk with him in the Vatican?
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA!
vatican is just looking for cash,, they'll leverage off anyone. It's a con organization of thieves.
What have you done for the poor lately?
paid taxes
Paying taxes is something that everyone does and is required by law to do. Have you fed the hungry with your excess, sacrificed time or treasure to help the needy, sat with someone who is dying, visited the sick or imprisoned? Taxes–pfft!
Nice story! Happy Birthday, Pope Francis!
Some relevant factoids on evolution – the underlying philosophy of the atheist’s worldview:
1. Good websites:
See my Short Course in Creation / Evolution, starting either at the beginning or at the article Probabilities vs. Impossibilities.
http://www.AnswersInGenesis.org
http://www.icr.org
http://www.creation.com
Search through the archived articles on these sites.
2. THERE IS NO THEORY OF EVOLUTION: Life is too complex for time, physics, and chance. Even if the whole universe were filled with amino acids, you couldn’t get one useful protein molecule in 30 billion years. Or DNA. Do the math. Also, from any kind (like reptiles) to another (like birds) requires the same mathematical impossibilities – WAY TOO MANY changes in the DNA. Also no theory for the first complete cell. Or from single cells to invertebrates, etc. Evolutionists have NO THEORIES, HYPOTHESES, SPECULATIONS, OR EVEN FANTASIES to address these problems.
3. THERE IS NO FOSSIL EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION: The fossil record shows separate kinds throughout. All of the paleontologists’ ‘trees of life’ show fossils only at the tips of the branches and none at the branch points. Ergo, no evolution in the fossil record. Many creatures, like dinosaurs and dodo birds, are extinct. Extinction is death, not evolution. Reptiles (like dinosaurs) used to be bigger. Plants and insects used to be bigger and spread from pole to pole. The evidence shows that life is de-volving, not evolving.
4. THERE IS NO TIME FOR EVOLUTION: Radioactive dating (plus hundreds of other methods) prove a “young” earth. Carbon 14, for example, has a short half-life, yet is found in coal and diamonds which are supposed to be hundreds of millions to billions of years old. For carbon 14 to be present, the age limit is thousands of years – it’s NOT POSSIBLE for carbon 14 to survive millions of years. So evolution doesn’t even rise to the level of science fiction.
5. THERE ARE NO OBSERVATIONS OF EVOLUTION: Life always comes from life. No exceptions. In fact, humans come from humans, dogs from dogs, bananas from bananas. The variations within any kind have definite limits, which has been proven by many, many experiments over the last 150 years. The entire variation among humans on planet earth is just 2 tenths of 1 percent of our DNA. (And “racial” characteristics are only about 1/20 of that.)
6. WHERE DO THE FOSSILS COME FROM? A worldwide flood, as recorded in Genesis: If it happened, what would you expect to find? Billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water, all over the earth. Guess what you find?
What unmitigated bullshit.
talk about making stuff up. Hey,, you just created another bible
I wouldn't let anyone know who you are with that post. Especially your elementary teachers.
"Dr." Dave, lol. What a crock of crapola.
Common
name Millions of years ago
Cells with a nucleus 2,100
Animals 590
Vertebrates and closely related
invertebrates 530
Vertebrates 505
Tetrapods 395
Amniotes, 340
Mammals 220
Mammals that birth live young
(i.e. non-egg-laying)
Pl-acental mammals (i.e. non-marsupials) 125
Supraprimates, bats, whales, most
hoofed mammals
, and most carnivorous mammals
Supraprimates (primates, rodents, rabbits,
tree shrews,
and colugos) 100
Primates, colugos and tree shrews
Primates and colugos
79.6
Primates 75
"Dry-nosed" (literally, "simple-nosed")
primates
(apes, monkeys, and tarsiers)
40
"Higher" primates (or Simians)
(a-pes, old-world monkeys, and
new-world monkeys)
"Downward-nosed" primates (apes and
old-world monkeys) 30
A-pes 28
Great a-pes (
Humans, chimpanzees, bonobos,
gorillas, and orangutans) 15
Humans, chimpanzees, bonobos,
and gorillas 8
Genera H-omo and Australopithecus 5.8
Contains only the Genus H-omo 2.5
Humans 2.5
Modern humans 0.5
Fully anatomically modern humans 0.2
The time line of human evolution:
Ray?
God is the creator of life
And who then created your god?
Just because YOU do not understand science does not mean that everyone else should live in ignorance like you do.
Dr Dave,I'm glad that you set us strait on the problem of evolution and the age of the earth. You must have spent a liftime reserching and studying to reach this conclusion. How did you manage to bury all the evidence to the contrary? We have fossil records that are proven to show just the opposit of what you speculate. Why are you affraid to see what your eyes see? It does not prove the Bible wrong. On the contrary, it validates it ,if you brawden you outlook and mind you will see that what is in front of you,I.E. evidence of an older world,4.6 billion years,does not threaten you beliefs but should strengthen them.
why don't people believe in floods?
They don't? I can confirm that my basement flooded just this past Summer.
why are people so mean? maybe they all worked together as bouncers back in BA, remembering old times...
why do the popes, cardinals and bishops deny children abused and with lost lives?
Who's denying, the Church has paid big bucks. You're so full of hate.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.Com/2013/12/17/archbishop-accused-of-abuse-takes-leave-of-absence/?hpt=hp_t2
Yes, you're right – it is "business as usual." The Archbishop has followed the rules of his own Archdiocese and immediately removed himself from active ministry until a new accusation can be evaluated by the authorities. This is in keeping with the policies established in cooperation with the proper law enforcement agencies.
Significantly, he has done this even though commenters across the political spectrum think the claim is bogus.
So, in that sense, it is not business as usual. Name one other leader of any organization who would immediately step aside at the first hint – any hint – of an accusation against him personally, by someone from years ago, supposedly taking place at a public event during a photo session with cameras everywhere.
you are a troubled individual-with deep seated hatred. believe it- god will even forgive you too!!
Hello
Why are there homeless people when there is plenty of land and unoccupied homes?
Don't be such a disingenuous twit.
So you don't think all of society needs an overhaul? It seems glaringly obvious to me.
No explanations. Just take your religion and think happy thoughts.
I'm the type to roll up their sleeves, happy thoughts only go so far.