Following is the text of the speech made by the Holy Father on Friday, September 14, addressing Catholic Charitable Organizations who have been holding the sixth meeting for coordinating the Church’s response to the crisis in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring countries:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I greet all of you warmly and thank you for taking part in this sixth meeting for coordinating the Church’s response to the crisis in Iraq, Syria and neighboring countries, a meeting which this year includes also the Section for Migrants and Refugees.

“In his Holy Rule, St. Benedict ordained that the fasts for religious begin with the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The long-extended Easter joy and the solemn feasts of summer culminating in the crowning of the Queen of Heaven could possibly cause the image of the Crucified to fade in us or to recede, as it remained hidden during the first centuries of Christianity.

First mass in Santa Marta after the summer break and the recent scandals of the Viganò dossier: “There are those who seek division and destruction, even within the family. Truth is humble and silent”.

Following is the homily by Monsignor Joseph McGuinness, diocesan administrator at the solemn evening prayer for the opening of the World Meeting of Families at St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan on 21 August 2018:

My Dear Friends,

Dear Mr Walford,

I fondly recall you and your family’s visit on 27 July last. To me it felt like a concrete expression of Amoris Laetitia. Thank you! I would also like to thank you for your book on the communion of saints which I have begun reading.

In the letter you left for me, you asked if I could write some thoughts about Amoris Laetitia, and you proposed some questions. I will happily respond but I think it would be better for me to write freely what is in my heart. I hope this will be useful to you.

God, our Father,
We are brothers and sisters in Jesus your Son,
One family, in the Spirit of your love.

Bless us with the joy of love.

Make us patient and kind,
gentle and generous,
welcoming to those in need.
Help us to live your forgiveness and peace.

Protect all families with your loving care,
Especially those for whom we now pray:

Increase our faith,
Strengthen our hope,
Keep us safe in your love,
Make us always grateful for the gift of life that we share.

This we ask, through Christ our Lord,

The concerned authorities were quick in locating and responding to the terror cell which on Friday killed a security officer in an attack on a police patrol in the town of Fuheis, 12 kilometres west of Amman. On Saturday, the security forces surrounded a building where the suspected terrorists were believed to be hiding, resulting in a firefight in which at least three were killed and several others were injured.

The Patriarch of Moscow will go to Constantinople on the end of this month and he will try to mend the “Ukrainian issue”: a risky opportunity, if the parties at stake continue to focus on tactics of ecclesiastical politics, on buck-passing, and on trials by fire.

Is the blood of the Shroud too red to be true? No, according to a new research published in the scientific journal Applied Optics, which responds to one of the objections of the detractors of the Turin Shroud that supposedly wrapped Jesus, according to which it is common sense that blood turns brown, once coagulated.

It may seem something of no importance, but a lot of research on the most diverse aspects – and colour is one of them – could not stop the debate on the stains of the Shroud: a bloody confrontation, one could say.

Ladaria states the new revision “situates itself in continuity with the preceding Magisterium while bringing forth a coherent development of Catholic doctrine”.