Pope’s prayer intentions

October: Missionary Disciples

We pray that every baptized person may be engaged in evangelization, available to the mission, by being witnesses of a life that has the flavor of the Gospel.

@Pontifex, Sept. 1, 2021

Does the love of Christ, crucified and risen, remain at the center of our life as the wellspring of salvation, or are we content with a few religious formalities to salve our consciences?

Twelfth-century organ from Bethlehem church under reconstruction

The pipes and bells of an organ that escaped destruction during the 1187 invasion of Saladin are being studied to expand the understanding of how organs have been used in worship by musicologist and historian David Catalunya of Oxford.

Discovered at the Franciscan monastery of the Basilica of the Nativity in 1906, the organ is believed to have been brought to the Holy Land in the first half of the 12th century by French Crusaders. The only organ to be found preserved from the period, the parts have been stored for more than a century in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.

Catalunya examined the organ this summer and hopes to reconstruct it.  He says the Bethlehem organ pipes provide a unique opportunity to understand the organ’s early stages of development in Christian culture. The organ first appeared as a musical instrument in Hellenistic Greece and was introduced into the Latin Christian church in the 10th century.

Vatican appoints fifth Chinese bishop under agreement with Chinese government

Father Anthony Li Hui was ordained a bishop on July 28 in the cathedral of the Diocese of Pingliang, China, under the terms of a Vatican-China agreement renewed in 2020. Appointed coadjutor bishop of Pingliang by Pope Francis, he becomes the fifth Chinese bishop named since the agreement was initially signed in 2018. He will succeed Bishop Nicholas Han Jide, now 81 years old, who has led the diocese since 1999.

Pope Francis told reporters that the agreement envisions “a dialogue about potential candidates. The matter is carried out through dialogue. But the appointment is made by Rome; the appointment is by the pope. This is clear. And we pray for the suffering of some who do not understand or who have many years of clandestine existence behind them.” The agreement ensures that Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and are approved by the pope before their ordinations and installations.