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Pastoral Messages and Visits

“Habemus Papam” Pope Leo XIV

Following two days of ballots, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope, the new leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Robert Prevost, 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States. He will be known as Leo XIV.

The first Augustinian Pope, Robert Prevost - now Leo XIV - is the second Roman Pontiff from the Americas after Pope Francis. However, unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the American continent, though he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

The new Bishop of Rome was born on 14th September 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.  He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.  On 1st September of the same year, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago and made his first profession on 2nd September 1978. On 29th August 1981, he made his solemn vows. He received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).  

Information obtained from: https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html

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Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, poses for a portrait in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 8, 2025, soon after his election in the Sistine Chapel. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Francis - (1936 – 2025)

Pope Francis sadly died on Easter Monday, April 21st, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta. His Requiem Mass was celebrated on April 26th in St. Peter’s Square, Rome and he was laid to rest at Santa Maria Maggiore. 
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

The Holy See Press Office announced that the Pope Emeritus died at 9:34 am on the morning of Saturday 31st December 2022 in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, which the 95-year-old Pope emeritus had chosen as his residence after resigning from the Petrine ministry in 2013. (More in Vatican News)

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Portrait of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI  (Vatican Media)

Statement from Bishop Paul Mason, Bishop of the Forces



With great sadness we pray today for the repose of the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

 

When thinking of Benedict it is often his intellect and clarity of thought which come to mind, gifts which were employed at the Second Vatican Council where he served as an "expert".  His interpretation of the Council as a continuation of the Church's missionary work in harmony with its tradition was, and still is, of great significance. For Benedict the Council was not a revolution but an evolution of the Church's outreach to the world in teaching the Good News.

 

Sometimes caricatured as "God's Rottweiler", he was a gentle and quiet man. His UK visit in 2010 owed much of its success to his own personal qualities and warmth. I attended his speech at Westminster Hall in 2010 where he delivered some challenging words but in such a way as to promote discussion and open debate. He was less a severe Defender of the Faith than a promoter of God's love and joy which formed and informed his outlook.  In this sense his orthodoxy was positive and affirmative. It was his focus on the person of Jesus and a desire always to return to the Son of God as the source of revelation which made his writing and his teaching so rich.

 

Benedict may be a great loss to the Church and the world but he leaves it richer due to his love of God and his service to His Church.

 

May he rest in peace...

Advent Pastoral Letter 2022

from the Bishop of the Forces

Lenten Pastoral Letter 2021

from the Bishop of the Forces

Bishop Paul's Christmas Message 2020

Advent Week Four
Deacon Neil Galloway MBE,
Royal Air Force Chaplain, reflects on the Fourth Week of Advent

click on image above to listen.

Advent Week Three
Fr Paschal Hanrahan CF VE,
Principal Catholic Chaplain, Army, reflects on the Third Week of Advent

click on image above to listen.

Advent Week Two
Fr David Conroy VE QCVS QHC,
Principal Catholic Chaplain, Royal Navy, reflects on the Second Week of Advent

click on image above to listen.

Image (c) Wordpress.com. Music (c) Farrell, B. 1994

Fr Daren Brown CF preaches for the East Riding of Yorkshire on-line Remembrance Sunday Service
Bishop Paul Mason speaks on the theme of Remembrance,
reflecting on the solemn 'punctuation' that this is for our nation each year.
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