Month: July 2024

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis called on representatives from the world’s religions to unite behind the defense of human dignity in an age that will be defined by artificial intelligence.

“I ask you to show the world that we are united in asking for a proactive commitment to protect human dignity in this new era of machines,” the pope wrote in a message to participants of a conference on AI ethics which hosted representatives from 11 world religions.

Religious leaders representing Eastern faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Bahá’í, among others, as well as leaders of the three Abrahamic religions gathered in Hiroshima, Japan, for the conference, titled “AI Ethics for Peace.” They also signed the Rome Call for AI Ethics — a document developed by the Pontifical Academy for Life which asks signatories to promote an ethical approach to AI development.

Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the innovation ministry of the Italian government have signed the document. A July 10 press release from the academy said Franciscan Father Paolo Benanti, an ethics professor at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, presented an addendum to the document in Hiroshima specifically focused on the ethical governance of generative AI — which can process, interpret and produce human language. The addendum said generative AI requires sustained commitment to ensuring its use for humanity’s good.

In his message to the conference published by the Vatican July 10, Pope Francis noted the “great symbolic importance” of the religious leaders’ meeting in Hiroshima and noted the increasingly central role which artificially intelligent technology plays in society.

“As we look at the complexity of the issues before us, recognizing the contribution of the cultural riches of peoples and religions in the regulation of artificial intelligence is key to the success of your commitment to the wise management of technological innovation,” he wrote.

Echoing his address on artificial intelligence to the G7 summit in June, the pope asked the participants to jointly push for the ban of lethal autonomous weapons, which “starts from an effective and concrete commitment to introduce ever greater and proper human control.”

“No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being,” he wrote.

Opening the conference July 9, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, academy president, said that artificial intelligence “must be guided so that its potential serves the good from the moment of its design.”

“At Hiroshima, a place of the highest symbolic value, we strongly invoke peace, and we ask that technology be a driver of peace and reconciliation among peoples,” he said. “We stand here, together, to say loudly that standing together and acting together is the only possible solution.”

(OSV News) – A July 8 attack by Russia on a children’s hospital and other civilian targets throughout Ukraine is “a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

At least 42 have been killed and some 190 injured as Russian bombers pummeled Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and numerous cities throughout the nation with more than 40 missiles and guided aerial bombs.

Among the sites struck was the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, where two adults died and about 50 were injured, including seven children. The hospital, which is the largest children’s medical facility in Ukraine, had just under 630 patients in its care at the time of the missile strike.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported on his X (formerly Twitter) account that one of those adult victims was 30-year-old Svitlana Lukyanchuk, a Lviv-born pediatric nephrologist.

With rescue efforts ongoing, the casualty count is expected to rise. July 9 was declared a day of mourning in Kyiv.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, released a July 8 statement denouncing the strike.

“In the name of God, with all determination, we condemn this crime against humanity,” he said. “This is not only a crime against human laws and rules, international rules that tell us about the customs and rules of warfare. According to Christian morality, this is a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge.”

The strike — part of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine — was “a cowardly act of a depraved man,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. “There are just no words.”

Archbishop Gudziak — who spoke to OSV News from an undisclosed location in Ukraine — noted that the name of the attacked children’s hospital means “protecting mothers and children” in Ukrainian.

Associated Press footage of the attack showed dozens of individuals digging through the rubble to free survivors, with bandaged hospital patients being carried in their mother’s arms to shelter.

The Holy See press office released a statement expressing Pope Francis’ expressed “great sorrow” over the attack.

The apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, told Vatican Radio shortly afterward that Russia’s strike on the hospital had targeted “the smallest of the smallest, the weakest of the weak.

“Why does someone continue to provide explanations for the war as if it could be justified for some reason?” he asked. “I do not know how … consciences can continue to do so.”

Ukraine President Volodmyr Zelenskyy called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response to the strike on civilian infrastructure, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Major Archbishop Shevchuk lamented that children who had come to the hospital for lifesaving treatment — some of whom were in kidney surgery and other medical procedures — “were mercilessly killed by Russian criminals.”

His statement, posted to the website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, included an image from Ukraine public broadcaster Suspilne showing a surviving patient of the children’s hospital being carried in a woman’s arms. The child was covered in blood and dust, with medical tubes and tapes dangling, as a blood-streaked medical professional looked on.

“We saw how the doctors saved lives even with bloodied faces,” said the archbishop, adding that medical workers and volunteers were digging through the hospital’s wreckage “to save even those children whose hearts are beating there under the rubble.”

“Today we cry with all the victims,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk. “Today we want to pray for all the dead, especially innocently killed children. Today, we want to wrap our Christian love around all the wounded, all those who are currently hurting the most.”

He concluded his statement with a prayer “for the protection and victory of the lives of our children and women.

“Merciful God, bless our long-suffering Ukrainian land with your just peace,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk.

Reached by telephone July 8, two staffers at the Russian Embassy in Washington declined to comment to OSV News about the attack, with one promising to “check with colleagues” in the embassy’s press center regarding a possible statement, which OSV News has not yet received.

Two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights have determined Russia’s invasion — which continues attacks launched in 2014 — constitutes genocide, with Ukraine reporting more than 135,141 war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine since February 2022.

During its recent meeting in Bucharest, Romania, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing Russia’s 10-year aggression against Ukraine as genocide.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The working document for the October assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality has called for responses to how all the baptized can better serve the Catholic Church and help heal humanity’s “deepest wounds.”

The document said the synod should spur the church to become a “refuge” and “shelter” for those in need or distress, and encourage Catholics to “allow themselves to be led by the Spirit of the Lord to horizons that they had not previously glimpsed” as brothers and sisters in Christ.

“This is the ongoing conversion of the way of being the Church that the synodal process invites us to undertake,” the document said.

The 30-page document, called an “instrumentum laboris,” was released at the Vatican July 9. It will serve as a discussion guideline for the synod’s second session Oct. 2-27, which will reflect on the theme: “How to be a missionary synodal Church.” The reflections are the next step in the synod’s overarching theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”

“In an age marked by increasing inequalities, growing disillusionment with traditional models of governance, democratic disenchantment and the dominance of the market model in human interactions, and the temptation to resolve conflicts by force rather than dialogue,” the church’s synodal style could offer inspiration and important insights for the future of humanity, the working document said.

Two key challenges facing the church are “the growing isolation of people and cultural individualism, which even the Church has often absorbed,” it said, and “an exaggerated social communitarianism that suffocates people and does not allow them to be free subjects of their own development.”

Synodal practice, however, “calls us to mutual care, interdependence and co-responsibility for the common good,” it said, and it is willing to listen to everyone, in contrast to methods “in which the concentration of power shuts out the voices of the poorest, the marginalized and minorities.”

In fact, “weakness in reciprocity, participation and communion remains an obstacle to a full renewal of the Church in a missionary synodal sense,” it added.

The document strongly encouraged the “renewal of liturgical and sacramental life, starting with liturgical celebrations that are beautiful, dignified, accessible, fully participative, well-inculturated and capable of nourishing the impulse towards mission.”

And it called for renewing “the proclamation and transmission of the faith in ways and means appropriate to the current context.”

While the second session will focus on certain aspects of synodal life, “with a view to greater effectiveness in mission,” it said “other questions that emerged during the journey are the subject of work that continues in other ways, at the level of the local Churches as well as in the ten study groups.”

In March, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, announced that Pope Francis had decided that some of the most controversial issues raised during the 2021-24 synod process would be examined by study groups. Among the subjects assigned to the 10 groups are the possible revision of guidelines for the training of priests and deacons, the role of women in the church and their participation in decision-making/taking processes and community leadership, a possible revision in the way bishops are chosen and a revision of norms for the relationship between bishops and the religious orders working in their dioceses.

The study groups “will complete their in-depth study by June 2025, if possible, but will offer a progress report to the synod assembly in October 2024,” the document said.

“Ahead of the conclusion of the second session, Pope Francis has already accepted some of the requests of the first session and begun the work of implementation,” it said.

A canon law commission has been set up to serve the synod, it said, and a “theological subsidy” will soon be published to help participants read and better understand the many “theological notions and categories used” in the newly released synod working document.

The work of the second session, the document said, will continue the synodal method of “prayer, exchange and discernment” as participants are invited to look at “the missionary synodal life of the Church from different perspectives” by reflecting on three aspects which emerged from previous discussions: relationships within the church, pathways for formation and places of connection.

“On this basis, a final document relating to the whole process will be drafted and will offer the pope proposals on steps that could be taken,” it said.

“We can expect a further deepening of the shared understanding of synodality, a better focus on the practices of a synodal Church, and the proposal of some changes in canon law — there may be yet more significant and profound developments as the basic proposal is further assimilated and lived,” it said.

The document, based on the results of the first session presented in the synthesis report and on further consultation with local churches, parish priests and others, listed a number of shared proposals and concerns that should be addressed at the second session:

— Formation in listening to the Word of God and others, while emphasizing the need to listen to those experiencing poverty and marginalization.

— Addressing exclusion and lack of welcome in the church, which leaves people “feeling rejected, hinders their journey of faith and encounter with the Lord, and deprives the Church of their contribution to mission.”

— Creating a “recognized and properly instituted ministry of listening and accompaniment” which enables people to approach the church without feeling judged.

— Promoting possibilities for women to further participate in church life which “often remain untapped.” This includes providing women, including consecrated women, access to positions of responsibility, such as judges in canonical processes and teaching and formation roles in theology departments, institutes and seminaries.

— Reimagining ordained ministry to help clergy avoid unnecessary burdens and isolation, and encouraging the delegation of tasks that do not require ordination to the laity. The question of admitting women to diaconal ministry will not be discussed at the second session, though a synod study group is looking at the issue.

— Enhancing transparency and accountability beyond sexual and financial abuse to include pastoral plans, working conditions and evaluation procedures for those holding positions in the church.

— Ensuring that the composition of different types of councils — parish, deanery, diocesan or eparchial — reflect the communities they serve and are able to effectively implement synodal proposals.

— Correcting the formula in the Code of Canon Law which speaks of councils as having “a consultative vote only.” This “diminishes the value of consultation and should be corrected.” “The aim of synodal ecclesial discernment is not to make the bishops obey the voice of the people, … but rather to lead to a shared decision in obedience to the Holy Spirit.”

Pope Francis chose synodality as the theme for the ordinary General Assembly of the Synod to help the church strengthen its evangelizing mission by emphasizing the need of all the baptized to deepen their journey of following the Lord and renew their responsibility to serve his mission.

Unlike earlier meetings of the Synod of Bishops, which focused on a specific issue or a specific region of the world, the “synod on synodality” is focused on providing “an opportunity for the entire people of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal Church in the long-term,” according to the synod’s official handbook.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholics are called to be active participants in political life and be a force against the decline of democracy worldwide, Pope Francis said.

“In today’s world, democracy – let’s be honest – is not in good health,” the pope told some 1,200 participants at an event during Italian Catholic Social Week in Trieste, Italy.

The pope traveled to the northern Italian city for a one-day visit July 7 to participate in the four-day conference organized by the Italian bishops’ conference on the theme “At the Heart of Democracy.” The Vatican published his talk the same day.

Speaking in the Generali Convention Center in Trieste, Pope Francis said that “just as the crisis of democracy cuts across different realities and nations,” Christians everywhere are called to develop an “attitude of responsibility toward social transformation.”

The pope criticized the effects on democracy of the “throwaway culture” present in global society in which “there is no place for the poor, the frail, the sick, children, women, the young, the old.” Such a culture makes government structures “incapable of listening and serving people.”

“Whenever someone is marginalized, the whole social body suffers,” he said, comparing the current crisis of democracy to a “wounded heart” which is hurt by the various forms of exclusion.

Pope Francis explained that democracy does not merely entail voting — putting aside his speech to voice his concern about declines in voter turnout — and said “it demands that we create the conditions for everyone to express themselves and participate.” He added that people must be “trained” in democratic participation from a young age and develop “a critical sense regarding ideological and populist temptations.”

The pope warned of the “seductive” nature of ideologies and urged that society cultivate a sense of solidarity to combat them. “Everyone should feel part of a community project; no one should feel useless,” he said

Departing from his prepared remarks, Pope Francis said that the welfare state alone is “the enemy of democracy, the enemy of love for neighbor,” statements that were met with strong applause by the crowd in the convention center.

Certain approaches to welfare and social assistance “that do not recognize the dignity of people are social hypocrisy,” he said, reading again from his text. “And what is behind this distancing from social reality? There is indifference, and indifference is a cancer of democracy, a non-participation.”

To combat indifference and heal the heart of democracy requires widespread participation in political life, the pope said.

A “healed heart” of democracy requires creativity, he said, citing examples of how the Holy Spirit has been at work in economics, politics and society to strengthen a sense of community. The pope highlighted in particular the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce; communities promoting renewable energy practice; policies that increase birth rates, jobs, education, accessible housing and mobility; and the integration of migrants.

Such issues, he said, cannot be addressed on a political level without people’s participation in politics.

Political participation requires courage “to think of oneself as a people” rather than solely as “myself, my clan, my family, my friends,” the pope said, which he specified is different from populism.

Pope Francis also urged the participants not to be deceived by easy solutions to society’s problems but rather to prioritize the common good.

“As Catholics, in this regard, we cannot be content with a marginal or private faith,” he said. Yet bringing one’s faith into the public sphere means “not so much to be heard, but to have the courage to make proposals for justice and peace in the public debate.”

Catholics, he said, “have something to say, but not to defend privileges. No. We must be a voice, a condemning and proposing voice in a society that is often mute and where too many have no voice.”

The pope asked Christians to develop “politics of love” and to move beyond polarization, which “does not help to understand and confront challenges.”

Rather, the role of the church is to engage people with hope, Pope Francis said, “because without it we administer the present but do not build the future.”

“Without hope we would be stewards, balancers of the present, and not prophets and builders of the future,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – God is present in the “dark corners” of local communities and in people’s lives, Pope Francis said.

“His presence reveals itself precisely in the faces marked by suffering and where degradation seems to triumph,” the pope said in his homily at Mass in the northern Italian city of Trieste July 7.

“God’s infinity is concealed in human misery, the Lord stirs and becomes present, he becomes a friendly presence precisely in the wounded flesh of the least, the forgotten and the discarded,” he said.

The pope was in Trieste, a port city on the Adriatic Sea close to the borders of Croatia and Slovenia, for a one-day pastoral visit which included speaking at the 50th edition of Italy’s Catholic Social Week. About 8,500 people were present for the Mass in the city’s Unity of Italy Square, including bishops and priests from the Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Lutheran Churches.

In his homily, published the same day by the Vatican, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading (Mk 6:1-6) that described people’s reaction to hearing Jesus teach in the synagogue: Many were shocked and offended that a simple man — the son of a carpenter — could possess such wisdom and perform miracles.

Their taking offense and experiencing “scandal” refers to their encountering a kind of “‘a stumbling block,’ an obstacle, something that hinders and prevents you from going further” and truly believing in Jesus, the pope said.

That obstacle, he said, was Jesus’ humanity, because “how can God, the Almighty, reveal himself in the fragility of human flesh?”

However, “what is the obstacle that prevents believing in Jesus” today, the pope asked.

The “scandal” or stumbling block today, he said, is believing that God truly cares for humanity and “is moved by our wounds, who takes on our weariness, who for us is broken like bread.”

“We need the scandal of a faith rooted in the God who became man and, therefore, a human faith, a faith of flesh, that enters history, that touches people’s lives, that heals broken hearts, that becomes a leaven of hope and a seed of a new world,” he said.

“We don’t need a religiosity closed in on itself, that looks up to heaven without caring about what happens on earth and celebrates liturgies in the temple but forgets the dust blowing in our streets,” Pope Francis said.

In a world where people face so many challenges, struggles and social and political issues, there needs to be “a faith that awakens consciences from lethargy, that puts its finger in the wounds, in the wounds of society, and there are many,” he said.

This kind of faith is “restless,” it moves “from heart to heart” and it is moved by concrete problems in society, he said. It is a faith “that becomes a thorn in the flesh of a society often anesthetized and dazed by consumerism.”

“Consumerism is a plague, a cancer, it makes your heart become ill, it makes you selfish,” he said.

“We need a faith that disrupts the calculations of human selfishness, that denounces evil, that points out injustices, that disturbs the schemes of those who, in the shadow of power, play with the lives of the weak,” he said, underlining how there are many people who “use faith to exploit people. This is not faith.”

Instead of being “scandalized unnecessarily by so many little things,” he said, “let us be indignant at all those situations where life is degraded, wounded and killed.”

“Why are we not scandalized in the face of rampant evil, life being humiliated, labor issues, the sufferings of migrants? Why do we remain apathetic and indifferent to the injustices of the world? Why do we not take to heart the situation of prisoners” and all those in pain or discarded living in one’s city, he asked.

It is because “we are afraid, afraid of finding Christ there,” the pope said. “God is hidden in the dark corners of life and of our cities.”

“Let us bring the prophecy of the Gospel into our flesh, with our choices even before our words,” he said, asking the faithful to “be on the front line of spreading the Gospel of hope,” especially toward migrants and “those who, in body or spirit, need to be encouraged and comforted.”

Before praying the Angelus with those gathered in the square, the pope noted how Trieste has a “vocation of bringing different peoples together” because it is an important port and is located at the crossroads of Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans.

“In these situations, the challenge for the church and civil community is to know how to combine openness and stability, welcome and identity,” he said. Trieste is equipped to face this challenge because, “as Christians, we have the Gospel, which gives meaning and hope to our lives and, as citizens, you have the constitution, a reliable ‘compass’ for the path of democracy.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic Relief Services, the international relief and development agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S., criticized funding legislation recently passed by the U.S. House as “inconsistent with American values and interests” over cuts to humanitarian funding.

The legislation — the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2025 — which funds some of the U.S. priorities abroad, was approved by the House in a 212-200 vote June 28, and reflects Republicans’ pledge to cut funds for the overall legislation, representing about $7.6 billion less than the previous version.

The House’s bill provides $3.3 billion in foreign military financing for Israel amid its conflict with Hamas, funds to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region and funds efforts to counter illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. But it also cuts some programs, including some environmental and humanitarian efforts.

Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for Mission, Mobilization and Advocacy at CRS, said in a July 1 statement, “We were disappointed in the disproportionately low allocation provided to the State and Foreign Operations subcommittee for Fiscal Year 2025. We are further alarmed by the steep cuts to life-saving foreign assistance in the House-passed bill. The substantial reductions to critical humanitarian and development accounts, in some cases by roughly 25%, would have dire consequences for millions of families facing hunger, humanitarian crises and infectious diseases.”

O’Keefe further argued the bill “also fails to invest in climate adaptation, despite the moral, economic and security benefits of enhancing resilience to severe weather shocks like droughts, flooding and extreme heatwaves.”

“In our country and worldwide, these shocks have severely impacted self-sufficiency, food production and livelihoods for the most vulnerable communities around the world. These impacts are projected to worsen substantially over time,” O’Keefe said.

While CRS appreciates “the strong funding levels approved for a select few accounts such as nutrition and malaria,” O’Keefe said, “deprioritizing overall humanitarian and development funding is inconsistent with American values and interests.”

“The U.S. must get serious about combating global poverty by funding effective foreign assistance programs we know support people, families and communities to thrive,” O’Keefe said. “We will collaborate with Congress on a bipartisan bill that robustly funds humanitarian and development programming and provides a courageous response to the challenges facing our global family. The U.S. has long been a force for good around the world, and CRS is committed to supporting the passage of a bill that reflects that history.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee said in a statement, “I am very pleased with the House’s approval of the State and Foreign Operations bill for the Fiscal Year 2025 which builds on the policy wins of the Fiscal Year 2024 enacted bill.”

“This crucial piece of legislation, which funds our national security and foreign policy priorities, safeguards hard-earned American taxpayer dollars while upholding key U.S. values,” Diaz-Balart said June 28.

He cast the cuts as “among the many victories,” saying, “We achieved a 19% reduction from the President’s Budget, and an 11% cut from Fiscal Year 2024 enacted levels.”

“This legislation continues to reestablish American leadership where it has been severely lacking under the Biden Administration,” Diaz-Balart said. “It upholds key U.S. national security priorities by supporting allies such as Israel and Taiwan and countering adversaries such as Communist China, the terrorist states of Iran and Cuba, and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Under the leadership of the Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Olka., “and with the support of my colleagues,” he argued, “we are cutting wasteful spending while fulfilling our national security commitments with the passage of the State and Foreign Operations funding bill for Fiscal Year 2025. This bill will advance global freedom, manifest strong solidarity with our allies, and stand firm against the malign forces undermining U.S. national security.”

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the House’s legislation prior to its passage, saying in a June 18 statement, “In spite of an urgent need for U.S. diplomatic engagement and assistance in a volatile world, House Republicans are abandoning last year’s budget agreement and proposing to slash State Department and USAID budgets.”

“Their bill would drastically cut staffing and programming at our foreign affairs agencies — undermining our ability to deliver on our strategic foreign policy objectives, such as supporting our allies, competing with malign actors, and modernizing our foreign affairs workforce,” Cardin said.

In April, the U.S. bishops’ conference asked congressional lawmakers to protect peacebuilding and humanitarian aid in the bill.

Each year the U.S. Conference and Catholic Bishops and CRS “implore Congress,” the letter said, “to assess budget decisions using three criteria: protection of human life and dignity, impact on the most vulnerable, and advancement of the common good.”

It added that Pope Francis “highlighted these priorities” in a January letter “asking global leaders to “be mindful of the moral responsibility that each of us has in the fight against poverty, the attainment of an integral development for all our brothers and sisters, and the quest for a peaceful coexistence among peoples.”

MOCANAQUA — A traditional “walking pilgrimage” is being planned by Holy Spirit Parish for Saturday, July 13, starting at Saint Mary Church in Mocanaqua and concluding at Saint Adalbert Church in Glen Lyon.

The pilgrimage will begin at 8 a.m. with Confessions and prayers at Saint Mary Church, 130 Rectory Road, Mocanaqua.

The pilgrim brigade will then walk approximately six miles through the Mocanaqua Tract of the Pinchot State Forest, culminating with Holy Mass at Saint Adalbert’s. Lunch will be served and bus transportation back to Mocanaqua will be available.

The public is invited to participate in the pilgrimage, either by walking or by submitting prayer requests to be carried by the pilgrims.

To register, contact Raphael Micca at (570) 301-9253 or email rdmicca@aol.com prior to July 7.

The pilgrimage will be held rain or shine. Participants are asked to dress accordingly and modestly.

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The sacrament of the anointing of the sick is not just for those who are nearing the end of their life, Pope Francis said.

“Let us remember that the anointing of the sick is one of the ‘sacraments of healing,’ of ‘restoration,’ that heals the spirit,” the pope said in a video message released July 2 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

The network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention each month. For the month of July, the pope dedicated his prayer intention to the pastoral care of the sick.

“The anointing of the sick is not a sacrament only for those who are at the point of death,” the pope said, emphasizing “it is important that this is clear.”

Having a priest give the sacrament does not necessarily mean saying “goodbye to life,” he said. “Thinking this way means giving up every hope.”

“When a person is very ill, it’s advisable to give them the anointing of the sick. And when someone is elderly, it’s good that they receive the anointing of the sick,” Pope Francis said, underlining how there is no need to wait until a person experiencing a serious illness is at the point of death to receive the sacrament.

“Let us pray that the sacrament of the anointing of the sick grant the Lord’s strength to those who receive it and to their loved ones, and that it may become for everyone an ever more visible sign of compassion and hope,” he said.