Latest news with #CastelGandolfo


Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Pope Leo draws crowds to hilltop Italian village for first Angelus prayer, wishes peace for victims of war
CASTEL GANDOLFO (Italy), July 14 — Thousands of people streamed to a small Italian hilltop village not far from Rome yesterday, to hear Pope Leo deliver his first Angelus prayer from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. 'I am happy to be among you... and thank you all for your warm welcome,' the Pope declared, standing outside the gates of the Apostolic Palace, flanked by two Swiss Guards in full dress uniform. Arriving on July 6, Leo is taking a two-week break at the Castel Gandolfo, some 20 kilometres southeast of Rome, reviving it as a summer papal residence. His predecessor, Pope Francis, preferred to stay at the Vatican for the summer. Undeterred by rainy weather, thousands of people crowded the streets of the village, perched on a hilltop and overlooking a lake, to get a glimpse of the new pope as he delivered for the first time the Angelus prayer, which popes usually deliver every Sunday. The pope presided over mass in the Church of Saint Thomas of Villanova, before crossing the square to the cheers of the crowd. 'Let us not forget to pray for peace and for all those who find themselves in suffering and need because of war,' he said. — AFP
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thousands attend Pope Leo's first Angelus prayer
Thousands of people streamed to a small Italian hilltop village not far from Rome on Sunday, to hear Pope Leo deliver his first Angelus prayer from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. "I am happy to be among you... and thank you all for your warm welcome," the Pope declared, standing outside the gates of the Apostolic Palace, flanked by two Swiss Guards in full dress uniform. Arriving on July 6, Leo is taking a two-week break at the Castel Gandolfo, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Rome, reviving it as a summer papal residence. His predecessor, Pope Francis, preferred to stay at the Vatican for the summer. Undeterred by rainy weather, thousands of people crowded the streets of the village, perched on a hilltop and overlooking a lake, to get a glimpse of the new pope as he delivered for the first time the Angelus prayer, which popes usually deliver every Sunday. The pope presided over mass in the Church of Saint Thomas of Villanova, before crossing the square to the cheers of the crowd. "Let us not forget to pray for peace and for all those who find themselves in suffering and need because of war," he said. cmk/yad/djt


France 24
7 days ago
- France 24
Thousands attend Pope Leo's first Angelus prayer
"I am happy to be among you... and thank you all for your warm welcome," the Pope declared, standing outside the gates of the Apostolic Palace, flanked by two Swiss Guards in full dress uniform. Arriving on July 6, Leo is taking a two-week break at the Castel Gandolfo, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Rome, reviving it as a summer papal residence. His predecessor, Pope Francis, preferred to stay at the Vatican for the summer. Undeterred by rainy weather, thousands of people crowded the streets of the village, perched on a hilltop and overlooking a lake, to get a glimpse of the new pope as he delivered for the first time the Angelus prayer, which popes usually deliver every Sunday. The pope presided over mass in the Church of Saint Thomas of Villanova, before crossing the square to the cheers of the crowd. "Let us not forget to pray for peace and for all those who find themselves in suffering and need because of war," he said.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thousands attend Pope Leo's first Angelus prayer
Thousands of people streamed to a small Italian hilltop village not far from Rome on Sunday, to hear Pope Leo deliver his first Angelus prayer from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. "I am happy to be among you... and thank you all for your warm welcome," the Pope declared, standing outside the gates of the Apostolic Palace, flanked by two Swiss Guards in full dress uniform. Arriving on July 6, Leo is taking a two-week break at the Castel Gandolfo, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Rome, reviving it as a summer papal residence. His predecessor, Pope Francis, preferred to stay at the Vatican for the summer. Undeterred by rainy weather, thousands of people crowded the streets of the village, perched on a hilltop and overlooking a lake, to get a glimpse of the new pope as he delivered for the first time the Angelus prayer, which popes usually deliver every Sunday. The pope presided over mass in the Church of Saint Thomas of Villanova, before crossing the square to the cheers of the crowd. "Let us not forget to pray for peace and for all those who find themselves in suffering and need because of war," he said. cmk/yad/djt


Al Arabiya
7 days ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Pope celebrates mass in parish church with special ties to his augustinian order
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy – Pope Leo XIV called Sunday for merciful compassion for the world's poor victims of tyranny and wars as he celebrated Mass in a parish church that has special spiritual ties to Leo's own Augustinian religious order. Leo is on vacation and resuming the papal tradition of summering at the papal estate of Castel Gandolfo south of Rome and celebrated Mass in the St. Thomas of Villanova church. St. Thomas of Villanova was a 16th-century Spanish teacher who was a local and regional superior of the Augustinian order, a mendicant order inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo. The saint is the patron and namesake of Leo's alma mater outside Philadelphia, Villanova University, and is known for his care for the poor and for having given away his wealth to those in need. In his homily, Leo offered a meditation on the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Leo urged the faithful to be guided by empathy and be moved to act with the same merciful compassion as God. 'How we look at others is what counts because it shows what is in our hearts,' he said. 'We can look and walk by, or we can look and be moved with compassion.' That is especially true, he said, when looking at those who are 'stripped, robbed, and pillaged,' victims of tyrannical political systems, of an economy that forces them into poverty, and of wars that kill their dreams and their very lives. From his very first words as pope, Leo has repeatedly emphasized his identity as an Augustinian and infused his homilies and speeches with teachings from the 5th century theologian. The Rev. Tadeusz Rozmus, the priest at the St. Thomas's of Villanova parish, has said the return of a pope to Castel Gandolfo has filled the town with joy. In an interview ahead of Leo's arrival last week, Rozmus also noted the spiritual connection of history's first Augustinian pope to the town. 'St. Thomas of Villanova was an Augustinian saint and so with him (Leo) returns to the beginning of his history of his spirituality,' Rozmus said. Leo is taking an initial two weeks of vacation in Castel Gandolfo, though he has already interrupted it to receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a group of religious superiors and to celebrate a special Mass dedicated to caring for God's creation. He will go back to the Vatican at the end of July and then return for another spell in August.