By Vatican News

On the occasion of the feast of All Souls on November 2, Pope Francis will preside at Holy Mass for deceased faithful in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery.

A communiqué from the Holy See Press Office said it would be strictly private, without the participation of the faithful.  Following the celebration, the Pope will pray in the cemetery before going to the Vatican Grottoes to remember deceased Pontiffs.

On the morning of November 5, at 11.00 a.m., Pope Francis will preside at Holy Mass for deceased Cardinals and Bishops.

Like the other liturgical celebrations in the coming months, the Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, with a very limited participation of faithful and, will follow strict measures put in place in recent months to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Last year, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the Feast of All Souls at the Roman Catacombs of Priscilla, which was known as the regina catacumbarum – the “queen of the catacombs”.

In 2018, the Pope left the Vatican to celebrate Mass for All Souls Day at the Laurentino Cemetery, which includes a burial site for deceased children and unborn babies.

On November 2, 2017, Pope Francis paid homage to war dead while on a visit to the American military cemetery in Nettuno.

In a statement on Tuesday, the rights experts also called on the Polish authorities to safeguard the rights of men and women protesting against the ruling. 

Across the country, thousands have taken to the streets in protest of last Thursday’s ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court. 

According to the experts, with the court verdict, Poland has “effectively slammed the door shut” on legal abortion for women in the country. It is estimated that currently 98 per cent of all legal abortions in the country are performed on the grounds of severe and irreversible impairment of the foetus. 

“Poland has decided to sacrifice women’s human right to safe and legal health services for termination of pregnancy on account of protection of the right to life of the unborn in violation of its international human rights obligations,” they said. 

‘Devastating consequences’ for women and girls 

The ruling will have “devastating consequences for women and adolescent girls” in need of such terminations, especially those who are socio-economically disadvantaged and migrant women in irregular situations who do not have the means to go abroad for abortion services, they said. 

Before the ruling, Poland had already one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, made even more restrictive in practice with serious barriers and stigma, according to the rights experts. Termination of pregnancy was permitted in three circumstances only: risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman; severe and irreversible impairment of the foetus; or pregnancy as a result of a prohibited act. 

Decision ‘clearly against’ human rights standards 

The experts highlighted that international human rights mechanisms have clearly recognized women’s right to abortion in cases of fatal foetal impairment and that States have to provide for termination of pregnancy in such cases as the lack of access constitutes, inter alia, a violation of the right to be free from inhuman treatment. 

As a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (since 1977) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (since 1980), Poland has legal obligation to uphold these international human rights standards, stressed the experts.  

It cannot be justified by invoking the protection of the right to life, as the right to life and all other human rights under international human rights law are accorded to those who have been born — Human rights experts 

International human rights mechanisms recognize women’s right to access safe and legal abortion as necessary for the protection of women’s dignity and equality and implicit in the right to equality, right to private life, right to be free from inhuman treatment and the right to the highest attainable standards, they said, adding that the decision of the Constitution Court “clearly goes against these standards.” 

“It cannot be justified by invoking the protection of the right to life, as the right to life and all other human rights under international human rights law are accorded to those who have been born,” the experts said. 

“Those who believe that personhood commences at the time of conception have the freedom to act in accordance with their beliefs but not to impose their beliefs on others through the legal system.” 

‘Politicization’ leads to discrimination 

The rights experts also pointed out that the “instrumentalization” and “politicization” of women’s bodies and health leads to discrimination against them, particularly in relation to their right to access health services and the resulting preventable ill health, including maternal mortality and morbidity. 

The experts voicing their concern included the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women; the right to physical and mental health; and cultural rights, as well as the members of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. 

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.   

By Vatican News staff writer

Pope Francis on Wednesday told the faithful that prayer is the eternal expression of their dialogue of love with the Father, and he invited them to persevere in prayer at every moment of their lives.

Greeting those gathered in the Paul VI Hall for the weekly General Audience, before beginning his catechesis the Pope expressed his sorrow for not being able to come close to the faithful because of covid precautions, but assured them he was close in spirit and invited them to stay safe.

He then continued his series of catechises dedicated to prayer, reflecting on the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry that took place with His baptism in the river Jordan.

Noting that the evangelists are in agreement in attributing fundamental importance to this episode, he said they all narrate how the people came together in prayer, and pointed out that this gathering had a clearly penitential nature (Mk 1: 5; Mt 3: 8).

Jesus’ choral prayer

“Jesus’ first public act is therefore participation in a choral prayer of the people, a penitential prayer, in which everyone recognises him- or herself as a sinner,” he said.

The Pope went on to say that “This is why the Baptist wishes to oppose it, saying: “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3: 14).

But Jesus, he explained, insists because “His is an act of obedience to the will of the Father, an act of solidarity with our human condition.

Jesus, Pope Francis reiterated, “prays with the sinners of the people of God. He does not stay on the opposite side of the river, to mark His difference and distance from the disobedient people, but rather He immerses His feet in the same purifying waters.”

Thus, he explained, Jesus is not a distant God. Inaugurating His mission, He placed Himself at the forefront of a people of penitents, “opening a breach through which all of us, after Him, must have the courage to pass.”

Jesus came for all of humanity

Pope Francis said that on that day, on the bank of the river Jordan, is all of humanity, “with its unexpressed yearning for prayer.”

Above all, he continued, there is the population of sinners: “those who thought they were not beloved by God, those who did not dare cross the threshold of the temple, those who did not pray because they did not consider themselves worthy.”

But Jesus, the Pope said, came for everyone, even for them, and He begins precisely by joining them.

He then went on to explain that by praying, “Jesus opens the door to the heavens, and the Holy Spirit descends from that breach.”

We are never alone when we pray, he stressed, “Jesus prays with us!”

Through Baptism we share in Jesus’ prayer

He told the faithful that through baptism we become brothers and sisters of Christ, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to share in Jesus’ own prayer, “the eternal expression of his dialogue of love with the Father.”

Throughout the whirlwind of Jesus’ life, the condemnation of the world and the hard and sorrowful experiences he endured, the Pope said, “even when hatred and persecution are unleashed around Him, Jesus is never without the refuge of a dwelling place: He dwells eternally in the Father.”

Jesus, the Pope continued, obtained for us this gift, and He invites us to pray as He prayed.

There may be times, he continued, that during prayer we feel sluggish and empty, and it may seem that life has been completely useless. It is at that time especially, the Pope explained, that we must beg that Jesus’ prayer also become our own.

Pope Francis concluded saying that “We will then hear a voice from heaven, louder than the voice rising from the depths of ourselves, whispering words of tenderness” telling us that we are the beloved children of God, the joy of the Father in heaven.