Prayer for Pope Benedict

Happy Birthday, Holy Father!

To celebrate Pope Benedict's 83rd birthday, please join in prayer for him using this beautiful prayer card from the Knights of Columbus. You can order the cards or print them from their site.

Yesterday, the Pope gave an unexpected and unscripted homily saying: "Now, under the attacks of the world that speaks to us of our sins, we see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is mistaken in our life, to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare oneself for forgiveness, to allow oneself to be transformed. The pain of penance, that is to say of purification and of transformation, this pain is grace, because it is renewal, and it is the work of Divine Mercy."

For anyone looking for the "rest of the story" on these attacks, I recommend Jimmy Akin's blog posts:
Cardinal Ratzinger An Evil Monster?
Evil Monster Update: The Inside Story
Smoking Gun Memo In Murphy Paedophilia Case!

Pope: Young People, Evangelize the Net

As reported by ZENIT, Pope Benedict exhorts youth in these words as part of his message for World Communications Day, May 24.

'Dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives,' he said. '[T]he proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately.

'It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this 'digital continent.' Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: The greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the 'Good News' of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people.'

See the full article here.

H/t: Janet