(ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - There were emotional scenes when Pope Francis visited one of Rome's most socially deprived districts on Sunday as the pontiff tried to comfort a boy who was mourning the loss of his atheist father.

The boy, Emanuele, started to cry during the papal visit to the parish of San Paolo della Croce in the Corviale district, and the pope encouraged him to come up and whisper what was troubling him. "He is crying for his father," the pope said, adding that he has asked Emanuele permission to reveal what they had spoken about.

"His father passed away recently, he was atheist, but he had all four of his children christened, he was a good man and he asked if he was in heaven.

"How lovely that a child says that his dad was good.

"It is a beautiful testimony to that man and it is a beautiful testimony that he had the courage to cry here in front of us all. "He did not have the gift of the faith, but he had his children baptized, he had a good heart and so how would God's heart be before a father like this? "God has the heart of a father and before a non-believer dad who baptized his children, do you think He would be able to leave him from away from Him? "No. There you are Emanuele. That is my answer". </s> ROME — After circling a massive, crumbling public housing complex on the outskirts of Rome, Pope Francis had an emotional encounter with the neighborhood’s children.

Question-and-answer sessions with youngsters are a standard part of Pope Francis’ parish visits. And, at St. Paul of the Cross parish April 15, there were the usual questions like, “How did you feel when you were elected pope?”

But then it was Emanuele’s turn. The young boy smiled at the pope as he approached the microphone. But then froze. “I can’t do it,” Emanuele said.

Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, a papal aide, encouraged the boy, but he kept saying, “I can’t.”

“Come, come to me, Emanuele,” the pope said. “Come and whisper it in my ear.”

Msgr. Sapienza helped the boy up to the platform where the pope was seated. Emanuele was sobbing by that point, and Pope Francis enveloped him in a big embrace, patting his head and speaking softly to him.With their heads touching, the pope and the boy spoke privately to each other before Emanuele returned to his seat.

“If only we could all cry like Emanuele when we have an ache in our hearts like he has,” the pope told the children. “He was crying for his father and had the courage to do it in front of us because in his heart there is love for his father.”

Pope Francis said he had asked Emanuele if he could share the boy’s question and the boy agreed. “‘A little while ago my father passed away. He was a nonbeliever, but he had all four of his children baptized. He was a good man. Is dad in heaven?'”

“How beautiful to hear a son say of his father, ‘He was good,'” the pope told the children. “And what a beautiful witness of a son who inherited the strength of his father, who had the courage to cry in front of all of us. If that man was able to make his children like that, then it’s true, he was a good man. He was a good man.

“That man did not have the gift of faith, he wasn’t a believer, but he had his children baptized. He had a good heart,” Pope Francis said.

“God is the one who says who goes to heaven,” the pope explained.

The next step in answering Emanuele’s question, he said, would be to think about what God is like and, especially, what kind of heart God has. “What do you think? A father’s heart. God has a dad’s heart. And with a dad who was not a believer, but who baptized his children and gave them that bravura, do you think God would be able to leave him far from himself?”

“Does God abandon his children?” the pope asked. “Does God abandon his children when they are good?”

“There, Emanuele, that is the answer,” the pope told the boy. “God surely was proud of your father, because it is easier as a believer to baptize your children than to baptize them when you are not a believer. Surely this pleased God very much.”

Pope Francis encouraged Emanuele to “talk to your dad; pray to your dad.”

Earlier, a young girl named Carlotta also asked the pope a delicate question: “When we are baptized, we become children of God. People who aren’t baptized, are they not children of God?”

“What does your heart tell you?” the pope asked Carlotta. She said, they are, too.

“Right, and I’ll explain,” the pope told her. “We are all children of God. Everyone. Everyone.”

The nonbaptized, members of other religions, those who worship idols, “even the mafiosi,” who terrorize the neighborhood around the parish, are children of God, though “they prefer to behave like children of the devil,” he said.

“God created everyone, loves everyone and put in everyone’s heart a conscience so they would recognize what is good and distinguish it from what is bad,” the pope said.

The difference, he said, is that “when you were baptized, the Holy Spirit entered into that conscience and reinforced your belonging to God and, in that sense, you became more of a daughter of God because you’re a child of God like everyone, but with the strength of the Holy Spirit.” </s> The pope did not say there is no heaven. There is nothing intellectually embarrassing about the notion that good people go to heaven when they die. It sounds a bit like a wish-fulfillment fantasy to outsiders, but it’s the sort of thing a loving and all-powerful god might provide for his creatures. But the pope did say there is no hell.

As soon as he said it, the Vatican’s communications department mobilized to deny that he had said it, as they have done on several previous occasions when the pope went off the rails. But, of course, he said it, and the reason why is obvious.

It is very hard for a well-educated person of modern sensibilities to believe that a loving God would condemn any of the human beings he created to an eternity of physical torture and mental anguish. That is not what loving human fathers do, even to children who disobey them, so the traditional notion of hell is a permanent problem for many Catholic theologians.

If you do not live inside the bubble of faith, it’s not a problem at all: no heaven, no hell, no God, just us under an empty sky. But people of faith like Pope Francis, who want to believe that “God is love,” struggle with the concept of hell — and people like Eugenio Scalfari, who grew up in the faith but left it long ago, still sympathize with their struggle.

Scalfari, now 93 years old, was the founder of the highly respected Italian newspaper La Repubblica, and is still a practicing journalist. He is an avowed atheist but has been meeting Pope Francis in private for years for long conversations on religious matters. And Scalfari is an unusual journalist, in that he does not record his interviews or even take notes. Instead, he “reconstructs” the conversation from memory.

The recent exchange between the two men, as recounted by Scalfari in Repubblica last Thursday, began with the journalist asking Francis where “bad souls” go and how they are punished. According to Scalfari’s account, Francis replied as follows:

“Souls are not punished. Those who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and go among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. There is no hell — there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, this is heresy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (ccc 1035) states that “Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’” The Catechism does go on to say that “The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God,” but there’s no getting around the fact that official doctrine says they are lamenting this sad separation from God while also burning in eternal fire. Which probably hurts quite a lot.

Pope Francis is clearly uncomfortable with this idea of God as the “eternal torturer,” and much prefers the notion that the souls of those “who do not repent and cannot be forgiven” will simply be destroyed. “Annihilationism” is the formal name for this argument, and it crops up quite often in modern theological speculation — but until and unless the Catholic Church changes its formal doctrine, it is still heresy.

Pope Francis is a practical man, and he chooses his battles carefully. Changing Catholic doctrine on hell would be a long battle that consumed most of the energy within the church that he would like to devote to other, more urgent changes. Yet, he still cannot resist making his true views known — in a deniable way — by having these occasional conversations with Scalfari.

Scalfari doesn’t mind the fact that the Vatican subsequently denies what he reported the pope said, and that Francis himself tacitly goes along with that denial. It’s a game that both men play, and the accuracy of Scalfari’s reports is amply demonstrated by the fact that Francis keeps giving him more interviews despite his alleged “misreporting” of previous ones.

But it’s hard not to wonder what the two of them think this game is achieving.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

Follow BDN Editorial & Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions on the issues of the day in Maine. </s> VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday led an Easter vigil service, baptising eight adults, including a formerly undocumented Nigerian migrant beggar who became a hero when he disarmed an Italian thief wielding a cleaver.

The baptism took place during a long Holy Saturday, or Easter eve, Mass for some 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The church, the largest in Christendom, was dark at the start of the service before lights were turned on, signifying the passage from darkness to light when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.

The pope traditionally welcomes new members of the Church during the Saturday night service.

This year, among those he baptised was John Ogah, 31, who Italian newspapers last year dubbed the “migrant hero” and held up as an example of bravery and good citizenship.

Ogah was begging for change outside a supermarket in a Rome neighbourhood where many migrants live last September when he stopped a 37-year-old Italian who had just held up the store with a cleaver and was getting away with about 400 euros, according to the Catholic television station TV2000.

The Nigerian, who did not have permission to stay in Italy, held the man down until police arrived and then left the scene, fearing it would be discovered he did not have documents, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

Police using footage from surveillance cameras tracked him down and rewarded him by helping him get legal permission to stay in the country.

An Italian Carabinieri police captain who worked in the neighbourhood, Nunzio Carbone, was his godfather, or sponsor, at Saturday’s baptism service.

Carbone and his fellow policemen helped Ogah get his immigration papers. The Nigerian now works as a stockman at a warehouse for a charity organisation.

The other newly baptised at the service came from Albania, Peru, Italy and the United States.

Francis has made defence of migrants a key part of his papacy.

On Sunday, the pope ends Holy See services by celebrating an Easter Mass and then delivers his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and the world”) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. </s> Pope Francis on Saturday led an Easter vigil service, baptising eight adults, including a formerly undocumented Nigerian migrant beggar who became a hero when he disarmed an Italian thief wielding a cleaver.

The baptism took place during a long Holy Saturday, or Easter eve, Mass for some 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The church, the largest in Christendom, was dark at the start of the service before lights were turned on, signifying the passage from darkness to light when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.

The pope traditionally welcomes new members of the Church during the Saturday night service.

This year, among those he baptised was John Ogah, 31, who Italian newspapers last year dubbed the “migrant hero” and held up as an example of bravery and good citizenship.

Ogah was begging for change outside a supermarket in a Rome neighbourhood where many migrants live last September when he stopped a 37-year-old Italian who had just held up the store with a cleaver and was getting away with about 400 euros, according to the Catholic television station TV2000.

The Nigerian, who did not have permission to stay in Italy, held the man down until police arrived and then left the scene, fearing it would be discovered he did not have documents, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

Police using footage from surveillance cameras tracked him down and rewarded him by helping him get legal permission to stay in the country.

An Italian Carabinieri police captain who worked in the neighbourhood, Nunzio Carbone, was his godfather, or sponsor, at Saturday’s baptism service.

Carbone and his fellow policemen helped Ogah get his immigration papers. The Nigerian now works as a stockman at a warehouse for a charity organisation.

The other newly baptised at the service came from Albania, Peru, Italy and the United States.

Francis has made defence of migrants a key part of his papacy.

On Sunday, the pope ends Holy See services by celebrating an Easter Mass and then delivers his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and the world”) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. </s> VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Saturday led an Easter vigil service, baptizing eight adults, including a formerly undocumented Nigerian migrant beggar who became a hero when he disarmed an Italian thief wielding a cleaver.



The baptism took place during a long Holy Saturday, or Easter eve, Mass for some 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The church, the largest in Christendom, was dark at the start of the service before lights were turned on, signifying the passage from darkness to light when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.

The pope traditionally welcomes new members of the Church during the Saturday night service.

This year, among those he baptised, was John Ogah, 31, who Italian newspapers last year dubbed the “migrant hero” and held up as an example of bravery and good citizenship.

Ogah was begging for change outside a supermarket in a Rome neighborhood where many migrants live last September when he stopped a 37-year-old Italian who had just held up the store with a cleaver and was getting away with about 400 euros, according to the Catholic television station TV2000.

The Nigerian, who did not have permission to stay in Italy, held the man down until police arrived and then left the scene, fearing it would be discovered he did not have documents, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

Police using footage from surveillance cameras tracked him down and rewarded him by helping him get legal permission to stay in the country.

An Italian Carabinieri police captain who worked in the neighborhood, Nunzio Carbone, was his godfather, or sponsor, at Saturday’s baptism service.

Carbone and his fellow policemen helped Ogah get his immigration papers. The Nigerian now works as a stockman at a warehouse for a charity organization.

The other newly baptized at the service came from Albania, Peru, Italy and the United States.

Francis has made defense of migrants a key part of his papacy.

On Sunday, the pope ends Holy See services by celebrating an Easter Mass and then delivers his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and the world”) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. </s> Pope Francis on Saturday led an Easter vigil service, baptizing eight adults, including a formerly undocumented Nigerian migrant beggar who became a hero when he disarmed an Italian thief wielding a cleaver.

The baptism took place during a long Holy Saturday, or Easter eve, Mass for 10,000 people in St. Peter's Basilica.

The church, the largest in Christendom, was dark at the start of the service before lights were turned on, signifying the passage from darkness to light when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.

The pope traditionally welcomes new members of the church during the Saturday night service.

This year, among those he baptized was John Ogah, 31, whom Italian newspapers last year dubbed the "migrant hero" and held up as an example of bravery and good citizenship.

Ogah was begging for change outside a supermarket in a Rome neighborhood where many migrants live last September when he

 stopped a 37-year-old Italian who had just held up the store with a cleaver and was getting away with about 400 euros, according to the Catholic television station TV2000.

The Nigerian, who did not have permission to stay in Italy, held the man down until police arrived and then left the scene, fearing it would be discovered he did not have documents, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

Police using footage from surveillance cameras tracked him down and rewarded him by helping him get legal permission to stay in the country.

An Italian Carabinieri police captain who worked in the neighborhood, Nunzio Carbone, was his godfather, or sponsor, at Saturday's baptism service.

Carbone and his fellow police officers helped Ogah get his immigration papers. The Nigerian now works as a stockman at a warehouse for a charity organization.

The other newly baptized at the service came from Albania, Peru, Italy and the United States.

Francis has made defense of migrants a key part of his papacy.

On Sunday, the pope ends Holy See services by celebrating an Easter Mass and then delivers his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" ("to the city and the world") blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. </s> ROME — Pope Francis on Saturday comforted the sister of an elderly French priest who was slain by Islamic militants in a church in Normandy as the pontiff paid tribute with a special prayer service to the courage of 20th- and 21st- century Christian martyrs.

Francis gripped the hands of Roselyne Hamel, whose brother, Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, died when his throat was slit as he celebrated Mass on July 26, 2016.

He quietly spoke with her during the evening service in St. Bartholomew Basilica on Tiberina Island in Rome. He had just heard her tell fellow faithful in the church that her brother was killed by "two youths radicalized by a discourse of hate."

Francis said the legacy of modern-day martyrs "teaches us that with the strength of love, meekness, one can combat arrogance, violence, war, and with patience, achieve peace."

Next week Francis makes a two-trip pilgrimage to Egypt, a predominantly Muslim Arab nation where on April 9, on the Christian holy day of Palm Sunday, twin suicide bombings of Coptic churches killed 44 people.

In Saturday's service, Francis prayed that "persecuted Christians are protected and that peace soon comes to the world."

Departing from his prepared homily, Francis recounted how he was touched when last year, during a visit to a migrant detention facility in Lesbos, Greece, a Muslim father of three told him that his Christian wife had her throat slit when 'terrorists came ... and asked what our religion was.'"

Francis said the widower told him his wife was killed in front of him when she refused to toss away the cross she was wearing.

"She is looking down at us from heaven," the pope added.

Francis took some of the Lesbos refugees with him aboard his plane back to Italy.

In his homily Saturday, Francis also hailed the suffering of refugees, who are kept in detention facilities, lamenting that "international accords seem more important than human rights."

He praised Italians and Greeks for welcoming tens of thousands of refugees and migrants rescued at sea. He said he hopes the same generous spirit will "infect" other countries in Europe who have been resistant to taking in the refugees.

During the service, the names of some of those who died for their faith were read aloud. They included an Italian priest, the Rev. Giuseppe Puglisi, who spoke out against the Sicilian Mafia and was slain by hit men in Palermoy in 1993.

Among those who received tributes was Paul Schneider, a Reformed Church pastor killed in the Nazis' Buchenwald concentration camp in July 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

The pastor's son, Karl A. Schneider, spoke to Saturday's gathering, saying the church "has the task of being vigilant about the state." He said his father was killed because he wanted to ensure "the German people kept a Christian orientation in the state and society." </s> With hundreds dead and nearly 600 more still missing, the Holy Father is praying for the victims, their families and rescue workers.

VATICAN CITY — With hundreds dead and nearly 600 more still missing as a result of a giant mudslide that ravished Sierra Leone’s capital, Pope Francis is praying for the victims, their families and rescue workers.

“Deeply saddened by the devastating consequences of the mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, His Holiness Pope Francis assures those who have lost loved ones of his closeness at this difficult time,” read an Aug. 16 telegram signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Addressed to Freetown’s Archbishop Charles Edward Tamba, the telegram relayed the Pope’s sympathies and assured his prayers for all who have died.

The telegram comes two days after flooding and a large mudslide killed some 400 people in Sierra Leone’s capital city of Freetown Monday, with some 600 still missing.

According to the BBC, a mass burial of victims that had been scheduled for Wednesday in order to free up space in mortuaries has been delayed as the “chaotic” disaster continues to unfold.

Flooding is not uncommon in the overcrowded town of one million residents, leaving those who live in unsafe, makeshift housing especially at risk during natural disasters. Monday’s slide is thought to be the worst incident in the past two decades.

At least 100 houses were wiped out when a hillside in Regent, a mountain town some 15 miles east of Freetown, collapsed, submerging entire buildings and taking people with them.

Bodies have continued to be retrieved from the mud and rubble, but efforts to identify them are proving difficult in the chaos.

In his telegram, the Pope not only offered his prayers for the victims, but also extended “divine blessings of strength and consolation” upon their families.

Francis also expressed his “prayerful solidarity with the rescue workers and all involved in providing the much-needed relief and support to the victims of this disaster.”
Pope Francis comforts a crying boy in San Paolo della Croce, Rome, by telling him his recently-deceased father, an atheist, will have ascended to heaven on the basis his father had "a good heart".