Feast date: Dec 03

On Dec. 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born during 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France. His mother was an esteemed heiress, and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. There he studied philosophy, and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber, and an older student named Ignatius Loyola – who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree, and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him. But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will. In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order, the Jesuits. During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith. On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast. There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action. He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians. Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes, and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims. In 1545 he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts. Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom, rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

St. Francis Xavier became ill and died on Dec. 3, 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China. In 1622, both St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola were canonized on the same day.

 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Visiting two countries over six days on his first foreign papal trip, Pope Leo XIV preached unity, dialogue and respect for differences as the only paths to peace.

Spending time with Catholics, other Christian leaders and top Muslim clerics in Turkey Nov. 27-Nov. 30 and Lebanon Nov. 30-Dec. 2, the pope made formal speeches about how believing in God as the father of all means recognizing one another as brothers and sisters.

But he also set aside time in a packed schedule for private talks, lunches and late evening meetings with the leaders. 

"The more we can promote authentic unity and understanding, respect and human relationships of friendship and dialogue in the world, the greater possibility there is that we will put aside the arms of war, that we will leave aside the distrust, the hatred, the animosity that has so often been built up and that we will find ways to come together and be able to promote authentic peace and justice throughout the world," he told reporters flying back to Rome with him Dec. 2.

The three iconic moments of the trip were his prayer with top Christian leaders Nov. 28 at the site of the Council of Nicaea, his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul Nov. 29 and his prayer Dec. 2 amid the rubble of the Beirut port explosion in 2020.

The whole trip was planned to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its drafting of the Creed that mainline Christian communities still recite today. 

Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople hosted the ecumenical prayer service and the common recitation of the Creed on a platform overlooking the ruins of a Christian basilica in Iznik, site of the ancient Nicaea, about 80 miles southeast of Istanbul.

With the Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem or their representatives and with representatives of other Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches, Pope Leo said that at a time when humanity is "afflicted by violence and conflict," the world "is crying out for reconciliation."

"The desire for full communion among all believers in Jesus Christ is always accompanied by the search for fraternity among all human beings," he said. "In the Nicene Creed, we profess our faith 'in one God, the Father.' Yet, it would not be possible to invoke God as Father if we refused to recognize as brothers and sisters all other men and women, who are created in the image of God." 

The desire to reach out and form relationships with others also was on display when Pope Leo, like his two immediate predecessors, removed his shoes and entered the so-called Blue Mosque in Turkey's capital; he spent about 20 minutes inside but did not appear to pause for prayer as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had done.

Instead, he listened to Askin Musa Tunca, the mosque's muezzin who calls people to prayer five times a day, explain the building, its construction and how Muslims pray. And the pope asked questions.

The Vatican press office said afterward that Pope Leo visited the mosque "in a spirit of reflection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer." 

On his last morning in Beirut, he laid a wreath, lighted a candle and prayed silently at a memorial to the more than 200 people killed when improperly stored chemicals exploded at the port; the blast also injured some 7,000 people and left an estimated 300,000 people without homes.

Standing amid mountains of rubble, piles of burnt-out cars and heaps of tattered clothing and cloth, the pope was joined by family members of those killed and by people still bearing the scars of injuries they suffered that day.

They carried photos of the loved ones they lost and signs appealing for the government to seriously investigate who was at fault for allowing the chemicals to be stored there.

A young woman, crying, asked Pope Leo for a hug, which the pope gave her before putting his hand on her head and blessing her.

At Mass afterward, he said, "I prayed for all the victims, and I carry with me the pain, and the thirst for truth and justice, of so many families, of an entire country."

And after Mass, before heading to the airport, he told the people, "During these days of my first apostolic journey, undertaken during this Jubilee Year, I wanted to come as a pilgrim of hope to the Middle East, imploring God for the gift of peace for this beloved land, marked by instability, wars and suffering."

Even when it seems peace is far off, Pope Leo said, "I invite you to lift your gaze to the Lord who is coming! Let us look to him with hope and courage, inviting everyone to set out on the path of coexistence, fraternity and peace. Be artisans of peace, heralds of peace, witnesses of peace!"
 

Father John Beryinyuy Tatah was released on December 2 by separatist guerrillas in Cameroon. He was the last of six priests who were seized on November 15 to be set free.

Church officials in Cameroon have made only cautious public comments on the kidnappings, apparently anxious to avoid increasing tensions in the Anglophone region of the country where separatist sentiments run high.

The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin.

Matthew Platkin, New Jersey’s attorney general, issued a subpoena demanding the names of donors to faith-based pregnancy centers, which contend that the subpoena is unconstitutional.

For the first time in nearly three years, the Eucharistic liturgy was celebrated on December 1 in St. Mary’s cathedral in Ernakulam, where a heated dispute over liturgical changes in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church had caused the closing of the cathedral.

Resistance to liturgical changes, centered within the Archdiocese of Enakulam-Angamaly, had led to several violent confrontations, and forced the closing of the cathedral. The re-opening is part of an agreement forged to resolve the conflict.

The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity said in an interview that “Benedict XVI is above all my favorite theologian and then my favorite pope.”

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the dicastery’s prefect since 2010, said that “Pope Benedict was a scholar, he focused on the content of the faith. Pope Francis focused more on relationships and encounters. With Pope Leo, it is still too early to say exactly where he will emphasize.”

Cardinal Koch added that when Pope Francis’s spontaneity “went a bit wrong, then of course it was rather difficult—he didn’t always achieve the good goal he wanted to achieve.”