Patrick Briscoe

9 hours ago | oursundayvisitor.com | Patrick Briscoe

Outside St. Peter’s Basilica, crowds swell. Nuns in habits and businessmen in suits wait side by side. A mother cradles her baby in one arm, a rosary in the other. Some have come to pay their respects to a pope they loved. Others, it seems, have stumbled upon history in motion — waiting long hours to enter St. Peter’s for a passing glimpse of the late pontiff. Inside the Vatican walls, liturgies unfold with the timeless precision of Roman ritual.

17 hours ago | oursundayvisitor.com | Patrick Briscoe

Pope St. John Paul II once reflected that “the word ‘death’ sticks in one’s throat.” Despite all of human history’s efforts to make peace with it, death is always shocking, always overwhelming. This was true for the disciples too. They had seen death, and now they were being asked to believe in something completely new — resurrection. Jesus understands their fear. He does not chastise them. Instead, he shows them his hands and his feet. He invites them to touch him. He eats in their presence.

1 day ago | oursundayvisitor.com | Patrick Briscoe

In the Gospel, we meet the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Still Easter Sunday, the “day of days,” this account invites us into the mystery of pilgrim spirituality. As the English Dominican Father Bede Jarrett once wrote, “That is why He came — to give us His company always. We are pilgrims, and yet He comes with us. That robs the pilgrim of any real pain.”How often we imagine we’re walking alone. But the truth is this: Christ came to journey with us.

2 days ago | oursundayvisitor.com | Patrick Briscoe

“I want the Church to go out onto the streets,” he proclaimed, emphasizing the need to resist comfort and what he calls clericalism. He warned that without this proactive approach, the Church risked becoming merely a non-governmental organization, losing its spiritual vitality.​Pope Francis also highlighted societal issues, noting the marginalization of both the elderly and the youth.

2 days ago | oursundayvisitor.com | Patrick Briscoe

Pope Francis is TIME’s Person of the Year for 2013 http://t.co/AXKIlnqqjr #TIMEPOY pic.twitter.com/xO9K2lDxxf— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2013In 2016, Pope Francis joined Instagram, gaining over a million followers in under 12 hours. Years before, posing with a group of teens in St. Augustine Church in Rome, he became the first pope to pose for a selfie. Pope Francis has delighted pilgrims and well-wishers by taking sips of yerba maté when offered.