Vatican City, Dec 2, 2015 / 05:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Four alleged terrorist sympathizers who made internet threats against Pope Francis have been arrested. While Italian authorities described them as “highly dangerous,” they said they did not appear to be involved in any specific plot.

“They were threatening the Pope, celebrating the recent attacks in Paris and threatening the former U.S. ambassador to Kosovo,” said Carmine Esposito, a police chief in the northern Italian city of Brescia.

They were arrested on suspicion of “condoning terrorism” and inciting racial hatred, Reuters reports. Their online threats included claims that Francis will be the last Pope.

Four people with citizenship in the Balkan country of Kosovo were arrested Dec. 1 in Italy and Kosovo. Italian police carried out raids in the cities of Brescia, Vicenza and Perugia, the Italian newspaper The Local reports.

Two of the suspects will be expelled from Italy, while a third will be placed under special surveillance. The alleged group leader arrested in Kosovo had combat experience outside the country.

Police said that the alleged terrorist team was a “highly dangerous group” that “propagated the ideology of jihad through social networks.” The team allegedly has links to jihadists in Syria.

The arrests followed a tip from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In the wake of the Islamic State group’s Nov. 13 attacks in Paris which killed over 120 people, the U.S. Embassy in Rome on Nov. 18 warned that St. Peter’s Basilica, Milan’s cathedral, and other prominent locations were potential targets for attack.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, told French daily La Croix that the Vatican could be a target of attacks because of its religious significance and that it was capable of increasing its security.

In the interview, published Nov. 15, Cardinal Parolin also said: “we will not let ourselves be paralyzed by fear.”

San Bernardino, Calif., Dec 2, 2015 / 03:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of the Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif. requested prayers and offered his own after at least one gunman left more than a dozen dead at a social services facility in the city.

“Please join me in praying for all of the victims of this horrific incident and their families,” he said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“For those who lost their lives, we pray for their eternal rest and God’s strength to their loved ones left behind; for those who are wounded, we pray for their health and healing.”

Late Wednesday morning, at least one gunman opened fire on an event at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, a facility that serves people with developmental disabilities.

The San Bernardino police have confirmed that at least 14 people were killed and at least 14 were wounded in the attack.

Several reports say there may have been up to three gunmen involved in the attack. As of 2:30 p.m. PST, the shooter or shooters remained at large and no arrests have been made.

Police are searching for a black Yukon SUV that drove away from the shooting. FBI and ATF teams are on the scene.

In his statement, Bishop Barnes also offered prayers for the service men and women on the scene. “Let us also ask God to protect the brave men and women in law enforcement who are pursuing the suspects in this case.”

"Our community of San Bernardino has faced great challenges through the years. Let us come together now in unity to bring light to the darkness of this day," he concluded.

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2015 / 07:16 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis’ recent trip to Africa was the focal point of his general audience today, during which he emphasized the key role that missionaries play on the continent, and asked youth to consider it as an option for their future.

“To the youth: think about what you want to do with your life. It's the moment to think and to ask the Lord to make his will known to you,” the Pope said Dec. 2.

Recalling the many missionaries he met while in Africa last week, Francis pleaded with the youth that whatever they decide to do, “please, don't exclude this possibility of becoming missionaries, to bring love, humanity and faith to other countries.”

The Pope spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his first general audience after returning from Africa. He traveled to the continent for a Nov. 25-30 visit that took him to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.

He spoke about his experience in each country, calling Kenya a land “blessed with great human and natural resources.”

The Pope addressed the U.N. headquarters while in Nairobi, Kenya’s capitol, advocating for environmental protection and the need to create sustainable, equitable and inclusive models of development. He also had strong words for the youth in creating peace and fraternity.

On his visit to Uganda, “the land of the Martyrs,” Francis said he was able to encourage the Christian community there to continue in their witness of faith and charity, “and thus to be a leaven of hope for society as a whole.”

The final phase of his trip, and the riskiest he has made yet, was to the Central African Republic, where he jump-started the Jubilee of Mercy by opening the first Holy Door in the cathedral of Bangui, the country’s capitol.

Francis said he did this “as a sign of hope and strength” for the suffering country, as well as for all of Central Africa “and for all our brothers and sisters” on the continent.

He then pointed to the special role that missionaries play on the continent, many of whom left their homeland at a young age to serve others, “leading a life of much, much work, at times sleeping on the floor.”

One elderly Italian sister he met in Bangui particularly stood out to the Pope. He recalled how during their brief conversation, the sister, 81, revealed that she had been living in CAR since she was 23 and had brought a child to Bangui on a canoe from the Congo.

Pope Francis noted how this sister had practically spent her whole life there, and explained that there are many more like her.

“This is how missionaries are: courageous,” he said, recalling how the same sister was a nurse before she came, and after studying there to become a midwife, has delivered some 3,280 babies.

“An entire life for life, for the lives of others. And like this sister, there are many, many (others): many sisters, many priests, many religious who burn their lives to announce Jesus Christ. It's beautiful to see this.”

Francis then turned to the youth, asking them to think about what they are doing in their life and what they want to do.

He asked them to think about this sister and the many others like her who have given their lives in service, often passing away in their missionary assignments.

To be a missionary, he said, “isn't proselytism,” and noted how the sister he met told him that Muslim women in Bangui go to them, “because they know the sisters are good nurses who heal well, and they don't do catechesis to convert them!”

“They give witness; then to whoever wants, they give catechesis,” he said, explaining that this is what it means to announce Jesus with one’s life.

Pope Francis closed his reflections by encouraging the youth to consider the possibility of becoming missionaries, “but not to proselytize.” Faith, he said, “is first preached with witness and then with the word. Slowly.”

Kampala, Uganda, Nov 28, 2015 / 08:03 am (CNA/EWTN News) - The world is marked by growing indifference, but Christians cannot forget Christ’s call to serve the poor, Pope Francis stressed in his speech this afternoon at the House of Charity in Nalukolongo, Uganda.

“I appeal to all parishes and communities in Uganda – and the rest of Africa – not to forget the poor. Not to forget the poor!” the Pope repeated. “The Gospel commands us to go out to the peripheries of society, and to find Christ in the suffering and those in need.”

“The Lord tells us, in no uncertain terms, that is what he will judge us on!”

Pope Francis said indifference and selfishness are spreading in many parts of the world. He lamented a growing throwaway culture, which he said victimizes the unborn, the young, and the elderly. He also decried human trafficking and neglect of the elderly.

So how can Christians respond to this growing culture of indifference? Parishes and families can open their doors and hearts to the poor, the Pope said.

“This is the royal road of Christian discipleship,” he said. “Our families need to become ever more evident signs of God’s patient and merciful love, not only for our children and elders, but for all those in need. Our parishes must not close their doors, or their ears, to the cry of the poor.”

“In this way we show that people count more than things. That who we are is more important than what we possess. In this way we bear witness to the Lord who came not to be served, but to serve.”

The House of Charity is located in Nalukolongo, a suburb of Uganda’s capital Kampala. It was founded in 1978 to serve the poor, sick, and disabled. Today, it has more than 100 residents from Uganda and neighboring nations. The House of Charity is run by the Good Samaritan Sisters, whom Pope Francis commended in his address for their “years of quiet and joyful service in this apostolate.”

“This is a place which has always been associated with the Church’s outreach to the poor, the handicapped, the sick,” the Pope said. “This is a home. Here you can find love and care; here you can feel the presence of Jesus, our brother, who loves each of us with God’s own love.”

The Pope then entrusted the House of Charity and its residents to Mary’s loving protection and promised his own prayers for the ministry’s continued service to the poor and witness to the Christian faith.

“By simple gestures, by simple prayerful actions which honor Christ in the least of his brothers and sisters, we can bring the power of his love into our world, and truly change it.”

Bangui, Central African Republic, Nov 30, 2015 / 03:28 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Christians and Muslims must unite against acts which “disfigure the Face of God” by promoting peace, Pope Francis told Islamic representatives on the final day of his visit the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR).

“Those who claim to believe in God must also be men and women of peace,” the Pope said at the Nov. 30 encounter at the Mosque of Koudoukou in the CAR capital Bangui, recalling the long history of peaceful coexistence among people of different religions.

“Christians, Muslims and members of the traditional religions have lived together in peace for many years,” the pontiff said, adding: “We are well aware that the recent events and acts of violence which have shaken your country were not grounded in properly religious motives.”

Pope Francis arrived Sunday in the CAR, the final stop of his tri-nation visit to Africa. It also marks the pontiff’s first time in an active war zone.

“Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters. We must therefore consider ourselves and conduct ourselves as such,” he said.

“They ought, therefore, to remain united in working for an end to every act which, from whatever side, disfigures the Face of God and whose ultimate aim is to defend particular interests by any and all means, to the detriment of the common good.”

“Together, we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself. God is peace, salam.”

The CAR became embroiled in violence in December 2012 when several bands of mainly Muslim rebel groups formed an alliance, taking the name Seleka. They left their strongholds in the north of the country and made their way south, seizing power from then-president Francois Bozize. Since then, some 6,000 people have died in the conflict, with several thousands more displaced.

The country will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections Dec. 27, after they were postponed in October due to violence and instability. Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza, who has so far struggled to keep peace, will not be a candidate.

Pope Francis went forward with the scheduled visit to the Koudoukou mosque despite security concerns. These fears were exacerbated by reports Saturday of three young people being killed in a nearby neighborhood, although it was later announced that no one died, and that the youths had been found.

In his address at the mosque, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the work done by Christian and Muslim leaders to re-establish “harmony and fraternity among all.”

The pontiff went on to acknowledge the acts of solidarity shown by Christians and Muslims towards persons of other religions by “welcoming them and defending them during this latest crisis in your country, as well as in other parts of the world.”

“We cannot fail to express hope that the forthcoming national consultations will provide the country with leaders capable of bringing Central Africans together, thus becoming symbols of national unity rather than merely representatives of one or another faction.”

The Pope called for the CAR, which is “situated in the heart of Africa,” to be a place of welcome for everyone – regardless of ethnicity, political affiliation, or religion – which in turn will encourage the rest of the continent to follow in its footsteps.

“It will prove a positive influence and help extinguish the smouldering tensions which prevent Africans from benefitting from that development which they deserve and to which they have a right.”

Pope Francis concluded his address by inviting those present to “pray and work for reconciliation, fraternity and solidarity among all people, without forgetting those who have suffered the most as a result of recent events.”

The Pope’s visit to the CAR is the last stop of his Nov. 25-30 African journey which included visits to Kenya and Uganda.

St. John Paul II was the last pontiff to visit CAR when he stopped there briefly in 1985 as part of a larger trip to Togo, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zaire and Kenya.