Pope Francis washes feet of 12 jailed minors, including two girls, at detention center

News from RomeReports.com

On Thursday evening, Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of the Last Supper at the Casal del Marmo Juvenile Detention Center, outside Rome. He also washed the feet of 12 jailed teens. According to the Vatican, not all of them are Catholic. Some of the teens were of other religions.

Among the people who had their feet washed, were two teenage girls, one Italian and another from Serbia.

By washing their feet, the Pope evoked the time Jesus washed the feet of his twelve apostles during the Last Supper.

Rome is home to one of the most picturesque, Christmas markets in the world

The video and following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

December 22, 2012. (Romereports.com) Bundled in the heart of Rome, in Piazza Navona, you will find one of the most visited Christmas markets in all of Europe. The smell of roasted chestnuts fills the air, and you are sure to find chocolate nuggets and Italian pastries.

They sell everything from sweets, to warm beverages, cotton candy, and of course, Nativity sets, Advent wreaths and Christmas tree ornaments. But the lifeline of these markets are the artisans. They spend half a year toiling in their shops and the other half, in the market selling their work. They fear that one day, they will be out of job.  

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Religious Street Art? Local artist says why not?

The video and following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

When it comes to 'street art' most people think about graffiti. But this local Italian, is changing that perception...His art, is all about Christianity.

His projects include posters of Madonnas, Jesus and Saints. All of them placed in random Roman street walls. 

The 34 year old goes by the name of 'Mr. Klevra.' He works full time as an engineer and on his free time he designs religious posters.  His favorite style is Byzantine iconography.

Over the years he has posted roughly 300 posters throughout Rome and Florence. But he acknowledges that once posted, they are no longer his. They belong to the entire city.

As a Catholic, he says his inspiration comes from a combination of the Gospel, his family and every day life.

With so many churches in Rome, many of them often go unnoticed.  But he thinks it's this type of modern religious art, that leaves an impression and makes people stop, think and reflect.

His current project is not out on the street, but inside an architectural gallery in Rome. The theme is the Apocalypse.

What does interest him is exposing the message of Christianity, out in the open, in places other than churches, so that all people can be inspired as they go about their daily lives.

Read More: Religious Street Art

50 artists from Progetto Arte Poli give facelift to new churches

The following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

For 60 years the Italian artist Albano Poli has been working to renew the aesthetics of Catholic churches as well as promoting meditation through art.

From his art gallery in Rome, he creates stained glass windows, mosaics and statues with a group of artists known as Progetto Arte Poli. It's a team of around 50 people located in Verona, Italy.

ANDREA MEZZETTI
Assistant, Progetto Arte Poli“Around 80 to 90 percent of our work is related to the Church. From sunrise to sunset, we are thinking about how to give a greater sense to the liturgy. We're also helping priests to deepen their celebration of the Eucharist at Sunday Mass, in every religious rite.”

Among the art pieces in the gallery, there is a giant mosaic of John Paul II that highlights his facial features. There's also this mosaic of the risen Christ made of marble in different planes.

This team of artists now has an international reputation for their work that has traveled to places like Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France and most recently in Chile.

ANDREA MEZZETTI
Assistant, Progetto Arte Poli
“We are doing important work in Coquimbo, Chile, which is the location of the tallest Cross in Latin America. It's the Cross of the Third Millennium, it's close to 300 feet tall and was created by Ramón Bravo. We were asked to make the bronze door to this great temple and bronze figure of the Blessed John Paul II.”

The Progetto Arte Poli was also responsible for the design of the vestments worn by priests at Mass.
Their work of precision art goes to show that many forms of artwork have a deeper meaning behind the beauty.

Muslim writer defends crucifixes in Italy

The following article appeared on the Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Young Muslim writer defends crucifixes in Italy

Rome, Italy, Nov 13, 2009 (CNA) - A young Muslim writer named Randa Ghazy has written an article entitled, “I, a Muslim, Defend the Crucifix,” in which she expresses her opposition to a ruling by the EU Human Rights Court that ordered all crucifixes be taken down in classrooms across Italy. The article will appear in the December edition of the magazine Mondo e Missione, a publication of the Pontifical Institute Missioni Estere.

“One of the most beautiful memories of my childhood and adolescence was of Father Bruno,” she writes. “I would often go to the oratory with my little brother and the sisters would treat us with great kindness and care.”

Ghazy recalls as well that “Father Bruno made us truly laugh. When it was time for Mass, my brother and I would run off to play ping pong and eat candy. Every day Father Bruno would ask us to stay with the other kids who were there in the church, which we embarrassingly declined to do.”

“One day, Father said to us, ‘Why don’t you come and say your prayers?’ And so we did. During Mass my brother and I slowly recited prayers from the Koran. So the crucifix, all the different kinds that I remember (from grade school to college) was always a symbol of security for me, a projection of the greatness of the heart of Christ, and in some way, of Father Bruno."

For this reason, Ghazy says, “I support and encourage every possible debate between Muslim and Christian citizens, all discussion about the secularity of the State, but with respect for the great models of humility that each one can find in his past and his experiences."

“I turn off the television so I don’t see the continuous verbal assaults, I remember Father Bruno and I smile, thinking about those two little Muslims who looked at each other in that beautiful church. I almost feel nostalgia for the 90s,” she writes.

The young Muslim writer was born in 1987 in the Italian region of Lombardy to Egyptian parents. She has written three books, the first when she was only 15, entitled, “Dreaming of Palestine.” The book is about the friendship shared by a group of young people in the occupied territories.

Her second book, “Bloody Trial,” was published in 2005. In 2007 she wrote, “Today I'm Not Going to Kill Anyone: Short Stories of a Young Muslim Who is Not a Terrorist.”