Paulina Guzik
@Guzik_Paulina • 10,131 subscribers
journalist, intl editor @osvnews, host https://t.co/2QRRFWi5G6, dr hab. @UPJP2, visiting prof. @CatholicProj @iesebschool, wife, mom of 2
Shorts
Videos
When a man without arms asks you for a hug and you’re Pope Leo:
Paulina Guzik188,858 views • 21 hours ago
Monste Alvarado, new prefect of Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, greets journalists in 4 languages today during a briefing on the papal trip to South America. Starts with Spanish (she was born in Mexico City), says she learns Italian and asks for patience, then moves on to say in English you don't have to be sorry to be an American anymore in the Vatican, and at the end greets French journalists in a language she also speaks fluently.
Paulina Guzik254,327 views • 6 days ago
Pope Leo made it clear in Paysandu he knows how to talk symbolism of Latin America, making Uruguyans reach cloud nine when he reflected on the meaning of mate and adding: "Mate has even reached Rome!" "Let us consider a symbol found in every home in this country, in every place of study and work, and at every gathering of friends. I am referring to mate, that drink so characteristic of South America, whose profound meaning you can explain better than I can. Surely, many of you enjoyed mate on your way to this celebration today and will have some again on your journey home. ... Mate has even reached Rome! Mate is a sign of familiarity, friendship and encounter. It teaches us to share and to be together, strengthening the bonds that unite us as brothers and sisters. It is a sign of welcome, integration and shared values. 'Drinking mate' is a ritual rich in symbolism, in which dialogue takes place without words and every detail holds its own meaning. I also think of those moments when one drinks mate alone, silently and prayerfully. In those moments of solitude, how often have so many of you entrusted to God your concerns and needs, your deepest desires and longings!" Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik32,035 views • 2 days ago
The Zygmunt bell announces profound moments for the Polish nation. Today, it rings with sorrow for Kraków and the country after six innocent people were shot in the heart of the city. Through November fog, you can’t even see the Wawel Cathedral tower, but the sound says it all.
Paulina Guzik13,527 views • 1 day ago
While France's Lourdes shrine moves to cover mosaics by Father Marko Rupnik, Brazil's National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in São Paulo celebrated new installations by the artist, who faces decades of allegations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse. The celebration on Sept. 12 included music, prayers, biblical dramatizations and fireworks. The installation, which surrounds the entire basilica, is credited to the Centro Aletti, the art studio founded by Father Rupnik, whose canonical trial is still under review by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this video, posted by TV Aparecida on Sept. 1, Redemptorist fathers who administer the shrine, place some last stones in the western - and last - facade, inaugurated Sept. 12. As one of the prelates placed a stone at the beginning of this fragment of the video, a person standing next to him and giving instructions can be seen wearing a construction hat with the initials "MIR," and bearing a strong physical resemblance to Father (Marko) Rupnik, whose middle name is Ivan. We can't see his face, as he is hidden behind the friar. OSV News' Junno Arocho Esteves reached out to the shrine's communications office Sept. 17 to confirm whether the person was Father Rupnik, since the initials matched his full name. The office was also asked what guided its decision to allow the priest to continue despite pleas from alleged victims and his ongoing canonical trial. OSV News is awaiting a response from the shrine. The Sept. 12 ceremony featured a blessings from retired Archbishop Orlando Brandes of Aparecida, who is also present in the video below, standing behind a person that may be Father Rupnik. Read more in Junno's story, link follows. video: TV Aparecida
Paulina Guzik103,953 views • 1 month ago
I just play it on repeat since yesterday: "Hello Pope Leo XIV, I'm Renzo, I'm six years old. I'd like to ask you a few questions." Renzo, a little a boy from the poor neighborhood of Barcelona, stole the show yesterday at St. Augustine's parish, a place where Pope Leo admitted he "feels at home." Renzo in the sweetest way ever asked those questions to the pope: Do you like soccer? When you were little, did you want to be Pope? Why are my mom and dad worried? Why does my dad have so many jobs? Why do bad things happen to some people and not to others? Whose fault is it? Why are there so many people living on the streets? Does no one see them? Does no one help them? How can we help if the world is so big? Does God want there to be poor and rich? Why are there so many lonely grandparents, if they are so important? And one last question ... Must we always forgive? What pope Leo answered the boy was really moving. "Regarding whether I like football, I confess that I play tennis and I enjoy it very much, but I also appreciate football; in fact, during my years as bishop in Peru, I liked to follow how some local teams were doing; and now, as Pope, I have also received football clubs and sports groups," the pope said, adding that "sport is important because it helps us grow up healthy in body and mind." He said that as World Cup unfolds, "many will be watching the matches. Football reminds us of something we must not forget: life is not a race to show off alone, but a path we learn to travel together." "Whoever doesn't know how to pass the ball, even if they have talent, hasn't yet understood the game. And whoever doesn't know how to live with others and for others hasn't yet understood life." Answering whether he wanted to be Pope when he was little, the pope said: "Well, Renzo, I don't think so. I don't think I ever thought about it." "But I can tell you something: from a young age, I felt the desire to dedicate my life to God. I didn't yet know exactly how or where the Lord would lead me. Over time, I discovered that Jesus was calling me to follow him as a priest, and that this path led through the Order of Saint Augustine." "But this isn't just true for me," he said. "Every child is a dream of God. You are too. God desires the happiness of all and wants us, from childhood and throughout our lives, to have a heart like that of children (cf. Mt 18:3): capable of trusting, full of kindness; he wants us to be his friends and not turn away from him. Therefore, more important than asking oneself whether one will be a priest, doctor, teacher, parent, or anything else, is asking oneself whether one wants to be a friend of Jesus. Because friendship with Jesus gives us joy, sets us free, and helps us to see, step by step, the vocation and the path that God has planned for each of us." Answering the point on injustices in the world, Pope Leo told the boy that "through the life of Jesus Christ, God shows us that, although there is suffering, he never abandons any of his children, because he has prepared for us an eternal joy where there will be no more sadness or pain. Let us have confidence, Jesus is with us, he helps us and accompanies us, and gives us strength to go through the difficult moments we may encounter in life." Stressing that grandparents play a crucial role in families, the pope said: "Let us not allow loneliness and abandonment to become normalized in the lives of older adults. That is a very sad thing. Let's have our hearts open to all of them." On forgiveness, he told Renzo and those gathered: "It does not mean forgetting by force, as if nothing had happened. Forgiveness means not letting hatred become the master of our hearts ... our willingness to forgive is a condition for the forgiveness we receive from God." Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik245,929 views • 5 months ago
In what will certainly become one of the most fundamental speeches of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told the Spanish Parliament, before receiving a 7-minute standing ovation: "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization." "If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?" he said, speaking to a gathering of politicians, many supporting abortion and euthanasia. "Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?" "Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person." "For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile," he said, repeating what John Paul II emphasized decades ago. Starting his speech he commented that Church's is the "message offered in the spirit of service to the human person." "When the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate," Pope Leo said, emphasizing "the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good." He hailed Spain as country that "has known how to view the human being as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political order. It has recognized the human being as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench -- in a word, as someone whose dignity takes precedence over all utility and to whose service legislative action is subject." He said it was Catholic orders that "helped to shape a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties." "That aspiration continues to resonate today: that dignity, justice and the common good should be the measure of social relations, both at the national and international levels." Referring multiple times to his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical, he said: "When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all." "In this context, the family — the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community — takes on particular importance," Pope Leo said. "The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging." "Human life can never be treated as a commodity," the pope said. "A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted; it attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame." "I invite you, then, to lift your gaze to the world around you, not to turn away from reality, but to remember that every decision by public authorities affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard." "The expanse of one’s vision consists precisely in looking more deeply at what is at stake in every public decision. This is why, alongside technical solutions and legal reforms, a moral renewal is also needed." Video: Vatican Media (fragment of speech follows)
Paulina Guzik246,055 views • 5 months ago
Carmina is a high school teacher. Testifying about her depression she told Pope Leo, with her voice breaking, that she "struggled to overcome this illness in silence for years." "I am here," she said, because "God gave me a second chance," when she wanted to give up. "But there are many others who continue to face this darkness. That is why I ask you with all my heart: Where can we see God when the darkness is absolute and we cannot take it anymore?" Pope Leo said he was "moved" that she was "able to speak about it, that you are here among us and that you have found the strength to embrace this second chance that the Lord has given you." "Through contact with Jesus, even those who feel lost regain confidence in life; healed of their illness, they can rise to live again." Speaking about depression, Pope Leo said: "there is something deeply wrong with a certain notion of progress that subjects people to pressures, expectations and tensions that compromise healthy balances. For this reason, we need a healthcare system that prioritizes this invisible and widespread malaise, which also affects young people." "There are moments of darkness and suffering that our society silences," Pope Leo said, because "certain cultural norms demand that we always be victorious and perfect, and so our limitations, fragility and pain must be eliminated, confined to the deafening silence of loneliness or even shame." And in these moments, we may instinctively think that "God has abandoned us as well," he admitted. "However, the cross of Jesus tells us that God does not abandon us, that he is at our side, crucified with us in moments of pain and extreme loneliness, that he gathers not only our tears but also the cry of our suffering that others do not hear." "When God seems absent, we must entrust to him once again the burdens we carry in our hearts, even crying out to him, even protesting like Job, confident that in some way he is present and near even when he appears to be silent. But I believe we cannot do this alone. In times of pain, at least as much as possible, we must open ourselves to someone who can help us utter a simple prayer, who can accompany us with discretion without rushing to explain that pain, who can take us by the hand and lead us out of that cry." Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik240,045 views • 5 months ago
46 lat różnicy między nagraniami. Tradycja Via Crucis wciąż niezmienna. Jan Paweł II niósł samodzielnie krzyż w l. 1980-1994, kiedy pozwalało mu zdrowie. Papież Leon wznawiając niesienie krzyża przez papieża przez całą Drogę Krzyżową chciał „nieść także te cierpienia” innych w swojej modlitwie.
Paulina Guzik270,315 views • 7 months ago
Roughly 2,5 hours into the apostolic visit to France, Pope Leo delivered a defining message on the protection of every life. Reminding the French that for centuries they were the ones drafting and defending human rights, he said: "With the great thinkers of the Renaissance, and later of the Grand Siècle, succeeded by those of the Enlightenment, France was responsible for significant advances in our world, including the recognition of human rights grounded in the nature of the human person, particularly religious freedom. This constant focus on the dignity inherent in every person is echoed in your national motto. Liberty, equality and fraternity are not simply words emblazoned on the front of your public buildings; they refer to universal ethical imperatives that also find in the Gospel message an inexhaustible source of inspiration and fulfillment." Recalling "the apostolic works of Saint Vincent de Paul," and "those many Catholic institutions where caregivers accompany our brothers and sisters in their sufferings," he said -- "these examples of care and concern serve as a true lesson in humanity." Saying "they show the grandeur of compassion and are a powerful reminder of the unique and irreplaceable worth of every human being," he stressed: "They are also a summons to a renewed sense of fraternity, which teaches us to welcome life unconditionally, to support frailty with loving care, to accompany every stage of life with respect and mutual trust, and to defend with courage and compassion those unable to make their voices heard and those who feel ignored or overlooked. That is why I 'firmly reiterate that the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right.'" "Nowadays there is a temptation to expect science to eliminate or alleviate every form of suffering. This often brings the risk of self-delusion. For when science and technology are not guided by a deeper wisdom, they can offer immediate solutions that apparently address people’s wishes and their pain, but can seriously divert them from the greater good to which they aspire." "I am concerned at times by those trends in society that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one’s own death. Let us not forget that mutual respect and the protection of every human life is a duty incumbent upon each and every one of us. It is a duty that begins with the conversion of our minds and hearts, and requires a sincere and selfless commitment to the good of our brothers and sisters." Here, the pope explained that within the frame of French laicite, Catholics have a right to their views, to influence society and to teach kids in Catholic schools. "How can we fail to see such a commitment as an expression of the authentic 'secularity' (laïcité) of the earthly city? A Christian engaged in public service and ... guided by the light of his or her conscience illumined by faith, cannot be considered a proselytizer or a threat to the unity of the nation. Indeed, authentic secularity does not exclude religion but is capable of valuing it as an educational resource." "That is precisely why Catholic schools have a rightful place in the educational landscape of a country like France. This is part of a broader issue essential to any dialogue, in schools and in society as a whole: learning to know and love ourselves, in order to be able to encounter others with respect and openness (cf. ibid.). An authentic secularity, then, consists not in excluding religion from the public sphere or from education, but in striving to ensure that the State and religious institutions maintain dialogue and join forces in the service of the common good, that the world may have life." Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik53,476 views • 1 month ago
Christopher Olah, a Canadian billionaire businessman and researcher who co-founded AI giant Anthropic, sitting in the Synodal Hall and speaking next to Pope Leo said, closing his speech: "I'd like to close with a request. We need more of the world - religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments - to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction. We need informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing. We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend. Today is just the beginning - the start of a long collaboration between those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot. Today is a powerful illustration of the form this global project of good will might take. Let it also be a decisive first step toward a hopeful future for magnificent humanity."
Paulina Guzik168,965 views • 5 months ago
Queen Letizia clearly enjoys chatting with Pope Leo XIV in her home - the Royal Palace of Madrid. Princess Leonor, the future Queen, and Infanta Sofía - younger daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, also greeted the pope in the Palacio Real, wearing black, as the "privilège du blanc" is designated to female royalty. Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik143,764 views • 5 months ago
Until 2016, she was a healthy woman. Today, walking up the stairs with hardship, she started her testimony: "Most Holy Father, to be truly honest with you, I must admit that I, too, would like to be healed..." She said she first came here to the Accueil Notre-Dame at the age of 20 to help the sick and disabled members of the diocesan pilgrimage from Metz ("where you are going tomorrow!" she told the Holy Father) She recalled the typical tasks of a person who accompanies the sick: "the journey, the arrival, life here for four days, the joys, the fellowship, the daily tasks -- washing, nursing care, the fatigue, and sometimes the pain of a death occurring during the pilgrimage." For over 14 years, she accompanied the sick to Lourdes during her time off from her job at a ceramics factory. "In 2016, my life changed completely," she told the pope and other sick gathered in front of Acceuil - a special Lourdes hospital hotel where pilgrims of all health stages are welcomed and receive professional medical help. "On August 15, 2016, following a bicycle accident where I fell into a ravine, I became paraplegic," the woman told Pope Leo. "Thus began a long journey of pain, despair, struggle, and rehabilitation," she said, adding the time was full of despair. "When I returned to Lourdes the following year, in 2017 -- back at the Accueil Notre-Dame but now with my disability -- I could no longer make sense of things; my faith wavered. I was angry with Mother Mary. I often went to pray at the Grotto, to cry out my despair and my rage." "And it was at the Grotto that I found comfort in Her." Back home, she said she struggled greatly to regain her independence: "driving again, getting my own apartment, learning a new trade, and finding work. I sent out dozens of résumés looking for a job. Without success." One day, "without really believing it would work," she applied for a position as a welcome staff member at the Sanctuary of Lourdes. "And this is the grace I have received: to work in this place I love." "It does not erase my suffering; I struggle every day with a body that does not function properly. Thanks to rehabilitation, I am walking a little again, using a walker. I turn to Mother Mary when things get too hard; she helps me a great deal." "Most Holy Father, I am proud to now be of service in welcoming pilgrims, enabling them to access the grace of this unique place and sharing my faith with them." Have tissues ready. Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik44,857 views • 1 month ago
After a highly successful trip to Spain, Pope Leo said today during Angelus: „I express my gratitude to the Lord for the apostolic journey he has granted me to make to Spain. I thank the Spanish people, who welcomed me with great enthusiasm and devotion. I am especially grateful to His Majesty the King. I affectionately thank the Bishops, all the communities I visited, and the entire Church in Spain. May God always bless Spain!” Fun fact: it was King Felipe, who is a military pilot, who first noticed that one of the engines of the papal Iberia plane is not working, and leaned on to the governor of Tenerife to tell him there is a problem. He then offered Pope Leo his private royal plane with which Pope Leo made it back to Rome. Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik98,397 views • 4 months ago
This girl's father tried to kill her mother. A stranger stepped in to shield her, and was killed. The father went to prison, mother turned to drugs. She found Jesus eventually -- through family love and youth retreat -- but struggles to forgive. "And sometimes I look up to heaven and ask God, 'Where were you when I was a little girl?' Holy Father, how can I forgive my father for almost leaving me without a mother? How can I truly be reconciled with God?" Pope Leo said the scope of the question should be broadened: "Should we ask 'where was God'? Or should we ask ourselves about humanity, about how we are sometimes prisoners of evil, resorting to violence against others? How is it that we fail to cultivate love and respect for others’ dignity and freedom? So many crime reports, even today, reflect a toxic climate in family relationships marked by abuse and oppression and, in particular, by violence against women, which unfortunately often leads to femicide." "We cannot attribute to God what has been entrusted to our responsibility; we cannot imagine that God, from on high, will automatically respond to our needs or miraculously prevent evil from happening." "He has given us his own Spirit, precisely so that love may be the key to all our human relationships. If violence exists, if selfishness prevails, if even love among family members turns into hatred, we must question the dynamics of our society, the culture of individualism and the temptation of violence — but not God." On forgiveness, he said: "Above all, we must seek forgiveness from the Lord. We must continually ask the Lord — perhaps for our entire lives — to expand the space of love within us, precisely where we have been wounded, that he can help us reconcile with ourselves and with that part of our past that has been marked by suffering, so that he may slowly transform resentment into mercy and compassion." "This is a long journey," the pope said, "and a process that requires great patience. It is an effort we must make, both on a personal level and through other means of support and inner reconciliation." "We must not lose heart: we move forward in small steps toward forgiveness. Reconciliation with the past is gradual. Above all, we must not think that forgiveness always and in every case means returning to the previous situation or having a close relationship with those who have hurt us, especially when there was violence. We can maintain a good disposition of heart toward the person, reject all forms of hatred or revenge, strive to repair the relationship as much as possible and perhaps pray for him or her. This helps us to enter more and more into the dynamic of forgiveness and to be reconciled with God and with others." Video: Vatican Media
Paulina Guzik97,776 views • 5 months ago