Pope Francis tapped his way into computer history on Thursday by joining three young women from around the world to contribute a line of code to an app aimed at promoting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Seattle entrepreneur and Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi was on hand to present the event as part of a project called “Programming for Peace.”

The event, organized by the Pope’s foundation, Scholas Occurrentes, in Vatican City, featured the Pope calling on students around the world to learn computer science and to use their creativity for the common good. And it was reportedly the first time a Pope had ever written code.

Matilde Fábrega Vivanco, 11, from Chile; Nicole Rodriguez, 13, from New York; and Liuren Yin, 16, from China, are all students learning computer science in school. With the help of Vivanco, Pope Francis, 82, can be seen in a video clip (below) adding to the last line of code:

setScreen(“por la paz”);

The app’s screen then changed to show the text on a commemorative plaque, bearing the statement: “Computer science empowers young people to create peace in their communities. Everyone should learn how to harness technology, to use their creative power for peace.”

Source

The first line of the article asked the old programmer meme.

Tabs or spaces? Only the Pope knows.

Ok, an in joke for coders – but I suspect the Pope uses sacred spaces. Although priests are often fond of the old tab collar.

After this article came out some traditionalist were outraged that the Pope was obviously using a post-Counsel programming language instead of something like FORTRAN which predated Vatican II. Some argued that Pascal would be more appropriate, even if Pascal himself argued with Jesuits. They are still evaluating that line of code to determine just how heretical it is.
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The truth of it is the Papal Code was a secret instruction calling out the Opus Dei albino papal assassins.

Well not really, but to continue on with the jestering. I would like to see a Vatican developed Computer language.

Ok, with a Vatican developed coding language the jokes would write themselves, so it would be pretty automated.

They could call it “Holy C” and obviously it would run on Red Hat Linux.

This language would be rather inefficient, just like the Vatican. Consume lots of resources with little usable output. PrintScreen would always print text against that awful Vatican.va background.

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 5 January 2017 to 7 March 2019.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

• 24 February 2019

General Audiences

• 27 February 2019

Homilies

• 6 March 2019 – Holy Mass, Blessing and Imposition of the Ashes

Messages

• 2 February 2018 – 22nd World Day for Consecrated Life – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
• 2 February 2019 – 23nd World Day for Consecrated Life – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
• 11 February 2019 – Message for the Fraternity Campaign 2019 promoted by the Brazilian Church

Speeches

• 5 January 2017 – To the people affected by the earthquake
• 17 March 2017 – To participants in the 28th Course on the internal forum sponsored by the Apostolic Penitentiary
• 28 February 2019 – To Members of the “Circolo San Pietro”
• 28 February 2019 – To Participants at the Meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Agostino Bea

Papal Tweets

• “Let’s take a little time every day to examine our conscience, to convert to the Lord. Five minutes at the end of each day will help us think about a change of heart and conversion to the Lord, without procrastination. #SantaMarta” @Pontifex 28 February 2019
• “In order to pray well, we need to have the heart of a child.” @Pontifex 1 March 2019
• “Sometimes we may feel we are alone in facing difficulties. But, even if He doesn’t intervene immediately, the Lord walks by our side and, if we keep going forward, He will open up a new path.” @Pontifex 2 March 2019
• “Let us hear the cry of the earth, wounded in a thousand ways by human greed. Let us allow her to remain a welcoming home, in which no one feels excluded. #WorldWildlifeDay” @Pontifex 3 March 2019
• “Prayer gives consistency and vitality to everything we do.” @Pontifex 4 March 2019
• “Video” @Pontifex 5 March 2019
• “The Lenten journey begins today, Ash Wednesday. I invite each of you to live this time in an authentic spirit of penance and conversion, like a return to the Father, who awaits us all with open arms.” @Pontifex 6 March 2019
• “At the beginning of Lent, it would do us good to ask for the grace to preserve the memory of all that the Lord has done in our lives, of how He has loved us. #SantaMarta” @Pontifex 7 March 2019

Papal Instagram

• Franciscus

So realized since I am now 60 I am not obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday.

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

I would have thought woo-hoo, but then realize that since I do Intermittent Fasting – I only eat one meal a day anyway year round.

The requirement of abstinence is not abrogated by age as far as I can tell from Can. 1252.

It is probably a good thing I am not exempt from abstinence, or else I would have tried to figure out ways to torture Catholics 59 years and younger. Perhaps showing up at the Fish Fry bringing my own steak.

Plus since I voluntarily abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year, these Lenten practices are no departure from year-round habit. I don’t see that as a plus. Lent should feel more Lent-like. So this Lent I think I will fast from any food on Wednesday. At one time I might have considered this a somewhat crazy pious practice that I would be unlikely to maintain.

The one thing that Intermittent Fasting (IF) has taught me was that most of my food cravings were psychological. Included in this was that I had trained my body to expect food throughout the day. I have also learned that it now doesn’t take much to fill me. I picked Wednesday since it is a traditional fast day to add. Although to be honest, since after work after on Wednesday I cycle, go to bible study, and then Eucharistic Adoration. So getting home after 10 PM means that the day is almost over anyway, so skipping my one meal is not as big of a deal. I find a day when I am home all day; I am much more tempted to want to raid the refrigerator.

photo credit: wuestenigel dvia photopin (license)

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 4 October 2018 to 27 February 2019.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

• 17 February 2019

General Audiences

• 20 February 2019

Messages

• 4 October 2018 – Lent 2019: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rm 8:19)

Speeches

• 21 February 2019 – Meeting “The Protection of Minors in the Church”: Introduction of the Holy Father
• 22 February 2019 – Meeting “The Protection of Minors in the Church”: Intervention by the Holy Father Francis after hearing the report by Dr. Ghisoni, under-secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life
• 24 February 2019 – Meeting “The Protection of Minors in the Church”: Address of His Holiness at the end of the Eucharistic Concelebration
• 25 February 2019 – To Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life
• 25 February 2019 – To a Delegation of the “Apostolikì Diakonìa” of the Church of Greece

Papal Tweets

• “Let us ask the Holy Spirit to sustain us during these days and to help us transform this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification. #PBC2019” @Pontifex 21 February 2019
• “Lord, you know how we resist placing the sufferings of others in our heart. Open our hearts and shape them in your image. #PBC2019” @Pontifex 21 February 2019
• “Lord, deliver us from the temptation to want to save ourselves, and our reputations; help us to acknowledge our guilt and to seek humble and concrete answers together, and in communion with all the People of God. #PBC2019” @Pontifex 22 February 2019
• “Lord, focus our gaze on what is essential, make us strip ourselves of everything that does not help to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ transparent. #PBC2019” @Pontifex 23 February 2019
• “Every abuse is an atrocity. In people’s justified anger, the Church sees the reflection of the wrath of God. It is our duty to listen attentively to this silent cry. #PBC2019 http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/february/documents/papa-francesco_20190224_incontro-protezioneminori-chiusura.html …” @Pontifex 24 February 2019
• “God’s love is the only power capable of making all things new.” @Pontifex 25 February 2019
• “Religious life consists in loving God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself.” @Pontifex 26 February 2019
• “If you believe in God you must try to live justly with everyone, according to the golden rule: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Mt 7,12).” @Pontifex 27 February 2019

Papal Instagram

• Franciscus

Back in 2003 I reviewed a book called Save Send Delete by Danusha Goska. A book I really liked and one that I remember very well.

Some months ago the author sent me a PDF of her new book God Through Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery, her spiritual memoir.

A spiritual memoir and travelogue, God through Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery is about where you go when you have nowhere left to go. After a difficult childhood and a series of tragedies and misfortunes, author Danusha Goska finds herself without hope for the future. She decides on a retreat at a remote Cistercian monastery. What results is a story about family, friends, nature, and God; the Ivory Tower and the Catholic Church.

What I remember about her novel was just the brilliance of the writing that was just so quotable. This brilliance shines through especially in her memoir. As a reviewer, I wish I had the writing skill to review properly. It is both eclectic and at the same time on-point.

The summary indicates a story of a woman with a rough childhood, and a difficult life goes on a retreat at a monastery. Where you expect a typical pious outcome of problems solved. I might have suspected this was in that genre if I hadn’t read Save Send Delete.

Her childhood is almost like a Dickens story as written by Stephen King. This includes Dickens’ propensity for coincidences. While I am not that fond of the term God-incidences, it is rather accurate here in how they show up in her life. A very rough life from childhood on to pursuing an academic career. She weaves this story partly on her hobby as a birdwatcher along with a wealth of facts from the natural world to the Holocaust. One thing I know is that I will never think of Hyena’s the same way again.

I enjoyed how she could be blunt, while not just trying to be shocking. An apparent love of truth, and even the facts she saw in herself. Her retelling of how she has been so severely treated is not to invoke pity or play the victim but put her story in context. That she never lost her faith along the way is somewhat surprising.

A lot of this is a ramp-up to her visit to the monastery and how she talks about the people she met there. What I especially laughed about is what she writes about Thomas Merton and her reaction to him. Her critique of him and his writings enter her memoir from time-to-time. I indeed found part of her analysis to be merited.

One minute you are laughing about what she has to say, then aghast as to how she was treated and then reaching for the highlighter to mark a spiritual insight that stops you in your tracks. Her life experiences are so varied as she has done a lot of traveling. The sense of her that I got from this book is that I would love to be able to sit and listen to her talk.

Julie Davis at Happy Catholic has also reviewed this book.

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 10 February 2019 to 20 February 2019.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

• 10 February 2019

General Audiences

• 13 February 2019

Speeches

• 14 February 2019 – To Participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• 14 February 2019 – Meeting of the Holy Father Francis with the Participants in the 42nd Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Agency of the United Nations in Rome
• 20 February 2019 – To the Archdiocese of Benevento

Papal Tweets

• “Those who love use their imagination to discover solutions where others see only problems. Those who love help others according to their needs and with creativity, not according to preconceived ideas or common conceptions. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/february/documents/papa-francesco_20190214_fao.html …” @Pontifex 14 February 2019
• “Truth is the wonderful revelation of God, of His Fatherly face. It is His boundless love.” @Pontifex 15 February 2019
• “Jesus asks us to produce just one work of art, which is possible for everyone: that of our own life.” @Pontifex 16 February 2019
• “Christians promote peace, starting with the community in which they live.” @Pontifex 17 February 2019
• “I invite you to pray during these days for the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, an event that I want to be a powerful gesture of pastoral responsibility in the face of an urgent challenge of our time.” @Pontifex 18 February 2019
• “In the darkest moments of our history, the Lord draws near, opens paths, lifts up discouraged faith, anoints wounded hope, and awakens sleeping charity.” @Pontifex 19 February 2019
• “As of tomorrow, we will live several days of dialogue and communion, of listening and discernment. May it be a time of conversion. We don’t proclaim ourselves, but He who died for us. #PBC2019” @Pontifex 20 February 2019

Papal Instagram

• Franciscus

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 8 January 2019 to 10 February 2019.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

• 3 February 2019

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

• 8 January 2019 – No to the culture of indifference

General Audiences

• 6 February 2019

Messages

• 10 February 2019 – Video message of the Holy Father to the participants in the World Government Summit [Dubai, 10–12 february 2019] (10 february 2019)

Speeches

• 1 February 2019 – To Participants at the General Chapter of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God (Fatebenefratelli) (1th February 2019)
• 1 February 2019 – To the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches (1th February 2019)
• 3 February 2019 – Apostolic Journey to the United Arab Emirates: Greeting to journalists on the flight to Abu Dhabi (Papal flight, 3 February 2019)
• 4 February 2019 – Apostolic Journey to the United Arab Emirates: Interreligious meeting at the Founder’s Memorial (Abu Dhabi, 4 February 2019)
• 5 February 2019 – Apostolic Journey to the United Arab Emirates: Press Conference on the return flight from Abu Dhabi to Rome (Papal flight, 5 February 2019)
• 7 February 2019 – To Personnel of the “Regina Coeli” District House of Rome
• 8 February 2019 – To Members of the Galileo Foundation
• 9 February 2019 – To teachers and students of the Alphonsian Academy Higher Institute of Theology
• 9 February 2019 – To the National Association of Magistrates

Papal Instagram

• Franciscus

Towards the end of last year, I returned to go to meetings for lay Carmelites (OCDS). I started doing this on my way into the Church almost twenty years ago, but life got in the form of being able to attend meetings.

So with this new group, I am going to be starting from scratch and going through the process again. That was the decision made by the priest in charge of our group. I have no problem with this as I see it as returning to the basics. All the more so, since this group has a religious as a spiritual assistant. The first group I was part of did not have specific training for aspirants. It was less organized and any instruction given, was given to all. So it is great being part of a group of people going through this together. It is always amazing to think you know something and find out all the things you did not know.

Recently I have gotten a greater appreciation for getting back to basics. I had dabbled off and on playing the guitar over the years, but never really advancing much. So I started a course initially via YouTube that is detailed, went through the basics and built on this little by little. Again I was amazed at how much I was learning regarding skills I thought I had already learned.

One thing this guitar course has focused on for me is demolishing the idea of talent as only something that is inate. That if you are not a natural, or born with this skill – then you just aren’t going to get far with it. This view was something I already partly knew. I remember Fr. Dubay some years ago focusing on this where he interviewed a bunch of people in different fields who were at the top of their trades. Again and again, the stories were of people that had to work hard at developing their skills, and that usually it did not come naturally to them. So I am relearning this, even as I already knew that in my career I had achieved some mastery of things, by working on them.

The idea of 30 minutes of mental prayer a day was pretty scary for me. I envisioned 29 to 30 minutes of distractions. Chesterton’s “If it’s worth doing, it is worth doing badly” is handy because the truth to this is not to worry about doing it poorly. The context of what Chesterton said was in the context of hobbies, but I think it is applicable generally. That doing it badly over and over again will lead to doing it less “badly.” Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes it less “bad.” Although the lesson he gives is to do things worth doing, spending that time in prayer is worth doing.

Note: The guitar course I was referring to is from is from Erich Andreas at YourGuitarSage. The video’s on YouTube along with the free 30 lesson beginner course are an intro to sell the paid training course and system I have found his teaching style to be encouraging without falling into motivational speaker lingo. There are plenty of such offerings now on the internet. I just saw his teaching style and methodological approach to be very helpful for me.