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National Day of Remembrance held for unborn children

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In Focus: Wilkes-Barre attorney Garry Taroli wants justice for Cecil’s killer

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Why do hundreds of Wyoming Valley teens feel so in tune with an Argentine native living in Rome who is at least 50 years their senior?</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s so about the youth,&#8221; Holy Redeemer High School Senior Abby Ruth said shortly before the school celebrated a special Mass Monday morning in commemoration of Pope Francis&#8217; visit to the United States this week. &#8220;He realizes that youth are the future of the church.&#8221;</p><p>Reinforcing that notion during his homily, the Rev. Joseph Elston &#8212; school chaplain &#8212; recounted something the pope did in Cuba Sunday night.</p><p>&#8220;The pope spoke to several thousand young people gathered before him, and while they were speaking to him he took notes,&#8221; Elston said. &#8220;Then he set aside his prepared talk and spoke to them about things that were on <em>their</em> minds, not just the things that were on his mind. That&#8217;s the whole characteristic of this man whom we celebrate this week.&#8221;</p><p>Pope Francis flies into Washington D.C. Tuesday and culminates his East Coast visit by Celebrating Mass on Philadelphia&#8217;s Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday before heading back to Rome. Elston said about 30 Holy Redeemer students will be going to that Mass on buses from their respective parishes.</p><p>Students sported pins with the pope&#8217;s image, and Elston noted they all took &#8220;the pope pledge,&#8221; more formally known as the &#8220;walk with Francis Pledge.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s three simple things we promised to do,&#8221; Elston said, &#8220;pray, serve, act.&#8221;</p><p>Elston also cited the motto Pope Francis adopted: <em>Miserando atque eligendo</em>, Latin for &#8220;by having mercy and by choosing.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Jesus didn&#8217;t look for the people who were the most popular, or people who would make him more popular,&#8221; Elston told the students. &#8220;He chose people that frankly confused the leaders of his time.&#8221;</p><p>Those people included a hated tax collector who became St. Matthew, one of the 12 apostles, Elston said, adding that Monday was St. Mathew&#8217;s Feast Day in the Roman Catholic Church, and that the pope had adopted his motto from a sermon given by St. Bede, an English monk, on St. Matthew&#8217;s day.</p><p>Elston conceded that while he hopes to get a glimpse of Pope Francis during his own visit to attend the Philadelphia Mass on Sunday, that would be a bonus, not a goal.</p><p>&#8220;I have three goals,&#8221; he told the students, &#8220;To have a safe trip, to get a bobble-head pope, and &#8212;&#8221;</p><p>Well, he asked not to put the third one in print, so lets just say it has to do with feeding the body, not the soul, and with sampling an iconic Philadelphia culinary offering.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer High School held a special Mass Monday morning in honor of Pope Francis visit to the United States. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL092215poperedeemer1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer High School held a special Mass Monday morning in honor of Pope Francis visit to the United States. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Papal events</p><p>Philadelphia has no shortage of pope-related events this week. See Page</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Septuagenarian pope’s appeal to teens on display at Holy Redeemer High School