(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday held his weekly general audience, greeting the thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in a hot and sunny St Peter’s Square. During his catechesis, the Pope focused his reflections on the Gospel story of the leper who was healed by Jesus as a sign of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
As Jesus reached out and touched the unclean man, he said, so we must never be afraid to reach out and touch the poor and those most in need. At the same time, he said, the Lord invites each of us to feel our own need and to ask for his healing touch.
Please see below the English summary of the Pope’s words at his Wednesday General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now consider Jesus’ healing of the leper (Lk 5:12-14). As we know, lepers were considered unclean and bound by law to avoid contact with others.
Saint Luke tells us that one leper, moved by faith, did not fear to pass among the crowds and beg Jesus to cleanse him. If this leper broke the law, Jesus did likewise by touching the man and cleansing him of the disease. The Lord’s example teaches us not to be afraid to reach out and touch the poor and the needy in our midst.
Significantly, the encounter does not end there. Jesus tells the healed leper to present himself to the priest to make the prescribed offering, and as a testimony to his healing. In this way, he shows us that his miracles of healing aim at the rehabilitation of sinners and that true faith bears fruit in witness.
The Lord invites each of us to feel our own need and to ask for his healing touch. Like the leper, may we turn to Jesus in faith and let our lives proclaim his gifts of mercy, forgiveness and spiritual rebirth.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a video message to the participants in the Sixth World Conference Against the Death Penalty , taking place this week in Oslo, Norway. The Holy Father put his message in the key of the Year of Mercy, saying, “The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is an auspicious occasion for promoting worldwide ever more evolved forms of respect for the life and dignity of each person.” Pope Francis goes on to say, “It must not be forgotten that the inviolable and God-given right to life also belongs to the criminal.” Please find the full text of the Holy Father’s message below:
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Message of His Holiness Pope Francis
Sixth World Congress Against the Death Penalty
Oslo , 21-23 June 2016
I greet the organizers of this World Congress against the death penalty, the group of countries supporting it, particularly Norway as its host country, and all those representatives of governments, international organizations and civil society taking part in it. I likewise express my personal appreciation, along with that of men and women of goodwill, for your commitment to a world free of the death penalty.
One sign of hope is that public opinion is manifesting a growing opposition to the death penalty, even as a means of legitimate social defence. Indeed, nowadays the death penalty is unacceptable, however grave the crime of the convicted person. It is an offence to the inviolability of life and to the dignity of the human person; it likewise contradicts God’s plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice. Nor is it consonant with any just purpose of punishment. It does not render justice to victims, but instead fosters vengeance. The commandment “Thou shalt not kill” has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.
The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is an auspicious occasion for promoting worldwide ever more evolved forms of respect for the life and dignity of each person. It must not be forgotten that the inviolable and God-given right to life also belongs to the criminal.
Today I would encourage all to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty, but also for the improvement of prison conditions, so that they fully respect the human dignity of those incarcerated. “Rendering justice” does not mean seeking punishment for its own sake, but ensuring that the basic purpose of all punishment is the rehabilitation of the offender. The question must be dealt with within the larger framework of a system of penal justice open to the possibility of the guilty party’s reinsertion in society. There is no fitting punishment without hope! Punishment for its own sake, without room for hope, is a form of torture, not of punishment.
I trust that this Congress can give new impulse to the effort to abolish capital punishment. For this reason, I encourage all taking part to carry on this great initiative and I assure them of my prayers.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Before judging others we should look first in the mirror to see how we, ourselves, appear. That’s what Pope Francis said at Monday morning’s Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican. In his last Mass with a Homily there ahead of the summer break, the pontiff pointed out that what distinguishes God’s judgment from ours is not “omnipotence” but “mercy.”
Listen to the report by Tracey McClure:
Judgment belongs to God alone, so if we do not want to be judged, we should not judge others says Pope Francis. Focusing on the day’s Gospel, the Pope said “all of us want the Lord “to look upon us with kindness” on Judgment Day and that He “will forget the many bad things we have done in life.”
Jesus calls us hypocrites when we are judgmental
Therefore, if “you judge others constantly,” he warned, “with the same measure you shall be judged.” The Lord, he said, therefore asks us to look in the mirror:
“Look in the mirror, but not to put on makeup to hide the wrinkles. No, no, no, that’s not the advice! Look in the mirror to look at yourself as you are. ‘Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye?’ Or, how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is still in your eye? And how does the Lord look at us then, when we do this? One word: ‘hypocrite.’ First take the log out of your eye, and then you shall see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye’.”
Pray for others instead of judging them
We see that the Lord gets “a little ‘get angry here,” said the Pope. He calls us hypocrites when we put ourselves “in God’s place.” This, he added, is what the serpent persuaded Adam and Eve to do: “If you eat this, you’ll be like Him.” They, he stressed, “wanted to take the place of God”:
“For this, being judgmental is very ugly. Judgment belongs only to God, to Him alone!” the Pope exclaimed. It is for us to “love,” to “understand, to pray for others when we see things that are not good” said the Pope, inviting us to talk kindly to others so that they may learn from their mistakes: “But never judge. Never. And this is hypocrisy, if we judge.”
Our judgment lacks mercy; only God can judge
When we judge others, he continued, “we put ourselves in the place of God”, but “our judgment is poor judgment;” it can never “be true judgment.”
But “can’t our judgment be like the Lord’s?” wondered the Pope. “Because God is Almighty and we are not? ” No, Francis answers, “because our judgment is lacking mercy. And when God judges, He judges with mercy:”
“Let us think today about what the Lord says to us: Do not judge, lest you be judged; the measure… by which we judge will be the same that will be used for us; and, third, let us look in the mirror before judging. ‘But this fellow does this … that fellow does that…’ ‘But, wait a minute …’ I look in the mirror and then think. On the contrary, I’ll be a hypocrite if I put myself in the place of God and, also, my judgement is poor judgment.” Human judgement lacks the mercy of the Lord’s judgment, Pope Francis concluded, “May the Lord make us understand these things.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday asked the question, “Who is Jesus for each one of us?” Speaking to the thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square for his Angelus address, the Pope reflected on the reading from St Luke’s Gospel where Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The disciples reply “John the Baptist”, or “Elijah” or “one of the ancient prophets”. Listen: The Pope noted that people respected Jesus as a great prophet but they were not yet aware of his true identity as the Messiah, the Son of God sent by the Father for the salvation of all. Jesus then asks his disciples directly, “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter immediately replies on behalf of them all, “The Christ of God”. In this way, Pope Francis said, Jesus realized that the twelve apostles, and Peter in particular, had received the gift of faith from God, enabling him to begin to speak openly about his suffering, death and Resurrection which will take place in Jerusalem. Those same questions, the Pope said, are asked of us today: “Who is Jesus for the people of our day?” And more importantly, “Who is Jesus for each one of us?” We are called, he said, to respond like Peter, professing with joy that Jesus is the Son of God, the eternal Word of the Father who became man in order to redeem humanity and bestows on us the abundance of His divine mercy. Many people, the Pope said, feel a void around and inside them, while others live in fear and anxiety because of uncertainty and conflict. Only in Christ, he said, is it possible to find true peace and fulfilment of all our aspirations. Finally the Pope noted that Jesus tells his disciples, ““If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”. This is not an ornamental or an ideological cross, he said, but it is the cross of our daily lives and the sacrifices we make for the sake of others, parents, children, families, friends and even our enemies. It is the cross of solidarity with the poor, he said, of our commitment to justice and peace. Let us remember all those people, the Pope concluded, who put into practice these words of Jesus, offering their time and their work, their efforts and even their lives in order not to deny their faith in Christ. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, he said, will give us the strength to continue on our journey of faith and to bear witness to Him. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for solidarity with refugees as he noted that Monday marks the annual United Nations World Refugee Day .
The Pope recalled that the theme for this year’s event is ‘We stand together #With Refugees’ and with all those forced to flee their lands. Refugees, he insisted, are people like everyone else, who have been deprived by war of their homes, their jobs, their parents and their friends.
“Their stories and their faces” he said, “call on us to renew our commitment for building peace through justice”. For this reason, he concluded, we want to stand together with them, “to meet them, to welcome them, to listen to them, to become with them builders of peace, according to God’s will”.
The Pope’s words came after the recitation of the Angelus prayer, as he greeted thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square.
(from Vatican Radio)…