(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the many sick and disabled persons gathered in the Paul VI Hall ahead of his Wednesday General Audience.
The group followed his Audience from within the air conditioned audience hall to stay out of the sweltering Roman heat, to which the Pope alluded in a short address to them, saying it would be “like a Turkish bath out there today”.
Thanking them for coming, the Holy Father invited the group to listen to his words “with a heart united to those in [St. Peter’s] Square” where his Audience was held.
He said the Church is like this because it is united by the Holy Spirit, with “one group here and another there, but all are united.”
Before exiting to hold his General Audience, Pope Francis prayed the Our Father and Hail Mary and gave his blessing to his special guests.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his reflections on Christian hope, as he greeted thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square and in the Paul VI audience hall for his weekly general audience.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
Pope Francis began his reflection by noting that none of us can live without love. Yet many people today, he went on, are anguished or empty inside because they don’t believe they are beautiful or important enough to be loved by others.
Imagine a world where everyone is seeking attention and no-one is prepared to give love in a gratuitous way, he said. Behind so much narcissistic behaviour and incomprehensible actions we discover feelings of solitude and abandonment.
When adolescents feel unloved, the pope continued, they may turn to violence, hatred or delinquent behaviour. There is no such thing as bad children or evil adolescents, he said, but there are unhappy people. When we look and smile freely at someone who is sad, he said, we open their hearts and offer them a way out of their unhappiness.
Pope Francis said that God loves us with an unconditional love, not because we deserve it, but rather because he himself is love. Like the father of the prodigal son, he said, God has compassion for us even when we are far away from him. He also recalled the many mothers he met, back in Buenos Aires, who continued to love their sons unconditionally, even when they did wrong and ended up in prison.
It is a time of Resurrection for us all, the pope concluded, because Jesus died to forgive us our sins. It is time to lift up those who are discouraged and to live in the hope of God the Father who loves us for ever, just as we are..May all of us find in God’s embrace the promise of new life and freedom, he said, for in his love is the source of all our hope.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his reflections on Christian hope, as he greeted thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience. A second group of sick and disabled pilgrims also took part in the encounter, following the pope live on video screens in the Paul VI audience hall.
Please find below the text of Pope Francis’ words to English speaking pilgrims present at the audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catechesis on Christian hope, we have found the source of that hope in God’s unconditional love, revealed for us in the coming of the Son and the gift of the Holy Spirit. None of us can live without love. Happiness comes from the experience of knowing love, freely given and received.
So much unhappiness in our world is born of the feeling of not being loved for our own sake. Faith teaches us that God loves us with an infinite love, not for any merit of our own, but out of his sheer goodness. Even when we stray from him, God seeks us out, like the merciful father in the parable of the prodigal son, offers us forgiveness, and restores us to his embrace.
In the words of Saint Paul: “While we still were sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8), so that we might become beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. Through the resurrection of Jesus and the grace of the Holy Spirit, we become sharers in God’s own life of love. May all of us find in God’s embrace the promise of new life and freedom. For in his love is the source of all our hope.
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly the groups from England, Sweden, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Canada and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(from Vatican Radio)…