(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said humility, gentleness and magnanimity are the three key attitudes to build unity within the Church and urged Christians to reject envy, jealousy and conflicts. He was speaking at his Mass celebrated on Friday in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges that includes clips of the Pope’s voice:
Taking his inspiration from the greeting at Mass “peace be with you,” the Pope focused his homily on what is required to nurture peace and unity and avoid war and conflicts. He said our Lord’s greeting “creates a bond” of peace and unites us to create a unity of spirit and warned that if there’s no peace and if we aren’t able to greet each other in the widest sense of the word, there will never be unity. The Pope explained that this concept applies for unity in the world, unity in the town, in the district and in the family.
The evil spirit sows wars, Christians must avoid conflicts
“The evil spirit always sows wars. Jealousy, envy, conflicts, gossip…. are things that destroy peace and therefore there cannot be unity. And how should a Christian behave to promote unity, to find this unity? Paul tells us clearly: ‘live in a manner worthy, with all humility, gentleness and magnanimity.’ These three attitudes: humility – we cannot sow peace without humility. Where there is arrogance, there is always war and the desire to defeat the other and believing one is superior. Without humility there is no peace and without peace there is no unity.”
Rediscover gentleness and practice mutual support
Pope Francis lamented how nowadays we have lost the ability to speak gently and instead tend to shout at each other or speak badly about other people. He urged Christians to rediscover gentleness, saying by so doing, we are able to put up with each other, give mutual support, “be patient and put up with the faults of others or the things we don’t like.”
Help build unity with the bond of peace
“First: humility, second: gentleness with this mutual support, and third: magnanimity: a big heart, a wide-open heart that can accommodate everybody and that does not condemn, that does not become smaller because of trifling things: ‘who said that,’ ‘I heard that,’ ‘who…’ no, a large heart, there is room for everybody. And this creates the bond of peace; this is the worthy manner in which to behave to create the bond of peace which is the creator of unity. The Holy Spirit is the creator of unity but this encourages and prepares the creation of unity.”
These three attitudes, said the Pope, are the right way to respond to that call to the mystery of the Church that is the mystery of the Body of Christ.
“The mystery of the Church is the mystery of the Body of Christ: ‘one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all’ and who works ‘through all and in all:’ this is the unity that Jesus asked the Father to grant us and we must help create this unity with the bond of peace. And the bond of peace grows with humility, with gentleness and mutual support and with magnanimity.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
Il Pontefice ha ricevuto in udienza in Vaticano i membri della Fondazione Giovanni Paolo II, esprimendo soddisfazione per le loro iniziative di carattere educativo, culturale, religioso e caritativo.
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Papa Francesco ha celebrato la messa nella cappella della Casa Santa Marta, rimarcando che l’unità nella Chiesa si costruisce con la pazienza, rifiutando gelosie, invidie e lotte, e sopportando “i difetti degli altri, le cose che non piacciono”.
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegram on Thursday to the Archbishop of Bari, Francesco Cacucci, where a conference organized in the Italian port city of Bari on the lives of women in the Middle East and the Mediterranean is taking place.
Signed by the Cardinal-Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, the message says, “[The Holy Father] hopes that the spaces of representation of women will broaden and that they might intensify their work in seeking opportunities for interaction, knowledge and dialogue, and that the shared commitment to building a future of prosperity and peace, might produce abundant fruits of human and social growth and encourages reconciliation among men and renewed harmony among nations.”
The second of its kind with women of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, the conference is focusing on the theme, on the theme: Women for Peace – being workers for a culture of encounter and dialogue . The event is being promoted by the International Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations along with the International Forum of Catholic Action, and Catholic Action Italy, in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in the 55 th General Chapter of the Order of Augustinian Recollects on Thursday in the Vatican.
The Augustinian Recollects trace their origins to a 1588 reform of the Augustinian Friars in Spain, and became an autonomous congregation in 1621. It was only in the early 20 th century, however, that they received full recognition as a Mendicant Order under the Rule of St. Augustine – and they have the distinction of being the last Order to receive such recognition from the Holy See.
In Spanish-language remarks prepared for the occasion and delivered on Thursday morning in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis encouraged the Recollects to continue in their ongoing work of renewing the vision of St. Augustine, “[T]o live as brothers ‘with one heart and one soul (Rule 1, 2),’ reflecting the ideal of the first Christians and being a living spirit of prophecy and communion in this world of ours, that there might be neither division nor conflict nor exclusion, but that harmony might reign[.]”
Click below to hear our report
The General Chapter of the Augustinian Recollects is the supreme authority within the Order. It takes place every six years and it examines the status of the institution. The Prior General and his counsellors are also elected in it, and these then prepare a plan to put into operation the decisions taken by the members of the Chapter over the subsequent six years.
(from Vatican Radio)…