AN ANTHOLOGY OF SELECTIONS OF THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE FRANCIS REGARDING THE VOCATION TO THE MINISTERIAL PRIESTHOOD

(2013) Date 19 March 2013 28 March 21 April 21 April 8 May 6 June 7 June 21 June 23 June 30 June 6 July 7 July 7 July 27 July 27 July 28 July 28 July 4 August 28 August 8 September 14 September 18 September 19 September 22 September 22 September 4 October 4 October 4 October 16 October 20 November 21 November 23 November 24 November 2 December 21 December 14 January 26 January 27 January 2014 30 January Occasion Audience Homily Solemnity of St Joseph Beginning of the Petrine Ministry Homily Chrism mass Homily Priestly Ordination Regina Coeli Address to Participants in the Plen. Ass. of the Int. Union of Superiors Gen. Address to the Community of the Pontif ical Ecclesiastical Academy Address to the Students of the Jesuit Schools in Italy and Albania Address to Participants in the Papal Representatives Days Angelus Angelus Meeting with Seminarians and Novices Homily Holy Mass with Seminarians, Novices Angelus Rio de Janiero Prayer vigil with the young people Rio de Janiero Homily Mass with Bishops, Priests, Religious Semin. Rio de Janiero Angelus Rio de Janiero Meeting with the Volunteers Angelus Address to the Young People from the Italian Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio Angelus Letter on the occasion of the Beatif- ication of Jos Gabriele Bochero General Audience To a Group of Recently Appointed Bishops Pastoral Visit to Cagliari Meeting with the Cloistered Nuns Pastoral Visit to Cagliari Meeting with the young people Pastoral Visit to Assisi Meeting With the Clergy, Consecrated . Pastoral Visit to Assisi Silent Prayer Before the Crucifix of St Damian Pastoral Visit to Assisi Meeting with Young People of umbria General Audience General Audience To the Camaldolese Benedictine Nuns Rite of Acceptance into the Catechum- Enate/Meeting with Catechumens Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium Ad limina Apostolorum The Netherlands Presentation of the Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia
Pope to Priests: Those who waste their Energy in vanity do much harm to the Church Casa S. Marta

Angelus
Pray for Our Serve the Lord Bishops and Priests Who Serve the Lord

Ad limina Apostolorum

Austria

2 February 2 February 7 February

Angelus Homily Ad limina Apostolo

Consecrated Life 18th Day of Consecrated Life Poland

MASS, IMPOSITION OF THE PALLIUM AND BESTOWAL OF THE FISHERMAN'S RING FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE PETRINE MINISTRY OF THE BISHOP OF ROME

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Square Tuesday, 19 March 2013 Solemnity of Saint Joseph [Video] Photo Gallery

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude. I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps. In the Gospel we heard that Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christs upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christs Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model (Redemptoris Custos, 1). How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave

birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus. How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of Gods presence and receptive to Gods plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a protector because he is able to hear Gods voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to Gods call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation! The vocation of being a protector, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of Gods creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of Gods gifts! Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are Herods who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women. Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be protectors of creation, protectors of Gods plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be protectors, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness! Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness! Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus three questions to

Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of Gods people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect! In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, hoping against hope, believed (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God. To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us! I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.

CHRISM MASS

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Basilica Holy Thursday, 28 March 2013 Video Photo Gallery

Dear Brothers and Sisters, This morning I have the joy of celebrating my first Chrism Mass as the Bishop of Rome. I greet all of you with affection, especially you, dear priests, who, like myself, today recall the day of your ordination. The readings and the Psalm of our Mass speak of Gods anointed ones: the suffering Servant of Isaiah, King David and Jesus our Lord. All three have this in common: the anointing that they receive is meant in turn to anoint Gods faithful people, whose servants they are; they are anointed for the poor, for prisoners, for the oppressed A fine image of this being for others can be found in the Psalm 133: It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down upon the collar of his robe (v. 2). The image of spreading oil, flowing down from the beard of Aaron upon the collar of his sacred robe, is an image of the priestly anointing which, through Christ, the Anointed One, reaches the ends of the earth, represented by the robe. The sacred robes of the High Priest are rich in symbolism. One such symbol is that the names of the children of Israel were engraved on the onyx stones mounted on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, the ancestor of our present-day chasuble: six on the stone of the right shoulder-piece and six on that of the left (cf. Ex 28:6-14). The names of the twelve tribes of Israel were also engraved on the breastplate (cf. Es 28:21). This means that the priest celebrates by carrying on his shoulders the people entrusted to his care and bearing their names written in his heart. When we put on our simple chasuble, it might well make us feel, upon our shoulders and in our hearts, the burdens and the faces of our faithful people, our saints and martyrs who are numerous in these times. From the beauty of all these liturgical things, which is not so much about trappings and fine fabrics than about the glory of our God resplendent in his people, alive and strengthened, we turn now to a consideration of activity, action. The precious oil which anoints the head of Aaron does more than simply lend fragrance to his person; it overflows down to the edges. The Lord will say this clearly: his anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for those who are sorrowing and alone. My dear brothers, the ointment is not intended just to make us fragrant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid and the heart bitter. A good priest can be recognized by the way his people are anointed: this is a clear proof. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with unction, they like it when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme darkness, to the outskirts where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down

their faith. People thank us because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their everyday lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes. And when they feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of Christ, has come to them through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to us everything they want to bring before the Lord: Pray for me, Father, because I have this problem, Bless me Father, Pray for me these words are the sign that the anointing has flowed down to the edges of the robe, for it has turned into a prayer of supplication, the supplication of the People of God. When we have this relationship with God and with his people, and grace passes through us, then we are priests, mediators between God and men. What I want to emphasize is that we need constantly to stir up Gods grace and perceive in every request, even those requests that are inconvenient and at times purely material or downright banal but only apparently so the desire of our people to be anointed with fragrant oil, since they know that we have it. To perceive and to sense, even as the Lord sensed the hope-filled anguish of the woman suffering from hemorrhages when she touched the hem of his garment. At that moment, Jesus, surrounded by people on every side, embodies all the beauty of Aaron vested in priestly raiment, with the oil running down upon his robes. It is a hidden beauty, one which shines forth only for those faith-filled eyes of the woman troubled with an issue of blood. But not even the disciples future priests see or understand: on the existential outskirts, they see only what is on the surface: the crowd pressing in on Jesus from all sides (cf. Lk 8:42). The Lord, on the other hand, feels the power of the divine anointing which runs down to the edge of his cloak. We need to go out, then, in order to experience our own anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters. It is not in soul-searching or constant introspection that we encounter the Lord: self-help courses can be useful in life, but to live our priestly life going from one course to another, from one method to another, leads us to become pelagians and to minimize the power of grace, which comes alive and flourishes to the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to others, giving what little ointment we have to those who have nothing, nothing at all. The priest who seldom goes out of himself, who anoints little I wont say not at all because, thank God, the people take the oil from us anyway misses out on the best of our people, on what can stir the depths of his priestly heart. Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager, has already received his reward, and since he doesnt put his own skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of thanks. This is precisely the reason for the dissatisfaction of some, who end up sad sad priests - in some sense becoming collectors of antiques or novelties, instead of being shepherds living with the odour of the sheep. This I ask you: be shepherds, with the odour of the sheep, make it real, as shepherds among your flock, fishers of men. True enough, the so-called crisis of priestly identity threatens us all and adds to the broader cultural crisis; but if we can resist its onslaught, we will be able to put out in the name of the Lord and cast our nets. It is not a bad thing that reality itself forces us to put out into the deep, where what we are by grace is clearly seen as pure grace, out into the deep of the contemporary world, where the only thing that counts is unction not function and the nets which overflow with fish are those cast solely in the name of the One in whom we have put our trust: Jesus. Dear lay faithful, be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds according to Gods heart. Dear priests, may God the Father renew in us the Spirit of holiness with whom we have been anointed. May he renew his Spirit in our hearts, that this anointing may spread to everyone, even to those outskirts where our faithful people most look for it and most appreciate it.

May our people sense that we are the Lords disciples; may they feel that their names are written upon our priestly vestments and that we seek no other identity; and may they receive through our words and deeds the oil of gladness which Jesus, the Anointed One, came to bring us. Amen.

PRIESTLY ORDINATIONS

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Vatican Basilica Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21 April 2013 Video Photo Gallery

The homily delivered by the Holy Father is based on the one that appears in the Pontificale Romanum for the ordination of priests, with one or two personal additions.

Beloved brothers and sisters: because these our sons, who are your relatives and friends, are now to be advanced to the Order of priests, consider carefully the nature of the rank in the Church to which they are about to be raised. It is true that God has made his entire holy people a royal priesthood in Christ. Nevertheless, our great Priest himself, Jesus Christ, chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in his name, and on behalf of mankind, a priestly office in the Church. For Christ was sent by the Father and he in turn sent the Apostles into the world, so that through them and their successors, the Bishops, he might continue to exercise his office of Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd. Indeed, priests are established co-workers of the Order of Bishops, with whom they are joined in the priestly office and with whom they are called to the service of the people of God. After mature deliberation and prayer, these, our brothers, are now to be ordained to the priesthood in the Order of the presbyterate so as to serve Christ the Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd, by whose ministry his body, that is, the Church, is built and grows into the people of God, a holy temple. In being configured to Christ the eternal High Priest and joined to the priesthood of the Bishops, they will be consecrated as true priests of the New Testament, to preach the Gospel, to shepherd Gods people, and to celebrate the sacred Liturgy, especially the Lords sacrifice. Now, my dear brothers and sons, you are to be raised to the Order of the Priesthood. For your part you will exercise the sacred duty of teaching in the name of Christ the Teacher. Impart to everyone the word of God which you have received with joy. Remember your mothers, your grandmothers, your catechists, who gave you the word of God, the faith ... the gift of faith! They transmitted to you this gift of faith. Meditating on the law of the Lord, see that you believe what you read, that you teach what you believe, and that you practise what you teach. Remember too that the word of God is not your property: it is the word of God. And the Church is the custodian of the word of God.

In this way, let what you teach be nourishment for the people of God. Let the holiness of your lives be a delightful fragrance to Christs faithful, so that by word and example you may build up the house which is Gods Church. Likewise you will exercise in Christ the office of sanctifying. For by your ministry the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful will be made perfect, being united to the sacrifice of Christ, which will be offered through your hands in an unbloody way on the altar, in union with the faithful, in the celebration of the sacraments. Understand, therefore, what you do and imitate what you celebrate. As celebrants of the mystery of the Lords death and resurrection, strive to put to death whatever in your members is sinful and to walk in newness of life. You will gather others into the people of God through Baptism, and you will forgive sins in the name of Christ and the Church in the sacrament of Penance. Today I ask you in the name of Christ and the Church, never tire of being merciful. You will comfort the sick and the elderly with holy oil: do not hesitate to show tenderness towards the elderly. When you celebrate the sacred rites, when you offer prayers of praise and thanks to God throughout the hours of the day, not only for the people of God but for the worldremember then that you are taken from among men and appointed on their behalf for those things that pertain to God. Therefore, carry out the ministry of Christ the Priest with constant joy and genuine love, attending not to your own concerns but to those of Jesus Christ. You are pastors, not functionaries. Be mediators, not intermediaries. Finally, dear sons, exercising for your part the office of Christ, Head and Shepherd, while united with the Bishop and subject to him, strive to bring the faithful together into one family, so that you may lead them to God the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to seek out and save what was lost.

POPE FRANCIS

REGINA CLI
St. Peter's Square Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21 April 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! The Fourth Sunday of the Season of Easter is characterized by the Gospel of the Good Shepherd in chapter ten of St John which is read every year. Todays passage records these words of Jesus: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. I and the Father are one (10:27-30). These four verses contain the whole of Jesus message; it is the nucleus of his Gospel: he calls us to share in his relationship with the Father, and this is eternal life. Jesus wants to establish with his friends a relationship which mirrors his own relationship with the Father: a relationship of reciprocal belonging in full trust, in intimate communion. To express this profound understanding, this relationship of friendship, Jesus uses the image of the shepherd with his sheep: he calls them and they recognize his voice, they respond to his call and follow him. This parable is very beautiful! The mystery of his voice is evocative: only think that from our mothers womb we learn to recognize her voice and that of our father; it is from the tone of a voice that we perceive love or contempt, affection or coldness. Jesus voice is unique! If we learn to distinguish it, he guides us on the path of life, a path that goes beyond even the abyss of death. However Jesus, at a certain point, said: my Father, who has given them to me... (Jn 10:29), referring to his sheep. This is very important, it is a profound mystery, far from easy to understand. If I feel drawn to Jesus, if his voice warms my heart, it is thanks to God the Father who has sown within me the desire for love, for truth, for life, for beauty... and Jesus is all this in fullness! This helps us understand the mystery of vocation and especially of the call to a special consecration. Sometimes Jesus calls us, he invites us to follow him, but perhaps we do not realize that it is he who is calling, like what happened to the young Samuel. There are many young people today, here in the Square. There are large numbers of you arent there? Its clear.... Look! Here in the Square today there are so many of you! I would like to ask you: have you sometimes heard the Lords voice, in a desire, in a worry, did he invite you to follow him more closely? Have you heard him? I cant hear you? There! Have you wanted to be apostles of Jesus? We must bet on youth for the great ideals. Do you think this? Do you agree? Ask Jesus what he wants of you and be brave! Be brave! Ask him this! Behind and before every vocation to the priesthood or to the consecrated life there is always the strong and intense prayer of someone: a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father,

a community.... This is why Jesus said: Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that is, God the Father, to send out labourers into his harvest (Mt 9:38). Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer; and only through prayer can they persevere and bear fruit. I am pleased to stress this today, which is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Let us pray in particular for the new Priests of the Diocese of Rome whom I have had the joy to ordain this morning. And let us invoke the intercession of Mary. Today there were 10 young men who said yes to Jesus and they have been ordained priests this morning. This is beautiful! Let us invoke the intercession of Mary who is the Woman of the yes. Mary said yes throughout her life! She learned to recognize Jesus voice from the time when she carried him in her womb. May Mary, our Mother, help us to know Jesus voice better and better and to follow it, so as to walk on the path of life! Thank you. Thank you so much for your greeting, but greet Jesus too. Shout Jesus very loudly.... Let us all pray together to Our Lady.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SUPERIORS GENERAL (I.U.S.G.)
Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Your Eminence, Venerable and Dear Brother in the Episcopate, Dear Sisters, I am glad to meet you today and I wish to greet each one of you to thank you for all you do to ensure that the consecrated life is always a beacon on the Church's journey. Dear sisters, first of all I thank dear Brother Cardinal Joo Braz de Aviz for his words to me, and I appreciate the presence of the Secretary of the Congregation. The theme of your Meeting seems to me particularly important for the task entrusted to you: The service of authority according to the Gospel. In light of this expression I would like to propose to you three simple thoughts, that I leave for your personal and communal analysis. 1. Jesus, at the Last Supper, turns to the Apostles with these words: You did not choose me, but I chose you (Jn 15:16). They remind us all, not only us who are priests, that vocation is always an initiative of God. It is Christ who called you to follow him in the consecrated life and this means continuously making an exodus from yourselves in order to centre your life on Christ and on his Gospel, on the will of God, laying aside your own plans, in order to say with St Paul: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20). This exodus from ourselves means setting out on a path of adoration and service. The exodus leads us on a journey of adoring the Lord and of serving him in our brothers and sisters. To adore and to serve: two attitudes that cannot be separated, but must always go hand in hand. To adore the Lord and to serve others, keeping nothing for oneself: this is the self-emptying of whoever exercises authority. May you live and always remember the centrality of Christ, the evangelical identity of the consecrated life. Help your communities to live the exodus from the self on a journey of adoration and service, above all through the three pillars of your life. Obedience as listening to the will of God, in the interior movement of the Holy Spirit authenticated by the Church, accepting that obedience also passes through human mediation. Remember that the relationship between authority and obedience fits into the broader context of the mystery of the Church and constitutes a special realization of her role as mediator (cf. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, The Service of Authority and Obedience, n. 12). Poverty as overcoming every kind of selfishness, in the logic of the Gospel which teaches us to trust in God's Providence. Poverty as a sign for the entire Church that it is not we who build the Kingdom of God. It is not human means that make it grow, but it is primarily the power and the grace of the Lord, working through our weakness. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, the Apostle to the Gentiles tells us (2 Cor 12:9). A poverty teaches solidarity, sharing and charity, and is also expressed in moderation and joy in the essential, to put us on guard against material idols that obscure the real meaning of life. A poverty learned with the humble, the poor, the sick and all those who are on the existential outskirts of life. A theoretical

poverty is no use to us. Poverty is learned by touching the flesh of the poor Christ, in the humble, in the poor, in the sick and in children. Then there is chastity, as a precious charism that broadens the freedom of our gift to God and to others, with tenderness, mercy, closeness to Christ. Chastity for the Kingdom of Heaven shows how the emotions have their place in mature freedom and become a sign of the world to come, to make God's primacy shine out ever brighter. But, please, let it be a fruitful chastity which generates spiritual children in the Church. The consecrated woman is a mother, she must be a mother, not a spinster! Excuse me for speaking like this, but motherhood in the consecrated life is important, this fruitfulness! May this joy of spiritual fecundity motivate your life; be mothers, as a figure of Mary, Mother, and of Mother Church. It is impossible to understand Mary without her motherhood; it is impossible to understand the Church apart from her motherhood and you are icons of Mary and the Church. 2. A second element I would like to underline in the exercise of authority is service: we must never forget that true power, at any level, is service, whose bright summit is upon the Cross. Benedict XVI, with great wisdom, often reminded the Church that although man frequently equates authority with control, dominion, success, for God authority is always synonymous with service, humility, love; it means entering the logic of Jesus who kneels to wash the Apostles' feet (cf. Angelus, 29 January 2012), and says to his disciples: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.... It shall not be so among you, which is precisely the theme of your meeting, 'it shall not be so among you', but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave (Mt 20:25-27). Let us think of the damage done to the People of God by men and women of the Church who are careerists, climbers, who use the People, the Church, our brothers and sisters those they should be serving as a springboard for their own ends and personal ambitions. These people do the Church great harm. May you always know how to exercise authority by accompanying, understanding, helping and loving; by embracing every man and every woman, especially people who feel alone, excluded, barren, on the existential margins of the human heart. Let us keep our gaze fixed on the Cross: there is found any authority in the Church, where the One who is the Lord becomes a servant to the point of the total gift of himself. 3. Lastly, ecclesiality as one of the constitutive dimensions of the consecrated life. It is a dimension that must be constantly reclaimed and deepened in life. Your vocation is a fundamental charism for the journey of the Church, and it is impossible for a consecrated man or woman not to think with the Church. Thinking with the Church begot us at Baptism; thinking with the Church finds one of its filial expressions in faithfulness to the Magisterium, in communion with the Pastors and the Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a visible sign of unity. Proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel, for every Christian, are never an isolated act. This is important: for every Christian the proclamation of and witness to the Gospel are never an isolated act of an individual or a group. No evangelizer acts, as Paul vi recalled very well, in virtue of a... personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 60). And Paul VI proceeded: It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Christ without the Church, of following Jesus outside his Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church (cf. ibid, n. 16). Be aware of the responsibility that you have in forming your Institutes in the sound doctrine of the Church, in love for the Church and in the ecclesial spirit. In short, the centrality of Christ and of his Gospel; authority as a service of love; thinking in and with Mother Church. These are the three indicators that I would like to leave with you , to which I

add yet once again, my gratitude for your work, which is not always easy. What would the Church do without you? She would lack your motherhood, warmth, tenderness and motherly intuition! Dear sisters, you may be sure that I follow you with affection. I pray for you, but please also pray for me. Please greet your communities for me, especially the sick and the young sisters. I encourage everyone to follow with parresia and with joy the Gospel of Christ. Be joyful, for it is beautiful to follow Jesus, it is beautiful to become a living icon of Our Lady and of our hierarchical Holy Mother Church. Thank you.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE COMMUNITY OF THE PONTIFICAL ECCLESIASTICAL ACADEMY

Clementine Hall Thursday, 6 June 2013

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate Dear Priests, Dear Sisters, Friends, I address to you all my most cordial welcome! I cordially greet your President, Archbishop Beniamino Stella, and I thank him for the kind words he has addressed to me on your behalf, recalling my pleasant visits to your house in the past. I also remember the warm insistence with which, more than two years ago, Archbishop Stella convinced me to send to the Academy a priest of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires! Archbishop Stella knows how to knock at doors! I also address a grateful thought to his co-workers, to the Sisters and to the personnel who offer their generous service in your community. Dear friends, you are training for a particularly demanding ministry in which you will serve directly the Successor of Peter, his charism of unity and communion, and his solicitude for all the Churches. Working in the Papal Representations is moreover a labour which like every kind of priestly ministry, demands great inner freedom, great inner freedom. Live these years of your training with hard work, generosity and a great heart so that this freedom may really be shaped within you. But what does having inner freedom mean? First of all it means being free from personal projects, being free from personal projects. Free from some of the tangible ways in which, perhaps, you may once have conceived of living your priesthood; from the possibility of planning your future; from the prospect of staying for any length of time in a place of your own pastoral action. It means, in a certain way, making yourself free also with regard to the culture and mindset from which you come. This is not in order to forget it or even less to deny it, but rather to open yourselves in the charity of understanding different cultures and meeting people who belong to worlds far distant from your own. Above all it means being alert to ensure you keep free of the ambitions or personal aims that can cause the Church great harm. You must be careful not to make either your own fulfilment or the recognition you might receive both inside and outside the ecclesial community a constant priority. Rather, your priority should be the loftier good of the Gospel cause and the accomplishment of the mission that will be entrusted to you. And I think this being free from ambitions or personal goals is important, it is important. Careerism is a form of leprosy, a leprosy. No careerism, please.

For this reason you must be prepared to integrate all your own views of the Church however legitimate they may be and every personal idea or opinion into the horizon of Peters gaze. You must integrate them into his specific mission at the service of the communion and unity of Christs flock, of his pastoral charity that embraces the whole world and wishes to be present, partly through the action of the papal representations, especially in those all too often forsaken places where the needs of the Church and of humanity are greater. In a word, the ministry for which you are preparing yourselves because you are preparing yourselves for a ministry! Not a profession, a ministry this ministry asks you to leave yourself, to be detached from yourself. It is possible to achieve this only through an intense spiritual journey and a serious unification of life round the mystery of Gods love and the inscrutable plan of his call. In the light of faith we can experience freedom from our own plans and from our will: not as a cause of frustration or emptying but, rather, as openness to Gods superabundant gift that makes our priesthood fertile. Living the ministry at the service of the Successor of Peter and of the Churches to which you will be sent might seem demanding, but it will enable you, so to speak, to be and to breathe in the heart of the Church and of her catholicity. Moreover this is a special gift since, as Pope Benedict XVI himself reminded your community, wherever there is openness to the objectivity of catholicity, there is also the principle of authentic personalization (Address to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, 10 June 2011). Take great care of your spiritual life which is the source of inner freedom. Without prayer inner freedom does not exist. You will be able to treasure the means of conformation to Christ that is proper to priestly spirituality by cultivating the life of prayer and by making your daily work the training-ground for your sanctification. I am pleased to recall here the figure of Blessed John XXIII, the anniversary of whose death we celebrated a few days ago. His service as papal representative was one of the areas and by no means the least significant in which his holiness was formed. In rereading his writings, his constant painstaking care of his soul in the midst of the most varied occupations in the ecclesial and political areas is striking. This gave rise to his interior freedom, the exterior joy he communicated and the effectiveness of his pastoral and diplomatic action. So it was that he noted in his Journal of a Soul during the Spiritual Exercises of 1948: the older I become, the more experience I gain, the better I recognize that the most reliable way to my personal sanctification and the best outcome of my service to the Holy See remains the vigilant effort to reduce everything, principles, addresses, positions, business, to the greatest possible simplicity and calmness; with attention always to prune from my vine all that is only useless foliage... and to go straight to what is truth, justice, charity, especially charity. Every other system of behaving is solely posturing and the search for personal affirmation which is soon betrayed and becomes cumbersome and ridiculous (Edizioni di San Paolo: Cinisello Balsamo 2000, p. 497). He wanted to prune his vine, to be rid of the foliage, to prune it. A few years later, after concluding his long service as a papal representative and being appointed Patriarch of Venice, he wrote: I now find myself in the midst of the ministry for souls. Actually I have always held that for clerics the so-called diplomacy! must always be imbued with a pastoral spirit; otherwise it counts for nothing, and makes a holy mission ridiculous (ibid., pp. 513-514). This is important. Listen well: when in a Nunciature there is a secretary or a nuncio who does not take the path of holiness and lets himself be involved in the many forms and manners of spiritual worldliness, he makes himself ridiculous and everyone laughs at him. Please do not make

yourselves a laughing stock, be holy or return to your diocese to be a parish priest; but do not be ridiculous in diplomatic life, where there are so many perils in the spiritual life of a priest. I would like also to say a word to the Sisters thank you! who carry out their daily service in a religious and Franciscan spirit. They are the good Mothers who accompany you with their prayers, with their simple and essential words and especially with the example of their faithfulness, devotion and love. With them I would like to thank the lay staff who work in the house. Theirs is a hidden but important presence that enables you to live your time in the Academy with tranquillity and hard work. Dear priests, I hope you will undertake your service to the Holy See in the same spirit as that of Blessed John XXIII. I ask you to pray for me and I entrust you to the care of the Virgin Mary and of St Anthony Abbot, your patron. May you be accompanied by the assurance of my remembrance and my blessing, which I warmly extend to all your loved ones. Many thanks.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE STUDENTS OF THE JESUIT SCHOOLS OF ITALY AND ALBANIA
Paul VI Audience Hall Friday, 7 June 2013 Video

The Holy Father addressed to students, alumni, teachers and parents that he had given in his prepared speech for publication but would here summarize the text for them so that they might have time for discussion. Below is the speech prepared for publication and the transcription of the Holy Fathers summary and of his spontaneous question and answer session with young people.

Dear Young People, I am glad to receive you with your families, educators and the friends of the great family of Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania. My affectionate greeting to you all: welcome! I truly feel at home with all of you. Moreover our meeting coincides with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which is a special cause of joy. I would like first of all to tell you something that has to do with St Ignatius of Loyola, our founder. In the autumn of 1537, on his way to Rome with a group of his first companions, he wondered: if people ask us who we are, how should we answer? The answer came spontaneously: We shall say that we are the Society of Jesus (Fontes Narrativi Societatis Iesu, vol. 1, pp. 320-322). This demanding name intends to suggest a relationship of very close friendship and of total affection for Jesus in whose footsteps they wanted to follow. Why have I told you about this event? Because St Ignatius and his companions had realized that Jesus was teaching them how to live well, how to live a life that had profound meaning, that imparted enthusiasm, joy and hope; they had understood that Jesus is a great teacher of life and a model of life, and that he was not only teaching them but also inviting them to follow him on this path. Dear young people, if I were to ask you now: why do you go to school, what would you answer me? There would probably be a whole range of replies, according to the sensibility of each person. Yet I think that they could all be summed up together by saying that school is one of the educational environments in which we develop through learning how to live, how to become grown-up, mature men and women who can travel, who can follow the road of life. How does school help you to grow? It helps you not only by developing your intelligence, but also by an integral formation of all the aspects of your personality. In following what St Ignatius teaches us, the main element at school is to learn to be magnanimous. Magnanimity: this virtue of the great and the small (Non coerceri maximo

contineri minimo, divinum est), which always makes us look at the horizon. What does being magnanimous mean? It means having a great heart, having greatness of mind; it means having great ideals, the wish to do great things to respond to what God asks of us. Hence also, for this very reason, to do well the routine things of every day and all the daily actions, tasks, meetings with people; doing the little everyday things with a great heart open to God and to others. It is therefore important to cultivate human formation with a view to magnanimity. School does not only broaden your intellectual dimension but also your human one. And I think that Jesuit schools take special care to develop human virtues: loyalty, respect, faithfulness and dedication. I would like to reflect on two fundamental values: freedom and service. First of all: be free people! What do I mean? Perhaps it is thought that freedom means doing everything one likes, or seeing how far one can go by trying drunkenness and overcoming boredom. This is not freedom. Freedom means being able to think about what we do, being able to assess what is good and what is bad, these are the types of conduct that lead to development; it means always opting for the good. Let us be free for goodness. And in this do not be afraid to go against the tide, even if it is not easy! Always being free to choose goodness is demanding but it will make you into people with a backbone who can face life, people with courage and patience (parrhesia and ypomon ). The second word is service. In your schools you take part in various activities that accustom you to not retreating into yourselves or into your own small world, but rather to being open to others, especially the poorest and neediest. They accustom you to working hard to improve the world in which we live. Be men and women with others and for others: true champions at the service of others. In order to be magnanimous with inner freedom and a spirit of service, spiritual formation is necessary. Dear young people, love Jesus Christ more and more! Our life is a response to his call and you will be happy and will build your life well if you can answer this call. May you feel the Lords presence in your life. He is close to each one of you as a companion, as a friend who knows how to help and understand you, who encourages you in difficult times and never abandons you. In prayer, in conversation with him and in reading the Bible you will discover that he is truly close. You will also learn to read Gods signs in your life. He always speaks to us, also through the events of our time and our daily life; it is up to us to listen to him. I do not want to take too long, but I would also like to address directly the educators: the Jesuits, the teachers, those who work in your schools and your parents. Do not be disheartened in the face of the difficulties that the educational challenge presents! Educating is not a profession but an attitude, a way of being; in order to educate it is necessary to step out of ourselves and be among young people, to accompany them in the stages of their growth and to set ourselves beside them. Give them hope and optimism for their journey in the world. Teach them to see the beauty and goodness of creation and of man who always retains the Creators hallmark. But above all with your life be witnesses of what you communicate. Educators Jesuits, teachers, operators, parents pass on knowledge and values with their words; but their words will have an incisive effect on children and young people if they are accompanied by their witness, their consistent way of life. Without consistency it is impossible to educate! You are all educators, there are no delegates in this field. Thus collaboration in a spirit of unity and community among the various educators is essential and must be fostered and encouraged. School can and must be a catalyst, it must be a place of encounter and convergence of the entire educating community, with the sole objective of training and helping to develop mature people who are simple, competent and honest, who know how to love with

fidelity, who can live life as a response to Gods call, and their future profession as a service to society. Now I would like to tell the Jesuits that it is important to nourish your commitment in the educational sector. Schools are a precious means for making a contribution to the progress of the Church and of society as a whole. Moreover, the educational field is not limited to the conventional school. Encourage each other to seek new forms of non-conventional education in accordance with the needs of the times and of people. Lastly a greeting to all the alumni present, to the representatives of Italian schools of the Fe y Alegria Network, which I know well because of the important work it does in South America, especially among the poorest classes. And a special greeting to the delegation of the Collegio albanese di Scutari, which after the long years of repression of religious institutions, resumed its activity in 1994, accepting and educating Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim children as well as several pupils born into agnostic milieus. The school is thus becoming a place for dialogue and serene exchanges to encourage attitudes of respect, listening, friendship and a spirit of collaboration. Dear friends, I thank you all for this meeting. I entrust you to the motherly intercession of Mary and accompany you with my blessing: the Lord is always close to you, he picks you up when you fall and impels you to develop and to make ever loftier decisions, con grande nimo y liberalidad, with magnanimity. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.

Dear Girls and Boys, Dear Young People, I prepared this address for you but it is five pages long! Somewhat boring. Lets do something else: I will briefly summarize it and give the written text to Father Provincial, and I will also give it to Fr Lombardi so that you may all have it in writing. And then it will be possible for a few of you to ask a question and we can have a little dialogue. Do we like this idea or not? Yes? Good. Lets follow this route. The first point in the text is that the key point in the education we Jesuits give for our personal development is magnanimity. We must be magnanimous, with a big heart, without fear; always betting on the great ideals. However this also means magnanimity in little things, in daily things the big heart, the great heart. And it is important to find this magnanimity with Jesus, in contemplating Jesus. Jesus is the One who opens windows for us on the horizon. Magnanimity means walking with Jesus, with a heart attentive to what Jesus tells us. On this track I would like to say something to the educators, to those who work in schools, and to parents. Educating, in educating a balance must be maintained, your steps must be well balanced, one step on the cornice of safety but the other into the zone of risk. And when the risk becomes safe, the next step must venture into another area of risk. Education cannot be confined to the safety zone. No. This would mean preventing personalities from developing; yet it is not possible to educate solely in the risk zone either: this is too dangerous. It is a balance of steps: remember it well. We have come to the last page. I also want to encourage you, educators, to seek new, unconventional forms of education, so as to comply with the needs of places, times and people. This is important; in our Ignatian spirituality: always go a step further and never be satisfied with

conventional things. Seek new forms in accordance with the places, times and people. I encourage you to do this. And now I am willing to answer several questions which you, both the young and the educators, may want to ask me. I am ready. I have asked Father Provincial to help me to do so. A boy: I am Francesco Bassani, of the Istituto Leone XIII. I am a boy who, Papa, as I wrote in my letter to you, seeks to believe. I am searching searching, yes, to be faithful. However I have difficulties. Sometimes doubts come to me. And I believe that this is absolutely normal for my age. Since you are the Pope who I believe I will have the longest in my heart, in my life, because I am meeting you in the time of my adolescence, of my development, I wanted to ask you for a few words to help me in my growth and to support all the other young people like me. Pope Francis: Walking is an art; if we are always in a hurry we tire and cannot reach our destination, the destination of our journey. Yet if we stop and do not move, we also fail to reach our destination. Walking is precisely the art of looking to the horizon, thinking about where I want to go, and also coping with the weariness that comes from walking. Moreover, the way is often hardgoing, it is not easy. I want to stay faithful to this journey, but it is not easy; listen: there is darkness, there are days of darkness, days of failure, and some days of falling someone falls, falls. Yet always keep this in your thoughts: do not be afraid of failure, do not be afraid of falling. In the art of walking it is not falling that matters, but not staying fallen. Get up quickly, immediately, and continue to go on. And this is beautiful: it is working every day, it is walking humanly. But also: it is terrible to walk alone, terrible and tedious. Walking in community, with friends, with those who love us: this helps us, it helps us to arrive precisely at the destination where we must arrive. I dont know if I have answered your question. Have you understood? You wont be afraid of the journey? Thank you. A girl: I am Sofia Grattarola from the Istituto Massimiliano Massimo. And I wanted to ask you, given that like all children, when you were at elementary school you had friends, didnt you? And since today you are Pope, do you still see these friends? Pope Francis: I have been Pope for two and a half months. My friends are a 14-hour flight away, they are far away. But I want to tell you something: three of them came here to see me and greet me, and I see them and they write to me, and I love them very much. It is impossible to live without friends. This is important, it is important. A young girl: My name is Teresa: But Francis, did you want to be Pope? Pope Francis: Do you know what it means when a person does not really love himself? A person who wants, who has the wish to be Pope does not love himself. God does not bless him. No, I did not want to be Pope. Is that okay? Come, come, come. A woman: Your Holiness, we are Monica and Antonella, members of the Alunni del Cielo Choir of the Istituto Sociale of Turin. Since we were educated at Jesuit schools, we are often asked to reflect on the spirituality of St Ignatius. We wanted to ask you: At the time when you chose the consecrated life, what was it that urged you to be a Jesuit rather than a diocesan priest or a member of another order? Thank you. Pope Francis: I frequently stayed at the Sociale of Turin. I know it well. What I liked about the Society is its missionary outreach and I wanted to be a missionary. And when I was studying theology I wrote to the General, who was Fr Arrupe, asking him to dispatch me, to send me to Japan

or to some other place. However, he thought about it at length and said to me, with great kindness, But you have had a lung disease, which is not very good for such demanding work, so I stayed in Buenos Aires. Fr Arrupe was so kind because he did not say: But you are not holy enough to become a missionary: he was kind, he was charitable. It was the dimension of mission that gave me such great determination to be a Jesuit: to go out, to go to the missions and proclaim Jesus Christ. I believe this is feature specific to our spirituality: to go out, to go out to always proclaim Jesus Christ and to never stay somehow closed in our structures, which are so often transient. This is what motivated me. Thank you. A woman: I am Caterina De Marchis of the Istituto Leone XIII, and I was wondering: why you [Lei] that is, you [using the familiar tu] have renounced the riches of a Pope, like a luxurious apartment and an large car. Instead you have opted for a small apartment close by, and you even took the bus for bishops. Why ever did you give up riches? Pope Francis: Well, I believe it is not only a matter of wealth. For me it is a question of personality: that is what it is. I need to live with people, and were I to live alone, perhaps a little isolated, it wouldnt be good for me. I was asked this question by a teacher: But why dont you go and live there?. I replied: please listen, professor, it is for psychological reasons. It is my personality. Also, the apartments [in the Papal Palace] are not so luxurious, they are peaceful. however, I cannot live alone, do you understand? And then I believe, yes: the times speak to us of such great poverty throughout the world, and this is a scandal. The poverty of the world is a scandal. In a world where there is such great wealth, so many resources for giving food to everyone, it is impossible to understand how there could be so many hungry children, so many children without education, so many poor people! Poverty today is a cry. We must all think about whether we can become a little poorer. This is something we must all do. How I can become a little poorer to be more like Jesus, who was the poor Teacher. This is the thing. But it is not a problem of my personal virtue, it is only that I cannot live alone, and the matter of the car, as you said: to not have too many things and to become a little poorer. It is this. A boy: My name is Eugenio Serafini, I attend the Istituto CEI, the Ignatian Educational Centre. I wanted to ask you a quick question: how did you get through it, when you decided to become, not Pope, but a parish priest, to become a Jesuit. How did you do it? Wasnt it difficult for you to abandon or leave your family and friends. Pope Francis: You know, it is always difficult. Always. It was hard for me. It is far from easy. There are beautiful moments, and Jesus helps you, he gives you a little joy. All the same there are difficult moments when you feel alone, when you feel dry, without any interior joy. There are clouded moments of interior darkness. There are hardships. But it is so beautiful to follow Jesus, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, that you then find balance and move forward. And then come even more wonderful moments. But no one must think that there will not be difficult moments in life. I would now like to ask a question myself. How do you think you can move forward with the hardships? It isnt easy; but we must go ahead with strength and with trust in the Lord, with the Lord everything is possible. A young woman: Hello, my name is Federica Iaccarino and I come from the Istituto Pontano in Naples. I wanted to ask you for a word about todays youth, about the future of young people today, considering the difficult situation that Italy is in. And I would like to ask for your help in improving that situation, help for us, so that these young people, so that we young people, can move ahead. Pope Francis: You say that Italy is going through a difficult time. Yes, there is a crisis. But I will tell you this: it is not only in Italy. Right now the whole world is in crisis. And crisis is not a bad

thing. It is true that the crisis causes us suffering but we and first and foremost all you young people must know how to interpret the crisis. What does this crisis mean? What must I do to help us to come through this crisis? The crisis we are experiencing at this time is a human crisis. People say: it is an economic crisis, it is a crisis of work. Yes, thats true. But why? This work problem, this problem in the economy, is a consequence of the great human problem. What is in crisis is the value of the human person, and we must defend the human person. Now, I have said this three times already, but I will say it for a fourth. I once read a story about a medieval rabbi in the year 1200. This rabbi explained to the Jews of that time the history of the Tower of Babel. Building the Tower of Babel was not easy. They had to make bricks; and how is a brick made? Mud and straw must be fetched, they must be mixed and the bricks brought to the kiln. It involved a lot of work. And after all this work a brick became a real treasure! They then had to hoist the bricks in order to build the Tower of Babel. If a brick fell it was a tragedy! But if a man fell nothing happened! It is this crisis that we are living today, this same crisis. It is the crisis of the person. Today the person counts for nothing, it is coins, it is money that count. And Jesus, God, gave the world, the whole creation, to the person, to men and women that they might care for it; he did not give it to money. It is a crisis, the person is in a crisis because today listen carefully, it is true the person is a slave! We must liberate ourselves from these economic and social structures that enslave us. This is your duty. A young boy: Hello, I am Francesco Vin and I come from the Collegio SantIgnazio in Messina. I wanted to ask you if you have ever been to Sicily? Pope Francis: No. I can say two things: no or rather not yet. The young boy: If you come we will look forward to it! Pope Francis: Let me tell you one thing: I know a wonderful film about Sicily that I saw 10 years ago. It is called Kaos, with a k: Kaos. It is a film based on four short stories by Pirandello and it really is a beautiful film. This is the only thing I know about Sicily. But it is beautiful! A teacher: Holy Father, I am a Spanish language teacher, Jess Maria Martnez, because I am Spanish: Im from San Sebastian. I also teach religion and I can say that we, the teachers and professors, really love you; that is for sure. I am not speaking on behalf of anyone, but seeing so many alumni, so many important figures too, and also we adults, teachers educated by the Jesuits, I wonder about our political, and social commitment, in society, as adults in the Jesuit schools. Please give us a few words: how can we give our task, our work today in Italy and throughout the world, a Jesuit hallmark? How can we make it evangelical? Pope Francis: Very well. Involvement in politics is an obligation for a Christian. We Christians cannot play the role of Pilate, washing our hands of it; we cannot. We must be involved in politics because politics is one of the highest forms of charity for it seeks the common good. And Christian lay people must work in politics. You will say to me: But it isnt easy!. Nor is it easy to become a priest. Nothing is easy in life. It is not easy, politics has become too dirty: but I ask myself: Why has it become dirty? Why arent Christians involved in politics with an evangelical spirit? I leave you with a question. It is easy to say: It is so and sos fault. But me, what do I do? It is a duty! Working for the common good is a Christians duty! And often the way to work for that is politics. There are other ways: being a teacher, for example, teaching is another route. However, political life for the common good is one of the ways. This is clear. A young man: Father, my name is Giacomo. In fact, I am not alone here today but have come with a large number of youth from the Lega Missionaria Studenti. It is a somewhat transversal

movement, so we have some Missionary League Students from more or less all the schools. So Father, first of all my thanks and those of all the young people whom I have also been in touch with in the past few days, because at last with you we have found that message of hope which earlier we felt obliged to seek travelling round the world. Now, being able to hear it at home is something very powerful for us. Above all, Father, may I say that this light has been lit in this place where we young people were really beginning to lose hope. Thank you, therefore, because it really has reached us. My question is this, Father: we, as you well know from your experience, have learned to experience, to coexist with many different kinds of poverty which are material poverty I am thinking of the poverty of our twinning in Kenya spiritual poverty I am thinking of Romania, I am thinking of the injuries of political events, I am thinking of alcoholism. Therefore, Father, I would like to ask you: how can we young people live with this poverty? How should we behave? Pope Francis: First of all I would like to say one thing to all you young people: do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! Please, do not let yourselves be robbed of it! And who robs you of hope? The spirit of the world, wealth, the spirit of vanity, arrogance, pride. All these things steal hope from you. Where do I find hope? In the poor Jesus, Jesus who made himself poor for us. And you mentioned poverty. Poverty demands that we sow hope. It requires me to have greater hope, too. This seems a little hard to understand, but I remember that Fr Arrupe once wrote a good letter to the Centres for Social Research, The Societys Social Centres. He spoke of how the social problem must be studied. But in the end he told us, he said to all of us: Look, it is impossible to talk about poverty without having an experience with the poor. You mentioned the twinning with Kenya: the experience with the poor. It is impossible to talk about poverty, about abstract poverty. That does not exist! Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus in this hungry child, in the sick person, in these unjust social structures. Go, look over there at the flesh of Jesus. But do not let yourselves be robbed of hope by well-being, by the spirit of well-being which, in the end brings you to become a nothing in life! The young must stake themselves on high ideals: this is my advice. But where do I find hope? In the flesh of the suffering Jesus and in true poverty. There is a connection between the two. Many thanks. I now impart to all, to all of you, to your families, to everyone the Lords blessing.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PAPAL REPRESENTATIVES' DAYS

Clementine Hall Friday, 21 June 2013

Dear Confreres, These days in the Year of Faith are an opportunity the Lord has offered us to pray and reflect together in fraternal reunion. I thank Cardinal Bertone for the words he has addressed to me on behalf of you all and I would like to thank each one of you for your service, which helps me in my solicitude for all the Churches in the ministry of unity, which is central for the Successor of Peter. You represent me in the Churches scattered across the world and with the Governments, but seeing so many of you today also gives me a sense of the Churchs catholicity and of her universal scope. A truly heartfelt thank you! Important is the word that springs to mind when it comes to your work, but it is a formal word. Your job is more than important, it is the work of making the Church, of constructing the Church; among the particular Churches and the universal Church, between the Bishops and the Bishop of Rome. You are not intermediaries; rather you are mediators, who create communion with your mediation. Some theologians who study ecclesiology speak of the local Church and say that the papal representatives and the presidents of bishops conferences make a local Church which is not a divine institution. It is organizational but helps the Church to forge ahead. The most important work is that of mediation and in order to mediate it is necessary to know. Not merely in order to know the cards it is very important to read cards and there are so many but to know people. I therefore consider the personal relationship between the Bishop of Rome and you as essential. It is true, the Secretariat of State exists and helps us, but the latter point, the personal relationship, is important. And we must create it on both sides. I have thought about this meeting and I offer you some simple thoughts on certain, I would say essential, aspects of your life as papal representatives. They are things I have pondered in my heart, thinking mainly of putting myself beside each one of you. At this meeting I should not like to address to you merely formal words or words especially fitting for the circumstance. It would be bad for all of us, both for you and me. What I am saying now comes from inside me, I assure you, and is dear to my heart. 1. I would first like to emphasize that your life is nomadic. I have often thought about this: poor men! Every three or four years for the co-workers, a little longer for the Nuncios, you change your post, you move from one continent to another, from one country to another, from one Church situation to another, which often differ greatly. You are always carrying a suitcase. I wonder: what does this life tell us all? What is its spiritual meaning? I would say that it means going on a journey which is central in the life of faith, starting with Abraham, a man of faith who went on a journey. God asked him to leave his land, his securities, to set out, trusting in a promise, which he did not see but simply kept in his heart as a hope that God was offering him (cf. Gen 12:1-9). And to my mind this involves two elements. The first is mortification, because going about carrying a suitcase really is a mortification, the sacrifice of stripping oneself of things, of friends, of ties, and of starting over and over again. And this is not easy; it means living in temporary circumstances, going out of yourselves, without having

anywhere in which to put down roots, a permanent community, and yet loving the Church and the country you are called to serve. A second aspect that this nomadic life, constantly on the move, entails is what is described to us in chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews. In listing examples of the fathers faith, the author says that they saw the good things promised to them and they greeted them from afar this is a beautiful image after acknowledging that they were pilgrims on this earth (cf. 11:13). Such a life is of great merit, a life like yours, when it is lived with intense love and an active memory of your first call. 2. I would like to think briefly about the aspect of seeing from afar, seeing the promises from afar, greeting them from afar. What did the Fathers of the Old Testament see in the distance? The good things promised by God. Each one of us can ask: what is my promise? What am I looking at? What do I seek in life? What our founding memory impels us to seek is the Lord. He is the promised good. This must never seem to us something to be taken for granted. On 25 April 1951, in a famous discourse, Mons. Montini, then Substitute of the Secretariat of State, recalled that the figure of the papal representative is of someone truly aware that he is bringing Christ with him, as the precious good to communicate, to proclaim, and to represent. Property, the prospects of this world, end in disappointment, they feed the urge never to be satisfied; the Lord is the good that does not disappoint, the only one that does not disappoint. And this demands a detachment from ourselves that can only be achieved in a constant relationship with the Lord and in the unification of our life round Christ. And this is called familiarity with Jesus. Familiarity with Jesus Christ must be the daily nourishment of the papal representative because it is nourishment that originates in the memory of the first encounter with him and also constitutes the daily expression of faithfulness to his call. Familiarity. Being on familiar terms with Jesus Christ in prayer, in the Eucharistic celebration, is never to be neglected in the service of charity. 3. For men of the Church too there is always a risk of giving in to what, borrowing the words of De Lubac, I call spiritual worldliness: succumbing to the spirit of the world that leads to acting for ones own fulfilment rather than for the glory of God (cf. Mditations sur lEglise, 1952), to that sort of bourgeoisie of spirit and life which spurs us to lie back, to seek a comfortable, quiet life. I also reminded the students of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy that for Blessed John XXIII, service as a papal representative was one of the areas and not a secondary one in which his holiness was shaped, and I quoted several passages of the Journal of a Soul that referred specifically to this long stretch of his ministry. He said he understood increasingly that for his action to be effective he was constantly obliged to prune the vine of his life, cutting away all that was merely useless foliage to go straight to the essential, which is Christ and his Gospel, for otherwise he would risk turning a holy mission into a ridiculous one (cf. Giornale dellAnima, [Journal of a Soul] Edizioni di San Paolo: Cinisello Balsamo 2000, pp. 513-514). This ridiculous is a strong word but it is true: giving into the worldly spirit exposes especially us Pastors to ridicule. We may perhaps first receive some applause, but the very same people who seem to approve of us will later criticize us behind our backs. This is a common rule. However, we are Pastors! And we must never forget it! Dear papal representatives, you are a presence of Christ, you are a priestly presence, a presence of pastors. Of course you will not teach a particular portion of the People of God which has been entrusted to you, you will not be at the helm of a local Church but you are pastors who serve the Church. Your role is to encourage, to be ministers of communion and it is also your duty, which is not always easy, to reprimand. Always do everything with deep love! You are also pastors in your relations with civil authorities and your colleagues: always seek good, the good of all, the good of the Church and of every

individual person. However, this pastoral work, as I said, should be carried out in familiarity with Jesus Christ in prayer, in the Eucharistic celebration, in charitable works: the Lord is present there. Yet, for your part, you must also act with professionalism and this will be, as it were, your and here I am prompted to use a word your cilice [hair shirt], your penance: always do everything with professionalism because this is how the Church wants you to act. Moreover when a papal representative does not do things with professionalism he also loses authority. I would like to conclude with a word too on one of the important aspects, at least for the vast majority, of your service as papal representatives: collaboration with the bishops' provisions. You know the famous expression that indicates a basic criterion in the choice of the person who must govern: si sanctus est oret pro nobis, si doctus est doceat nos, si prudens est regat nos if he is holy let him pray for us, if he is learned, let him teach us, if he is prudent let him govern us. In the delicate task of carrying out the investigation required prior to making episcopal appointments, be careful that the candidates are pastors close to the people: this is the first criterion. Pastors close to the people. He is a great theologian, has a learned mind: Let him go to university where he will do such great good! Pastors! We need them! May they be fathers and brothers, may they be gentle, patient and merciful; may they love poverty, interior poverty, as freedom for the Lord, and exterior poverty, as well as simplicity and a modest lifestyle; may they not have the mindset of princes. Be careful that they are not ambitious, that they are not in quest of the episcopate. It is said that at an early audience Blessed John Paul II was asked by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops about the criterion for the selection of candidates for the episcopate, and the Pope said with his special voice: the first criterion: volentes nulumus. Those who seek the episcopate.... no, they wont do. And may they be bridegrooms of one Church, without being constantly on the lookout for another. May they be able to watch over the flock that will be entrusted to them, in other words to care for all that keeps it united; to monitor it, to be on the alert for dangers that threaten it, to nurture hope, so that hearts may be filled with sunshine and light, to sustain lovingly and patiently the plans God brings about among his People. Let us think of St Joseph who watched over Mary and Jesus, of his care for the family God had entrusted to him, and of the attentive gaze with which he guided it to avoid the perils on the way. For this reason may pastors know how to be in front of the flock to show it the way, in the midst of the flock to keep it united, and behind the flock to prevent anyone from being left behind and because the flock itself has, so to speak, a good nose for finding the way. This is how the pastor must move! Dear papal representatives these are only a few thoughts that come from my heart, I have given a lot of thought to writing this: I wrote it myself! I thought deeply and I prayed. These thoughts come from my heart, they are words with which I do not claim to say new things no, none of the things I have said are new but I ask you to reflect on them for the sake of the important and precious service you render to the entire Church. Yours is a life that is frequently difficult, at times in places of conflict as I know well: I have twice spoken to one of you recently. What pain, what suffering! A constant pilgrimage with no possibility of putting down roots in one place, in one culture, in one specific ecclesial situation. Yet it is a life that journeys on towards the promises and greets them from afar. A life on the way, but always with Jesus Christ who holds your hand. This is certain. He is holding your hand. Thank you again for this! We know that our permanence does not exist in things, in our own projects or ambitions, but rather in being true pastors who keep their gaze fixed on Christ. Once again, thank you! I ask you please to pray for me, because I am in need of it. May the Lord bless you and Our Lady keep you. Many thanks.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
St Peter's Square Sunday, 23 June 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! In this Sundays Gospel resound some of Jesus most incisive words: Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it (Lk 9:24). This is a synthesis of Christs message, and it is expressed very effectively in a paradox, which shows us his way of speaking, almost lets us hear his voice.... But what does it mean to lose ones life for the sake of Jesus? This can happen in two ways: explicitly by confessing the faith, or implicitly by defending the truth. Martyrs are the greatest example of losing ones life for Christ. In 2,000 years, a vast host of men and women have sacrificed their lives to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and his Gospel. And today, in many parts of the world, there are many, many more than in the first centuries so many martyrs, who give up their lives for Christ, who are brought to death because they do not deny Jesus Christ. This is our Church. Today we have more martyrs than in the first centuries! However, there is also daily martyrdom, which may not entail death but is still a loss of life for Christ, by doing ones duty with love, according to the logic of Jesus, the logic of gift, of sacrifice. Let us think: how many dads and moms every day put their faith into practice by offering up their own lives in a concrete way for the good of the family! Think about this! How many priests, brothers and sisters carry out their service generously for the Kingdom of God! How many young people renounce their own interests in order to dedicate themselves to children, the disabled, the elderly.... They are martyrs too! Daily martyrs, martyrs of everyday life! And then there are many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who lose their lives for truth. And Christ said I am the truth, therefore whoever serves the truth serves Christ. One of those who gave his life for the truth is John the Baptist: tomorrow, 24 June, is his great feast, the Solemnity of his birth. John was chosen by God to prepare the way for Jesus, and he revealed him to the people of Israel as the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29). John consecrated himself entirely to God and to his envoy, Jesus. But, in the end, what happened? He died for the sake of the truth, when he denounced the adultery of King Herod and Herodias. How many people pay dearly for their commitment to truth! Upright people who are not afraid to go against the current! How many just men prefer to go against the current, so as not to deny the voice of conscience, the voice of truth! And we, we must not be afraid! Among you are many young people. To you young people I say: Do not be afraid to go against the current, when they want to rob us of hope, when they propose rotten values, values like food gone bad and when food has gone bad, it harms us; these values harm us. We must go against the current! And you young people, are the first: Go against the tide and have the daring to move precisely against the current. Forward, be brave and go against the tide! And be proud of doing so.

Dear friends, let us welcome Jesuss words with joy. They are a rule of life proposed to everyone. And may St John the Baptist help us put that rule into practice. On this path, as always, our Mother, Mary Most Holy, precedes us: she lost her life for Jesus, at the Cross, and received it in fullness, with all the light and the beauty of the Resurrection. May Mary help us to make ever more our own the logic of the Gospel.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
St Peter's Square Sunday, 30 June 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! This Sundays Gospel Reading (Lk 9:51-62) shows a very important step in Christs life: the moment when, as St Luke writes: He [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem (9:51). Jerusalem is the final destination where Jesus, at his last Passover, must die and rise again and thus bring his mission of salvation to fulfilment. From that moment, after that firm decision Jesus aimed straight for his goal and in addition said clearly to the people he met and who asked to follow him what the conditions were: to have no permanent dwelling place; to know how to be detached from human affections and not to give in to nostalgia for the past. Jesus, however, also told his disciples to precede him on the way to Jerusalem and to announce his arrival, but not to impose anything: if the disciples did not find a readiness to welcome him, they should go ahead, they should move on. Jesus never imposes, Jesus is humble, Jesus invites. If you want to, come. The humility of Jesus is like this: he is always inviting but never imposing. All of this gives us food for thought. It tells us, for example, of the importance which the conscience had for Jesus too: listening in his heart to the Fathers voice and following it. Jesus, in his earthly existence, was not, as it were remote-controlled: he was the incarnate Word, the Son of God made man, and at a certain point he made the firm decision to go up to Jerusalem for the last time; it was a decision taken in his conscience, but not alone: together with the Father, in full union with him! He decided out of obedience to the Father and in profound and intimate listening to his will. For this reason, moreover, his decision was firm, because it was made together with the Father. In the Father Jesus found the strength and light for his journey. And Jesus was free, he took that decision freely. Jesus wants us to be Christians, freely as he was, with the freedom which comes from this dialogue with the Father, from this dialogue with God. Jesus does not want selfish Christians who follow their own ego, who do not talk to God. Nor does he want weak Christians, Christians who have no will of their own, remote-controlled Christians incapable of creativity, who always seek to connect with the will of someone else and are not free. Jesus wants us free. And where is this freedom created? It is created in dialogue with God in the persons own conscience. If a Christian is unable to speak with God, if he cannot hear God in his own conscience, he is not free, he is not free. This is why we must learn to listen to our conscience more. But be careful! This does not mean following my own ego, doing what interests me, what suits me, what I like.... It is not this! The conscience is the interior place for listening to the truth, to goodness, for listening to God; it is the inner place of my relationship with him, the One who speaks to my heart and helps me to discern, to understand the way I must take and, once the decision is made, to go forward, to stay faithful.

We have had a marvellous example of what this relationship with God is like, a recent and marvellous example. Pope Benedict XVI gave us this great example when the Lord made him understand, in prayer, what the step was that he had to take. With a great sense of discernment and courage, he followed his conscience, that is, the will of God speaking in his heart. And this example of our Father does such great good to us all, as an example to follow. Our Lady, in her inmost depths with great simplicity was listening to and meditating on the Word of God and on what was happening to Jesus. She followed her Son with deep conviction and with steadfast hope. May Mary help us to become increasingly men and women of conscience, free in our conscience, because it is in the conscience that dialogue with God takes place; men and women, who can hear Gods voice and follow it with determination, who can listen to Gods voice, and follow it with decision.

MEETING WITH SEMINARIANS AND NOVICES

ADDRESS OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

Paul VI Audience Hall Saturday, 6 July 2013 Video

Good evening! I asked Archbishop Fisichella whether you understood Italian and he said you all have the translation.... I feel somewhat reassured! I thank Archbishop Fisichella for his words and his work: he worked hard to organize this. not to mention all the other things he has done and will be doing for the Year of Faith. Thank you very much. However, Archbishop Fisichella said something, and I dont know if it is true, but I am taking it up: he said that you all want to give your life to Christ forever! You are now applauding, you are celebrating because it is the wedding time.... But when the honeymoon is over, what happens? I heard a seminarian, a good seminarian, who said that he wanted to serve Christ for 10 years, and then he would think about starting a different life.... This is dangerous! However, listen carefully: we are all, even the older people among us, we too, are under pressure from this culture of the temporary; and this is dangerous because one does not put ones stakes on life once and for all. I marry as long as love lasts; I become a woman religious, but only for a little while..., a short time and then I shall see; I become a seminarian in order to become a priest, but I dont know how the story will end. This is not right with Jesus! I am not reproaching you, I reproach this culture of the temporary, which hits us all, since it does us no good: because it is very hard today to made a definitive decision. In my day it was easier, because the culture encouraged definitive decisions, whether for married life, consecrated life or priestly life. However, in this day and age it is far from easy to make a decision once and for all. We are victims of this culture of the temporary. I would like you to think about this: how can I be free, how can I break free from this culture of the temporary?. We must learn to close the door of our inner cell from within. Once a priest, a good priest, who did not feel he was a good priest because he was humble, who felt he was a sinner, said many prayers to Our Lady; and he said this to Our Lady I will say it in Spanish because it is beautiful poetry. He told Our Lady that he would never abandon Jesus, saying: esta tarde, Seora, la promesa es sincera. Por las dudas, no olvide dejar la llave afuera (this evening, Mother, the promise is sincere. But in case anything happens, do not forget to leave the key outside). However he said this with love for the Virgin people say Our Lady constantly in mind. Yet when someone always leaves the key outside, for any eventuality.... It wont do. We must learn to close the door from the inside! And if I am not sure, if I am not sure, I think, I shall take my time, and when I feel sure, in Jesus, you understand, because without Jesus no one is safe! when I feel sure, I will shut the door. Have you understood this? What the culture of the temporary is? When I entered I saw what I had written. I wanted to say a word to you and the word is joy. Wherever there are consecrated people, seminarians, men and women religious, young people, there is joy, there is always joy! It is the joy of freshness, the joy of following Jesus; the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us, not the joy of the world. There is joy! but where is joy born? It is born... but on

Saturday evening shall I be going home or will I go out dancing with my former friends? Is joy born from this? For a seminarian, for example? No? Or yes? Some will say: joy is born from possessions, so they go in quest of the latest model of the smartphone, the fastest scooter, the showy car.... but I tell you, it truly grieves me to see a priest or a sister with the latest model of a car: but this cant be! It cant be. You think: so do we now have to go by bicycle, Father? Bicycles are good! Mons. Alfred rides a bicycle. He goes by bike. I think that cars are necessary because there is so much work to be done, and also in order to get about... but choose a more humble car! And if you like the beautiful one, only think of all the children who are dying of hunger. Thats all! Joy is not born from, does not come from things we possess! Others say it comes from having the most extreme experiences for the thrill of the strongest sensations: young people like to walk on a knife edge, they really like it! Yet others like the trendiest clothes, entertainment in the most fashionable places but I am not saying that sisters go to those places, I am saying it of young people in general. Yet others say joy comes from success with girls or with boys, and even from switching from one to another or from one to the other. This is insecurity in love, which is not certain: it is experimenting with love. And we could go on.... You too are in touch with this situation which you cannot ignore. We know that all this can satisfy some desires or create some emotions, but in the end it is a joy that stays on the surface, it does not sink to the depths, it is not an intimate joy: it is momentary tipsiness that does not make us really happy. Joy is not transitory tipsiness: it is something quite different! True joy does not come from things or from possessing, no! It is born from the encounter, from the relationship with others, it is born from feeling accepted, understood and loved, and from accepting, from understanding and from loving; and this is not because of a passing fancy but because the other is a person. Joy is born from the gratuitousness of an encounter! It is hearing someone say, but not necessarily with words: You are important to me. This is beautiful.... And it is these very words that God makes us understand. In calling you God says to you: You are important to me, I love you, I am counting on you. Jesus says this to each one of us! Joy is born from that! The joy of the moment in which Jesus looked at me. Understanding and hearing this is the secret of our joy. Feeling loved by God, feeling that for him we are not numbers but people; and hearing him calling us. Becoming a priest or a man or woman religious is not primarily our own decision. I do not trust that seminarian or that woman novice who says: I have chosen this path. I do not like this! It wont do! Rather it is the response to a call and to a call of love. I hear something within me which moves me and I answer yes. It is in prayer that the Lord makes us understand this love, but it is also through so many signs that we can read in our life, in the many people he sets on our path. And the joy of the encounter with him and with his call does not lead to shutting oneself in but to opening oneself; it leads to service in the Church. St Thomas said: bonum est diffusivum sui the Latin is not very difficult! Good spreads. And joy also spreads. Do not be afraid to show the joy of having answered the Lords call, of having responded to his choice of love and of bearing witness to his Gospel in service to the Church. And joy, true joy, is contagious; it is infectious... it impels one forward. Instead when you meet a seminarian who is excessively serious, too sad, or a novice like this, you think: but something has gone wrong here! The joy of the Lord is lacking, the joy that prompts you to serve, the joy of the encounter with Jesus which brings you to encounter others to proclaim Jesus. This is missing! There is no holiness in sadness, there isnt any! St Teresa there are many Spaniards here and they know it well said: a saint who is sad is a sad saint. It is not worth much.... When you see a seminarian, a priest, a sister or a novice with a a long face, gloomy, who seems to have thrown a soaking wet blanket over their life, one of those heavy blankets... which pulls one down.... Something has gone wrong! But please: never any sisters, never any priests with faces like chilis pickled in vinegar never! The joy that comes from Jesus. Think about this: when a priest I say a priest, but also a seminarian when a priest or a sister

lacks joy he or she is sad; you might think: but this is a psychological problem. No. It is true: that may be, that may be so, yes, it might. It might happen, some, poor things, fall sick.... It might be so. However in general it is not a psychological problem. Is it a problem of dissatisfaction? Well, yes! But what is at the heart of this lack of joy? It is a matter of celibacy. I will explain to you. You, seminarians, sisters, consecrate your love to Jesus, a great love. Your heart is for Jesus and this leads us to make the vow of chastity, the vow of celibacy. However the vow of chastity and the vow of celibacy do not end at the moment the vow is taken, they endure.... A journey that matures, that develops towards pastoral fatherhood, towards pastoral motherhood, and when a priest is not a father to his community, when a sister is not a mother to all those with whom she works, he or she becomes sad. This is the problem. For this reason I say to you: the root of sadness in pastoral life is precisely in the absence of fatherhood or motherhood that comes from living this consecration unsatisfactorily which on the contrary must lead us to fertility. It is impossible to imagine a priest or a sister who are not fertile: this is not Catholic! This is not Catholic! This is the beauty of consecration: it is joy, joy. However I do not want to embarrass this good sister [addressing an elderly nun in the front row] who was in front of the crowd barrier, poor thing, she was really squashed, but she had a happy face. It did me good to look at your face, sister! You may have had many years of consecrated life, but you have beautiful eyes, you were smiling, you did not complain of being squashed.... When you find examples like this, many sisters, many priests who are joyful, it is because they are fertile, they give life, life, life.... They give this life because they find it in Jesus! In the joy of Jesus! Joy, no sadness, pastoral fecundity. To be joyful witnesses of the Gospel it is necessary to be authentic and consistent. And this is another word that I want to say to you: authenticity. Jesus severely reprimanded the hypocrites: hypocrites, those who think within themselves something other than what they say: those who to say it clearly are two-faced. To speak of authenticity to young people costs nothing because the young all of them have this wish to be authentic, to be consistent. And you are all disgusted when you find in us priests who we are not authentic, or sisters who are not authentic! This is a primary responsibility of all adults, of formators. And it is your responsibility, you formators who are here: to set an example of consistency to the youngest. Do we want consistent young people? Are we consistent? On the contrary, the Lord will say to us what he said to the People of God about the Pharisees: Do what they say but not what they do!. Consistence and authenticity! However, you too, in turn, seek to follow this road. I always say what St Francis of Assisi stated: Christ has sent us to proclaim the Gospel with words too. The sentence goes like this: Always proclaim the Gospel. And if necessary, with words. What does this mean? Proclaiming the Gospel with an authentic life, with a consistent life. But in this world to which wealth does so much damage it is necessary that we priests, that we sisters, that all of us be consistent with our poverty! But when you find that money is the principal concern of an educational, parochial or indeed any other institution, this is not good. It is not good! It is an inconsistency! We must be consistent and authentic. On this route, let us do what St Francis says: preach the Gospel with our example and then with words! However, it is in our life that others must first be able to read the Gospel! Here too, without fear, with our shortcomings which we try to correct, with our limitations which the Lord knows, but also with our generosity in letting him act through us. Faults, limitations and I add a little more with sins.... I would like to know something. Here, in this hall, is there anyone who is not a sinner, who has not sinned? Put up your hand! Put up your hands! No one? No one. From here to the back... everyone! Yet how do I carry my sin, my sins? I want to recommend this to you: be honest with your confessor. Always. Confess everything, do not be afraid. Father, I have

sinned!. Think of the Samaritan woman who, to test him, in order to tell her fellow citizens that she had found the Messiah, said to him: you have told me all that I have ever done, and everyone knew about this womans life. Always tell your confessor the truth. This transparency will do us good, because it makes us humble, all of us. But father, I have got stuck in this, I have done this, I have hated... whatever it may be. Tell the truth, without hiding anything, without mincing your words, because you are talking to Jesus in the person of the confessor. And Jesus knows the truth He alone always forgives you! But all the Lord wants is for you to tell him what he already knows. Transparency! It is sad when one finds a seminarian or sister who in order to be rid of the stain confesses today with this one; tomorrow he or she goes to another, to another and to yet another: a peregrinatio to confessors in order to hide the truth from them. Transparency! It is Jesus who is listening to you. Always have this transparency before Jesus in the confessor! However, this is a grace. Father I have sinned, I have done this, and this, and this.... with all the words. And the Lord embraces you, he kisses you! Go, sin no more! And if you come back? Once again. I say this from experience. I have encountered many consecrated people who fall into this hypocritical trap of lacking transparency. I have done this, humbly. Like the publican at the back of the Temple: I have done this, I have done that.... And the Lord shuts your mouth: it is he who cuts you short! But dont you do it! Do you understand? From ones own sin grace overflows! Open the door to grace with this transparency! The saints and teachers of spiritual life tell us that to help us develop our life in authenticity, the daily practice of the examination of conscience is very useful; indeed, it is indispensable. What is happening in my soul? Hence be open, with the Lord and then with the confessor, with the spiritual director. This is so important! How much more time do we have Archbishop Fisichella? [Archbishop Fisichella: if you continue talking like this, we shall certainly be here until tomorrow]. He says until tomorrow.... If it is to be until tomorrow, let them bring each one of you a sandwich and a Coca Cola, at least!... Consistence is fundamental if our witnessing is to be credible. However it is not enough, we also need education, I underline cultural training, in order to account for faith and hope. The context in which we live continually asks us to account in this way, and it is a good thing, because it helps us to take nothing for granted. Today we cannot take anything for granted! This civilization, this culture... we cannot. But it is certainly also demanding, it requires a good, balanced formation which combines all the dimensions of life, the human, the spiritual, the intellectual dimension with the pastoral. In your formation there are the four fundamental pillars: spiritual formation, that is, the spiritual life; intellectual life, this means studying in order to account for; apostolic life, beginning to go out to proclaim the Gospel; and fourthly, community life. Four. And for the latter, formation must be undertaken in community, in the novitiate, in the priory, in seminaries.... I always think of this: the worst seminary is better than no seminary! Why? Because this community life is essential. Remember the four pillars: spiritual life, intellectual life, apostolic life and community life. These four. You must build your vocation on these four elements. And here I would like to stress the importance, in this community life, of relations of friendship and brotherhood that are an integral part of this formation. Here we come across another problem. Why do I say this: relations of friendship and brotherhood? So often I have found communities, seminarians, religious or diocesan communities where the most common remarks are gossip! It is terrible! They flay each other alive. And this is our clerical or religious world.... Excuse me, but it is common: jealousy, envy, criticism of others. Not only speaking badly of our superiors, thats a

classic! But I want to tell you that this is so common, so very common. I too have fallen into this. I have often done it, often! And I am ashamed of myself! I am ashamed of this. It is not good to do this: to go and gossip: Have you heard... have you heard?.... That community is hell. This is not good for us. For this reason relationships of friendship and brotherhood are important. Friends are few. The Bible says this: friends, one or two.... But brotherhood with everyone. If I have some problem with a sister or brother, I say so to his or her face or I say it to someone who can help, but I do not tell others in order to blacken their name. And gossip is terrible! Underlying gossip is envy, jealousy and ambition. Think about this. I once heard of a person who after the spiritual exercises a consecrated person, a sister.... This is good! This sister had promised the Lord never to speak badly of another. This is a beautiful, beautiful way to holiness! Never to speak badly of others. But father, there are problems. Tell the superior, tell the Bishop who can remedy them. Do not tell a person who cannot help. This is important: brotherhood! But tell me, would you speak badly of your mother, your father, your siblings? Never. And why do you do so in the consecrated life, at the seminary, in your priestly life? Only this: think, think.... Brotherhood! This brotherly love. However, in this aspect of friendship and brotherhood there are two extremes: isolation as much as dissipation. Friendship is fraternity that helps me not to fall into either isolation or dissipation. Cultivate friendships, they are a precious good; however they must not teach you to close yourselves in but to go out of yourselves. A priest or a man or woman religious religious can never be an island, but must be a person who is always ready to meet others. Friendships moreover are enriched by the different charisms of your religious families. This is a great wealth. Let us think of the beautiful friendships of many of the saints. I believe I must cut this a little short, because your patience is never-ending! [Seminarians: No no no!] . I would like to tell you: come out of yourselves to proclaim the Gospel, but to do this you must come out of yourselves to encounter Jesus. There are two ways out: one towards the encounter with Jesus, towards transcendence; the other towards others in order to proclaim Jesus. These two go hand in hand. If you only take one of them, that is no good! I am thinking of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was a fantastic sister.... She was not afraid of anything. She went about on the roads.... This woman was not even afraid of kneeling for two hours before the Lord. Do not fear to step out of yourselves in prayer or in pastoral action. Be brave, in order to pray and in order to go and proclaim the Gospel. I would like a more missionary Church, one that is not so staid. This beautiful Church that makes progress. In these days a large number of missionaries, men and women, have come to the morning Mass here at Santa Marta, and when they greet me they say to me: But I am an elderly sister; and I have spent 40 years in Chad, I have been here and there.... How lovely! But you have realized that this sister was able to spend these years in this way because she never neglected to encounter Jesus in prayer. Going out of ourselves, towards transcendence, to Jesus in prayer, towards transcendence, to others in the apostolate and in work. Make your contribution to a Church like this: faithful to the path that Jesus wants. Do not learn from us, from us who are no longer very young; do not learn from us the sport to which we old men so often have recourse: the sport of complaining! Do not learn from us the cult of the goddess lamentation. She is a goddess that.... is always complaining.... But be positive, cultivate your spiritual life and, at the same time, go out, be capable of meeting people, especially those most despised and underprivileged. Do not be afraid of going out and swimming against the tide. Be both contemplatives and missionaries. Always keep Our Lady with you and please pray the Rosary.... Do not neglect it! Always keep Our Lady with you at

home, as did the Apostle John. May she always accompany you and keep you. And also pray for me, because I too need prayers, because I am a poor sinner, but let us go ahead. Thank you very much and we shall meet again tomorrow. And on we go, with joy, with consistence, always with the courage to tell the truth, the courage to step out of ourselves to meet Jesus in prayer and to step out of ourselves to encounter others and give the Gospel to them. With pastoral fruitfulness! Please do not be spinsters and bachelors. Keep forging ahead! Now, Archbishop Fisichella said that yesterday you recited the Creed, each one of you in your own language. But we are all brothers, we have one and the same Father. Now, each one in his own language, let us recite the Our Father. Let us say the Our Father. [Recitation of the Our Father]. And we also have a Mother. Let us now say the Hail Mary in our own language. [Recitation of the Hail Mary].

HOLY MASS WITH SEMINARIANS, NOVICES AND THOSE DISCERNING THEIR VOCATION

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Vatican Basilica Sunday, 7 July 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting you, and today our joy is even greater, because we have gathered for the Eucharist on the Lords Day. You are seminarians, novices, young people on a vocational journey, from every part of the world. You represent the Churchs youth! If the Church is the Bride of Christ, you in a certain sense represent the moment of betrothal, the Spring of vocation, the season of discovery, assessment, formation. And it is a very beautiful season, in which foundations are laid for the future. Thank you for coming! Today the word of God speaks to us of mission. Where does mission originate? The answer is simple: it originates from a call, the Lords call, and when he calls people, he does so with a view to sending them out. How is the one sent out meant to live? What are the reference points of Christian mission? The readings we have heard suggest three: the joy of consolation, the Cross and prayer. 1. The first element: the joy of consolation. The prophet Isaiah is addressing a people that has been through a dark period of exile, a very difficult trial. But now the time of consolation has come for Jerusalem; sadness and fear must give way to joy: Rejoice ... be glad ... rejoice with her in joy, says the prophet (66:10). It is a great invitation to joy. Why? What is the reason for this invitation to joy? Because the Lord is going to pour out over the Holy City and its inhabitants a cascade of consolation, a veritable overflow of consolation such that it will be overcome a cascade of maternal tenderness: You shall be carried upon her hip and dandled upon her knees (vv. 12). As when a mother takes her child upon her knee and caresses him or her: so the Lord will do and does with us. This is the cascade of tenderness which gives us much consolation. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you (v. 13). Every Christian, and especially you and I, is called to be a bearer of this message of hope that gives serenity and joy: Gods consolation, his tenderness towards all. But if we first experience the joy of being consoled by him, of being loved by him, then we can bring that joy to others. This is important if our mission is to be fruitful: to feel Gods consolation and to pass it on to others! I have occasionally met consecrated persons who are afraid of the consolations of God, and the poor things, they were tormented, because they are of this divine tenderness. But be not afraid. Do not be afraid, because the Lord is the Lord of consolation, he is the Lord of tenderness. The Lord is a Father and he says that he will be for us like a mother with her baby, with a mothers tenderness. Do not be afraid of the consolations of the Lord. Isaiahs invitation must resound in our hearts: Comfort, comfort my people (40:1) and this must lead to mission. We must find the Lord who consoles us and go to console the people of God. This is the mission. People today certainly need words, but most of all they need us to bear witness to the

mercy and tenderness of the Lord, which warms the heart, rekindles hope, and attracts people towards the good. What a joy it is to bring Gods consolation to others! 2. The second reference point of mission is the Cross of Christ. Saint Paul, writing to the Galatians, says: Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (6:14). And he speaks of the marks of Jesus, that is, the wounds of the crucified Lord, as a countersign, as the distinctive mark of his life as an Apostle of the Gospel. In his ministry Paul experienced suffering, weakness and defeat, but also joy and consolation. This is the Paschal mystery of Jesus: the mystery of death and resurrection. And it was precisely by letting himself be conformed to the death of Jesus that Saint Paul became a sharer in his resurrection, in his victory. In the hour of darkness, in the hour of trial, the dawn of light and salvation is already present and operative. The Paschal mystery is the beating heart of the Churchs mission! And if we remain within this mystery, we are sheltered both from a worldly and triumphalistic view of mission and from the discouragement that can result from trials and failures. Pastoral fruitfulness, the fruitfulness of the Gospel proclamation is measured neither by success nor by failure according to the criteria of human evaluation, but by becoming conformed to the logic of the Cross of Jesus, which is the logic of stepping outside oneself and spending oneself, the logic of love. It is the Cross always the Cross that is present with Christ, because at times we are offered the Cross without Christ: this has not purpose! it is the Cross, and always the Cross with Christ, which guarantees the fruitfulness of our mission. And it is from the Cross, the supreme act of mercy and love, that we are reborn as a new creation (Gal 6:15). 3. Finally the third element: prayer. In the Gospel we heard: Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, to send out labourers into his harvest (Lk 10:2). The labourers for the harvest are not chosen through advertising campaigns or appeals of service and generosity, but they are chosen and sent by God. It is he who chooses, it is he who sends, it is Lord who sends, it is he who gives the mission. For this, prayer is important. The Church, as Benedict XVI has often reiterated, is not ours, but Gods; and how many times do we, consecrated men and women, think that the Church is ours! We make of it something that we invent in our minds. But it is not ours!, it is Gods. The field to be cultivated is his. The mission is grace. And if the Apostle is born of prayer, he finds in prayer the light and strength of his action. Our mission ceases to bear fruit, indeed, it is extinguished the moment the link with its source, with the Lord, is interrupted. Dear seminarians, dear novices, dear young people discerning your vocations. One of you, one of your formators, said to me the other days, evangeliser, on le fait genoux evangelization is done on ones knees. Listen well: evangelization is done on ones knees. Without a constant relationship with God, the mission becomes a job. But for what do you work? As a tailor, a cook a priest, is your job being a priest, being a sister? No. It is not a job, but rather something else. The risk of activism, of relying too much on structures, is an ever-present danger. If we look towards Jesus, we see that prior to any important decision or event he recollected himself in intense and prolonged prayer. Let us cultivate the contemplative dimension, even amid the whirlwind of more urgent and heavy duties. And the more the mission calls you to go out to the margins of existence, let your heart be the more closely united to Christs heart, full of mercy and love. Herein lies the secret of pastoral fruitfulness, of the fruitfulness of a disciple of the Lord! Jesus sends his followers out with no purse, no bag, no sandals (Lk 10:4). The spread of the Gospel is not guaranteed either by the number of persons, or by the prestige of the institution, or by the quantity of available resources. What counts is to be permeated by the love of Christ, to let oneself be led by the Holy Spirit and to graft ones own life onto the tree of life, which is the Lords Cross.

Dear friends, with great confidence I entrust you to the intercession of Mary Most Holy. She is the Mother who helps us to take life decisions freely and without fear. May she help you to bear witness to the joy of Gods consolation, without being afraid of joy, she will help you to conform yourselves to the logic of love of the Cross, to grow in ever deeper union with the Lord in prayer. Then your lives will be rich and fruitful! Amen.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
St Peter's Square Sunday, 7 July 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters! Good morning! First of all I would like to share with you the joy of having met, yesterday and today, a special pilgrimage for the Year of Faith of seminarians and novices. I ask you to pray for them, that love of Christ may always grow in their lives and that they may become true missionaries of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel this Sunday (Lk 10:1-12, 17-20) speaks to us about this: the fact that Jesus is not a lone missionary, he does not want to fulfil his mission alone, but involves his disciples. And today we see that in addition to the twelve Apostles he calls another 72, and sends them to the villages, two by two, to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. This is very beautiful! Jesus does not want to act alone, he came to bring the love of God into the world and he wants to spread it in the style of communion, in the style of brotherhood. That is why he immediately forms a community of disciples, which is a missionary community. He trains them straight away for the mission, to go forth. But pay attention: their purpose is not to socialize, to spend time together, no, their purpose is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and this is urgent! And it is still urgent today! There is no time to be lost in gossip, there is no need to wait for everyone's consensus, what is necessary is to go out and proclaim. To all people you bring the peace of Christ, and if they do not welcome it, you go ahead just the same. To the sick you bring healing, because God wants to heal man of every evil. How many missionaries do this, they sow life, health, comfort to the outskirts of the world. How beautiful it is! Do not live for yourselves, do not live for yourselves, but live to go forth and do good! There are many young people today in the Square: think of this, ask yourselves this: is Jesus calling me to go forth, to come out of myself to do good? To you, young people, to you boys and girls I ask: you, are you brave enough for this, do you have the courage to hear the voice of Jesus? It is beautiful to be missionaries!... Ah, you are good! I like this! These 72 disciples, whom Jesus sent out ahead of him, who were they? Who do they represent? If the Twelve were the Apostles, and also thus represent the Bishops, their successors, these 72 could represent the other ordained ministries, priests and deacons; but more broadly we can think of the other ministries in the Church, of catechists, of the lay faithful who engage in parish missions, of those who work with the sick, with different kinds of disadvantaged and marginalized people; but always as missionaries of the Gospel, with the urgency of the Kingdom that is close at hand. Everyone must be a missionary, everyone can hear that call of Jesus and go forth and proclaim the Kingdom! The Gospel says that those 72 came back from their mission full of joy, because they had experienced the power of Christ's Name over evil. Jesus says it: to these disciples He gives the power to defeat the evil one. But he adds: Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you;

but rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Lk 10:20). We should not boast as if we were the protagonists: there is only one protagonist, it is the Lord! The Lord's grace is the protagonist! He is the one hero! And our joy is just this: to be his disciples, his friends. May Our Lady help us to be good agents of the Gospel. Dear friends, be glad! Do not be afraid of being joyful! Don't be afraid of joy! That joy which the Lord gives us when we allow him to enter our life. Let us allow him to enter our lives and invite us to go out to the margins of life and proclaim the Gospel. Don't be afraid of joy. Have joy and courage!

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO RIO DE JANEIRO ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXVIII WORLD YOUTH DAY MASS WITH BISHOPS, PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS AND SEMINARIANS

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

Cathedral of San Sebastian, Rio de Janeiro Saturday, 27 July 2013 Video

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Seeing this Cathedral full of Bishops, priests, seminarians, and men and women religious from the whole world, I think of the Psalmists words from todays Mass: Let the peoples praise you, O God (Ps 66). We are indeed here to praise the Lord, and we do so reaffirming our desire to be his instruments so that not only some peoples may praise God, but all. With the same parrhesia of Paul and Barnabas, we want to proclaim the Gospel to our young people, so that they may encounter Christ and build a more fraternal world. I wish to reflect with you on three aspects of our vocation: we are called by God, called to proclaim the Gospel, and called to promote the culture of encounter. 1. Called by God I believe that it is important to rekindle constantly an awareness of our divine vocation, which we often take for granted in the midst of our many daily responsibilities: as Jesus says, You did not choose me, but I chose you (Jn 15:16). This means returning to the source of our calling. For this reason, a Bishop, a priest, a consecrated person, a seminarian cannot be forgetful: it would mean losing the vital link to that first moment of our journey. Ask for the grace, ask the Virgin for the grace, she who had a good memory; ask for the grace to preserve the memory of this first call. We were called by God and we were called to be with Jesus (cf. Mk 3:14), united with him. In reality, this living, this abiding in Christ marks all that we are and all that we do. It is precisely this life in Christ that >ensures our apostolate is effective , that our service is fruitful: I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit be authentic (cf. Jn 15:16). It is not creativity, however pastoral it may be, or meetings or planning that ensure our fruitfulness, even if these are greatly helpful. But what assures our fruitfulness is our being faithful to Jesus, who says insistently: Abide in me and I in you (Jn 15:4). And we know well what that means: to contemplate him, to worship him, to embrace him, in our daily encounter with him in the Eucharist, in our life of prayer, in our moments of adoration; it means to recognize him present and to embrace him in those most in need. Being with Christ does not mean isolating ourselves from others. Rather, it is a being with in order to go forth and encounter others. Here I wish to recall some words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She said: We must be very proud of our vocation because it gives us the opportunity to serve Christ in the poor. It is in the favelas, ... in the villas miseria, that one must go to seek and to serve Christ. We must go to them as the priest presents himself at the altar, with joy (Mothers Instructions, I, p. 80). Jesus is the Good Shepherd; he is our true treasure. Please, let us not erase Jesus from our lives! Let us ground our hearts ever more in him (cf. Lk 12:34). 2. Called to proclaim the Gospel Many of you, dear Bishops and priests, if not all, have accompanied your young people to World Youth Day. They too have heard the mandate of Jesus:

Go and make disciples of all nations (cf. Mt 28:19). It is our responsibility as Pastors to help kindle within their hearts the desire to be missionary disciples of Jesus. Certainly, this invitation could cause many to feel somewhat afraid, thinking that to be missionaries requires leaving their own homes and countries, family and friends. God asks us to be missionaries. But where where he himself places us, in our own countries or wherever he chosen for us. Let us help the young. Let us have an attentive ear to listen to their dreams they need to be heard to listen to their successes, to pay attention to their difficulties. You have to sit down and listen to the same libretto, but accompanied by diverse music, with different characteristics. Having the patience to listen! I ask this of you with all my heart! In the confessional, in spiritual direction, in accompanying. Let us find ways to spend time with them. Planting seeds is demanding and very tiring, very tiring! It is much more rewarding to enjoy the harvest! How cunning! Reaping is more enjoyable for us! But Jesus asks us to sow with care and responsibility. Let us spare no effort in the formation of our young people! Saint Paul uses an expression that he embodied in his own life, when he addressed the Christian community: My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you (Gal 4:19). Let us embody this also in our own ministry! To help our young people to discover the courage and joy of faith, the joy of being loved personally by God, is very difficult. But when young people understand it, when young people experience it through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, this being personally loved by God accompanies them for the rest of their lives. They rediscover the joy that God gave his Son Jesus for our salvation. Let us form them in mission , to go out, to go forth, to be itinerants who communicate the faith. Jesus did this with his own disciples: he did not keep them under his wing like a hen with her chicks. He sent them out! We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, in our parish or diocesan institutions, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel! To go out as ones sent. It is not enough simply to open the door in welcome because they come, but we must go out through that door to seek and meet the people! Let us urge our young people to go forth. Of course, they will make mistakes, but let us not be afraid! The Apostles made mistakes before us. Let us urge them to go forth. Let us think resolutely about pastoral needs, beginning on the outskirts, with those who are farthest away, with those who do not usually go to church. They are the VIPs who are invited. Go and search for them at the crossroads. 3. To be called by Jesus, to be called to evangelize, and third: to be Called to promote the culture of encounter In many places, generally speaking, due to the economic humanism that has been imposed in the world, the culture of exclusion, of rejection, is spreading. There is no place for the elderly or for the unwanted child; there is no time for that poor person in the street. At times, it seems that for some people, human relations are regulated by two modern dogmas: efficiency and pragmatism. Dear Bishops, priests, religious and you, seminarians who are preparing for ministry: have the courage to go against the tide of this culture. Be courageous! Remember this, which helps me a great deal and on which I meditate frequently: take the First Book of Maccabees, and recall how many of the people wanted to adapt to the culture of the time: No ! Leave us alone! Let us eat of everything, like the others do Fine, yes to the Law, but not every part of it . And they ended up abandoning the faith and placing themselves in the current of that culture. Have the courage to go against the tide of this culture of efficiency, this culture of waste. Encountering and welcoming everyone, solidarity a word that is being hidden by this culture, as if it were a bad word solidarity and fraternity: these are what make our society truly human. Be servants of communion and of the culture of encounter! I would like you to be almost obsessed about this. Be so without being presumptuous, imposing our truths, but rather be guided by the humble yet joyful certainty of those who have been found, touched and transformed by the Truth who is Christ, ever to be proclaimed (cf. Lk 24:13-35).

Dear brothers and sisters, God calls us , by name and surname, each one of us, to proclaim the Gospel and to promote the culture of encounter with joy . The Virgin Mary is our exemplar. In her life she was a model of that motherly love with which all who join in the Churchs apostolic mission for the regeneration of humanity should be animated (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 65). Let us ask her to teach us to encounter one another in Jesus every day. And when we pretend not to notice because we have many things to do and the tabernacle is abandoned, may she take us by the hand. Let us ask this of her! Watch over me, Mother, when I am disoriented, and lead me by the hand. May you spur us on to meet our many brothers and sisters who are on the outskirts, who are hungry for God but have no one to proclaim him. May you not force us out of our homes, but encourage us to go out so that we may be disciples of the Lord. May you grant all of us this grace.

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO RIO DE JANEIRO ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXVIII WORLD YOUTH DAY PRAYER VIGIL WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Waterfront of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Saturday, 27 July 2013 Video

Dear Young Friends, Seeing you all present here today, I think of the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. In front of the crucifix he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him: Francis, go, rebuild my house. The young Francis responded readily and generously to the Lords call to rebuild his house. But which house? Slowly but surely, Francis came to realize that it was not a question of repairing a stone building, but about doing his part for the life of the Church. It was a matter of being at the service of the Church, loving her and working to make the countenance of Christ shine ever more brightly in her. Today too, as always, the Lord needs you, young people, for his Church. My friends, the Lord needs you! Today too, he is calling each of you to follow him in his Church and to be missionaries. The Lord is calling you today! Not the masses, but you, and you, and you, each one of you. Listen to what he is saying to you in your heart. I think that we can learn something from what has taken place in these days, of how we had to cancel, due to bad weather, this Vigil in the Campus Fidei, at Guaratiba. Is the Lord not telling us, perhaps, that we ourselves are the true field of faith, the true Campus Fidei, and not some geographical location? Yes, it is true each one of us, each one of you, me, everyone! To be missionary disciples means to know that we are the Field of Faith of God! Starting with the name of the place where we are, Campus Fidei, the field of faith, I have thought of three images that can help us understand better what it means to be a disciple and a missionary. First, a field is a place for sowing seeds; second, a field is a training ground; and third, a field is a construction site. 1. First: A field is a place for sowing seeds. We all know the parable where Jesus speaks of a sower who went out to sow seeds in the field; some seed fell on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and could not grow; other seed fell on good soil and brought forth much fruit (cf. Mt 13:1-9). Jesus himself explains the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God sown in our hearts (cf. Mt 13:18-23). Today . . . every day, but today in a particular way, Jesus is sowing the seed. When we accept the word of God, then we are the Field of Faith! Please, let Christ and his word enter your life; let the seed of the Word of God enter, let it blossom, and let it grow. God will take care of everything, but let him work in you and bring about this growth. Jesus tells us that the seed which fell on the path or on the rocky ground or among the thorns bore no fruit. I believe that we can ask ourselves honestly: What kind of ground are we? What kind of ground do we want to be? Maybe sometimes we are like the path: we hear the Lords word but it changes nothing in our lives because we let ourselves be numbed by all the superficial voices

competing for our attention. I ask you, but do not respond immediately; everyone respond in his or her own heart: am I a young person who is numb? Or perhaps we are like the rocky ground: we receive Jesus with enthusiasm, but we falter and, faced with difficulties, we dont have the courage to swim against the tide. Everyone of us respond in his or her heart: am I courageous or am I a coward? Or maybe we are like the thorny ground: negativity, negative feelings choke the Lords word in us (cf. Mt 13:18-22). Do I have the habit of playing both sides in my heart: do I make a good impression for God or for the devil? Do I want to receive the seed from Jesus and at the same time water the thorns and the weeds that grow in my heart? But today I am sure that the seed is able to fall on good soil. We are listening to these witnesses, of how the seed has fallen on good soil. No, Father, I am not good soil; I am a disaster, and I am full of stones, of thorns, of everything. Yes, maybe this is so on the surface, but free a little piece, a small piece of good soil, and let the seed fall there and watch how it grows. I know that you want to be good soil, true Christians, authentic Christians, not part-time Christians: starchy, aloof and Christian in apparence only. I know that you dont want to be duped by a false freedom, always at the beck and call of momentary fashions and fads. I know that you are aiming high, at long-lasting decisions which are meaningful. Is that true, or am I wrong? Am I right? Good; if it is true, lets do this: in silence, let us all look into our hearts and each one of us tell Jesus that we want to receive the seed of his Word. Say to him: Jesus, look upon the stones, the thorns, and the weeds that I have, but look also upon this small piece of ground that I offer to you so that the seed may enter my heart. In silence, let us allow the seed of Jesus to enter our hearts. Remember this moment. Everyone knows the seed that has been received. Allow it to grow, and God will nurture it. 2. The field. Beyond being a place of sowing, the field is a training ground. Jesus asks us to follow him for life, he asks us to be his disciples, to play on his team. Most of you love sports! Here in Brazil, as in other countries, football is a national passion. Right? Now, what do players do when they are asked to join a team? They have to train, and to train a lot! The same is true of our lives as the Lords disciples. Saint Paul, describing Christians, tells us: athletes deny themselves all sorts of things; they do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable (1 Cor 9:25). Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup! Something bigger than the World Cup! Jesus offers us the possibility of a fruitful life, a life of happiness; he also offers us a future with him, an endless future, in eternal life. That is what Jesus offers us. But he asks us to pay admission, and the cost of admission is that we train ourselves to get in shape, so that we can face every situation in life undaunted, bearing witness to our faith, by talking with him in prayer . Father, are you asking us all to pray? I ask you all but reply in the silence of your heart, not aloud: do I pray? Do I speak with Jesus, or am I frightened of silence? Do I allow the Holy Spirit to speak in my heart? Do I ask Jesus: what do you want me to do, what do you want from my life? This is training. Ask Jesus, speak to Jesus, and if you make a mistake in your life, if you should fall, if you should do something wrong, dont be afraid. Jesus, look at what I have done, what must I now do? Speak continually with Jesus, in the good times and in the bad, when you do right, and when you do wrong. Do not fear him! This is prayer. And through this, you train yourselves in dialogue with Jesus, in this path of being missionary disciples. By the sacraments, which make his life grow within us and conform us to Christ. By loving one another, learning to listen, to understand, to forgive, to be accepting and to help others, everybody, with no one excluded or ostracized. Dear young people, be true athletes of Christ! 3. And third: A field is a construction site. We are seeing this happen before us with our own eyes: young people have engaged and given themselves to the work of building up the Church. When our heart is good soil which receives the word of God, when we build up a sweat in trying to live as Christians, we experience something tremendous: we are never alone, we are part of a family of brothers and sisters, all journeying on the same path: we are part of the Church. These young people were not alone, but together they created a path and built up the Church; together they have done

what Saint Francis did, built up and repaired the Church. I ask you: do you want to build up the Church? [Yes ] Are you encouraged to do so? [Yes ]And tomorrow, will you have forgotten the yes you have spoken today? [No ] That makes me happy! We are part of the Church, indeed, we are building up the Church and we are making history. Young people, please: dont put yourselves at the tailend of history. Be active members! Go on the offensive! Play down the field, build a better world, a world of brothers and sisters, a world of justice, of love, of peace, of fraternity, of solidariety. Play always on the offensive! Saint Peter tells us that we are living stones, which form a spiritual edifice (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). As we look at this platform, we see that it is in the shape of a church, built up with living stones. In the Church of Jesus, we ourselves are the living stones. Jesus is asking us to build up his Church; each one of us is a living stone, a small part of the edifice; when the rain comes, if this piece is missing, there are leaks and water comes in. Dont build a little chapel which holds only a small group of persons. Jesus asks us to make his living Church so large that it can hold all of humanity, that it can be a home for everyone! To me, to you, to each of us he says: Go and make disciples of all nations. Tonight, let us answer him: Yes, Lord, I too want to be a living stone; together we want to build up the Church of Jesus! I want to go forth and build up the Church of Christ! Are you eager to make this happen again? I want to go out and build up the Church of Christ, let us say this together [the young people repeat]. You must always remember that you have said this together. Your young hearts want to build a better world. I have been closely following the news reports of the many young people who throughout the world have taken to the streets in order to express their desire for a more just and fraternal society. Young people in the streets. It is the young who want to be the protagonists of change. Please, dont leave it to others to be the protagonists of change. You are the ones who hold the future! You Through you the future is fulfilled in the world. I ask you also to be protagonists of this transformation. Continue to overcome apathy, offering a Christian reponse to the social and political anxieties, which are arising in various parts of the world. I ask you to be builders of the world, to work for a better world. Dear young people, please, dont be observers of life, but get involved. Jesus did not remain an observer, but he immersed himself. Dont be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did. But one question remains: Where do we start? Whom do we ask to begin this work? Some people once asked Mother Teresa of Calcutta what needed to change in the Church, and which wall should they start with? They asked her, where is the starting point? And she replied, you and I are the starting point! This woman showed determination! She knew where to start. And today I make her words my own and I say to you: shall we begin? Where? With you and me! Each one of you, once again in silence, ask yourself: if I must begin with myself, where exactly do I start? Each one of you, open his or her heart, so that Jesus may tell you where to start. Dear friends, never forget that you are the field of faith! You are Christs athletes! You are called to build a more beautiful Church and a better world. Let us lift our gaze to Our Lady. Mary helps us to follow Jesus, she gives us the example by her own yes to God: I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me as you say (Lk 1:38). All together, let us join Mary in saying to God: let it be done to me as you say. Amen!

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO RIO DE JANEIRO XXVIII WORLD YOUTH DAY POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
Waterfront of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Sunday, 28 July 2013 Video Dear Brothers and Sisters, At the end of this Mass, in which we have raised up to God our song of praise and thanksgiving for every grace received during this World Youth Day, I would like once more to thank Archbishop Orani Tempesta and Cardinal Ryko for their kind words. I thank you too, dear young friends, for all the joy you have given me in these days. Thank you! I carry each one of you in my heart! Now let us turn our gaze to our heavenly Mother, the Virgin Mary. During these days, Jesus has insistently and repeatedly invited you to be his missionary disciples; you have listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd, calling you by name, and you have recognized the voice calling you (cf. Jn 10:4). Could it be that in this voice, resounding in your heart, you have felt the tenderness of Gods love? Have you experienced the beauty of following Christ together with others, in the Church? Have you understood more deeply that the Gospel is the answer to the desire for an even fuller life? (cf. Jn 10:10). Is this true? The Immaculate Virgin intercedes for us in heaven as a good mother who watches over her children. May Mary teach us by her life what it means to be a missionary disciple. Every time we pray the Angelus, we recall the event that changed the history of mankind for ever. When the Angel Gabriel proclaimed to Mary that she would become the Mother of Jesus the Saviour, even without understanding the full significance of that call, she trusted God and replied: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word (Lk 1:38). But what did she do immediately afterwards? On receiving the grace of being the Mother of the Incarnate Word, she did not keep that gift to herself; with a sense of responsibility, she set off from her home and went in haste to help her kinswoman Elizabeth, who was in need of assistance (cf. Lk 1:38-39); she carried out an act of love, of charity, and of practical service, bringing Jesus who was in her womb. And she did all this in haste! There, my dear friends, we have our model. She who received the most precious gift from God, as her immediate response sets off to be of service and to bring Jesus. Let us ask Our Lady to help us too to give Christs joy to our families, our companions, our friends, to everyone. Never be afraid to be generous with Christ. It is worth it! Go out and set off with courage and generosity, so that every man and every woman may meet the Lord. Dear young friends, we have an appointment for the next World Youth Day in 2016 in Krakw, Poland. Through Our Ladys maternal intercession, let us ask for the light of the Holy Spirit upon the journey that will lead us to this next stage in our joyful celebration of faith and the love of Christ. Now let us pray together ... [Angelus]

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO RIO DE JANEIRO ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXVIII WORLD YOUTH DAY MEETING WITH THE VOLUNTEERS OF THE XXVIII WYD

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Pavillon 5 of the Rio Center, Rio de Janeiro Sunday, 28 July 2013 Video

Dear Volunteers, Good evening! I could not return to Rome without first thanking all of you in a personal and affectionate way for the work and dedication with which you have accompanied, helped, and served the thousands of young pilgrims, and for the countless little ways by which you have made this World Youth Day an unforgettable experience of faith. With your smiles, your acts of kindness and your willingness to serve, you have shown that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). The service you have given during these days brings to mind the mission of Saint John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. Every one of you, each in his or her own way, was a means enabling thousands of young people to prepare the way to meet Jesus. And this is the most beautiful service we can give as missionary disciples. To prepare the way so that all people may know, meet and love the Lord. To you who in these days responded with such readiness and generosity to the call to be volunteers for World Youth Day, I say: May you always be generous with God and with others: one loses nothing thereby, but gains great enrichment in life. God calls you to make definitive choices, and he has a plan for each of you: to discover that plan and to respond to your vocation is to move toward personal fulfilment. God calls each of us to be holy, to live his life, but he has a particular path for each one of us. Some are called to holiness through family life in the sacrament of Marriage. Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion. Is it out of fashion? In a culture of relativism and the ephemeral, many preach the importance of enjoying the moment. They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, for ever, because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage to swim against the tide. And also have the courage to be happy. The Lord calls some to be priests, to give themselves to him more fully, so as to love all people with the heart of the Good Shepherd. Some he calls to the service of others in the religious life: devoting themselves in monasteries to praying for the good of the world, and in various areas of the apostolate, giving of themselves for the sake of all, especially those most in need. I will never forget that day, 21 September I was 17 years old when, after stopping in the Church of San Jos de Flores to go to confession, I first heard God calling me. Do not be afraid of what God asks of you! It is worth saying yes to God. In him we find joy!

Dear young people, some of you may not yet know what you will do with your lives. Ask the Lord, and he will show you the way. The young Samuel kept hearing the voice of the Lord who was calling him, but he did not understand or know what to say, yet with the help of the priest Eli, in the end he answered: Speak, Lord, for I am listening (cf. 1 Sam 3:1-10). You too can ask the Lord: What do you want me to do? What path am I to follow? Dear friends, I thank you once more for all you have done during these days. I thank your parish groups, and the movements and new communities who have placed their members at the service of WYD. Thank you! Do not forget what you have experienced here! You can always count on my prayers, and I know I can count on yours. One last thing: pray for me.

Dear young people, some of you may not yet know what you will do with your lives. Ask the Lord, and he will show you the way. The young Samuel kept hearing the voice of the Lord who was calling him, but he did not understand or know what to say, yet with the help of the priest Eli, in the end he answered: Speak, Lord, for I am listening (cf. 1 Sam 3:1-10). You too can ask the Lord: What do you want me to do? What path am I to follow? Dear friends, I thank you once more for all you have done during these days. I thank your parish groups, and the movements and new communities who have placed their members at the service of WYD. Thank you! Do not forget what you have experienced here! You can always count on my prayers, and I know I can count on yours. One last thing: pray for me.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 4 August 2013 Video Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last Sunday I was in Rio de Janeiro. Holy Mass and the World Youth Day were drawing to a close. I think we must all thank the Lord together for the great gift which this event was, for Brazil, for Latin America and for the entire world. It was a new stage on the pilgrimage of youth crossing the continents bearing the Cross of Christ. We must never forget that World Youth Days are not firework displays, flashes of enthusiasm that are an end in themselves; they are the stages of a long journey, begun in 1985, at the initiative of Pope John Paul II. He entrusted the cross to the young people and said: go out and I will come with you! And so it was; and this youth pilgrimage continued with Pope Benedict and, thanks be to God, I too have been able to experience this marvellous milestone in Brazil. Let us always remember: young people do not follow the Pope, they follow Jesus Christ, bearing his Cross. And the Pope guides them and accompanies them on this journey of faith and hope. I therefore thank all the young people who have taken part, even at the cost of sacrifices. I also thank the Lord for the other encounters I had with the Pastors and people of that vast country which Brazil is, and likewise the authorities and the volunteers. May the Lord reward all those who worked hard for the success of this great feast of faith. I also want to emphasize my gratitude; many thanks to the Brazilians. The people of Brazil are an excellent people, a people with a great heart! I shall not forget the warm welcome, the greetings, their gaze, all the joy. A generous people; I ask the Lord to shower his blessings upon them! I would like to ask you to pray with me that the young people who took part in World Youth Day will be able to express this experience in their journey through daily life, in their everyday conduct; and that they can also express it in the important decisions of life, in response to the personal call of the Lord. Today in the liturgy, the provocative words of Ecclesiastes ring out: Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! (1:2). Young people are particularly sensitive to the empty, meaningless values that often surround them. Unfortunately, moreover, it is they who pay the consequences. Instead the encounter with the living Christ in his great family which is the Church fills hearts with joy, for it fills them with true life, with a profound goodness that endures, that does not tarnish. We saw it on the faces of the youth in Rio. But this experience must confront the daily vanity, that poison of emptiness which creeps into our society based on profit and possession and on consumerism which deceives young people. This Sundays Gospel reminds us, precisely, of the absurdity of basing our own happiness on having. The rich say to themselves: my soul, you have many possessions at your disposal... rest, eat, drink and be merry! But God says to them: Fools! This very night your life will be required of you. And all the things you have accumulated, whose will they be? (cf. Lk 12:19-20). Dear brothers and sisters, the true treasure is the love of God shared with our brethren. That love which comes from God and enables us to share it with one another and to help each other. Those who experience it do not fear death and their hearts are at peace. Let us entrust this intention, the intention of receiving Gods love and sharing it with our brothers and sisters, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE ITALIAN DIOCESE OF PIACENZA-BOBBIO
Basilica Vatican Basilica - Altar of the Chair Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Thank you for this visit! The bishop told me that I have done a great thing by coming here. But I did it for selfish reasons. Do you know why? Because I like being with you! And this is selfishness. Why do I like being with young people? Because you have the promise of hope in your heart. You are bearers of hope. It is true that you live in the present but you are looking towards the future... you are architects of the future, artisans of the future. Now and this is a joy for you it is a beautiful thing to walk towards the future with dreams and with many beautiful things. And its also your responsibility. Become artisans of the future. When they say to me: But, Father, what difficult times these are.... Look, we cannot do anything!. What do you mean you cannot do anything? Then I explain that we can do a lot! And when a young person says to me: These are difficult times Father, we cannot do anything! Well! I send him or her to a psychiatrist! Because its true, its impossible to understand! Its impossible to understand a young person, a boy, a girl, who does not want to do something great or bet on great ideals, great for the future. They will do what they can but the stakes are on great and beautiful things. And you are artisans of the future. Why? Firstly because inside you, you have three desires: the desire for beauty. You like beauty and when you make music, produce theatre, and paint beautiful things you are looking for beauty, you are searching for beauty. Now secondly: you are prophets of goodness. You like goodness and being good. And this goodness is contagious, it helps everyone else. And now third: you thirst for the truth. Seek the truth. But, Father, I possess the truth!. You are wrong because you cannot possess truth, we cannot carry it, we must encounter it. It is an encounter with the truth that is God, that we must search for. These three desires that you have in your heart, you must carry forward to the future and make the future beautiful with goodness and truth. Have you understood? This is a challenge; it is your challenge. But if you are lazy, if you are sad a sad young person is not nice if you are sad... well, this beauty will not be beauty, this goodness will not be goodness and this truth will be something else.... Think about this carefully: putting your stakes on the great ideals, the ideal of making a world of goodness, beauty and truth. You can do this, you have the power to do it. If you do not do it, it is because of laziness. I wanted to tell you this, this is what I wanted say to you. I wanted to tell you this and say to you, have courage, go forward and make noise. Where there are young people so should there be noise. Then things settle down but the dream of a young person is to make noise forever. Go ahead! In life there will always be people who suggest that you slow down, blocking your path. Please go against the current. Be courageous boys and girls: go against the current. Some say to me: No, not that but... just drink some alcohol, take a few drugs. No! Go against the tide of this civilization that is harming itself. Do you understand this? Go against the current; and this means making noise, go ahead but with the values of beauty, goodness and truth. I wanted to tell you this. I wish you all well, do good work with joy in your heart: joyful young people! And therefore I would like to give you my blessing. But first lets pray together to Our Lady who is the Mother of beauty, the Mother of goodness and the Mother of truth, that she may give us the grace of courage, because Our Lady was courageous, this woman she had courage! She was good, good, good! Lets ask her, who is in heaven, who is our Mother, that she give us the courage to go forward, to go against the tide. All together, just as you are, lets pray a Hail Mary to Our Lady.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 8 September 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! In todays Gospel Jesus insists on the conditions for being his disciples: preferring nothing to the love of Christ, carrying ones cross and following him. Many people in fact drew near to Jesus, they wanted to be included among his followers; and this would happen especially after some miraculous sign which accredited him as the Messiah, the King of Israel. However Jesus did not want to disappoint anyone. He knew well what awaited him in Jerusalem and which path the Father was asking him to take: it was the Way of the Cross, the way of sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of our sins. Following Jesus does not mean taking part in a triumphal procession! It means sharing his merciful love, entering his great work of mercy for each and every man and for all men. The work of Jesus is, precisely, a work of mercy, a work of forgiveness and of love! Jesus is so full of mercy! And this universal pardon, this mercy, passes through the Cross. Jesus, however, does not want to do this work alone: he wants to involve us too in the mission that the Father entrusted to him. After the Resurrection he was to say to his disciples: As the Father has sent me, even so I send you... if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven (Jn 20:21-22). Jesus disciple renounces all his possessions because in Jesus he has found the greatest Good in which every other good receives its full value and meaning: family ties, other relationships, work, cultural and economic goods and so forth.... The Christian detaches him or herself from all things and rediscovers all things in the logic of the Gospel, the logic of love and of service. To explain this requirement, Jesus uses two parables: that of the tower to be built and that of the king going to war. The latter says: What king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace (Lk 14:31-32). Jesus does not wish to address the topic of war here; it is only a parable. Yet at this moment in which we are praying intensely for peace, this word of the Lord touches us to the core, and essentially tells us: there is a more profound war that we must all fight! It is the firm and courageous decision to renounce evil and its enticements and to choose the good, ready to pay in person: this is following Christ, this is what taking up our cross means! This profound war against evil! What is the use of waging war, so many wars, if you aren't capable of waging this profound war against evil? It is pointless! It doesnt work.... Among other things this war against evil entails saying no to the fratricidal hatred and falsehood that are used; saying no to violence in all its forms; saying no to the proliferation of weapons and to the illegal arms trade. There is so much of it! So much of it! And the doubt always remains: is this war or that war because wars are everywhere really a war to solve problems or is it a commercial war for selling weapons in illegal trade? These are the enemies to fight, united and consistent, following no other interests than those of peace and of the common good.

Dear brothers and sisters, today we are also commemorating the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, a Feast particularly dear to the Eastern Churches. And let all of us now send a beautiful greeting to all the brothers, sisters, bishops, monks and nuns of the Eastern Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic, a beautiful greeting! Jesus is the sun, Mary is the dawn that heralds his rising. Yesterday evening we kept vigil, entrusting to her intercession our prayers for peace in the world, especially in Syria and throughout the Middle East. Let us now invoke her as Queen of Peace. Queen of Peace pray for us! Queen of Peace pray for us!

LETTER OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE BISHOPS' CONFERENCE OF ARGENTINA ON THE OCCASION OF THE BEATIFICATION OF FATHER JOS GABRIEL BROCHERO

To His Excellency the Most Reverend Archbishop Jos Mara Arancedo Archbishop of Santa Fe President of the Bishops Conference of Argentina Dear Brother,
That the Gaucho Priest is at last among the blesseds is a very great joy and blessing for the Argentinians and devotees of this pastor who smelled of his sheep, who made himself poor among the poor, who always struggled to be very close to God and to the people, and who did and still does so much good for our suffering people. Today I like to imagine Brochero the parish priest on the back of his mule with the white mane (malacara), crossing the broad, dry and desolate roads of his 200-squarekilometre parish. He would go from house to house, seeking out your greatgrandparents and your great-great-grandparents to ask them whether they needed anything and invite them to do the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. He knew his parish inside out. He did not stay in the sacristy combing the sheep. The visit of Brochero the Gaucho Priest brought Jesus himself to every family. He would take with him an image of Our Lady, a prayer book with the word of God and his kit to celebrate daily Mass. They would invite him in to drink mate; they would chat and Brochero would speak to them in a way they could all understand so that the faith and love he himself felt for Jesus would well up in their hearts. Jos Gabriel Brochero centred his pastoral action on prayer. He had barely arrived in his parish when he began to take men and women to Crdoba to do spiritual exercises with the Jesuit fathers. With great sacrifice they first crossed the Sierras Grandes, covered with snow in winter, to pray in the regionss capital Crdoba! Afterwards, they worked hard to build the Holy House for the exercises in the parish! They prayed at length there before the crucifix in order to know, feel and enjoy the immense love of Jesus heart, and it all ended with Gods pardon in confession, with a priest who was full of love and mercy immense mercy! His apostolic courage, his missionary zeal, the bravery in his heart, compassionate like the heart of Jesus, that made him say: Therell be trouble if the devil robs me of a single soul! spurred Brochero to win over crooks and difficult fellow countrymen to God. One can count by the thousands the men and women who, thanks to Brocheros priestly ministry, gave up their vices and quarrels. They received the sacraments during the spiritual exercises and with them the power and light of faith to be good sons and daughters of God, good brothers and sisters and good parents in a great community of friends committed to the good of all and who respected and helped each other.

A contemporary pastoral approach is very important in a beatification. Brochero the Gaucho Priest had a currently relevant approach to the Gospel. He was a pioneer in going out to the geographical and existential peripheries to take Gods love and mercy to everyone. He did not stay in the parish office, he tired himself out riding his mule and in the end fell ill with leprosy as a result of going out to find people as a callejero, a street priest of faith. This is what Jesus wants today, missionary disciples, street priests of faith! Brochero was an ordinary man, frail like the rest of us, but he knew the love of Jesus, his heart was forged by Gods mercy. He was able to come out from the cavern of Ime-my-with me-for me, of the small-minded selfishness from which we all suffer, he conquered himself, with Gods help, he overcame those inner forces that the devil uses to chain us to comfort, to the search for fleeting pleasure, to the lack of incentive to work. Brochero listened to Gods call. He chose the sacrifice of working for his Kingdom, for the common good that the great dignity of every person as a child of God deserves. He was faithful to the end: he continued praying and celebrating Mass even when he was blind and ill with leprosy. Today let us permit Brochero the Gaucho Priest, with his mule and all, to enter the house of our heart and invite us to prayer, to the encounter with Jesus that sets us free from attachments so that we may go out to the street and seek our brother or sister, to touch the flesh of Christ in those who suffer, who need Gods love. Only in this way shall we savour the joy that Brochero the Gaucho Priest felt, a foretaste of the happiness he now enjoys as a blessed in heaven. I pray the Lord grant you this grace, I bless you and I ask the Blessed Virgin to guide you. Affectionately, FRANCIS

Vatican, 14 September 2013

POPE FRANCIS

GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 18 September 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Today I am returning to the image of the Church as mother. I am extremely fond of this image of the Church as mother. For this reason I wish to return to it, because I feel that this image not only tells us what the Church is like but also what face the Church this Mother Church of ours should increasingly have. Following what I said last Wednesday I would like to stress three things, still looking at our own mothers, at all they do, at all they experience, at all they suffer for their children. I ask myself: what does a mother do? 1. First of all, she teaches how to walk through life, she teaches the right path to take through life, she knows how to guide her children, she always tries to point out to them the right path in life for growing up and becoming adults. And she does so with tenderness, affection, and love, even when she is trying to straighten out our path because we are going a little astray in life or are taking roads that lead to an abyss. A mother knows whats important for a child to enable him to walk the right way through life. Moreover she did not learn it from books but from her own heart. The university of mothers is their heart! They learn there how to bring up their children. The Church does the same thing: she gives our life direction, she instructs us so that we can follow the right path. Let us think of the Ten Commandments: they point us to the road to take in order to mature, to anchor our behaviour. They result from the tenderness and from the very love of God who has given them to us. You may say to me: but they are orders! They are a series of 'nos'! I would like to ask you to read them perhaps you have more or less forgotten them and then think about them in a positive way. You will see that they concern the way we behave to God, to self and to others, exactly what a mother teaches us in order to live correctly. They ask us not to make ourselves material idols that subsequently enslave us. They ask us to remember God, to show our parents respect, to be honest, to respect others.... Try to see the commandments in this way and to think of them as though they were the words, the teachings that a mother gives in order to live the best way. A mother never teaches what is evil, she only wants the good of her children and so does the Church. 2. Secondly, I want to tell you: when a child grows up, becomes an adult, he chooses his path, assumes his responsibilities, stands on his own two feet, does what he likes and at times he can also go off course, some accident occurs. A mother has the patience to continue to accompany her children, always and in every situation. It is the force of her love that impels her; a mother can follow her children on their way with discretion and tenderness and, even when they go astray, always finds a way to understand them, to be close, to help. We in my region say that a mother can dar la cara. What does this mean? It means that a mother can put on a brave for her children, in other words she is always motivated to defend them. I am thinking of the mothers who

suffer for their children in prison or in difficult situations: they do not question whether or not their children are guilty, they keep on loving them. Mothers often suffer humiliation, but they are not afraid, they never cease to give of themselves. This is how the Church is. She is a merciful mother who understands, who has always sought to help and encourage even those of her children who have erred or are erring; she never closes the door to home. She does not judge but offers Gods forgiveness, she offers his love which invites even those of her children who have fallen into a deep abyss to continue on their way. The Church is not afraid to enter their darkness to give them hope; nor is the Church afraid to enter our darkness when we are in the dark night of our soul and our conscience to give us hope! Because the Church is mother! 3. A last thought: for her children a mother is also able to ask and knock at every door, without calculation; she does so out of love. And I think of how mothers can also and especially knock at the door of Gods heart! Mothers say so many prayers for their children, especially for the weaker ones, for those in the greatest need or who have gone down dangerous or erroneous paths in life. A few weeks ago I celebrated Mass in the Church of St Augustine, here in Rome, where the relics of St Monica, his mother, are preserved. How many prayers that holy mother raised to God for her son, and how many tears she shed! I am thinking of you, dear mothers: how often you pray for your children, never tiring! Continue to pray and to entrust them to God; he has a great heart! Knock at Gods heart with prayers for your children. The Church does this too: with prayers she puts in the Lords hands all the situations of her children. Let us trust in the power of the prayer of Mother Church: the Lord is not indifferent. He always knows how to amaze us when we least expect it, as Mother Church knows! These were the thoughts I wanted to share with you today: let us see the Church as a good mother who points out to us the way through life, who is always patient, merciful, understanding and who knows how to put us in Gods hands.

ADDRESS OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO A GROUP OF RECENTLY APPOINTED BISHOPS TAKING PART IN A COURSE ORGANIZED BY THE CONGREGATION FOR BISHOPS AND BY THE CONGREGATION FOR THE EASTERN CHURCHES
Clementine Hall Thursday, 19 September 2013

The Psalm says; Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Ps 133[132]:1). I think you have experienced the truth of these words in the days you have spent here in Rome living an experience of brotherhood; a brotherhood that is nurtured by friendship, by getting to know one another, by being together, but that derives in particular from the sacred bonds of communion in the Episcopal College and with the Bishop of Rome. May forming one body in this way give direction to you in your daily work and spur you to ask yourselves: how should I live the spirit of collegiality and collaboration in the Episcopate? How can I be a builder of communion and unity in the Church which the Lord has entrusted to me? The bishop is a man of communion, he is a man of unity, the visible source and foundation of unity, (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 23). Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I greet you one by one, Latin- and Eastern-rite Bishops. You demonstrate the great wealth and variety of the Church! I also thank Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for his greeting, on your behalf, and for organizing these days when you have come as pilgrims to the Tomb of Peter to strengthen communion and to pray and reflect on your ministry. With him I greet Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila; and Msgr Lorenzo Baldisseri, an unflagging champion of these events. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock (1 Pet 5:2). May St Peters words be engraved on our heart! We are called and constituted Pastors, not pastors by ourselves but by the Lord; and not to serve ourselves, but the flock that has been entrusted to us, and to serve it to the point of laying down our life, like Christ, the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10:11). What does tending and having the permanent and daily care of their sheep (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council Lumen Gentium, n. 27) actually mean? Three brief thoughts. Tending means: welcoming magnanimously, walking with the flock, staying with the flock. Welcoming, walking, staying. 1. To welcome magnanimously. May your heart be large enough to welcome all the men and women you come across during the day and whom you go and seek out when you go about your parishes and to every community. Ask yourselves from this moment: how will those who knock at my door find it? If they find it open, through your kindness, your availability, they will experience Gods fatherhood and will understand that the Church is a good mother who always welcomes and loves.

2. To walk with the flock. To welcome magnanimously, to walk. Welcoming everyone in order to walk with everyone. The bishop journeys with and among his flock. This means setting out with ones faithful and with all those who turn to you, sharing in their joys and hopes, their difficulties and sufferings, as brothers and as friends, but especially as fathers who can listen, understand, help and guide. Walking together demands love and ours is a service of love, amoris officium, as St Augustine used to say (In evangelium Johannis tractatus 123, 5: PL 35, 1967). a) And as you walk I would like to remember affection for your priests. Your priests are your first neighbour; the priest is the bishops first neighbour love your neighbour, but he is your first neighbour your priests are indispensable collaborators of whom to seek counsel and help and for whom you should care as fathers, brothers and friends. One of your priority tasks is the spiritual care of the presbyterate, but do not forget the human needs of each individual priest, especially in the most delicate and important events in their ministry and their life. The time you spend with your priests is never wasted! Receive them whenever they ask you to. Do not let a telephone call go unanswered. I have heard priests say during the Spiritual Exercises I gave them I dont know whether its true but Ive heard it very often in my life Well! I called the bishop and his secretary told me that he had no time to receive me!. It was like this for months and months and months. I dont know whether it is true, but if a priest telephones the bishop, then that same day or at least the following day the telephone call: I heard, what would you like? I cannot receive you today but lets look at the dates together. Please listen to what the father says. Vice versa, the priest might think: but he doesnt care; he is not a father he is an office head!. Think about this well. This would be a good resolution: reply to a telephone call from a priest, if I cant today, at least the following day. And then see when you can meet him. Be constantly close, be in touch with them all the time. b) Then presence in the diocese. In the homily in the Chrism Mass this year I said that Pastors must have the odour of sheep. Be Pastors with the odour of the sheep, present in your peoples midst like Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Your presence is not secondary, it is indispensable. Presence! The people themselves who want to see their bishop walk with them and be near them ask it of you. They need his presence in order to live and breathe! Do not close yourselves in! Go down among your faithful, even into the margins of your dioceses and into all those peripheries of existence where there is suffering, loneliness and human degradation. A pastoral presence means walking with the People of God, walking in front of them, showing them the way, showing them the path; walking in their midst, to strengthen them in unity; walking behind them, to make sure no one gets left behind but especially, never to lose the scent of the People of God in order to find new roads. A bishop who lives among his faithful has his ears open to listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 2:7), and to the voice of the sheep, also through those diocesan institutions whose task it is to advise the bishop, promoting a loyal and constructive dialogue. It is impossible to think of a bishop who did not have these diocesan institutions: a presbyteral council, consultors, a pastoral council, a council for financial matters. This means really being with the people. This pastoral presence will enable you to be thoroughly acquainted with the culture, customs and mores of the area, the wealth of holiness that is present there. Immerse yourselves in your own flock! c) And here I would like to add: let your style of service to the flock be that of humility, I would say even of austerity and essentiality. Please, we pastors are not men with the psychology of princes please ambitious men who are bridegrooms of this Church while awaiting another which is more beautiful, wealthier. But this is a scandal! If a penitent arrives and says to you: I am married, I live with my wife, but I am always looking at that woman who is more beautiful than mine: is this a sin, Father?. The Gospel says: it is a sin of adultery. Is there a spiritual adultery?. I dont know, think about it. Do not wait for another more beautiful, more important or richer. Be careful not to

slip into the spirit of careerism! That really is a form of cancer! It is not only with words but also and above all with a practical witness in our life that we are teachers and educators of our people. The proclamation of faith requires us to live out what we teach. Mission and life are inseparable (cf. John Paul II, Pastores Gregis, n. 31). This is a question we should ask ourselves every day: do I practise what I preach? 3. To welcome, to walk. And the third and last element: staying with the flock. I am referring to stability which has two precise aspects: staying in the diocese and staying in this diocese, as I said, without seeking change or promotion. As pastors it is impossible to know your flock really well walking in front of it, in its midst and behind it, caring for it with your teaching, with the administration of the sacraments and with the testimony of your life unless you remain in your diocese. In this Trent is very up to date: residence. Ours is a time in which we can travel and move from one place to another easily, a time when communications are rapid, the epoch of the internet. However the old law of residence is not out of fashion! It is necessary for good pastoral government (Directory Apostolorum Successores n. 161). Of course, concern for other Churches and for the universal Church can take you from your diocese, but let it be only for the time that is strictly necessary and not a regular practice. You see, residence is not only required for the purpose of good organization, it is not a functional element; it has a theological root! You are bridegrooms of your community, deeply bound to it! I ask you, please remain among your people. Stay, stay.... Steer clear of the scandal of being airport bishops! Be welcoming pastors, journeying on with your people, with affection, with mercy, treating them with gentleness and fatherly firmness, with humility and discretion. And may you also be able to see your own limitations and have a large dose of good humour. This is a grace we bishops must ask for. We must all ask for this grace: Lord, give me a sense of humour. Finding the way to laugh at oneself first is part of it. And stay with your flock! Dear Brothers, on your return to your dioceses please take my greeting to everyone and in particular to your priests, consecrated men and women, seminarians, to all your faithful and to those who are most in need of the Lords closeness. The presence here as Cardinal Ouellet said of two Syrian bishops impels us once again to ask God together for the gift of peace. Peace for Syria, peace for the Middle East, peace for the world! Please remember to pray for me, I do so for you! I warmly impart my blessing to each and every one of your communities. Many thanks.

PASTORAL VISIT TO CAGLIARI MEETING WITH THE CLOISTERED SISTERS

BRIEF GREETING OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

Sunday, 22 September 2013

You are all, the support of the Church, the spiritual support of the Church. Move forward with this certainty. The Lord has called you to sustain the Church with prayer, with great prayer. I bless you all in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Pray for me and many thanks.

PASTORAL VISIT TO CAGLIARI MEETING WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE

ADDRESS OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

Largo Carlo Felice, Cagliari Sunday, 22 September 2013 Video

Dear Young People of Sardinia, It seems as if there are a few young people, doesnt it? A few or many? There are lots! Thank you for coming to this meeting in such large numbers! And thank you to the spokespeople. Seeing you reminds me of the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps several of you were there, but many must certainly have followed it on television and on the internet. It was a very beautiful experience, a celebration of faith and brotherhood that filled one with joy. The same joy that we feel today. Let us thank the Lord and the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Bonaria: it is she who has enabled us to meet here. Pray to her often, she is a good mother, I assure you! Some of your queries, your questions... but I also speak in dialect, here too! Some of your questions are similar. I am thinking of the Gospel by the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Simon, who Jesus was later to call Peter, and his brother Andrew, together with James and John, also brothers, all lived and worked as fishermen. Jesus was surrounded by the crowd who wanted to listen to his word. He saw those fishermen mending their nets beside the boats. He climbed on to Simons boat and asked him to put out a little from the shore. So it was that he spoke to the people sitting in the boat; Jesus addressed the people from the boat. When he had finished, he told Simon to put out into the deep and let down his nets. This request was a trial for Simon listen carefully to the word: a trial for he and the others had just come back from fishing all night with nothing to show for it. Simon was a sincere and practical man, and he immediately said to Jesus: Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. This is the first point: the experience of failure. In your questions there was this experience: the sacrament of Confirmation, what is this sacrament called? Confirmation... No! Its name has changed: the sacrament of farewell. They do this and then they leave the Church. Is this true or not? This is an experience of failure. The other experience of failure: young people arent in the parishes: you yourselves have talked about this. This experience of a failure, something that goes wrong, a disappointment. Youth looks ahead, but at times it happens to experience failure, some frustration. This is a trial and it is important! And now I want to pose a question to you; however, do not reply out loud but in silence. May each one one of you think in his or her heart, think of your own experiences of failure, think about them. It is certain: we all have such experiences, we all have them. We very frequently have this experience in the Church: priests, catechists, and animators tire themselves out, they spend so much energy, they put everything into it, and in the end they do not always see results that correspond to their efforts. Your spokespeople also said this in their first two questions. They referred to the communities where faith seems somewhat faded, where few of the faithful take an active part in the life of the Church, Christians are seen who are sometimes

weary and sad and many young people move off after receiving Confirmation. The sacrament of farewell, of goodbye, as I said. It is an experience of failure, an experience that leaves emptiness and discourages us. Is this true or not? [Yes, the young people answer] Is it true or not? [Yes, they answer once again]. 2. In the face of this situation you are right to wonder: what can we do? Of course one thing is to let oneself be overcome by pessimism and distrust. Pessimistic Christians: how awful! You young people cant and mustnt be lacking in hope, hope is part of your being. A young person without hope is not young but has aged prematurely! Hope is part of your youth! if you dont have any hope, think seriously, think seriously.... A young person without joy and without hope is upsetting: he is not young. And when a young person has no joy, when he lacks confidence in life or loses hope, where can he go to find a bit of tranquillity, a bit of peace? Without trust, without hope and without joy? You know, the merchants of death, these merchants that sell death, offer you a way out when you are sad, when you are without hope, without trust and disheartened! Please dont sell your youth to these people who sell death! All of you know what Im talking about! You have all got it: dont sell! Lets return to the scene of the Gospel: Peter, in that critical moment, takes a risk. What could he have done? He could have given in to weariness and to discouragement, thinking that it is pointless and that it is better to withdraw and go home. Instead, what does he do? With courage, he steps out of himself and decides to trust Jesus. He says: Well, alright! At your word I will let down the nets. Be careful! He does not say: at my strength, my calculations, my experience as an expert fisherman, but rather at your word, at the word of Jesus! And the result is an incredible catch, the nets are filled to the point that they almost tear. This is the second point: trusting Jesus, trusting Jesus. And when I say this I want to be sincere and to tell you that I do not come here to sell you an illusion. I come here to say: there is a Person who can keep you going, trust in him! It is Jesus! Trust in Jesus! And Jesus is not an illusion! Trust in Jesus. The Lord is always with us. He comes to the shores of the sea of our life, he makes himself close to our failures, our frailty, and our sins in order to transform them. Never stop staking yourselves on him, over and over again, as good sportsmen some of you know this well from experience who can face the strain of training in order to achieve results! Difficulties must not frighten you but on the contrary spur you to go beyond them. Hear Jesus words as though they were addressed to you: put out into the deep and let down your nets, young people of Sardinia! Put out into the deep! Be ever more docile to the Lords word; it is he, it is his word, it is following him that brings to fruition your commitment to witnessing. When your efforts to reawaken faith in your friends seem to be in vain, like the nocturnal efforts of the fishermen, remember that with Jesus everything changes. The word of the Lord has filled the nets and the word of the Lord makes the missionary work of his disciples effective. Following Jesus is demanding, it means not being satisfied with small goals of little account but aiming on high with courage! It is not good it is not good to stop at we took nothing; rather, go further, to put out into the deep and let down your nets, once again, and without tiring! Jesus repeats this to each one of you. And it is he who will give you the strength! There is the threat of complaining or of resignation. Lets leave these epithets to the followers of the goddess of lamentation. And you, are you following the goddess of lamentation? Are you continuously wailing as in a funeral wake? No, young people cant do that! The goddess of lamentation is a deception: she makes you take the wrong road. When everything seems to be standing still and stagnant, when personal problems disturb us and social hardships do not meet with the right responses, it is not good to consider oneself vanquished. Jesus is the way: get him to embark on our boat and put out into the deep with him! He is the Lord! He changes the prospect of life. Faith in Jesus leads to a hope that

goes further, to a certainty based not on our qualities and skills alone, but on the word of God, on the invitation that comes from him. Without making too many human calculations and without worrying about checking whether the situation that surrounds you coincides with your points of security. Put out into the deep, go out of yourselves: go out of our small world and open ourselves to God, to open ourselves increasingly also to our brethren. Opening ourselves to God is opening ourselves to others. Take a few steps outside ourselves, little steps, but take them. Little steps, going out of yourselves toward God and toward others, opening your heart to brotherhood, to friendship and to solidarity. 3. Third and I conclude; it is somewhat lengthy! Let down your nets for catch (v. 4). Dear young Sardinians, the third thing I want to tell you, and in this way I am answering the other two questions, is that you too are called to become fishers of men. Dont hesitate to spend your life witnessing joyfully to the Gospel, especially among your peers. I want to tell you of a personal experience. Yesterday I celebrated the 60th anniversary of the day when I heard Jesus voice in my heart. I am telling you this not so that you will make me a cake here, no, that is not why Im saying it. However, it is a commemoration: 60 years since that day. I will never forget it. The Lord made me strongly aware that I should take that path. I was 17 years old. Several years passed before this decision, this invitation became concrete and definitive. So many years have gone by, with some successes and joys but so many years with failures, frailties, sin... 60 years on the Lords road, behind him, beside him, always with him. I only tell you this: I have no regrets! I have no regrets! Why? Because I feel like Tarzan and I feel strong enough to go ahead? No, I have not regretted it because always, even at the darkest moments, the moments of sin and moments of frailty, moments of failure, I have looked at Jesus and trusted in him and he has not deserted me. Trust in Jesus: he always keeps on going, he goes with us! However, listen, he never let us down. He is faithful, he is a faithful companion. Think, this is my witness: I am glad about these 60 years with the Lord. However, something more about moving ahead. Have I gone on for too long? [No, the youth reply]. Lets stay united in prayer. And journey on in this life with Jesus: the saints did it. Saints are like this: they are not born perfect, already holy! They become so because, like Simon Peter they trust in the word of the Lord and put out into the deep. Your land has contributed so many witnesses and recently too: the Blesseds: Antonia Mesina, Gabriella Sagheddu, Giuseppina Nicoli; the Servants of God: Edvige Carboni, Simonetta Tronci and Fr Antonio Loi. They are ordinary people who instead of complaining let down their nets for a catch. Imitate their example, entrust yourselves to their intercession and always be men and women of hope! No complaining! No discouragement! Never be depressed, never go to purchase comfort from death: none of it! Go forward with Jesus! He never fails, he never disappoints, he is loyal! Pray for me. And may Our Lady go with you. Before the Blessing Pope Francis added these words: Dear young people, before imparting the blessing to you I wanted to tell you something else. When I said journey on with Jesus, it is in order to build, to do good things, to carry on with your life, to help others, to build a better world and peace. But there are wrong decisions, erroneous decisions, because there are decisions that involve destruction. Today in Pakistan, because of a wrong decision, because of hatred, of war there was an attack and 70 people died. This road is no good, it is useless. It is the only the road of peace that builds a better world! However if you dont build it, if you dont build it, no one else will! This is a problem, and I leave you with this question: Am I

ready, am I willing to take a road to building a better world?. That is all. And let us pray an Our Father for all these people who died in the attack in Pakistan. Our Father.... May Our Lady always help us to work for a better world, to take the road of building, the road of peace, and never the road of destruction and the road of war. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Please pray for me. And goodbye!

PASTORAL VISIT TO ASSISI MEETING WITH THE CLERGY, CONSECRATED PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF DIOCESAN PASTORAL COUNCILS

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Cathedral of San Rufino, Assisi Friday, 4 October 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Diocesan Community, Good afternoon! Thank you for your welcome, priests, men and women religious, laity engaged in pastoral councils! How needed pastoral councils are! A bishop cannot guide a diocese without pastoral councils. A parish priest cannot guide the parish without the parish council. This is fundamental! We are in the Cathedral! Here is the baptismal font where Sts Francis and Clare were baptized; in their day it was located in the Church of Santa Maria. The memory of one's Baptism is important! Baptism is our birth as children of Holy Mother Church. I would like to ask you a question: who among you knows the day you were baptised? So few, so few now, here is your homework! Mother, Father, tell me: when was I baptised? It's very important, because it was the day of your birth as a child of God. One Spirit, one Baptism, in a variety of charisms and ministries. What a great gift it is to be the Church, to be a part of the People of God! Together we are the People of God. In harmony, in the communion of gift of harmony in diversity which is the work of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is harmony and creates harmony: it is his gift, and we should be open to receive it. The Bishop is the guardian of this harmony. The bishop is the guardian of this diversity. That is why Pope Benedict wished that the pastoral activity in the Franciscan papal basilicas be integrated into the diocesan one. For he has to create harmony: it is his task, his duty and his vocation. I am glad that you are advancing nicely on this road, and to the benefit of all, by peacefully working together. I encourage you to continue in this. The pastoral visit that has just ended and the diocesan synod which you are about to celebrate are intense moments of growth for this Church which God has blessed in a special way. The Church grows, but not through proselytizing: no, no! The Church does not grow through proselytizing. The Church grows through attraction, through the attraction of the witness that each one of us gives to the People of God. Now, briefly, I would like to highlight several aspects of your life as a Community. I do not wish to tell you something new, but rather to confirm you in those things which are most important, and which mark your journey as a diocese. 1. The first thing is to listen to God's Word. This is what the Church is: as the Bishop said, it is the community that listens with faith and love to the Lord who speaks. The pastoral plan that you are living out together insists precisely on this fundamental dimension. It is the Word of God that inspires faith, which nourishes and revitalizes it. And it is the Word of God that touches hearts, converts them to God and to his logic which is so different from our own. It is the Word of God that continually renews our communities...

I think we can all improve a bit in this respect: by becoming better listeners of the Word of God, in order to be less rich on our own words and richer in his words. I think of the priest who has the task of preaching. How can he preach if he has not first opened his heart, not listened in silence to the Word of God? Away with these never ending, boring homilies that no one understands. This is for you! I think of fathers and mothers, who are the primary educators [of their children]: how can they educate them if their consciences have not been enlightened by the Word of God. If their way of thinking and acting is not guided by the Word, what sort of example can they possibly give to their children? This is important, because then mothers and fathers complain: Oh, this child.... But you, what witness have you given the child? How have you spoken to him? Have you talked with him about the Word of God or about TV news? Fathers and mothers need to be talking about the Word of God! And I think of catechists and of all those who are involved in education: if their hearts have not been warmed by the Word, how can they warm the hearts of others, of children, of youth, of adults? It is not enough just to read the Sacred Scriptures, we need to listen to Jesus who speaks in them: it is Jesus himself who speaks in the Scriptures, it is Jesus who speaks in them. We need to be receiving antennas that are tuned into the Word of God, in order to become broadcasting antennas! One receives and transmits. It is the Spirit of God who makes the Scriptures come alive, who makes us understand them deeply and in accord with their authentic and full meaning! Let us ask ourselves as the Synod draws near: what place does the Word of God have in my life, in my everyday life? Am I tuned into God or into the many buzz words or into myself? This is a question that everyone of us needs to ask him- or herself. 2. The second aspect is walking. It is one of my favourite words when I think about a Christian and about the Church. However, it has a special meaning for you: you are about to enter into the diocesan Synod. To hold a synod means to walk together. I think this is truly the most wonderful experience we can have: to belong to a people walking, journeying through history together with their Lord who walks among us! We are not alone, we do not walk alone. We are part of the one flock of Christ that walks together. Here I think once more of you priests, and let me place myself in your company. What could be more beautiful for us than walking with our people? It is beautiful! When I think of the parish priests who knew the names of their parishioners, who went to visit them; even as one of them told me: I know the name of each family's dog. They even knew the dog's name! How nice it was! What could be more beautiful than this? I repeat it often: walking with our people, sometimes in front, sometimes behind and sometimes in the middle, and sometimes behind : in front in order to guide the community, in the middle in order to encourage and support; and at the back in order to keep it united and so that no one lags too, too far behind, to keep them united. There is another reason too: because the people have a nose! The people scent out, discover, new ways to walk, it has the sensus fidei, as theologians call it. What could be more beautiful than this? During the Synod, it will be very important to consider what the Holy Spirit is saying to the laity, to the People of God, to everyone. But the most important thing is to walk together by working together, by helping one another, by asking forgiveness, by acknowledging one's mistakes and asking for forgiveness, and also by accepting the apologies of others by forgiving how important this is! Sometimes I think of married people who separate after many years. Oh no, we didn't understand each other, we drifted apart. Perhaps at times they didn't know how to ask for forgiveness at the right time. Perhaps at times they did not know how to forgive. And I always give this advice to newly weds: Argue as much as you like. If the plates fly, let them! But never end the day without making peace! Never! And if married people learn to say: excuse me, I was tired, or even a little gesture, this is peace. Then carry on with life the next day. This is a beautiful secret, and it prevents these painful separations. It is important to walk in unity, without

running ahead, without nostalgia for the past. And while you walk you talk, you get to know one another, you tell one other about yourself, you grow as a family. Here let us ask ourselves: how do we walk? How does our diocese walk? Does it together? And what am I doing so that it may truly walk in unity? I do not wish to enter into a discussion here about gossip, but you know that gossip always divides. 3. Therefore: to listen, to walk, and the third aspect is missionary: to proclaim even to the outskirts. I also borrowed this from you, from your pastoral plan. The Bishop spoke recently about it. However, I wish to emphasize it, because it is something I also experienced a great deal when I was in Buenos Aires: the importance of going out to meet the other in the outskirts, which are places, but which are primarily people living in particular situations in life. This was true in my former diocese, that of Buenos Aires. The outskirt which hurt me a great deal was to find children in middle class families who didn't know how to make the Sign of the Cross. But you see, this is an outskirt! And I ask you, here in this diocese, are there children who do not know how to make the Sign of the Cross? Think about it. These are true outskirts of existence where God is absent. In one sense, the outskirts of this diocese, for example, are the areas of the diocese that risk being left on the margins, beyond the street lights. But they are also people and human realities that are marginalized and despised. They are people who perhaps live physically close to the centre but who spiritually are very far away. Do not be afraid to go out and meet these people and situations. Do not allow yourselves to be impeded by prejudice, by habit, by an intellectual or pastoral rigidity, by the famous we've always done it this way!. However, we can only go to the outskirts if we carry the Word of God in our hearts and if we walk with the Church, like St Francis. Otherwise, we take ourselves, not the Word of God, and this isn't good, it doesn't help anyone! We are not the ones who save the world: it is the Lord himself who saves it!
There you are, dear friends. I haven't given you any new recipes. I don't have any, and don't believe anyone who says he does: they don't exist. However, I did find several beautiful and important aspects of the journey of your Church that should be developed, and I want to confirm you in these. Listen to the Word, walk together as brothers and sisters, proclaim the Gospel to the outskirts! May the Lord bless you, may Our Lady protect you, and may St Francis help you all to experience the joy of being disciples of the Lord! Thank you.

PASTORAL VISIT TO ASSISI SILENT PRAYER BEFORE THE CRUCIFIX OF SAINT DAMIAN

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE CLOISTERED NUNS

Chapel of the Choir of the Basilica of Saint Clare, Assisi Friday, 4 October 2013 Video

I thought that this meeting was going to be like the one we had twice before in the chapter hall in Castel Gandolfo: alone with the nuns. But I must confess to you that I do not have the courage to send away the cardinals. Lets do it this way. Good. I thank you all very much for the welcome and the prayers for the Church. When a cloistered nun consecrates her entire life to the Lord, a transformation happens beyond our understanding. It would be natural to think that this nun becomes isolated, alone with the Absolute, alone with God: it is an ascetic and penitent life. But this is not the path neither of a Catholic nor a Christian cloistered nun. The path always leads to Jesus Christ, always! Jesus Christ is at the centre of your life, your penitence, your community life, your prayer and also of the universality of prayer. And on this path the opposite of what one might think, happens to an ascetic cloistered nun. When she takes this path of contemplating Jesus Christ, of prayer and penitence with Jesus Christ, she becomes extremely human. Cloistered nuns are called to have a great humanity, a humanity like that of the Mother Church; human, to understand everything about life, to be people who know how to understand human problems, how to forgive, how to supplicate the Lord on behalf of others. Your humanity. Your humanity takes this road, the Incarnation of the Word, the path of Jesus Christ. And what is the mark of such a human nun? Joy, joy, when there is joy! I am sad when I find nuns who are not joyful. Perhaps they smile, but with the smile of a flight attendant. And not with a smile of joy, like the one that comes from within. Always with Jesus Christ. Today at Mass speaking of the Crucifix, I said that Francis had contemplated this with open eyes, with open wounds and blood pouring out. And this is your contemplation: reality. The reality of Jesus Christ. Not abstract ideas, not abstract ideas because they dry up the mind. Contemplating the wounds of Jesus Christ! He brought them to heaven and bears them! It is Jesus Christs path of humanity: always with Jesus Christ, God-Man. Thus it is so beautiful when people go to the parlour of a monastery and ask for prayers and recount their problems. Perhaps the nun doesnt say anything extraordinary but a word that comes to her through contemplating Jesus Christ, because that nun, like the Church, is on the path of being an expert in humanity. And this is your path: not too spiritual! When paths are too spiritual... I think for example of the foundress of the monasteries of your competition St Teresa. When a nun came to her, oh, with these things... she said to the cook: Get her a steak!. Always with Jesus Christ always. The humanity of Jesus Christ! Because the Word became flesh, God became flesh for us and this gives you human sanctity that is great, beautiful, mature, the sanctity of a mother. And the Church wants this: mothers, mother, mother. Give life. When you pray, for example, for priests and seminarians, you have a maternal relationship with them. With prayer you help them to become good Shepherds of the People of God. Remember the story of St Teresas steak! It is important. And this is the first point: always with Jesus Christ, the wounds of

Jesus Christ, the wounds of the Lord. Because it is true that, after the Resurrection, he had them and he carried them. And the second thing I wanted to tell you quickly is about community life. Forgive and sustain each other because community life is not easy. The devil takes advantage of everything in order to divide us! He says: I do not want to speak ill but... and then the division begins. No, this is not good because it does not do anything but bring division. Build friendship between yourselves, family life, love among you. May the monastery not be a Purgatory but a family. There are and there will be problems but like in a family, with love, search for a solution with love; do not destroy this to resolve that; do not enter competitions. Build community life, because in the life of a community it is this way, like a family, and it is the very Holy Spirit who is in the middle of the community. I wanted to tell you these two things: always contemplate, always with Jesus: Jesus, God and Man. And community life always with a big heart. Let things go, do not brag, be patient with everything, smile from the heart. And a sign of this is joy. And I ask for you this joy which is born from true contemplation and from beautiful community life. Thank you! Thanks for the welcome. I beg you to pray for me please, dont forget! Before the Blessing, lets pray to Mary. [Hail Mary]

PASTORAL VISIT TO ASSISI MEETING WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF UMBRIA

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Square in front of the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, Assisi Friday, 4 October 2013 Video

THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S QUESTIONS FOR THE HOLY FATHER 1. FAMILY: Nicola and Chiara Volpi (Perugia-Citt della Pieve) We young people live in a society where feeling good, having fun and thinking of oneself is central. Living married life as young Christians is complex, and being open to life is often challenging and frightening. As a young couple, we feel the joy of living out our marriage, but we also experience its daily struggles and challenges. How can the Church help us, how can our pastors support us, and what steps are we called to make? -------------------------------------2. WORK: Danilo Zampolini (Spoleto-Norcia) and David Girolami (Foligno) In Umbria the general economic crisis of recent years has resulted in hardship and poverty. The future seems uncertain and threatening. Along with economic security, there is the risk of losing hope. How should a young Christian look to the future? Which roads should he take toward building a society worthy of God and worthy of man? -------------------------------------3. VOCATION: Benedetto Fattorini (Orvieto-Todi) e Chiaroli Maria (Terni-Narni-Amelia) What should I do with my life? How and where should I invest the talents which the Lord has given me? Sometime the idea of the priesthood or consecrated life attracts me, but then fear immediately arises. And then, such a commitment for forever? How do we recognize God's call? What counsel would you give to someone who wants to dedicate their life to the service of God and their brothers and sisters? -------------------------------------4. MISSION: Luca Nassuato (Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino), Mirko Pierli (Citt di Castello) and Petra Sannipoli (Gubbio) It is beautiful to be here with you and to listen to your words, which encourage us and warms our hearts. The Year of Faith which concludes in just a few weeks time has proposed to all believers the

urgency of preaching the Gospel. We, too, would like to participate in this exciting adventure. But how can we? What may we contribute? What should we do?

THE HOLY FATHER'S RESPONSE

Dear young people of Umbria, Good evening! Thank you for coming, thank you for this celebration! This is truly a celebration! And thank you for your questions. I am glad that the first question came from a young married couple. What a beautiful witness! Two young people who have chosen, who have joyfully and courageously decided to form a family. Yes, it is so true that it takes courage to form a family. It takes courage! And your question, young spouses, is linked to the question of vocation. What is marriage? It is a true and authentic vocation, as are the priesthood and the religious life. Two Christians who marry have recognized the call of the Lord in their own love story, the vocation to form one flesh and one life from two, male and female. And the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony envelops this love in the grace of God, it roots it in God himself. By this gift, and by the certainty of this call, you can continue on assured; you have nothing to fear; you can face everything together! Let us think about our parents, about our grandparents and great grandparents: they married in much poorer conditions than our own. Some married during wartime or just after a war. Some like my own parents emigrated. Where did they find the strength? They found it in the certainty that the Lord was with them, that their families were blessed by God through the Sacrament of Matrimony, and that the mission of bringing children into the world and educating them is also blessed. With this assurance they overcame even the most difficult trials. These were simple certainties, but they were real; they were the pillars that supported their love. Their lives were not easy; there were problems, many, many problems. However, these simple assurances helped them to go forward. And they succeeded in having beautiful families, and in giving life and in raising their children. Dear friends, this moral and spiritual foundation is necessary in order to build well in a lasting way! Today, this foundation is no longer guaranteed by family life and the social tradition. Indeed, the society in which you were raised favours individual rights rather than the family these individual rights. It favours relationships that last until difficulties arise, and this is why it sometimes speaks about relationships between couples, within families and between spouses in a superficial and misleading way. It is enough to watch certain television programs to see these values on display! How many times parish priests sometimes I myself also heard it hear a couple that comes to get married say: But you both know that marriage is for life? Ah, we love each other so much, but... we'll stay together as long as the love lasts. When it ends, well each go our separate way. This is selfishness: when I feel like it, I'll end the marriage and forget the one flesh that cannot be separated. It is risky to get married: it is risky! It is this egoism which threatens it, because we each have within us this possibility of a dual personality: the one that says, I am free, I want this ... and the other which says, I, me, to me, with me, for me .... Selfishness always returns and does not know how to open up to others. The other difficulty is this culture of the temporary: it seems as though nothing is definitive. Everything is provisional. As I said before: love, as long as it lasts. I once heard a seminarian a good person say: I want to become a priest, but for ten years. Then Ill rethink it. This is the culture of the temporary, and Jesus didn't save us temporarily: he saved us definitively!

However, the Holy Spirit is always stirring up new answers to new needs! Thus, programs for engaged couples, marriage preparation courses, parish groups for young couples and family movements have been multiplying in the Church. They are an immense wealth! They are reference points for everyone: young people searching, couples in crisis, parents having difficulties with their children or vice versa. They help everyone! And then there are the different forms of acceptance: foster care, adoption, family homes of various kinds. The imagination if I may use that word the imagination of the Holy Spirit is infinite but very practical! And so I wish to tell you to not be afraid to take definitive steps: do not be afraid to take them. How many times I have heard mothers tell me: But, Father, I have a son who is 30 years old and he wont get married. I dont know what to do! He has a beautiful girlfriend, but he wont make up his mind. Well, Madame, stop ironing his shirts! Thats how it is! Do not be afraid to take steps which are permanent, like getting married: deepen your love by respecting its seasons and expressions, pray, prepare yourselves well; and then trust that the Lord will not leave you alone! Let him come into your home like one of the family, He will always sustain you! Family life is the vocation that God inscribed into the nature of man and woman and there is another vocation which is complementary to marriage: the call to celibacy and virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the vocation that Jesus himself lived. How does one recognize it? How does one follow it? It was the third question you asked me? ... But perhaps some of you are thinking: what a great bishop! We asked him questions and he has answers all ready prepared and written down. I received these questions a few days ago. That is why I am familiar with them.... I will respond with two essential elements on how to recognize the vocation to the priesthood and to consecrated life. Praying and walking in the Church. These two go together, they are intertwined. A powerful experience of God is always at the origin of every vocation to consecrated life, an unforgettable experience that you remember for the rest of your life! This is what happened to Francis. And this is not something we can calculate or plan. God always surprises us! It is God who calls; however, it is important to have a daily relationship with him, to listen to him in silence before the Tabernacle and deep within ourselves, to speak with him, to draw near to the sacraments. Having this familiar relationship with the Lord is like keeping the window of our lives open so that he can make us hear his voice and hear what he wants us to do. It would be beautiful to hear from you, to hear from the priests who are present, from the sisters... It would be very beautiful, because each story is unique. However, they all begin with an encounter that illumines one deeply within, that touches the heart and engages the whole person: affections, intellect, senses, everything. A relationship with God does not only involve one part of us, it involves everything. It is a love so great, so beautiful, so true, that it deserves everything, and it deserves all our trust. And there is one thing I would like to tell you forcefully, especially today: virginity for the Kingdom of God is not a no, it is a yes! Of course it involves the renunciation of the marriage bond and of having a family of one's own, but at its foundation and core there is a yes, as a response to Christs total yes to us, and this yes makes us fruitful. But here in Assisi there is no need for words! We have Francis, we have Clare, let them speak! Their charism continues to speak to many young people all over the world: young men and women leave everything in order to follow Jesus on the way of the Gospel. Here it is, the Gospel. I would take up the word gospel to answer the other two questions that you asked me, the second and the fourth. One concerns our social obligation during the current crisis that is threatening hope; and the other concerns evangelization, bringing the message of Jesus to others. You asked me: what can we do? How may we contribute?

Here in Assisi, close to the Portiuncola, I seem to hear the voice of St Francis repeating: The Gospel, the Gospel!. He says it to me as well; indeed, he says it to me first: Pope Francis, be a servant of the Gospel! If I do not succeed in being a servant of the Gospel, my life is worth nothing! However, dear friends, the Gospel does not only concern religion. It concerns man, the whole of man; it concerns the world, society and human civilization. The Gospel is God's message of salvation for mankind. When we say message of salvation, this is not simply a way of speaking, these are not mere words or empty words like so many today. Mankind truly needs to be saved! We see it everyday when we flip through newspapers or watch the news on television; but we also see it around us, in people, in situations; and we see it in ourselves! Each one of us needs to be saved! We cannot do it alone! We need to be saved! Saved from what? From evil. Evil is at work, it does its job. However, evil is not invincible and a Christian does not give up when confronted by evil. And you young people, do you want to give up in the face of evil, injustice and difficulty? Do you want to or not? [Young people reply: No!] Ah, good. I like this. Our secret is that God is greater than evil: this is true! God is greater than evil. God is infinite love, boundless mercy, and that Love has conquered evil at its root through the death and Resurrection of Christ. This is the Gospel, the Good News: Gods love has won! Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again. With him we can fight evil and conquer every day. Do we believe this or not? [Young people respond: Yes!] But that yes has to become part of life! If I believe that Jesus has conquered evil and saved me, I must follow along the path of Jesus for my whole life. The Gospel, then, this message of salvation, has two destinations that are connected: the first, to awaken faith, and this is evangelization; the second, to transform the world according to Gods plan, and this is the Christian animation of society. But these are not two separate things, they form one mission: to carry the Gospel by the witness of our lives in order to transform the world! This is the way: to bring the Gospel by the witness of our lives. Let us look to Francis: he did both of these things, through the power of the one Gospel. Francis made faith grow and he renewed the Church, and at the same time he renewed society, he made it more fraternal, but he always did it with the Gospel and by his witness. Do you know what Francis once said to his brothers? He said: Always preach the Gospel and if necessary use words! But how? Is it possible to preach the Gospel without words? Yes! By your witness! First comes witness, then come words! Young people of Umbria: you must also do something! Today, in the name of St Francis, I say to you: I have neither gold nor silver to give you, but something far more precious, the Gospel of Jesus. Go forward with courage! With the Gospel in heart and hands, be witnesses of faith by your lives: bring Christ into your home, preach him among your friends, welcome and serve him in the poor. Young, give Umbria a message of life, peace and hope! You can do it! He recites the Lords Prayer and the Blessing. And, please, I ask you: pray for me!

POPE FRANCIS

GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 16 October 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning! When we recite the Creed we say I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I dont know if you have ever reflected on the meaning of the expression the Church is apostolic. Perhaps from time to time, coming to Rome, you have thought about the importance of the Apostles Peter and Paul who here gave their lives to bring and bear witness to the Gospel. But it is even more. To profess that the Church is apostolic means to stress the constitutive bond that she has with the Apostles, with that small group of 12 men whom Jesus one day called to himself, he called them by name, that they might remain with him and that he might send them out to preach (cf. Mk 3:13-19). Apostle, in fact, is a Greek word meaning sent, dispatched. An Apostle is a person who has been given a mandate, he is sent to do something and the Apostles were chosen, called and sent out by Jesus to continue his work, that is to pray which is the primary job of an apostle and, second, to proclaim the Gospel. This is important, because when we think of the Apostles we might think that they were only sent out to proclaim the Gospel, to do many good deeds. However, a problem arose in the early times of the Church because of how much the Apostles had to do, and that is why they instituted deacons, so that there would be more time for the Apostles to pray and proclaim the Word of God. When we think of the Successors of the Apostles, the bishops this includes the Pope for he too is a bishop we must ask ourselves if this successor of the Apostles prays first and then proclaims the Gospel: this is what it means to be an Apostle and this is what makes the Church apostolic. Every one of us, if we want to be apostles as I shall explain now, must ask ourselves: do I pray for the salvation of the world? Do I proclaim the Gospel? This is the Church apostolic! It is the constitutive bond that we have with the Apostles. Starting from this I would like to focus briefly on the three meanings of the adjective apostolic as it is applied to the Church. 1. The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the preaching and prayer of the Apostles, on the authority that was entrusted to them by Christ himself. St Paul writes to the Christians of Ephesus: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being a cornerstone (2:19-20); that is, he compares Christians to living stones that form an edifice that is the Church, and this edifice is founded on the Apostles, like columns, and the cornerstone that carries it all is Jesus himself. Without Jesus the Church cannot exist! Jesus is the foundation of the Church, the foundation! The Apostles lived with Jesus, they listened to his words, they shared his life, above all they were witnesses of his Death and Resurrection. Our faith, the Church that Christ willed, is not based on an idea, it is not based on a philosophy, it is based on Christ himself. And the Church is like a plant that over the long centuries has grown, has developed,

has borne fruit, yet her roots are planted firmly in Him and that fundamental experience of Christ which the Apostles had, chosen and sent out by Jesus, reaching all the way to us. From this little plant to our day: this is how the Church has spread everywhere in the world. 2. But let us ask ourselves: how is it possible for us to be connected to that testimony, how could what the Apostles experienced with Jesus, what they heard from him reach us? This is the second meaning of the term apostolic. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Church is apostolic because with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the good deposit, the salutary words she has heard from the Apostles (n. 857). Over the centuries, the Church conserves this precious treasure, which is Sacred Scripture, doctrine, the Sacraments, the ministry of Pastors, so that we can be faithful to Christ and share in his very life. It is like a river coursing through history, developing, irrigating; but running water always comes from a source, and the source is Christ himself: he is the Risen One, he is the Living One, and his words never pass away, for he does not pass, he is alive, he is among us today, he hears us and we speak to him and he listens, he is in our hearts. Jesus is with us today! This is the beauty of the Church: the presence of Jesus Christ among us. Do we ever think about how important this gift that Jesus gave us is, the gift of the Church, where we can meet him? Do we ever think about how it is precisely the Church on her journey through the centuries despite the difficulties, the problems, the weaknesses, our sins that transmits to us the authentic message of Christ? She gives us the certainty that what we believe in is really what Christ communicated to us? 3. My final thought: the Church is apostolic because she is sent to bring the Gospel to all the world. She continues in history the mission which Jesus entrusted to the Apostles: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Mt 28:19-20). This is what Jesus told us to do! I insist on this missionary aspect, because Christ invites all to go out and encounter others, he sends us, he asks us to move in order to spread the joy of the Gospel! Once again let us ask ourselves: are we missionaries by our words, and especially by our Christian life, by our witness? Or are we Christians closed in our hearts and in our churches, sacristy Christians? Are we Christians in name only, who live like pagans? We must ask ourselves these questions, which are not a rebuke. I ask myself as well: what kind of Christian am I, is my witness true? The Churchs roots are in the teaching of the Apostles, the authentic witnesses of Christ, but she looks to the future, she has the firm consciousness of being sent sent by Jesus of being missionary, bearing the name of Jesus by her prayer, proclaiming it and testifying to it. A Church that is closed in on herself and in the past, a Church that only sees the little rules of behaviour, of attitude, is a Church that betrays her own identity; a closed Church betrays her own identity! Then, let us rediscover today all the beauty and responsibility of being the Church apostolic! And remember this: the Church is apostolic because we pray our first duty and because we proclaim the Gospel by our life and by our words.

POPE FRANCIS

GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 20 November 2013 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Last Wednesday I spoke about the remission of sins, referred to in a special way at Baptism. Today let us continue on the theme of the remission of sins, but in reference to the power of the keys, as it is called, which is a biblical symbol of the mission that Jesus entrusted to the Apostles. First of all, we must remember that the principal agent in the forgiveness of sins is the Holy Spirit. In his first appearance to the Apostles, in the Upper Room, the Risen Jesus made the gesture of breathing on them saying: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (Jn 20:22,23). Jesus, transfigured in his body, is already the new man who offers the Paschal gifts, the fruit of his death and resurrection. What are these gifts? Peace, joy, the forgiveness of sins, mission, but above all he gives the Spirit who is the source of all these. The breath of Jesus, accompanied by the words with which he communicates the Spirit, signifies the transmission of life, the new life reborn from forgiveness. But before making this gesture of breathing and transmitting the Holy Spirit, Jesus reveals the wounds in his hands and side: these wounds represent the price of our salvation. The Holy Spirit brings us Gods pardon by passing through Jesus wounds. These wounds he wished to keep; even now in Heaven he is showing the Father the wounds by which he redeemed us. By the power of these wounds, our sins are pardoned: thus, Jesus gave his life for our peace, for our joy, for the gift of grace in our souls, for the forgiveness of our sins. It is very very beautiful to look at Jesus in this way! And we come to the second element: Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins. It is a little difficult to understand how a man can forgive sins, but Jesus gives this power. The Church is the depository of the power of the keys, of opening or closing to forgiveness. God forgives every man in his sovereign mercy, but he himself willed that those who belong to Christ and to the Church receive forgiveness by means of the ministers of the community. Through the apostolic ministry the mercy of God reaches me, my faults are forgiven and joy is bestowed on me. In this way Jesus calls us to live out reconciliation in the ecclesial, the community, dimension as well. And this is very beautiful. The Church, who is holy and at the same time in need of penitence, accompanies us on the journey of conversion throughout our life. The Church is not mistress of the power of the keys, but a servant of the ministry of mercy and rejoices every time she can offer this divine gift. Perhaps many do not understand the ecclesial dimension of forgiveness, because individualism, subjectivism, always dominates, and even we Christians are affected by this. Certainly, God forgives every penitent sinner, personally, but the Christian is tied to Christ, and Christ is united to the Church. For us Christians there is a further gift, there is also a further duty: to pass humbly through the ecclesial community. We have to appreciate it; it is a gift, a cure, a protection as well as the assurance that God has forgiven me. I go to my brother priest and I say: Father, I did this....

And he responds: But I forgive you; God forgives you. At that moment, I am sure that God has forgiven me! And this is beautiful, this is having the surety that God forgives us always, he never tires of forgiving us. And we must never tire of going to ask for forgiveness. You may feel ashamed to tell your sins, but as our mothers and our grandmothers used to say, it is better to be red once than yellow a thousand times. We blush once but then our sins are forgiven and we go forward. Lastly, a final point: the priest is the instrument for the forgiveness of sins. Gods forgiveness is given to us in the Church, it is transmitted to us by means of the ministry of our brother, the priest; and he too is a man, who, like us in need of mercy, truly becomes the instrument of mercy, bestowing on us the boundless love of God the Father. Priests and bishops too have to go to confession: we are all sinners. Even the Pope confesses every 15 days, because the Pope is also a sinner. And the confessor hears what I tell him, he counsels me and forgives me, because we are all in need of this forgiveness. Sometimes you hear someone claiming to confess directly to God... Yes, as I said before, God is always listening, but in the Sacrament of Reconciliation he sends a brother to bestow his pardon, the certainty of forgiveness, in the name of the Church. The service that the priest assumes a ministry, on behalf of God, to forgive sins is very delicate and requires that his heart be at peace, that the priest have peace in his heart; that he not mistreat the faithful, but that he be gentle, benevolent and merciful; that he know how to plant hope in hearts and, above all, that he be aware that the brother or sister who approaches the Sacrament of Reconciliation seeking forgiveness does so just as many people approached Jesus to be healed. The priest who is not of this disposition of mind had better not administer this sacrament until he has addressed it. The penitent faithful have the right, all faithful have the right, to find in priests servants of the forgiveness of God. Dear brothers, as members of the Church are we conscious of the beauty of this gift that God himself offers us? Do we feel the joy of this cure, of this motherly attention that the Church has for us? Do we know how to appreciate it with simplicity and diligence? Let us not forget that God never tires of forgiving us; through the ministry of priests he holds us close in a new embrace and regenerates us and allows us to rise again and resume the journey. For this is our life: to rise again continuously and to resume our journey. APPEAL Tomorrow, 21 November, is the liturgical memorial of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the Temple, we will celebrate the Day pro Orantibus, dedicated to the cloistered religious communities. It is an opportune occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people who, in monasteries and hermitages, dedicate themselves to God in prayer and in silent work. Let us give thanks to the Lord for their witness of cloistered life and let us not fail to provide spiritual and material support to these our brothers and sisters, so that they may fulfil their important mission.

CELEBRATION OF VESPERS WITH THE CAMALDOLESE BENEDICTINE COMMUNITY

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE CAMALDOLESE BENEDICTINE NUNS

Monastery of St Anthony the Abbot - Rome Thursday, 21 November 2013

Let us contemplate the one who knew and loved Jesus like no other creature. The Gospel that we heard reveals the fundamental way Mary expressed her love for Jesus: by doing the will of God. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother (Mt 12:50). With these words Jesus leaves us an important message: the will of God is the supreme law which establishes true belonging to him. That is how Mary established a bond of kinship with Jesus even before giving birth to him. She becomes both disciple and mother to the Son at the moment she receives the words of the Angel and says: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word (Lk 1:38). This let it be is not only acceptance, but also a trustful openness to the future. This let it be is hope! Mary is the mother of hope, the icon that most fully expresses Christian hope. The whole of her life is a series of episodes of hope, beginning with her yes at the moment of the Annunciation. Mary did not know how she could become a mother, but she entrusted herself totally to the mystery that was about to be fulfilled, and she became the woman of expectation and of hope. Then we see her in Bethlehem, where the One proclaimed to her as the Saviour of Israel and as the Messiah is born into poverty. Later, while she was in Jerusalem to present him in the Temple amid the joy of the elderly Simeon and Anna, a promise is also made that a sword will pierce her heart and a prophecy foretells that he will be a sign of contradiction. She realizes that the mission and the very identity of this Son surpasses her own motherhood. We then come to the episode of Jesus who is lost in Jerusalem and is then called back: Son, why have you treated us so? (Lk 2:48), and to Jesus reply that takes away her motherly anxiety and turns to the things of the Heavenly Father. Yet in the face of all these difficulties and surprises in Gods plan, the Virgins hope is never shaken! The woman of hope. This tells us that hope is nourished by listening, contemplation and patience until the time of the Lord is ripe. Again at the wedding in Cana, Mary is the mother of hope, which makes her attentive and solicitous to human affairs. With the start of his public ministry, Jesus becomes the Teacher and the Messiah: Our Lady looks upon the mission of the Son with exultation but also with apprehension, because Jesus becomes ever more that sign of contradiction foretold by the elderly Simeon. At the foot of the Cross, she is at once the woman of sorrow and of watchful expectation of a mystery far greater than sorrow which is about to be fulfilled. It seemed that everything had come to an end; every hope could be said to have been extinguished. She too, at that moment, remembering the promises of the Annunciation could have said: they did not come true, I was deceived. But she did not say this. And so she who was blessed because she believed, sees blossom from her faith a new future and awaits Gods tomorrow with expectation. At times I think: do we know how to wait for Gods tomorrow? Or do we want it today? For her the tomorrow of God is the dawn of Easter morning, the dawn of the first day of the week. It would do us good to think, in contemplation, of the embrace of mother and son. The single lamp lit at the tomb of Jesus is the hope of the mother, which in that moment

is the hope of all humanity. I ask myself and I ask you: is this lamp still alight in monasteries? In your monasteries are you waiting for Gods tomorrow? We owe so much to this Mother! She is present at every moment in the history of salvation, and in her we see a firm witness to hope. She, the mother of hope, sustains us in times of darkness, difficulty, discouragement, of seeming defeat or true human defeat. May Mary, our hope, help us to make of our lives a pleasing offering to the Heavenly Father, and a joyful gift for our brothers and sisters, in an attitude that always looks forward to tomorrow.

RITE OF ACCEPTANCE INTO THE CATECHUMENATE AND MEETING WITH CATECHUMENS AT THE CLOSING OF THE YEAR OF FAITH

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Vatican Basilica Saturday, 23 November 2013 Video Photo Gallery

Dear Catechumens, This concluding moment of the Year of Faith sees you gathered here, with your catechists and family members, also representing many other men and women around the world who are in your same walk of faith. Spiritually, we are all connected at this moment. You come from many different countries, from different cultural traditions and experiences. Yet this evening we feel we have so many things in common among us. We especially have one: the desire for God. This desire is evoked by the words of the Psalmist: As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? (Ps 42 [41]: 1-2). It is so important to keep this desire alive, this longing to behold the Lord and to experience him, to experience his love, to experience his mercy! If one ceases to thirst for the living God, faith is in danger of becoming a habit, it risks being extinguished, like a fire that is not fed. It risks becoming rancid, meaningless. The Gospel account (cf. Jn 1:35-42) showed us John the Baptist who points out Jesus as the Lamb of God to his disciples. Two of them follow the Master, and then, in turn, become mediators who enable others to encounter the Lord, to know him and to follow him. There are three moments in this narrative that recall the experience of the catechumenate. First, there is the moment of listening. The two disciples listened to the witness of the Baptist. You too, dear Catechumens, have listened to those who have spoken to you about Jesus and suggested that you follow him by becoming his disciples through Baptism. Amid the din of many voices that echo around you and within you, you have listened and accepted the voice that points to Jesus as the One who can give full meaning to our life. The second moment is the encounter. The two disciples encounter the Teacher and stay with him. After having encountered him, immediately they notice something new in their hearts: the need to transmit their joy to others, that they too may meet him. Andrew, in fact, meets his brother Simon and leads him to Jesus. What good it does us to meditate on this scene! It reminds us that God did not create us to be alone, closed in on ourselves, but in order to be able to encounter him and to open ourselves to encounter others. God first comes to each one of us; and this is marvellous! He comes to meet us! In the Bible God always appears as the one who takes the initiative in the encounter with man: it is he who seeks man, and usually he seeks him precisely while man is in the bitter and tragic moment of betraying God and fleeing from him. God does not wait in seeking him: he seeks him out immediately. He is a patient seeker, our Father! He goes before us and he waits for us always. He never tires of waiting for us, he is never far from us, but he has the patience to wait for the best moment to meet each

one of us. And when the encounter happens, it is never rushed, because God wants to remain at length with us to sustain us, to console us, to give us his joy. God hastens to meet us, but he never rushes to leave us. He stays with us. As we long for him and desire him, so he too desires to be with us, that we may belong to him, we are his belonging, we are his creatures. He, too, we can say, thirsts for us, to meet us. Our God is thirsty for us. And this is Gods heart. It is so beautiful to hear this. The last part of the narrative is walking. The two disciples walk toward Jesus and then walk a stretch of the road together with him. It is an important teaching for us all. Faith is a walk with Jesus. Remember this always: faith is walking with Jesus; and it is a walk that lasts a lifetime. At the end there shall be the definitive encounter. Certainly, at some moments on the journey we feel tired and confused. But the faith gives us the certainty of Jesus constant presence in every situation, even the most painful or difficult to understand. We are called to walk in order to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of the love of God, which reigns over us and permits us to live in serenity and hope. Dear catechumens, today you begin the journey of the catechumenate. My wish for you is to follow it with joy, sure of the entire Churchs support, who is watching over you with great trust. May Mary, the perfect disciple, accompany you: it is beautiful to have her as our Mother in faith! I invite you to guard the enthusiasm of that first moment in which he opened your eyes to the light of faith; to remember, like the beloved disciple, the day, the hour in which for the first time you stayed with Jesus, felt his gaze upon you. Never forget the gaze of Jesus upon you; upon you, upon you... never forget his gaze! It is a gaze of love. And thus you shall be forever certain of the Lords faithful love. He is faithful. Be assured: he will never betray you!

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION

EVANGELII GAUDIUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
Given in Rome, at Saint Peters, on 24 November, the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the conclusion of the Year of Faith, in the year 2013, the first of my Pontificate.

104. Demands that the legitimate rights of women be respected, based on the firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with profound and challenging questions which cannot be lightly evaded. The reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the Spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion, but it can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general. It must be remembered that when we speak of sacramental power we are in the realm of function, not that of dignity or holiness.[73] The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by Jesus for the service of his people, yet our great dignity derives from baptism, which is accessible to all. The configuration of the priest to Christ the head namely, as the principal source of grace does not imply an exaltation which would set him above others. In the Church, functions do not favour the superiority of some vis--vis the others.[74] Indeed, a woman, Mary, is more important than the bishops. Even when the function of ministerial priesthood is considered hierarchical, it must be remembered that it is totally ordered to the holiness of Christs members.[75] Its key and axis is not power understood as domination, but the power to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist; this is the origin of its authority, which is always a service to Gods people. This presents a great challenge for pastors and theologians, who are in a position to recognize more fully what this entails with regard to the possible role of women in decision-making in different areas of the Churchs life. 107. Many places are experiencing a dearth of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. This is often due to a lack of contagious apostolic fervour in communities which results in a cooling of enthusiasm and attractiveness. Wherever there is life, fervour and a desire to bring Christ to others, genuine vocations will arise. Even in parishes where priests are not particularly committed or joyful, the fraternal life and fervour of the community can awaken in the young a desire to consecrate themselves completely to God and to the preaching of the Gospel. This is particularly true if such a living community prays insistently for vocations and courageously proposes to its young people the path of special consecration. On the other hand, despite the scarcity of vocations, today we are increasingly aware of the need for a better process of selecting candidates to the priesthood. Seminaries cannot accept candidates on the basis of any motivation whatsoever, especially if those motivations have to do with affective insecurity or the pursuit of power, human glory or economic well-being. [73] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988), 51: AAS 81 (1989), 413. [74] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Declaration Inter Insigniores on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (15 October 1976): AAS 68 (1977) 115, cited in JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988), note 190: AAS 81 (1989), 493. [75] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988), 27: AAS 80 (1988), 1718.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF THE NETHERLANDS ON THEIR "AD LIMINA" VISIT
Monday, 2 December 2013

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, In these days when you are making your visit ad limina Apostolorum, I greet each of you with affection in the Lord and I assure you of my prayers that this pilgrimage may be rich in grace and fruitful for the Church in the Netherlands. Thank you, dear Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, for the words which you addressed to me on behalf of all! Allow me first of all to express my gratitude for the service to Christ and to the Gospel which you render to the people entrusted to you, amid oftentimes difficult circumstances. It is not easy to maintain hope amid the challenges you face. The collegial exercise of your episcopal ministry, in communion with the Bishop of Rome, is necessary in order for this hope to grow, in a true dialogue and effective collaboration. You will do well to look with confidence to the signs of vitality that are manifest in the Christian communities of your dioceses. They are signs of the active presence of the Lord in the midst of the men and women in your country who expect authentic witnesses of the hope that enlivens us, that which comes from Christ. With maternal patience the Church continues in her efforts to respond to the restlessness of so many men and women who experience anxiety and discouragement as they face the future. With your priests, who are your direct collaborators, you wish to be close to people who suffer from spiritual emptiness, and who are searching for meaning in life, even if they are not always able to voice it. How best to accompany them fraternally in this search if not by listening to them in order to share the hope, the joy and the ability to go ahead that Jesus Christ gives us? For this reason, the Church seeks to propose the faith in an authentic, understandable and pastoral manner. The Year of Faith was a felicitous opportunity to show how the content of the faith can reach each person. Christian anthropology and the social doctrine of the Church belong to the heritage of experience and of humanism on which European civilization is based and they can help concretely to reaffirm the primacy of man over technology and structures. This primacy of man presupposes an openness to transcendence. On the contrary, by suppressing the transcendent dimension, a culture is impoverished, while instead it should show the ability to connect faith and reason, truth and freedom, in constant harmony. Thus, the Church does not only propose unchanging moral truths and counter cultural attitudes, she proposes them as the key to human good and social development. Christians have a special mission to accept this challenge. The formation of consciences therefore becomes a priority, especially through the formation of critical judgment, while maintaining a positive approach toward social realities; thus it will be possible to avoid making superficial judgements and becoming resigned to indifference. Hence, this requires that Catholics, priests, consecrated persons and laity acquire a sound, quality education. I strongly encourage you to combine your efforts in order to respond to this need so as to proclaim the Gospel more effectively. In this context, the witness and commitment of the laity in the Church and society have an important role and should be strongly supported. All baptized Christians are invited to be disciples and missionaries, right where we are!

In your society, which is deeply marked by secularization, I encourage you also to be present in the public debate, in all the areas where man is at issue, to make Gods mercy and his tenderness for every creature visible. In todays world, the Church has the task of untiringly repeating Jesus words: Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28). But let us ask ourselves: do those who meet us, who meet a Christian, perceive something of the goodness of God, of the joy of having encountered Christ? As I have often stated from first hand experience in the episcopal ministry, the Church does not spread through proselytism but by attraction. She is sent everywhere in order to awaken, to reawaken and to preserve hope! Hence the importance of encouraging your faithful to welcome occasions of dialogue, by being active wherever the future is decided; in this way they will be able to contribute to the debate on the great social issues like the family, marriage and the end of life. Today more than ever we feel the need to take the way of ecumenism by inviting others to a true dialogue that looks for elements of truth and goodness and that offers answers inspired by the Gospel. The Holy Spirit urges us to come out of ourselves to meet others! In a country which is wealthy in many respects, poverty is affecting a growing number of people. Make the most of the generosity of your faithful in order to bring the light and compassion of Christ to the places that await him and especially to the most marginalized! Furthermore, by giving youth a sound education, Catholic schools will continue to nourish their human and spiritual formation, in a spirit of dialogue and fraternity with those who do not share their faith. It is important, then, that young Christians receive a high quality catechesis that supports their faith and leads them to an encounter with Christ. A good formation and a spirit of openness! This is how the Good News continues to be spread. You are well aware that the future and the vitality of the Church in the Netherlands depends also on priestly and religious vocations! It is urgent that you create a vigorous and attractive vocations apostolate, and a common search for how best to sustain seminarians as they mature humanly and spiritually; so that they might live in a personal relationship with the Lord that will be the foundation of their priestly lives! May we also feel the urgency of praying to the Lord of the harvest! The rediscovery of prayer in various forms, and particularly Eucharistic Adoration, is a source of hope for the Church to grow and take root. How important and essential it is to be close to your priests, to be available to each of your priests in order to support and guide them should they need it! As a father, find the needed time to welcome them and to listen to them, every time they ask you. And also do not forget to go out to meet those who do not draw near; some of them have unfortunately failed in their commitments. In a very special way, I wish to express my compassion and to give the assurance of my prayer to each person who has been a victim of sexual abuse, and to their families; I ask you to continue to support them along the painful path of healing which they have undertaken with courage. Ready to respond to the desire of Christ, the Good Shepherd, have at heart to defend and foster unity in all things and among everyone. To conclude I would like once again to give thanks with you for the signs of vitality with which the Lord has blessed the Church in the Netherlands, in this context that is not always easy. May he encourage you and confirm you in the delicate mission of guiding your communities on the journey of faith and unity, of truth and charity. As I entrust you, as well as the priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful of your dioceses to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, I cordially impart to you the Apostolic Blessing, as a pledge of peace and spiritual joy; and fraternally I ask you not to forget to pray for me!

PRESENTATION OF THE CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO THE ROMAN CURIA

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS

Clementine Hall Saturday, 21 December 2013 Video

Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am very grateful to the Cardinal Dean for his words. Thank you! The Lord has enabled us to journey through Advent, and all too quickly we have come to these final days before Christmas. They are days marked by a unique spiritual climate made up of emotions, memories and signs, both liturgical and otherwise, such as the creche It is in this climate that this traditional meeting takes place with you, the Superiors and Officials of the Roman Curia, who cooperate daily in the service of the Church. I greet all of you with affection. Allow me to extend a special greeting to Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who recently began his service as Secretary of State, and who needs our prayers! While our hearts are full of gratitude to God, who so loved us that he gave us his only-begotten Son, it is also good to make room for gratitude to one another. In this, my first Christmas as the Bishop of Rome, I also feel the need to offer sincere thanks to all of you as a community of service, and to each of you individually. I thank you for the work which you do each day: for the care, diligence and creativity which you display; and for your effort I know it is not always easy to work together in the office, both to listen to and challenge one another, and to bring out the best in all your different personalities and gifts, in a spirit of mutual respect. In a particular way, I want to express my gratitude to those now concluding their service and approaching retirement. As priests and bishops, we know full well that we never really retire, but we do leave the office, and rightly so, not least to devote ourselves a little more fully to prayer and the care of souls, starting with our own! So a very special and heartfelt thank you goes to those of you who have worked here for so many years with immense dedication, hidden from the eyes of the world. This is something truly admirable. I have such high regard for these Monsignori who are cut from the same mould as the curiales of olden times, exemplary persons We need them today, too! People who work with competence, precision and self-sacrifice in the fulfilment of their daily duties. Here I would like to mention some of them by name, as a way of expressing my esteem and my gratitude, but we know that, in any list, the first names people notice are the ones that are missing! Besides, I would also risk overlooking someone and thus committing an injustice and a lack of charity. But I want to say to these brothers of ours that they offer a very important witness in the Churchs journey through history. They are also an example, and their example and their witness make me think of two hallmarks of the curial official, and even more of curial superiors, which I would like to emphasize: professionalism and service.

Professionalism, by which I mean competence, study, keeping abreast of things This is a basic requisite for working in the Curia. Naturally, professionalism is something which develops, and is in part acquired; but I think that, precisely for it to develop and to be acquired, there has to be a good foundation from the outset. The second hallmark is service: service to the Pope and to the bishops, to the universal Church and to the particular Churches. In the Roman Curia, one learns in a special way, one breathes in this twofold aspect of the Church, this interplay of the universal and the particular. I think that this is one of the finest experiences of those who live and work in Rome: to sense the Church in this way. When professionalism is lacking, there is a slow drift downwards towards mediocrity. Dossiers become full of trite and lifeless information, and incapable of opening up lofty perspectives. Then too, when the attitude is no longer one of service to the particular Churches and their bishops, the structure of the Curia turns into a ponderous, bureaucratic customshouse, constantly inspecting and questioning, hindering the working of the Holy Spirit and the growth of Gods people. To these two qualities of professionalism and service, I would also like to add a third, which is holiness of life. We know very well that, in the hierarchy of values, this is the most important. Indeed, it is basic for the quality of our work, our service. Here I would like to say that in the Roman Curia there have been, and still are, saints. I have said this publicly on more than one occasion, as a way of thanking the Lord. Holiness means a life immersed in the Spirit, a heart open to God, constant prayer, deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our fellow workers. It also means apostleship, discreet and faithful pastoral service, zealously carried out in direct contact with Gods people. For priests, this is indispensable. Holiness, in the Curia, also means conscientious objection. Yes, conscientious objection to gossip! We rightfully insist on the importance of conscientious objection, but perhaps we too need to exercise it as a means of defending ourselves from an unwritten law of our surroundings, which unfortunately is that of gossip. So let us all be conscientious objectors; and mind you, I am not simply preaching! For gossip is harmful to people, harmful to our work and our surroundings. Dear brothers and sisters, let us feel close to one another on this final stretch of the road to Bethlehem. We would do well to meditate on Saint Joseph, who was so silent yet so necessary at the side of Our Lady. Let us think about him and his loving concern for his Spouse and for the Baby Jesus. This can tell us a lot about our own service to the Church! So let us experience this Christmas in spiritual closeness to Saint Joseph. This will benefit all of us! I thank you most heartily for your work and especially for your prayers. Truly I feel borne aloft by your prayers and I ask you to continue to support me in this way. I too remember you before the Lord, and I impart my blessing as I offer my best wishes for a Christmas filled with light and peace for each of you and for all your dear ones. Happy Christmas!

Pope to Priests: Those who waste their energy in vanity do so much harm to the Church 2014-01-13

Pope Francis explained just why priests must always renew their relationship with Jesus. As he celebrated Mass with a group of Italian priests, he explained that those who don't take care of their faith, risk becoming so called 'greasy.' POPE FRANCIS "We are anointed by the Spirit and when a priest distances himself from Jesus Christ he can lose this anointing. He essentially already has it... but still he loses it. Instead of being anointed with Holy oil, he ends up being "greasy. These "greasy priests cause so much harm to the Church! Those who put their energies into artificial things, into vanity, or in a specific attitude and 'cute' type of language. The Pope added that in the end vanity leads to idolatry. He also added that a true relationship with Christ breaks away all those risks.

SUMMARY OF POPE'S MASS (Source: Vatican Radio) "We are united through the Spirit and when a priest distances himself from Jesus Christ, instead of being annointed [unto], he ends up becoming unctuous [untuoso]. "How much unctuous priests harm the Church! Those who place importance and power in artificial things, in vanities, those who have an affected attitude and way of speaking. How many times do we hear with dismay: but this is a priest?; he seems more like a butterfly because he is always fluttering about vanities and he does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ: he has lost the annointing; he is unctuous. "We are good priests if we go to Jesus Christ, if we seek the Lord in prayer: the prayer of intercession, the prayer of adoration. If instead we distance ourselves from Jesus Christ, we have to compensate for this with other worldly attitudes. But the priest adores Jesus Christ, the priest speaks with Jesus Christ, the priest seeks Jesus Christ and allows himself to be sought by Jesus Christ. This is the centre of our lives. If we do not have this, we lose everthing! And then what shall we give to the people? "We have asked that the mysetery which we celebrate, the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ among us, might increase each day. We asked for this grace: that our relationship with Jesus Christ ... might grow in us. "It is beautiful to find priests who have given their lives as priests. Priests of whom the people say: But yes, he has a bit of a temper, hes got this and that, but he is a priest! And the people have a nose about these things! Instead, when the people see idolatrous priests, to say it in a word, who instead of having Jesus have their little idols - some are devotees of the god of Narcissus - they say: poor things! It is a relationship with Jesus Christ that saves us from worldliness and from the idolatry that makes us unctuous.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 26 January 2014 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! This Sundays Gospel recounts the beginnings of the public life of Jesus in the cities and villages of Galilee. His mission does not begin in Jerusalem, the religious centre and also the social and political centre, but in an area on the outskirts, an area looked down upon by the most observant Jews because of the presence in that region of various foreign peoples; that is why the Prophet Isaiah calls it Galilee of the nations (Is 9:1). It is a borderland, a place of transit where people of different races, cultures, and religions converge. Thus Galilee becomes a symbolic place for the Gospel to open to all nations. From this point of view, Galilee is like the world of today: the co-presence of different cultures, the necessity for comparison and the necessity of encounter. We too are immersed every day in a kind of Galilee of the nations, and in this type of context we may feel afraid and give in to the temptation to build fences to make us feel safer, more protected. But Jesus teaches us that the Good News, which he brings, is not reserved to one part of humanity, it is to be communicated to everyone. It is a proclamation of joy destined for those who are waiting for it, but also for all those who perhaps are no longer waiting for anything and havent even the strength to seek and to ask. Starting from Galilee, Jesus teaches us that no one is excluded from the salvation of God, rather it is from the margins that God prefers to begin, from the least, so as to reach everyone. He teaches us a method, his method, which also expresses the content, which is the Fathers mercy. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the peripheries in need of the light of the Gospel (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, n. 20). Jesus begins his mission not only from a decentralized place, but also among men whom one would call, refer to, as having a low profile. When choosing his first disciples and future apostles, he does not turn to the schools of scribes and doctors of the Law, but to humble people and simple people, who diligently prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus goes to call them where they work, on the lakeshore: they are fishermen. He calls them, and they follow him, immediately. They leave their nets and go with him: their life will become an extraordinary and fascinating adventure. Dear friends, the Lord is calling today too! The Lord passes through the paths of our daily life. Even today at this moment, here, the Lord is passing through the square. He is calling us to go with him, to work with him for the Kingdom of God, in the Galilee of our times. May each one of you think: the Lord is passing by today, the Lord is watching me, he is looking at me! What is the Lord saying to me? And if one of you feels that the Lord says to you follow me be brave, go with the Lord. The Lord never disappoints. Feel in your heart if the Lord is calling you to follow him. Lets let his gaze rest on us, hear his voice, and follow him! That the joy of the Gospel may reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world (ibid., n. 288).

Vatican City, January 27, 2014 (Zenit.org) | 318 hits

Bishops and priests are not chosen just to run an organization but rather are the anointed ones chosen by the Lord to serve His people. This was Pope Francis reflection during his homily today at Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father began by commenting on the first reading which recounts Davids anointing as King of Israel. Without it, the Pope said, David would have been a mere political organizer. "The anointing allows for the Spirit of the Lord to descend upon David. This is precisely the difference anointing makes," the Pope said. "The bishops are elected not only to conduct an organization, which is called the particular Church. They are anointed: they have the anointing and the Spirit of the Lord is with them. All the bishops are sinners, everyone. Still, we are anointed." "It is in this anointing that a particular Church has its strength. Because they take part [in the bishops mission of service] priests are anointed, as well." The Holy Father continued his homily saying that the anointing brings priests and bishops closer to the Lord, allowing them to live in the service of their people. It is impossible to understand or explain, however, that the Church can continue on human strength alone. "We in history know but a small part - though how many holy bishops, how many priests, how many holy priests have given their lives in the service of the diocese, the parish how many people have received the power of faith, the power of love, hope [itself] from these anonymous pastors? We do not know. There are so many." While acknowledging that people may read negative news about bishops and priests who have done things contrary to the Gospel, the Holy Father asked the faithful to ponder on how often good news about their works are reported. "Tell me, though: do the papers carry news of what great charity so many priests, so many priests in so many parishes of the city and the countryside, perform? Of the great work they do in carrying their people forward?," he asked. "No? This is not news." Concluding his homily, Pope Francis exhorted those present to reflect on the anointing of King David, which calls us to pray for our brave, holy, good, faithful bishops and priests, and pray for them. "We are here today thanks to them." (J.A.E.)

Pope Francis: There are holy priests, though they are not 'newsworthy'
2014-01-27

Pope Francis explained in his homily at Casa Santa Marta the role of priests and bishops within the Church. They lead the Church because they've been "anointed, not because they "were elected by the majority. POPE FRANCIS "The bishops are elected not only to conduct an organization, which is called the particular Church. They are anointed: they have the anointing and the Spirit of the Lord is with them. All of us bishops are sinners, every one. Still, we are anointed. We all want to be more holy every day, more faithful to this anointing. The Pope acknowledged that there are bishops or priests who have not lead by example. But he also upheld the work many other priests do for their congregations, but is not considered "newsworthy. EXCERPT OF THE POPE'S HOMILY Source: Vatican Radio "The bishops are elected not only to conduct an organization, which is called the particular Church. They are anointed: they have the anointing and the Spirit of the Lord is with them. All the bishops are sinners, every one. Still, we are anointed. We all want to be more holy every day, more faithful to this anointing. The person of the bishop is the thing that [constitutes] a Church [as such], in the name of Jesus Christ because he is anointed, not because he was voted by the majority. It is in this anointing that a particular Church has its strength. Because they take part [in the bishops mission of service] priests are anointed, as well. "On the contrary, it is impossible to understand not only it is impossible to explain how the Church could continue under merely human strength. This diocese goes forward because it has a holy people, many things, and also an anointed one who leads, who helps it to grow. This parish progresses because it has many organizations, many things, but it also has a priest, who carries the parish forward. We in history know but a small part - though how many holy bishops, how many priests, how many holy priests have given their lives in the service of the diocese, the parish how many people have received the power of faith, the power of love, hope [itself] from these anonymous pastors? We do not know: there are so many. "But , Father, I have read in a newspaper that a bishop has done such a thing, or a priest who has done this thing. Oh yes, I read it, too. Tell me, though: do the papers carry news of what great charity so many priests, so many priests in so many parishes of the city and the countryside, perform? Of the great work they do in carrying their people forward? No? This is not news. It is the same as always: a single falling tree makes more noise than a forest that grows. Today, thinking about this anointing of David, it will do us good to think of our brave, holy , good , faithful bishops and priests, and pray for them. We are here today thanks to them.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF AUSTRIA ON THEIR AD LIMINA VISIT
Thursday, 30 January 2014

Dear Brothers, I am delighted that this intense encounter with you, in the context of your ad limina visit, allows me to share in some of the fruits of the Church in Austria and to give something to this Church in return. I thank your President, Cardinal Schnborn, for his courteous words which assure me that we are continuing together along the path of proclaiming Christs salvation. Each one of us represents Christ, the One mediator of salvation, and renders his priestly action accessible and perceptible to the community, thereby helping to make Gods love ever more present in the world. Eight years ago, the Austrian Bishops Conference, on the occasion of their ad limina visit, came on pilgrimage to the Tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and met with the Roman Curia in consultation. On that occasion, most of you also met with my venerable Predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who at that time had been in office only a few months. The years immediately following were marked by the Austrian peoples affection for the Church and the Successor of Peter. This was seen, for example, in the peoples warm welcome, despite the inclement weather, during the Papal Visit to commemorate the 850th anniversary of the Shrine of Mariazell in 2007. A difficult period for the Church followed thereafter, symptomatic of this was the downward trend in the number of Catholics in proportion to the total population in Austria, which has various causes and has been going on for several decades. This development should not find us inert; indeed, it should encourage our efforts for the new evangelization which is always needed. On the other hand, we see an increase in the readiness to show solidarity; Caritas and other charitable works are receiving generous donations. The contribution made by the ecclesiastical institutions in the fields of education and healthcare is also much appreciated by all and constitutes an essential part of Austrian society. We can thank God for all that the Church in Austria does for the salvation of the faithful and for the good of so many people, and I myself would like to express my gratitude to each of you, and through you to the priests, deacons, men and women religious and committed laity who work readily and generously in the vineyard of the Lord. And yet we must not only administer what we have achieved and what is available; Gods field must continually be tilled and cultivated to ensure that it may also bear fruit in the future. Being the Church does not mean managing, but rather going out, being missionaries, taking the light of faith and the joy of the Gospel to people. Let us not forget that the impulse for our commitment as Christians in the world is not the idea of philanthropy or a vague humanism, but rather a gift of God, that is, the gift of divine sonship that we received in Baptism. And this gift also entails a duty. The children of God do not hide; rather, they bring the joy of their divine sonship to the world. And this also means committing oneself to lead a holy life. This, moreover, is our duty to the Church, which is holy, as we profess in the Creed. Certainly, the Church clasps sinners to her bosom, as the Second Vatican Council stated (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 8). However, the Council states in this same passage that we must not resign ourselves to sin, that is, Ecclesia sancta simul et semper purificanda the holy Church is always in need of purification. And this means that we must always be committed to our purification, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Confession is the place where we experience the merciful love of God

and where we meet Christ, who gives us strength for conversion and new life. And as pastors of the Church we want to assist the faithful, with tenderness and understanding, in rediscovering this wonderful Sacrament and enabling them to experience, precisely in this gift, the love of the Good Shepherd. I beg you, therefore, never grow weary of inviting people to encounter Christ in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. An important field of our work as pastors is the family. It lies at the heart of the evangelizing Church. The Christian family, in fact, is the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him or her, through a progressive education and catechesis, to full human and Christian maturity (Familiaris Consortio, n. 2). Marital fidelity is above all the foundation upon which a harmonious family life can be built. Unfortunately, in our time, we see that the family and marriage are undergoing a deep inner crisis in the countries of the Western world. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 66). Globalization and postmodern individualism promote a lifestyle that makes it much more difficult to develop stable bonds between people, and it is not conducive to promoting a culture of the family. This opens up a new mission field for the Church, for example, among groups of families where opportunities are created for interpersonal relationships and for a relationship with God, where authentic communion that welcomes everyone equally can grow, that does not close itself off into groups of the lite, that heals wounds, builds bridges, goes in search of the lost and helps to bear one anothers burdens (Gal 6:2). The family, therefore, is a privileged place for evangelization and the living transmission of the faith. Let us do everything possible to ensure that our families pray and experience and transmit the faith as an integral part of daily life. The Churchs concern for the family begins with the proper preparation and appropriate support of spouses, as well as the faithful and clear explanation of the Churchs doctrine on marriage and on the family. Sacramental marriage is a gift of God as well as a commitment. The love of two spouses is sanctified by Christ, and a married couple is called to bear witness to and cultivate this sanctity through their faithful love for one another. From the family, the Domestic Church, let us now briefly move on to the parish, to the great field of the Lord which he has entrusted to us in order to make it fruitful through pastoral work. Priests, parish priests should always be mindful that their task of governing is a profoundly spiritual service. It is always the parish priest who must lead the parish community, relying at the same time on the help and the valuable contribution of their various co-workers and on all the lay faithful. We must not run the risk of clouding the sacramental ministry of the priest. In our cities and villages there are brave men and others who are timid, there are Christian missionaries and others who are asleep. And there are many who are searching, even if they do not admit it. Everyone is called, everyone is sent out. However, the place of the call is not necessarily the parish centre; the moment is not necessarily a pleasant parish event. The call of God can reach us on the assembly line and in the office, in the supermarket and in the stairwell, i.e., in the places of everyday life. Speaking about God, bringing the message of Gods love and salvation in Jesus Christ to men is the duty of all the baptized. And this duty involves, not only speaking with words, but in all ones actions and way of doing things. Our whole being should speak of God, even in the ordinary things. In this way witness is authentic, and thus shall it always be new and fresh in the power of the Holy Spirit. In order to achieve this, speaking about God must first be a speaking with God, an encounter with the living God in prayer and the Sacraments. God not only lets himself be found, but also sets his love in motion to reach out to those who seek him.

Whoever trusts in Gods love knows how to open the hearts of others to divine love in order to show them that life in its fullness is realized only in communion with God. In our own time, when we seem to have become the little flock (Lk 12:32), we are called as disciples of the Lord to live as a community that is the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:1316). May the Holy Virgin Mary, who is our Mother, and whom you venerate in a special way as Magna Mater Austriae, help us to open ourselves, as she did, totally to the Lord and thus to be capable of showing others the way to the Living God who gives life.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 2 February 2014 Video

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. This day is also the Day for Consecrated Life, which recalls the importance for the Church of those who have welcomed their vocation to follow Jesus closely on the path of the evangelical counsels. Todays Gospel recounts that 40 days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph took the Child to the Temple to offer and consecrate him to God, as was prescribed by Hebrew Law. This Gospel narrative also constitutes an icon of the gift of ones own life on the part of those who, as a gift of God, take on the characteristic traits of Jesus: virgin, poor and obedient. This offering of self to God regards every Christian, because we are all consecrated to him in Baptism. We are all called to offer ourselves to the Father with Jesus and like Jesus, making a generous gift of our life, in the family, at work, in service to the Church, in works of mercy. However, this consecration is lived in a special way by religious, by monks and nuns and by consecrated lay people, who by the profession of their vows belong to God in a full and exclusive way. This belonging to the Lord allows those who live it authentically to offer a special kind of witness to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Totally consecrated to God, they are totally given to their brothers, to bring the light of Christ wherever the shadows are darkest in order to spread his hope to discouraged hearts. The consecrated are a sign of God in the different areas of life, they are leaven for the growth of a more just and fraternal society, they are the prophecy of sharing with the least and the poor. Thus understood and lived, consecrated life appears as what it really is: a gift from God, a gift of God to the Church, a gift of God to his People! Every consecrated person is a gift for the People of God on its journey. There is a great need for their presence, which strengthens and renews commitment to: spreading the Gospel, Christian education, love for the needy, contemplative prayer; commitment to human formation, the spiritual formation of young people, and families; commitment to justice and peace in the human family. But let us think a little about what would happen if there were no sisters in hospitals, no sisters in missions, no sisters in schools. Think about a Church without sisters! It is unthinkable: they are this gift, this leaven that carries forward the People of God. These women who consecrate their life to God, who carry forward Jesus message, are great. The Church and the world need this testimony of the love and mercy of God. The consecrated, men and women religious, are the testimony that God is good and merciful. Thus it is necessary to appreciate with gratitude the experiences of consecrated life and to deepen our understanding of the different charisms and spiritualities. Prayer is needed so that many young people may answer yes to the Lord who is calling them to consecrate themselves totally to him for selfless service to their brothers and sisters; to consecrate ones life in order to serve God and the brethren.

For all these reasons, as was already announced, next year will be dedicated in a special way to consecrated life. Let us entrust as of now this initiative to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, who, as the parents of Jesus, were the first to be consecrated by him and to consecrate their life to him.

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD ON THE OCCASION OF THE 18th DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Vatican Basilica Sunday, 2 February 2014 Video

The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is also known as the Feast of the Encounter: the Liturgy says at the beginning that Jesus goes to meet his people. Thus, this is the encounter between Jesus and his people, when Mary and Joseph brought their child to the Temple in Jerusalem; the first encounter between Jesus and his people, represented by Simeon and Anna, took place. It was also the first encounter within the history of the people, a meeting between the young and the old: the young were Mary and Joseph with their infant son and the old were Simeon and Anna, two people who often went to the Temple. Lets observe what the evangelist Luke tells us of them, as he describes them. He says four times that Our Lady and St Joseph wanted to do what was required by the Law of the Lord (cf. Lk 2:22, 23, 24, 27). One almost feels and perceives that Jesus parents have the joy of observing the precepts of God, yes, the joy of walking according to the Law of the Lord! They are two newlyweds, they have just had their baby, and they are motivated by the desire to do what is prescribed. This is not an external fact; it is not just to feel right, no! Its a strong desire, a deep desire, full of joy. Thats what the Psalm says: In the way of thy testimonies I delight. For thy law is my delight (119 [118]:14, 77). And what does St Luke say of the elderly? He underlines, more than once, that they were guided by the Holy Spirit. He says Simeon was a righteous and devout man, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and that the Holy Spirit was upon him (2:25). He says that it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lords Christ (v. 26); and finally that he went to the Temple inspired by the Spirit (v. 27). He says Anna was a prophetess (v. 36); that is she was inspired by God and that she was always worshipping with fasting and prayer in the Temple (v. 37). In short, these two elders are full of life! They are full of life because they are enlivened by the Holy Spirit, obedient to his action, sensitive to his calls.... And now there is the encounter between the Holy Family and the two representatives of the holy people of God. Jesus is at the centre. It is he who moves everything, who draws all of them to the Temple, the house of his Father. It is a meeting between the young, who are full of joy in observing the Law of the Lord, and the elderly who are full of joy in the action of the Holy Spirit. It is a unique encounter between observance and prophecy, where young people are the observers and the elderly are prophets! In fact, if we think carefully, observance of the Law is animated by the Spirit and the prophecy moves

forward along the path traced by the Law. Who, more than Mary, is full of the Holy Spirit? Who more than she is docile to its action? In the light of this Gospel scene, let us look at consecrated life as an encounter with Christ: it is he who comes to us, led by Mary and Joseph, and we go towards him guided by the Holy Spirit. He is at the centre. He moves everything, he draws us to the Temple, to the Church, where we can meet him, recognize him, welcome him, embrace him. Jesus comes to us in the Church through the foundational charism of an Institute: it is nice to think of our vocation in this way! Our encounter with Christ took shape in the Church through the charism of one of her witnesses. This always amazes us and makes us give thanks. And in the consecrated life we live the encounter between the young and the old, between observation and prophecy. Lets not see these as two opposing realities! Let us rather allow the Holy Spirit to animate both of them, and a sign of this is joy: the joy of observing, of walking within a rule of life; the joy of being led by the Spirit, never unyielding, never closed, always open to the voice of God that speaks, that opens, that leads us and invites us to go towards the horizon. Its good for the elderly to communicate their wisdom to the young; and its good for the young people to gather this wealth of experience and wisdom, and to carry it forward, not so as to safeguard it in a museum, but to carry it forward addressing the challenges that life brings, to carry it forward for the sake of the respective religious orders and of the whole Church. May the grace of this mystery, the mystery of the Encounter, enlighten us and comfort us on our journey. Amen.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF POLAND ON THEIR AD LIMINA VISIT
Clementine Hall Friday, 7 February 2014

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I cordially greet each one of you and the particular Churches that the Lord has entrusted to your fatherly leadership. I thank Archbishop Jzef Michalik for his words, especially for assuring me that the Church in Poland is praying for me and for my ministry. We are meeting, one might say, on the eve of the Canonization of Bl. John Paul II. We all carry him in our hearts: the great Pastor who, at every stage of his mission as priest, bishop and Pope, gave us a luminous example of total abandonment to God and to his Mother, and of complete dedication to the Church and to man. He accompanies us still from Heaven and reminds us how important the spiritual and pastoral communion among Bishops is. The unity of Pastors, in faith, in charity, in teaching and in the common concern for the good of the faithful, constitutes a point of reference for the entire ecclesial community and for any who seek a sure orientation in their daily journey in the ways of the Lord. Nothing and no one should be able to introduce division among you, dear Brothers! You are called to build communion and peace rooted in brotherly love, and to give it to all people as an encouraging example. And certainly such an attitude will bear fruit and will offer to your faithful people the strength of hope. During our meetings in these days I have been reassured of the fact that the Church in Poland has a great potential for the faith, for prayer, for charity and for Christian practice. Thanks be to God, in Poland there is a high attendance at the Sacraments, there are valid initiatives in the sectors of the new evangelization and catechesis, there is widespread charitable and social work, and a satisfactory trend in priestly vocations. All this favours the Christian formation of people, motivated and committed practice, readiness on the part of the laity and the religious to actively work together in the ecclesial and social structures. Regarding the fact that there is also a certain decline in various aspects of Christian life, discernment is required, a study of the causes and of the ways to confront these new challenges, such as, for example, the idea of unlimited freedom, hostile tolerance or distrust of the truth, or discontent toward the Churchs just opposition to the pervading relativism. First of all, in the area of regular pastoral care, I would like to focus your attention on the family, the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 66). Today however marriage is often considered a form of emotional gratification that can be formed in any way and be modified according to the sensibilities of the individual (cf. ibid.). Unfortunately, this view also influences the mentality of Christians, thereby facilitating recourse to divorce or separation. Pastors are called to study the best way to assist those who are living in this situation, so that they do not feel excluded from the mercy of God, from the brotherly love of other Christians and from the Churchs concern for their salvation; how they can help them so that they do not abandon the faith and that they can raise their children in the fullness of the Christian experience.

On the other hand, one needs to ask oneself how he could prepare young people for marriage better, in a way that they might discover ever more deeply the beauty of this union that, well founded on love and responsibility, is capable of overcoming trials, difficulties and selfishness with mutual forgiveness, repairing what risks being broken and not falling into the trap of a throw-away mindset. One needs to ask oneself how one can help families live and appreciate the moments of joy, those of sorrow and weakness alike. Ecclesial communities should be places of listening, of dialogue, of comfort and support for spouses, on their marital journey and in their educational mission. May they ever find in their Pastors the support of authentic fathers and spiritual guides, who protect them from the threats of negative ideologies and help them become strong in God and in his love. The prospect of the coming World Youth Day, which will take place in Krakow in 2016, makes me think of young people, who together with the elderly are the hope of the Church. Today, a world endowed with instruments of information offers them new possibilities for communication, but at the same time diminishes direct contact, the exchange of values and shared experiences in interpersonal relationships. Nevertheless, in the hearts of young people there is a longing for something deeper, something which fully enhances their personality. One needs to meet this desire. In this sense, catechesis offers many possibilities. I know that in Poland the majority of students attend catechesis classes at school and gain a good understanding of the truths of the faith. The Christian religion, however, is not an abstract science, but a living knowledge of Christ, a personal relationship with God who is love. One needs perhaps to insist more on formation in the faith lived as a relationship, in which one experiences the joy of being loved and able to love. It is necessary to intensify the care of catechists and pastors, so that the newer generations can discover the full value of the Sacraments as privileged means of encounter with the living Christ, the font of grace. Young people should be encouraged to take part in movements and associations whose spirituality is based on the Word of God, on the liturgy, on community life and on missionary witness. Let them also take opportunities to express their readiness and youthful enthusiasm in works of charity sponsored by the parish or by school groups of Caritas or in other kinds of volunteer and missionary work. May their faith, their love and their hope be strengthened and flower in concrete commitment in the name of Christ. The third point that I would recommend is to focus on vocations to priesthood and to consecrated life. I join you in thanking the Lord that in recent decades he has called so many labourers in the Polish land to work in his harvest. So many brave and holy Polish priests carry out with dedication their ministry in their local churches, abroad and in the missions. Do not let the Church in Poland weary, however, of continuing to pray for new priestly vocations! On you, dear Bishops, devolves the task of ensuring that this is translated into concrete commitment to the vocational apostolate and to a sound training of candidates in seminaries. In Poland, due to the presence of good universities and theological faculties, seminarians reach a high intellectual and pastoral standard. This must always be accompanied by human and spiritual formation, so that they may live a deep personal relationship with the Good Shepherd, that they may be men of fervent prayer, open to the work of the Holy Spirit, generous, poor in spirit, full of ardent love for the Lord and for neighbour. In the priestly ministry the light of witness may be blurred or hidden under a bushel if it lacks the missionary spirit, the will to step out in an ever renewed missionary conversion to seek even in the peripheries and approach those who are waiting for the Good News of

Christ. This apostolic style also requires the spirit of poverty, of abandonment, in order to be free in proclaiming and sincere in witnessing to charity. Concerning this aspect, the words of Bl. John Paul II: It is expected of all us, priests of Jesus Christ, that we will be faithful to the example he left us: thus that we will be for others. If we have , it is so that we may have for others as well. This is all the more true, for the fact that if we have, we have from others () with a lifestyle close to that of the middle class family or rather, close to that of a poorer family (Address to seminarians, priests and religious, in the Cathedral of St James Szezecin, 11 June 1987, n. 9). Let us not forget, dear Brothers, vocations to consecrated life, especially female ones. As you observed, the decline in membership to female religious congregations in Poland too is concerning: it is a complex phenomenon, the causes of which are manyfold. I hope that womens religious institutes may continue to be, in a way suited to the times, privileged places of affirmation and of human and spiritual growth for women. Women religious should be ready to tackle the difficult and demanding tasks and missions that fulfil their intellectual capacities, their talents and personal charisms. Let us pray for female vocations and let us accompany and esteem our sisters, who often in silence and unnoticed spend their lives for the Lord and for the Church, in prayer, in pastoral care and in charity. I conclude by urging you to care for the poor. In Poland too, despite the current economic development of the Country, there are so many in need, unemployed, homeless, sick, neglected, as well as many families especially the large ones without sufficient means to raise and educate their children. May you be close to them! I know how much the Church in Poland does in this field, demonstrating great generosity not only at home but also to other countries of the world. I thank you and you communities for this work. Continue to encourage your priests, religious and all the faithful to have the creativity of charity and practice it always. And do not forget the many who for various reasons leave the Country and seek to build a new life abroad. Their growing number and their needs require perhaps more attention on the part of the Episcopal Conference. May you accompany them with appropriate pastoral care, so that they may retain the faith and religious traditions of the Polish people. Dear Brothers, I thank you for your visit. Bear my cordial greeting to your particular Churches and to all your fellow countrymen. May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland, intercede for the Church in your Country: may she protect with her mantle the priests, men and women religious and all the faithful and obtain for each one and for every community the fullness of the grace of the Lord. And let us pray to her together: Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix, nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.