Today’s General Audience began at 10:30am in Saint Peter’s
Square, where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and
faithful who were present from various parts of Italy and every part of the world. In his discourse, spoken in Italian, the Pope
focused on his recent Apostolic Voyage to Brazil for the World Youth Day
celebration.
After the syntheses of the catechesis were presented in
various languages, Pope Francis voiced particular greetings to groups of the
faithful who were present. He then
invited all those present to live the upcoming day of fasting and prayer for
peace in Syria, the Middle East and the whole world as an intense demonstration
of faith. A special program of prayer is
being prepared and will take place in Saint Peter’s Square on Saturday evening
from 7:00pm to 11:00pm local time.
The General Audience concluded with the singing of the Pater Noster and the bestowal of the
Apostolic Blessing.
Catechesis
of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
First of all, I want to thank the Lord, because He was
the one who guided everything with his Providence. For me, coming from the Americas, it was a wonderful
gift! And for this I also thank Our Lady
of Aparecida, who accompanied the entire journey: I made the pilgrimage to the
great Brazilian National Shrine, and her venerated image was always present on
the stage at the World Youth Day. This
made me very happy because Our Lady of Aparecida is very important in the
history of the Church in Brazil, but also in the history of the church
throughout Latin America; in Apaecida, the Bishops from Latin America and the
Caribbean participated in a General Assembly with Pope Benedict: a very
significant part of the pastoral plan for that part of the world where the
majority of the population is Roman Catholic.
Even if I have already done so, I want to renew my
gratitude to all the civil and ecclesial authorities, to the volunteers, the
security staff, to the parish communities of Rio de Janeiro and other cities in
Brazil where the pilgrims were welcomed with great joy. In fact, the welcome extended by Brazilian
families and parishes was one of the most beautiful aspects of this World Youth
Day. The Brazilians are wonderful
people. Wonderful! They really have big hearts. A pilgrimage always involves discomfort, but
a warm welcome helps the pilgrims to overcome their discomfort and it also
transforms the experience into an occasion of getting to know one another and
becoming friends. Ties of this kind then
remain, especially in prayer. Also, the
Church grows throughout the world, as a network of true friends in Jesus Christ,
a network that enwraps you even as it frees you. Therefore, welcome: and this is the first word that emerges from the
experience of the voyage in Brazil. Welcome!
Another summarizing word might be festival. The World Youth Day is always a festival because when a city
is filled with young men and women who run through its streets carrying flags
from all the countries of the world, greeting one another, embracing one
another, this is truly a festival. It is
a sign for all people, not only for believers.
But then there is an even greater feast, the festival of faith, when
everyone praises God together, they sing, they listen to the Word of God, they
adore in silence: all of this is the culmination of the World Youth Day, the
real purpose of this great pilgrimage, and it is lived in a particularly
significant way during the great Vigil of Saturday evening and during the final
Mass.
This is the great festival, the festival of faith and of
fraternity, which begins in this world and has no end. But this is possible only with the Lord! Without the Lord’s love, there is no such
thing as a true festival for man!
Welcome, festival. But we shouldn’t
forget the third element: mission. This World Youth Day was characterized by a
missionary theme: Go and make disciples
of all nations. We heard Jesus’
word: and the mission that he gives to everyone! And the command given by the Risen Christ to
the disciples: Go! – go outside of
yourselves, from every enclosure and take the light and the love of the Gospel
to everyone, even to the extreme limits of existence! And this was truly the command of Jesus that
I entrusted to the youth who filled Copacabana beach, as far as the eye could
see. Copacabana was a symbolic place, on
the seaside, which made me think of the beaches at the edge of the Sea of
Galilee. Even today, the Lord repeats: Go … and he adds: I am with you always … This is fundamental! Only with
Christ can we announce the gospel.
Without him, we can do nothing – he told us so himself (cf Jn
15:5). With him, however, united to him,
we can do so much. Even a young man, a
young woman who in the eyes of the world might count for little or nothing, in
the eyes of God is an apostle of the Kingdom, a source of hope for God! I want to ask all the young people, but I’m
not sure if today there are young people in the Piazza: are there young people
in the Piazza? There are a few! I want to ask all of you: do you want to be a
sign of hope for God? Do you want to be
a sign of hope? (the youth answer ‘Yes!’) Do you want to be a sign of hope for the
Church? (the youth answer ‘Yes!’) A
young heart, which welcomes the love of Christ, can be transformed in hope for
others, is an immense force! But you,
young men and women, all the youth, you must transform and be transformed in
hope! Open the doors to a new world of
hope. This is your task. Do you want to be signs of hope for all of
us? (the youth answer ‘Yes!’) Let us think about the significance of the
multitude of young people who encountered the risen Christ in Rio de Janeiro,
and who now carry his love in their daily lives, we see it, we communicate it. They won’t end up in the newspapers, because
they won’t commit violent acts, or scandalous actions, so they won’t end up in
the news. But if they remain united to
Jesus, if they build his Kingdom, construct bonds of friendship, share with one
another, work for mercy, they will be a powerful force to make the world more
just, more beautiful, to transform it!
Now I want to ask the young men and women who are here in the Piazza: do
you have the courage to accept this challenge? (the youth answer ‘Yes!’) Do
you have the courage, or not? I heard a few voices … (the youth answer ‘Yes!’) Do you really want to be a source of love
and of mercy that has the courage to want to transform the world? (the youth answer ‘Yes!’)
Dear friends, the experience of the World Youth Day
reminds us of the greatest news in history, the Good News, even if it doesn’t
appear in the newspapers or on television: we are loved by God, who is our
Father and who has sent his Son Jesus to be close to all of us and to save
us. He sent Jesus to save, to forgive
everyone, because He always forgives: He always forgives, because He is good
and merciful. Remember: welcome,
festival and mission. Three words:
welcome, festival and mission. These
words are not only a memory of what happened in Rio, but they are the soul of
our life and the lives of our divine communities, helping us to build a world
of justice and solidarity.
Following the
syntheses of this catechesis which were presented in various languages, the
Holy Father greeted the pilgrims and visitors from various parts of the
world. Here is the text of his greeting
to English-speaking visitors:
I offer an
affectionate greeting to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present
at today’s Audience, including those from England, Wales, Malta, Ethiopia,
Australia, South Korea, Canada and the United States. May your stay in the
Eternal City confirm you in love for our Lord and his Church. God bless you
all!
After the greetings to pilgrims of various linguistic
groupings, the Holy Father issued a special call for prayer:
Next Saturday we
will live together a special day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, in
the Middle East, and throughout the whole world. We will pray also for peace in our hearts,
because peace begins in the heart! I
renew my invitation to the whole Church to live intensely this day, and even
now, I express gratitude to other Christian brothers, to our brothers from other
religions and to men and women of good will who want to be united with us,
according to their own ways and means at this time. I exhort particularly the faithful of Rome
and the pilgrims and participants in the vigil of prayer, here in Saint Peter’s
Square at 7:00pm (on Saturday) to pray to the Lord for the great gift of
peace. Let all the lands of the earth
cry out for peace!
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