General Audience on the value of children

This morning's General Audience began at 10:00am in Saint Peter's Square.  Pope Francis met there with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from various parts of Italy and from every corner of the world.

During his speech, the Holy Father continued the cycle of teachings on the family, focusing once again today on the place of children.

Following the customary summaries of his catechesis offered in various languages, the Holy Father spoke greetings to each of the groups of faithful who were present.

The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the imparting of the Apostolic Blessing.

Catechesis of His Holiness, Pope Francis

for the General Audience

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In the catecheses on the family, we conclude today our reflections on children, who are the most beautiful fruit of the blessings the Creator ever gave to man and to woman.  We have already spoken about the great gift that children are; today we should however speak about the stories of suffering that many of them are currently living.

Many children are refused, abandoned, even stripped of their childhood and even of their future.  Someone might say, trying to justify such realities, that it was a mistake to bring them into the world.  This is horrible!  We should never blame children for our faults, please don't do this!  Children are never a mistake.  Their hunger is not a mistake, neither is their poverty, their fragility, their abandonment - many children are abandoned in the streets; neither is their ignorance or their inability - so many children don't even understand the concept of schools.  If anything, these should be reasons to love them even more, with even more generosity.  What's the use of making solemn declarations about the rights of mankind and the rights of children if all we're going to do is punish children for the mistakes made by adults?

Those who have the task of governing, educating, I would say all adults, are responsible for children, and for doing everything in their power to change this situation.  I refer to the passion of children.  EVery child who is marginalized, abandoned, who lives in the streets, begging and relying on all kinds of gimmicks, without going to school, without medical care, is a cry that rises up to God accusing the system that we adults have created.  Unfortunately, these children fall prey to criminals who exploit them for unworthy trades or for commerce, or training them for war and violence.  Even in so-called rich countries, many children experience dramas that leave their marks, heavy weights that they must carry, because of the crises facing families, the absence of appropriate education and sometimes inhuman living conditions.  In every one of these cases, children are violated in body or in spirit.  None of these children is forgotten by our Father who is in heaven!  None of their tears is lost!  And none of our responsibility is lost either, our personal social responsibility, the social responsibility that belongs to each of us and to every country.

Once, Jesus reproved his disciples because they were chasing away the children that the people brought with them, hoping that he would bless them.  The gospel narrative is emotional: Children were being brought to Jesus, in hopes that he would lay his hands upon them and pray for them, but the disciples rebuked them.  Jesus however said: 'Leave them alone, do not stop the children from coming to me; for it is to such as these, in fact, that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.  And after placing his hands upon them, they went away (Mt 19:13-15).  How beautiful it is to see such trust on the part of the parents, and also to see this response from Jesus!  How I long for the day when this might become normal accepted experience for every child!  It is true that thanks to God, children who are facing serious difficulties often find their parents to be truly extraordinary, ready to accept extraordinary sacrifices and to respond with true generosity.  But such parents should not be left alone!  We should accompany them in their moments of fatigue, but we should also offer them moments of shared joy and carefree happiness, not merely a sense of being relieved from a therapeutic routine.

When it comes to children, in every case, they should never use phrases that belong in a legal defence office, like: after all, we are not a charity; or in the privacy of their own homes, everyone is free to do what they want; or even so sorry, but we cannot do anything.  Such words are useless when it comes to children.

Far too often, children fall victim to the effects of tired and worn out parents who have to work long hours and who are not well paid, to unsustainably long hours, to inefficient means of transportation ... but children also pay a price for immature unions between their parents and for irresponsible separations; they are the first victims; suffering the results of a culture based on exasperated individual rights, and they therefore do not become the most precious of children.  They often absorb violence that cannot be disposed of, and in the eyes of those who consider themselves to be great, it is they who are often forced to become accustomed to being degraded.

Even in our time, as it was in the past, the Church places her maternity at the service of children and of their families.  To parents and to children of our world, she carries the blessing of God, the maternal tenderness, even at times the firm reproach or decisive condemnation: don't mess with children!

Consider what would happen to a society that was to decide, once for all, to establish the following principle: It is true that we are not perfect and that we make many mistakes, but when it comes to children who come into the world, no sacrifice on the part of adults will be judged to be too costly or too great, in order to prevent a child from thinking that he or she is a failure, is worthless or is abandoned to the wounds of life and arrogance of some people.  How beautiful it would be to live in such a society!  I think that in such a society, many would be forgiven for their innumerable errors.  Truly, many of them.

The Lord judges our lives based on what he hears the angels say about children, angels who constantly see the face of God who is in heaven (cf Mt 18:10).  Let us always ask ourselves: what are the angels telling God about us, our children's guardian angels?

At the conclusion of the above catechesis, summaries of this teaching were repeated in various languages, and the Holy Father offered greetings to each of the groups of pilgrims that was present.  To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:

I offer an affectionate greeting to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today's Audience, including those from England, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, Japan, Thailand, Canada and the United States.  May the Risen Lord confirm you in faith and make you witnesses of his love and mercy to all people.  May God bless you!