At noon today, in the Sala Regia at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a group of those participating in the 35th Italian National Convention of Life Help Centres.
Dear brothers and sisters of the Movement for Life!
You have come to Rome from every part of Italy in order to participate in your national convention and to renew once again your commitment to defend and to promote human life. I greet you all cordially, beginning with your President, who I thank for the words which which he introduced our gathering. I encourage you to continue your important work for the sake of life from the moment of conception until its natural end, also taking account of the suffering conditions of many of our brothers and sisters who must at times face such trials.
In the field of essential dynamics, everything is related, and must nourish both personal and social sensitivity toward the acceptance of new life and toward the situations of poverty and exploitation that are suffered by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. If on one hand, we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, ... if we fail to protect a human embryo (Laudato Si', 120), on the other hand, human life itself must be protected from various forms of degradation (LS, 5). In fact, we must admit with pain that there are many people deprived of essential living conditions, who require our attention and our commitment to solidarity.
Yours is not only a social service, though this too is right and noble. For the disciples of Christ, to helping tend to the wounds of human life allows us to meet people who are in need, to stay close to them, taking care of their fragilities and their sufferings, because we can help. How many families are vulnerable because of poverty, or sickness, or a lack of work or for the want of a home! How many elderly are burdened with suffering and loneliness! How many young people are lost, threatened with addictions and other forms of slavery, and long to rediscover a sense of confidence in life! These people, wounded in body and in spirit, are icons of the man in the gospel who, travelling along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell into the influence of bandits who robbed and beat him. He experienced the indifference of some and finally the closeness of the good Samaritan (cf Lk 10:30-37).
Along this road, through the desert of life, even in our time there are still many who are wounded because of modern-day brigands, who strip them not only of their own assets, but also of their dignity. Faced with such suffering and the necessity of our helpless brothers and sisters, some look away or beyond the immediate need, while others stop and respond with generous dedication to the cries of others. You, members of the Movement for Life, over the past forty years, have sought to imitate the good Samaritan. Faced with various forms of threats to human life, you are accustomed to the fragility of your brothers and sisters, you have committed yourselves to do what you can so that society may not be exclusive, rejecting those who live in precarious conditions. Through the effective work of the Life Help Centres, which exist throughout Italy, you have created occasions of hope and rebirth for many people.
I thank you for the good that you have done and that you do with such love, and I encourage you to continue trustingly along this path, continuing to be good Samaritans! Never tire of working for the care of the most vulnerable people, who have the right to be born and to live, as well as for the sake of those who seek a more healthy and dignified existence. In particular, there is need for work at various levels and with perseverance, in promotion and defence of the family, the primary resource for society, above all in reference to the gift of children and the affirmation of the dignity of women. In this regard, I would like to emphasize the fact that in your work, you have always welcomed all people, regardless of religion or nationality. The number of women, especially immigrants who come to your centres demonstrate the truth that when they are offered concrete support, women, in spite of problems and constraints, are able to triumph and to find within themselves a sense of love, life and maternity.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am certain that your work, but especially your spirituality, will receive a special benefit from the coming Holy Year of Mercy. May it be for you a strong stimulus for interior renewal, so that you may become merciful as our Father is merciful (cf Lk 6:36). I entrust each one of you and all your work for good to Mary, the Mother of the living. I accompany you with my blessing and I ask you please to pray for me.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to the 35th Italian National Convention
of Life Help Centres
Dear brothers and sisters of the Movement for Life!
You have come to Rome from every part of Italy in order to participate in your national convention and to renew once again your commitment to defend and to promote human life. I greet you all cordially, beginning with your President, who I thank for the words which which he introduced our gathering. I encourage you to continue your important work for the sake of life from the moment of conception until its natural end, also taking account of the suffering conditions of many of our brothers and sisters who must at times face such trials.
In the field of essential dynamics, everything is related, and must nourish both personal and social sensitivity toward the acceptance of new life and toward the situations of poverty and exploitation that are suffered by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. If on one hand, we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, ... if we fail to protect a human embryo (Laudato Si', 120), on the other hand, human life itself must be protected from various forms of degradation (LS, 5). In fact, we must admit with pain that there are many people deprived of essential living conditions, who require our attention and our commitment to solidarity.
Yours is not only a social service, though this too is right and noble. For the disciples of Christ, to helping tend to the wounds of human life allows us to meet people who are in need, to stay close to them, taking care of their fragilities and their sufferings, because we can help. How many families are vulnerable because of poverty, or sickness, or a lack of work or for the want of a home! How many elderly are burdened with suffering and loneliness! How many young people are lost, threatened with addictions and other forms of slavery, and long to rediscover a sense of confidence in life! These people, wounded in body and in spirit, are icons of the man in the gospel who, travelling along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell into the influence of bandits who robbed and beat him. He experienced the indifference of some and finally the closeness of the good Samaritan (cf Lk 10:30-37).
Along this road, through the desert of life, even in our time there are still many who are wounded because of modern-day brigands, who strip them not only of their own assets, but also of their dignity. Faced with such suffering and the necessity of our helpless brothers and sisters, some look away or beyond the immediate need, while others stop and respond with generous dedication to the cries of others. You, members of the Movement for Life, over the past forty years, have sought to imitate the good Samaritan. Faced with various forms of threats to human life, you are accustomed to the fragility of your brothers and sisters, you have committed yourselves to do what you can so that society may not be exclusive, rejecting those who live in precarious conditions. Through the effective work of the Life Help Centres, which exist throughout Italy, you have created occasions of hope and rebirth for many people.
I thank you for the good that you have done and that you do with such love, and I encourage you to continue trustingly along this path, continuing to be good Samaritans! Never tire of working for the care of the most vulnerable people, who have the right to be born and to live, as well as for the sake of those who seek a more healthy and dignified existence. In particular, there is need for work at various levels and with perseverance, in promotion and defence of the family, the primary resource for society, above all in reference to the gift of children and the affirmation of the dignity of women. In this regard, I would like to emphasize the fact that in your work, you have always welcomed all people, regardless of religion or nationality. The number of women, especially immigrants who come to your centres demonstrate the truth that when they are offered concrete support, women, in spite of problems and constraints, are able to triumph and to find within themselves a sense of love, life and maternity.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am certain that your work, but especially your spirituality, will receive a special benefit from the coming Holy Year of Mercy. May it be for you a strong stimulus for interior renewal, so that you may become merciful as our Father is merciful (cf Lk 6:36). I entrust each one of you and all your work for good to Mary, the Mother of the living. I accompany you with my blessing and I ask you please to pray for me.
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