This morning, in Saint Peter's Square, the Holy Father received members of Catholic Action Italy who are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their foundation.
After a few moments of prayer, music and testimonials, at 10:50am, the Holy Father arrived in Saint Peter's Square and travelled through the crowd aboard the popemobile. Then, beginning with greetings offered by the President of Action Catholic Italy, Matteo Truffelli, and by the Assistant Ecclesiastical General, His Excellency, Gualtiero Sigismondi, the Pope shared his speech with those who were gathered.
Dear friends of Catholic Action, good morning!
I am really happy to meet with you today, so many of you as you are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of your Association. I greet you with affection, beginning with your Assistant General and national President, who I thank for the words with which he introduced this gathering. The birth of Catholic Action Italy was a dream, born in the heart of two young people, Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderni. Over time, it has become a journey of faith for many generations, vocations to holiness for so many people: children, youth and adults who became disciples of Jesus and, because of this, they have lived as joyous witnesses of his love in the world. For me too, there is a bit of a family connection: my father and my grandmother were part of Catholic Action!
Yours is a beautiful and important history, for which there are many reasons to be grateful to the Lord and for which the Church is grateful to you. It is the history of a people formed by men and women of every age and condition, who have bet on a desire to live together and share the encounter with the Lord: small and large, lay people and pastors, together, independent of their social positions, of their cultural preparation, of the place in society. Faithful lay people who in every time have shared the search for ways to proclaim with their own lives the beauty of the love of god and to contribute, with their own commitment and their own competence, to the construction of a society that is more just, more fraternal and more supportive. It is a history of passion for people and for the Church - I remembered it when I spoke to you about a book that was written in Argentina in 1937 that said: Catholic Action is Catholic passion! - and, from within this history, luminous figures of men and women of exemplary faith have emerged, people who have served their countries with generosity and courage.
Having a beautiful history however does not mean that you should walk with your eyes turned behind you, it is useless for us to look in a mirror, or for us to get too comfortably seated in armchairs! Don't forget this: don't walk with your eyes turned backwards, you will crash into something! Don't look only in a mirror! So much of what we see in the mirror is ugly, it is better not to look! And don't be content to relax in an armchair, this will only help you to gain weight and to suffer from cholesterol! Remembering a long history of life helps to make us aware of being a people who walk through life by taking care of others, helping others to grow in humanity and in faith, sharing the mercy with which the Lord caresses us. I encourage you to continue being a people of missionary disciples who live and bear witness to the joy of knowing that the Lord loves us with infinite love, and that together with Him, we can deeply love the history that we are part of. In this way, we have been taught by great witnesses of holiness who have shared the path of your association, among whom I like to remember Giuseppe Toniolo, Armida Barelli, Piergiorgio Frassati, Antonietta Meo, Teresio Olivelli and Vittorio Bachelet. Catholic Action, live up to your history! Live up to the example of these men and women who have preceded you.
Throughout the 150 years of Catholic Action, it has always been characterized by a great love for Jesus and for the Church. Even today you are called to follow your particular vocations, placing yourselves at the service of dioceses, gathered around your Bishops - always - and in parishes - always - there, where the Church lives in the midst of people - always. All the People of God enjoy the fruit of your dedication, lived in harmony between the universal Church and particular Churches. It is in the vocation that is typical of laity, lived from day to day, that we can find the strength and the courage to live the faith by staying where you are, welcoming and entering into dialogue in such a way that you draw close to one and all, experiencing the beauty of a shared responsibility. Never grow tired of continuing the journey toward what you can enhance through a style of authentic synodality, a way of being the People of God where everyone can contribute to an attentive, meditative, prayerful reading of the signs of the times, in order to understand and to live the will of God, certain that the actions of the Holy Spirit are at work, making all things new every day.
I invite you to continue your apostolic experience rooted in parishes, which are not fallen structures - have you understood this point? The parish is not a fallen structure! - because it is the presence of the Church in a territory, a place where we can listen to the Word, a place of growth in Christian life, of dialogue, of proclamation, of generous charity, of adoration and of celebration (Evangelii gaudium, 28). The parish is the place in which people can feel welcomed as they are, and can be accompanied along the journey of human and spiritual growth, growth in faith and in love for creation and for our brothers and sisters. However, this can only be true if the parish is not closed in on itself, if even Catholic Action which lives within the parish is not closed in upon itself, but helps the parish to remain in contact with families and with the life of people and not to become a structure that is separate from the people or a group of elite who look at themselves (EG, 28). Please don't do this!
Dear members of Catholic Action, every one of the your initiatives, every proposition, every endeavour is a misisonary experience, destined toward evangelization, not self-preservation. Your belonging to a diocese and to a parish is incarnated in city streets, in neighbourhoods and in countrysides. As it has been throughout these 150 years, it is up to you to be strongly aware of the responsibility that is yours - to sow the good seed of the gospel along the paths of the world, through your service of charity, in your political commitments - place yourselves in politics, but please remain focused on the larger politics, on the politics of policy-making - even through educational passion and participation in cultural confrontations. Enlarge your hearts in order to enlarge the heart of your parishes. Be faith travelers, ready to meet everyone, to welcome everyone, to listen to everyone, to embrace everyone. Every path is a path that is loved by the Lord, every face shows the face of Christ, especially the faces of the poor, those who have been wounded by life and those who feel abandoned, those who flee from death and seek shelter in our homes, in our cities. No one can feel exempt from being preoccupied with the poor and with social justice (EG, 201).
Remain open to the reality that surrounds you. Fearlessly seek out dialogue with those who live beside you, and with those who think differently from you but who, like you, desire peace, justice and fraternity. And in your dialogue, seek to project a shared future. It is through dialogue that we build peace, by taking care of others and by speaking with everyone.
Dear children, young people and adults of Catholic Action: go, go out to meet everyone of the peripheries! Go, and there, be Church, with the strength of the Holy Spirit.
May you be supported by the maternal protection of the Immaculate Virgin; may she accompany you and may you be encouraged by the support of your Bishops; as well as by my blessing, which I willingly impart upon you and upon your entire Association. And please, don't forget to pray for me!
At the conclusion of the Audience with Catholic Action Italy, on the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of their existence, the Holy Father, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Regina Caeli with the faithful and with pilgrims who were present in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters,
We continue to receive dramatic news about the situation in Venezuela and the aggravation caused by clashes, including many who have died, who are wounded and who have been detained. While I am united with the suffering of the families of victims, for whom I assure my prayers, I send an urgent appeal to the government and to all the members of Venezuelan society that they may avoid any further forms of violence, respect human rights and seek to negotiate solutions to the grave humanitarian, social, political and economic crises that are challenging the people of that country. Let us rely on the Most Holy Virgin Mary to intercede for peace, reconciliation and democracy in that beloved country. And let us pray for all the countries that are experiencing grave difficulties. I think especially in these days of the Republic of Macedonia.
Yesterday, in Verona, Leopoldina Naudet, Founder of the Sisters of the Sacred Family, was Beatified. Having grown up in the court of the Habsburgs, first in Florence and then in Vienna, from the time she was a young girl, she always had a strong vocation to prayer, but also to service in the field of education. She consecrated herself to God and, through various experiences, she managed to form a new religious community in Verona, under the protection of the Holy Family, which is still alive in the Church today. Let us join in their joy and thanksgiving.
Today throughout Italy, we are celebrating the Day for the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. I encourage you to support this important institution which continues to invest in the formation of young people in order to improve the world around us.
Christian formation is based on the Word of God. For this reason, I am pleased to also remember that today in Poland, they are celebrating bible Sunday. In parish churches, in schools and in the mass media, a part of the Sacred Scripture is being read aloud. I wish every good gift for this initiative.
And you, dear friends of Catholic Action, at the conclusion of your meeting, I thank you with all my heart for your presence! And through you, I greet all of your parish groups, your families, the children, the youth, and the elderly. Continue on your way!
And I extend my greeting to the pilgrims who, at this time, are unite with us in reciting this Marian prayer, especially those who have come from Spain, Croatia, Germany and Puerto Rico. Together, we address our prayers to Mary our Mother. We thank her especially for the Apostolic Voyage to Egypt which I have only just completed. I ask the Lord to bless all the Egyptian people, who were so very welcoming, all the authorities, the Christian faithful and the Muslims, and may God grant the gift of peace to that country.
Regina Caeli, ...
After a few moments of prayer, music and testimonials, at 10:50am, the Holy Father arrived in Saint Peter's Square and travelled through the crowd aboard the popemobile. Then, beginning with greetings offered by the President of Action Catholic Italy, Matteo Truffelli, and by the Assistant Ecclesiastical General, His Excellency, Gualtiero Sigismondi, the Pope shared his speech with those who were gathered.
Speech of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the gathering with Action Catholic Italy
Dear friends of Catholic Action, good morning!
I am really happy to meet with you today, so many of you as you are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of your Association. I greet you with affection, beginning with your Assistant General and national President, who I thank for the words with which he introduced this gathering. The birth of Catholic Action Italy was a dream, born in the heart of two young people, Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderni. Over time, it has become a journey of faith for many generations, vocations to holiness for so many people: children, youth and adults who became disciples of Jesus and, because of this, they have lived as joyous witnesses of his love in the world. For me too, there is a bit of a family connection: my father and my grandmother were part of Catholic Action!
Yours is a beautiful and important history, for which there are many reasons to be grateful to the Lord and for which the Church is grateful to you. It is the history of a people formed by men and women of every age and condition, who have bet on a desire to live together and share the encounter with the Lord: small and large, lay people and pastors, together, independent of their social positions, of their cultural preparation, of the place in society. Faithful lay people who in every time have shared the search for ways to proclaim with their own lives the beauty of the love of god and to contribute, with their own commitment and their own competence, to the construction of a society that is more just, more fraternal and more supportive. It is a history of passion for people and for the Church - I remembered it when I spoke to you about a book that was written in Argentina in 1937 that said: Catholic Action is Catholic passion! - and, from within this history, luminous figures of men and women of exemplary faith have emerged, people who have served their countries with generosity and courage.
Having a beautiful history however does not mean that you should walk with your eyes turned behind you, it is useless for us to look in a mirror, or for us to get too comfortably seated in armchairs! Don't forget this: don't walk with your eyes turned backwards, you will crash into something! Don't look only in a mirror! So much of what we see in the mirror is ugly, it is better not to look! And don't be content to relax in an armchair, this will only help you to gain weight and to suffer from cholesterol! Remembering a long history of life helps to make us aware of being a people who walk through life by taking care of others, helping others to grow in humanity and in faith, sharing the mercy with which the Lord caresses us. I encourage you to continue being a people of missionary disciples who live and bear witness to the joy of knowing that the Lord loves us with infinite love, and that together with Him, we can deeply love the history that we are part of. In this way, we have been taught by great witnesses of holiness who have shared the path of your association, among whom I like to remember Giuseppe Toniolo, Armida Barelli, Piergiorgio Frassati, Antonietta Meo, Teresio Olivelli and Vittorio Bachelet. Catholic Action, live up to your history! Live up to the example of these men and women who have preceded you.
Throughout the 150 years of Catholic Action, it has always been characterized by a great love for Jesus and for the Church. Even today you are called to follow your particular vocations, placing yourselves at the service of dioceses, gathered around your Bishops - always - and in parishes - always - there, where the Church lives in the midst of people - always. All the People of God enjoy the fruit of your dedication, lived in harmony between the universal Church and particular Churches. It is in the vocation that is typical of laity, lived from day to day, that we can find the strength and the courage to live the faith by staying where you are, welcoming and entering into dialogue in such a way that you draw close to one and all, experiencing the beauty of a shared responsibility. Never grow tired of continuing the journey toward what you can enhance through a style of authentic synodality, a way of being the People of God where everyone can contribute to an attentive, meditative, prayerful reading of the signs of the times, in order to understand and to live the will of God, certain that the actions of the Holy Spirit are at work, making all things new every day.
I invite you to continue your apostolic experience rooted in parishes, which are not fallen structures - have you understood this point? The parish is not a fallen structure! - because it is the presence of the Church in a territory, a place where we can listen to the Word, a place of growth in Christian life, of dialogue, of proclamation, of generous charity, of adoration and of celebration (Evangelii gaudium, 28). The parish is the place in which people can feel welcomed as they are, and can be accompanied along the journey of human and spiritual growth, growth in faith and in love for creation and for our brothers and sisters. However, this can only be true if the parish is not closed in on itself, if even Catholic Action which lives within the parish is not closed in upon itself, but helps the parish to remain in contact with families and with the life of people and not to become a structure that is separate from the people or a group of elite who look at themselves (EG, 28). Please don't do this!
Dear members of Catholic Action, every one of the your initiatives, every proposition, every endeavour is a misisonary experience, destined toward evangelization, not self-preservation. Your belonging to a diocese and to a parish is incarnated in city streets, in neighbourhoods and in countrysides. As it has been throughout these 150 years, it is up to you to be strongly aware of the responsibility that is yours - to sow the good seed of the gospel along the paths of the world, through your service of charity, in your political commitments - place yourselves in politics, but please remain focused on the larger politics, on the politics of policy-making - even through educational passion and participation in cultural confrontations. Enlarge your hearts in order to enlarge the heart of your parishes. Be faith travelers, ready to meet everyone, to welcome everyone, to listen to everyone, to embrace everyone. Every path is a path that is loved by the Lord, every face shows the face of Christ, especially the faces of the poor, those who have been wounded by life and those who feel abandoned, those who flee from death and seek shelter in our homes, in our cities. No one can feel exempt from being preoccupied with the poor and with social justice (EG, 201).
Remain open to the reality that surrounds you. Fearlessly seek out dialogue with those who live beside you, and with those who think differently from you but who, like you, desire peace, justice and fraternity. And in your dialogue, seek to project a shared future. It is through dialogue that we build peace, by taking care of others and by speaking with everyone.
Dear children, young people and adults of Catholic Action: go, go out to meet everyone of the peripheries! Go, and there, be Church, with the strength of the Holy Spirit.
May you be supported by the maternal protection of the Immaculate Virgin; may she accompany you and may you be encouraged by the support of your Bishops; as well as by my blessing, which I willingly impart upon you and upon your entire Association. And please, don't forget to pray for me!
At the conclusion of the Audience with Catholic Action Italy, on the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of their existence, the Holy Father, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Regina Caeli with the faithful and with pilgrims who were present in Saint Peter's Square.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Regina Caeli
Dear brothers and sisters,
We continue to receive dramatic news about the situation in Venezuela and the aggravation caused by clashes, including many who have died, who are wounded and who have been detained. While I am united with the suffering of the families of victims, for whom I assure my prayers, I send an urgent appeal to the government and to all the members of Venezuelan society that they may avoid any further forms of violence, respect human rights and seek to negotiate solutions to the grave humanitarian, social, political and economic crises that are challenging the people of that country. Let us rely on the Most Holy Virgin Mary to intercede for peace, reconciliation and democracy in that beloved country. And let us pray for all the countries that are experiencing grave difficulties. I think especially in these days of the Republic of Macedonia.
Yesterday, in Verona, Leopoldina Naudet, Founder of the Sisters of the Sacred Family, was Beatified. Having grown up in the court of the Habsburgs, first in Florence and then in Vienna, from the time she was a young girl, she always had a strong vocation to prayer, but also to service in the field of education. She consecrated herself to God and, through various experiences, she managed to form a new religious community in Verona, under the protection of the Holy Family, which is still alive in the Church today. Let us join in their joy and thanksgiving.
Today throughout Italy, we are celebrating the Day for the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. I encourage you to support this important institution which continues to invest in the formation of young people in order to improve the world around us.
Christian formation is based on the Word of God. For this reason, I am pleased to also remember that today in Poland, they are celebrating bible Sunday. In parish churches, in schools and in the mass media, a part of the Sacred Scripture is being read aloud. I wish every good gift for this initiative.
And you, dear friends of Catholic Action, at the conclusion of your meeting, I thank you with all my heart for your presence! And through you, I greet all of your parish groups, your families, the children, the youth, and the elderly. Continue on your way!
And I extend my greeting to the pilgrims who, at this time, are unite with us in reciting this Marian prayer, especially those who have come from Spain, Croatia, Germany and Puerto Rico. Together, we address our prayers to Mary our Mother. We thank her especially for the Apostolic Voyage to Egypt which I have only just completed. I ask the Lord to bless all the Egyptian people, who were so very welcoming, all the authorities, the Christian faithful and the Muslims, and may God grant the gift of peace to that country.
Regina Caeli, ...
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