At 12:35pm today, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received the members of the John Paul II Foundation in audience.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome all of you, members and friends of the John Paul II Foundation. I thank Cardinal Rylko for having introduced our meeting and I thank all of you for your commitment to advancing the initiatives of the Foundation and to keeping its spirit alive. And my heartfelt thanks also for the gift of this painting of the merciful Jesus.
The canonization of Pope John Paul II gave new energy to your work, in service to the Church and to evangelization. In fact, your commitment became more universal, if such a thing could be possible, even more widespread like the people of God who have also been spread throughout the world. You offer a precious contribution so that the spiritual heritage of this holy Pope might continue to feed the great field of the Church and to sustain her journey through history.
I thank you especially for the educative character of your work with young people. In fact, Saint John Paul II always had great love for young people and a special pastoral care for them. You contribute to making it possible that his charism and his legacy continues to bear fruit.
Also to priests and laity, you offer precious opportunities for enriching their formation, so that they might be better prepared to accompany communities who face the cultural and pastoral challenges of our time. For this purpose, you can also tap into the rich teachings of the social doctrine that Saint John Paul II left us, which is extremely relevant. It is enough to think of one of the key words of this great saint: solidarity. A word that some people perhaps have thought should have been silenced, but which in truth has retained today all of its prophetic strength.
This is the reason why it is important that you, first in your network of Circles of Friends of the Foundation, live this solidarity among yourselves, continually feeding it with Christian fraternity, so that it in turn may be strengthened by prayer and by docility to the Word of God. May Our Lady, to whom Saint John Paul consecrated his entire life and his pontificate, accompany you.
Thank you, dear friends, for this visit. I bless you all and I bless your work, and I ask you please to pray for me.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to the members of the John Paul II Foundation
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome all of you, members and friends of the John Paul II Foundation. I thank Cardinal Rylko for having introduced our meeting and I thank all of you for your commitment to advancing the initiatives of the Foundation and to keeping its spirit alive. And my heartfelt thanks also for the gift of this painting of the merciful Jesus.
The canonization of Pope John Paul II gave new energy to your work, in service to the Church and to evangelization. In fact, your commitment became more universal, if such a thing could be possible, even more widespread like the people of God who have also been spread throughout the world. You offer a precious contribution so that the spiritual heritage of this holy Pope might continue to feed the great field of the Church and to sustain her journey through history.
I thank you especially for the educative character of your work with young people. In fact, Saint John Paul II always had great love for young people and a special pastoral care for them. You contribute to making it possible that his charism and his legacy continues to bear fruit.
Also to priests and laity, you offer precious opportunities for enriching their formation, so that they might be better prepared to accompany communities who face the cultural and pastoral challenges of our time. For this purpose, you can also tap into the rich teachings of the social doctrine that Saint John Paul II left us, which is extremely relevant. It is enough to think of one of the key words of this great saint: solidarity. A word that some people perhaps have thought should have been silenced, but which in truth has retained today all of its prophetic strength.
This is the reason why it is important that you, first in your network of Circles of Friends of the Foundation, live this solidarity among yourselves, continually feeding it with Christian fraternity, so that it in turn may be strengthened by prayer and by docility to the Word of God. May Our Lady, to whom Saint John Paul consecrated his entire life and his pontificate, accompany you.
Thank you, dear friends, for this visit. I bless you all and I bless your work, and I ask you please to pray for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment