At 8:45am local time this morning (2:45am EDT), before making his way to the General Audience, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Arcobaleno Choir from the rest home located in Bonheiden (Belgium) for those who are suffering from Alzheimers. The meeting took place in the atrium of the Paul VI Hall.
Thank you, thank you brothers and sisters, thank you very much. My secretary who is here says: this is the most beautiful thing that I have seen with the Pope.
When I saw that in your house, where you welcome people who are suffering from Alzheimers, there is a choir called Arcobaleno (Rainbow), I gave thanks to God. Because I think that for you to sing together, this is a consolation, a support, which helps you to keep going and it supports the weight of your illness which you are certainly aware of. In fact, I think that your singing is made even more beautiful by your vulnerability. I think that the fact of sharing our frailties and accepting one another's weaknesses, this is the most beautiful song, the most gratifying of God's harmonies, a rainbow not of perfection but of imperfections.
And when I saw the director, I thought: he has forgotten his baton! But then I saw that his baton is tenderness. Thank you, Mister director, for you use gestures of tenderness that help us all to be more human. And with your tenderness, your tenderness, all of you, today, we have fulfilled the fourth commandment: to honour the elders who are our memory. Perhaps some of them have lost their memories, but they are symbols of the memory of a people, they are the roots of your country, of your humanity. They are the roots, and the young people should come to visit, to draw from the nectar of those roots in order to keep civilization going.
Thank you very much, thank you with all my heart. And now, I will give you my blessing and then I will come to greet each one of you. I ask you to pray for me. May the Lord bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Original text in Italian
Texto en español
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
offered to members of the Arcobaleno Choir
Thank you, thank you brothers and sisters, thank you very much. My secretary who is here says: this is the most beautiful thing that I have seen with the Pope.
When I saw that in your house, where you welcome people who are suffering from Alzheimers, there is a choir called Arcobaleno (Rainbow), I gave thanks to God. Because I think that for you to sing together, this is a consolation, a support, which helps you to keep going and it supports the weight of your illness which you are certainly aware of. In fact, I think that your singing is made even more beautiful by your vulnerability. I think that the fact of sharing our frailties and accepting one another's weaknesses, this is the most beautiful song, the most gratifying of God's harmonies, a rainbow not of perfection but of imperfections.
And when I saw the director, I thought: he has forgotten his baton! But then I saw that his baton is tenderness. Thank you, Mister director, for you use gestures of tenderness that help us all to be more human. And with your tenderness, your tenderness, all of you, today, we have fulfilled the fourth commandment: to honour the elders who are our memory. Perhaps some of them have lost their memories, but they are symbols of the memory of a people, they are the roots of your country, of your humanity. They are the roots, and the young people should come to visit, to draw from the nectar of those roots in order to keep civilization going.
Thank you very much, thank you with all my heart. And now, I will give you my blessing and then I will come to greet each one of you. I ask you to pray for me. May the Lord bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Original text in Italian
Texto en español
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