“destruction. The work of the Church seeks not only to remind everyone of the duty to care for nature, but at the same time “she must above all protect mankind from self-destruction”.[47]”
― Pope Francis, On Care for Our Common Home: The Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’
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Like the Magi who came from the East to Bethlehem to honour the Messianic King, we Christians are also pilgrims on the way toward full unity, in the diversity of our confessions and traditions. Let us #PrayTogether and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our only Lord. #ChristianUnity
It is love that transforms: ordinary things become extraordinary when they are done with love.
Let us #PrayTogether for the people hit by strong rain and flooding in various regions of Brazil during these past weeks, especially for the victims and their families, and for those who have lost their homes.
The first sign Jesus accomplished was not an extraordinary healing or something prodigious in the temple of Jerusalem, but an action that responded to a simple and concrete need of common people. This is how God loves to act. #GospelOfTheDay (Jn 2:1-11)
Lack of charity causes unhappiness, because love alone satisfies the human heart.
Even if all human doors were barred, God’s door is open. #Prayer
We are living in a difficult time, many people are facing difficulties and suffering. In a time like this, we need someone who can encourage us, help us, inspire us. Saint Joseph is a bright witness in dark times. Let us turn to him to find our way again. vaticannews.va/en/po…
To really know people, we need to recognize them and recognize that each of them bears the inviolable beauty of a son or daughter of God, a reflection of the Creator’s image.
At times due to the pandemic, many people experience the ordeal of not having a job that allows them to live tranquilly. Often they become so desperate that it drives them to the point of losing all hope and the desire to live. Let us #PrayTogether for them.
Sometimes, looking at our lives, we see only the things we lack and forget the talents we possess. Yet God gave them to us because He trusts us and asks us to make the most of the present moment, not yearning for the past, but waiting industriously for His return.
The issue of migration, together with the pandemic and climate change, has clearly demonstrated that we cannot be saved alone and by ourselves: the great challenges of our time are all global. vatican.va/content/f…
The prophet Jeremiah tells us that God has “plans for our welfare and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope” (29:11). We should be unafraid, then, to make room for peace in our lives by cultivating dialogue and fraternity among one another.
#LetUsPray for the victims of the protests that have broken out in recent days in Kazakhstan and for their families. I hope that social harmony will be restored as soon as possible through the search for dialogue, justice and the common good.
We belong to Christ, we are joined to him through Baptism; His presence is in us, His light is in us, His life is in us. Let us therefore walk joyfully in hope sustained by his Word: it is the Word of life. #BaptismOfTheLord
When we pray, the Father says to us, as he does to Jesus in the #GospelOfTheDay: “You are my beloved child” (Lk 3:22). Being God’s children began on the day of our Baptism, which immersed us in Christ and we became beloved children of the Father. #BaptismOfJesus
Today’s Gospel shows us the #BaptismOfJesus. He who is the Son of God, the Messiah goes to the Jordan River to be baptized. He lines up with the sinners, He shares our plight, He goes down into the river and at the same time into the wounded history of humanity to heal it.
The Lord works wonders with those who are lowly, with those who do not believe that they are great but who give ample space to God in their life. He extends His mercy to those who trust in Him, and raises up the humble.
I extend my heartfelt best wishes for peace and every good to our brothers and sisters of the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, who celebrate the Nativity of the Lord: may Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, enlighten your families and communities!
The Magi return “by another way” (Mt 2:12). They challenge us to take new paths. This is the creativity of the Holy Spirit who always does new things. #Epiphany
When they reach their destination, the Magi kneel down and worship the Baby. The journey of faith finds renewed strength only when it is made in God’s presence. Let’s not forget to spend time in adoration of the Eucharist, and allow ourselves to be transformed by Jesus. #Epiphany
The Magi defy Herod. They teach us that we need a courageous faith that is not afraid to challenge the sinister logic of power, and become seeds of justice and fraternity in societies where many Herods, even today, continue to slaughter the poor and innocent. #Epiphany
In Jerusalem, the Magi ask where the Child is to be found. They teach us that we need to question, to listen carefully to the questions of our heart, of our conscience, for that is where God often speaks to us. He addresses us more with questions than with answers. #Epiphany
The Magi set out at the rising of the star. They teach us that we need to set out anew each day, in life as in faith, for faith is not a suit of armour that encases us; but a fascinating journey, constant and restless movement, ever in search of God. #Epiphany
Would that all of us in the Church were what we already are by virtue of baptism: prophets, witnesses, missionaries of the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the ends of the earth! vatican.va/content/f…
Saint Joseph, you who loved Jesus with fatherly love, be close to the many children who have no family and who long for a daddy and mommy. Support the couples who are unable to have children, help them to discover, through this suffering, a greater plan. #GeneralAudience
Let us #PrayTogether that those who suffer discrimination and religious persecution may find in the societies in which they live the rights and dignity that comes from being brothers and sisters. #PrayerIntention pic.twitter.com/OVuk…
By giving us His Son, God offers us a fraternity based on true love, making it possible for me to encounter others who are different, feeling com-passion for their sufferings, drawing near and caring for them even though they do not belong to my family, ethnic group or religion.
How many sick and elderly people are living at home and waiting for a visit! The ministry of consolation is a task for every baptized person, mindful of the word of Jesus: “I was sick and you visited me” (Mt 25:36). vatican.va/content/f…
#Christmas invites us to reflect on the drama of history, in which men and women, wounded by sin, search for truth, mercy, redemption; and on God’s goodness, who has come to us to communicate the Truth that saves and to make us sharers in His life.
Faced with our frailties, the Lord does not withdraw. He does not remain in his blessed eternity and in his infinite light, but rather he draws close, he makes himself incarnate, he descends into the darkness. This is God's work: to come among us.
As we begin the New Year, we place ourselves under the protection of the #MotherOfGod, who is also our mother. May she help us to keep and ponder all things, unafraid of trials, in the joyful certainty that the Lord is faithful and knows how to change crosses into resurrections.
Let us all make greater efforts to promote mothers and to protect women. How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity.
The New Year begins under the sign of the Mother. A mother’s gaze is the path to rebirth and growth. Mothers know how to overcome obstacles and conflicts. They know how to instill peace. Thus they succeed in transforming problems into opportunities for rebirth and growth.
I wish to propose three paths for building a lasting #peace: dialogue between generations as the basis for the realization of shared projects; education as a factor of freedom, responsibility and development; and labour for the full realization of human dignity.
All can work together to build a more peaceful world, starting from the hearts of individuals and relationships in the family, then within society and with the environment, and all the way up to relationships between peoples and nations. #WorlddayofPeace vatican.va/content/f…
God was born a child in order to encourage us to care for others. His disarming love reminds us that our time is not to be spent in feeling sorry for ourselves, but in comforting the tears of the suffering. #Christmas
At #Christmas, God reveals Himself not as one who is on high in order to dominate, but as the One who stoops down, small and poor, a companion on the road, to serve: this means that in order to resemble Him, the way is that of lowering oneself, of service.
Saint Joseph, you who have experienced the suffering of those who must flee to save the lives of their loved ones, protect all those who flee because of war, hatred, hunger. Guide their steps and open the hearts of those who can help them. Let us #PrayTogether #GeneralAudience
The new Herods of our time devour the innocence of our children under the oppression of illegal slave labour, prostitution, exploitation, wars and forced emigration. Let us #PrayTogether today for these children and defend them. #HolyInnocents
Let us embrace Jesus in the little ones of today, love Him in the least of our brothers and sisters, serve Him in the poor. They are most like Jesus who was born poor. It is in them that He wants to be honoured. #ChristmasSeason
Please, each day, let us pray a little bit together to ask God for the gift of peace. And let us all commit ourselves – parents children, Church, society – to sustain, defend and safeguard the family! #HolyFamily
Christ “dwells” in your marriage and he is always waiting for you to open your hearts to him, so that he can sustain you, by the power of his love. Our human love is weak; it needs the strength of Jesus’ faithful love. #LetterToMarriedCouples
Dear married couples throughout the world! In this “Amoris Laetitia Family” Year, I am writing to express my deep affection and closeness to you at this very special time. #LetterToMarriedCouples vatican.va/content/f…
As the message of the birth of the Saviour, the source of true peace, resounds in the whole world, we continue to witness a great number of conflicts, crises and disagreements. Let us implore God to stir up in the hearts of everyone a yearning for reconciliation and fraternity.
The Word became flesh in order to dialogue with us. God does not desire to carry on a monologue, but a dialogue. By the coming of Jesus, the Person of the Word made flesh, into our world, God showed us the way of encounter and dialogue. vatican.va/content/f…
Jesus is born close to the forgotten ones on the peripheries. He comes to ennoble the excluded and He is first revealed to them: not to educated and important people, but to the shepherds, to poor working people. #Christmas
This is what we should ask Jesus for at #Christmas: the grace of littleness. “Lord, teach us to love littleness. Help us to understand that littleness is the way to authentic greatness”.
Dear sister or brother, if as in Bethlehem, the darkness of night overwhelms you, if the hurt you carry inside cries out "You are worthless", tonight God responds and tells you: “I love you just as you are. I became little for you. Trust me and open your heart to me". #Christmas
Tonight a light has been lit, a kindly light, reminding us that in our littleness, we are beloved sons and daughters, children of the light. Let us rejoice together, for no one will ever put out this light, the light of Jesus, who tonight shines brightly in our world. #Christmas
For it to be truly #Christmas, let us not forget this: God comes to be with us and asks us to take care of our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the weakest, the most fragile, whom the pandemic risks marginalising even more.
Let us allow ourselves to be evangelized by the humility of #Christmas, of the manger, of the poverty and simplicity with which the Son of God entered the world. Let us allow ourselves to be evangelized by the humility of the Child Jesus.
This is the lesson of #Christmas: humility is the great condition for faith, for the spiritual life and for holiness. May the Lord grant it to us as a gift.
The mystery of #Christmas is the mystery of God who enters the world by the path of humility.
There are many local Churches, religious congregations and Catholic organizations who are ready to welcome and accompany migrants toward a fruitful integration. All that is needed is an open door!
Jesus is the name and the face of the love of God who came to dwell among us. I hope that each of you might have the desire of seeking Him and the joy of finding Him this #Christmas.
Let's choose a concrete commitment, however small, that's adapted to our situation in life, and let's continue to do it to prepare ourselves for #Christmas: call a person who is alone, visit that elderly or ill person, do something to serve a poor person, someone in need. #Advent
The Season of #Advent is meant for us to stop and ask ourselves how to prepare for #Christmas. We are so busy with all the preparations, with gifts and things that pass. But let us ask ourselves what we should do for Jesus and for others!
The #Christmas tree is a symbol of rebirth, God's gift by which He is united forever to humanity. He gives us His life. The lights on the fir tree recall the light of Jesus, the light of love that continues to shine in the world's nights.
I express my closeness to the population of the Philippines, struck by a strong typhoon that has caused many deaths and destroyed so many homes. May the “Santo Niño” bring consolation and hope to the families of those most affected. #PrayTogether
The first act of charity we can do for our neighbour is to offer a serene and smiling face. It is to bring them the joy of Jesus, as Mary did with Elizabeth. #GospelOfTheDay
