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20 Jun ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE SYNOD ASSEMBLY OF THE GREEK-MELKITE CHURCH

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[…] The tragedy of the last few months, which sadly compels us to turn our gaze
towards Eastern Europe, should not make us forget what has been taking place in
Syria for the last 12 years. I remember, in the first year of my pontificate, when a
bombardment had been planned over Syria, that we held a night of prayer, here in
Saint Peter’s, and the Most Blessed Sacrament was there too, and the Square was
full [of people] praying. There were also some Muslims who had brought their
prayer rugs and prayed with us. And it was there that the expression “beloved and
martyred Syria” was born. Thousands of dead and wounded, millions of refugees
displaced both internally and abroad, the impossibility of starting the needed
reconstruction. On more than one occasion, I met and heard the stories of young
Syrian youths who had arrived here, and I was struck by the tragedy they carried
within, over what they had experienced and seen, but also their gaze, almost
drained of hope, incapable of dreaming a future for their land. We cannot allow the
last spark of hope to be taken away from the eyes and hearts of young people and
their families! I thus renew my appeal to all those who have responsibilities, within
the country and in the international community, so that a fair and just solution to
the drama in Syria may be found. […]

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09 Jun ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS AND PRIESTS OF THE CHURCHES OF SICILY

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[…] Sicily is not excluded from this change; on the contrary, as has happened in
the past, she finds herself at the centre of the historical pathways drawn by
continental populations. She has frequently received the passage of these peoples,
some as rulers, some as migrants, and by welcoming them, has integrated them
into her fabric, developing a culture of her own. I remember when, around forty
years ago, I was shown a film on Sicily: “Kaos”, it was called. There were four tales
by Pirandello, the great Sicilian. I was struck by that beauty, that culture, that
“continental insularity”, let’s call it… But this does not mean that it is a happy
island, since the condition of insularity profoundly affects Sicilian society, and ends
up highlighting the contradictions we carry within ourselves. It is true that in Sicily
we witness behaviour and gestures both of great virtue and of cruel brutality. Just
as, alongside masterpieces of extraordinary artistic beauty, we witness scenes of
mortifying neglect. And equally, next to men men and women of great culture,
many children and young people skip school and remain left out of a dignified
human life. Sicilian daily life takes on strong hues, such as the intense colours of
the sky and flowers, fields and the sea, which shine in the strength of the sun’s
radiance. Not by chance, a great deal of blood has been shed at the hand of the
violent, but also through the humble and heroic resistance of the saints and the
just, servants of the Church and of the State.
The current social situation in Sicily has been in sharp regression for years; a
precise sign is the depopulation of the island, due both to the falling birth rate and
the massive emigration of young people. Distrust in institutions reaches high levels
and the dysfunction of services hinders the performance of daily tasks, as well as
the efforts of valid and honest people, who would like to engage and change the
system. It is necessary to understand how and in what direction Sicily is
experiencing the epoch change and what paths she could take, in order to proclaim,
in the fractures and joints of this change, the Gospel of Christ. […]

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25 May ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE DELEGATION OF THE GLOBAL SOLIDARITY FUND

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Dear brother, Cardinal Tomasi,
Dear friends,
I am pleased to meet with you once again and to see the progress that you are
making.
Your name, Global Solidarity Fund, is centred on a key word: solidarity, a core value
of the social doctrine of the Church. Yet in order to make this word a reality, it
needs to be accompanied by closeness and compassion for others, for people who
are marginalized and for the faces of the poor and migrants.
The composition of the group that represents the Global Solidarity Fund here today
is revealing: you belong to very different sectors of society, yet you work together
to create a more inclusive economy, giving rise to integration and employment for
migrants in a spirit of listening and encounter. This is a courageous path!
I thank you for the gifts you brought me from the migrants who are participating in
your programmes in Colombia and Ethiopia. I bless each of you and your work. I
encourage you to move forward in your commitment to support migrants and the
most vulnerable by sharing your talents. And please remember to pray for me.

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20 May MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC MIGRATION COMMISSION

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Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to greet all of you taking part in the Plenary Council of the
International Catholic Migration Commission.
In these days, you are called to carry out three very important tasks: to choose the
Commission’s new governing committee, to approve its new statutes, and to
determine its operational guidelines for the coming years. I readily take this
opportunity to emphasize some points that I believe can help you in your
discernment.
The Commission was founded in 1951 by Venerable Pope Pius XII in order to form a
network among Bishops’ Conferences worldwide to assist them in their pastoral
care of migrants and refugees. Its nature and ecclesial mission distinguish it from
other organizations operating in civil society and in the Church. The Commission is
a collegial expression of the pastoral activity in the area of migration on the part of
the Bishops, who, in communion with the Pope, share in his concern for the
universal Church “in a bond of peace, love and unity” (Lumen Gentium, 22). For
this reason, in the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium it is mentioned and
included among the competences of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human
Development (cf. Art. 174 § 2), so that its nature and mission can be safeguarded
in accordance with its founding principles. In your Plenary Council, you officially
represent the Bishops’ Conferences affiliated to the Commission. Their willingness
to work together in order to welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants and
refugees is confirmed by your presence.
The ecclesial mission of the Commission is carried out on two tracks: ad intra and
ad extra. It is primarily called to offer expert assistance to Bishops’ Conferences
and Dioceses that find themselves needing to respond to today’s many complex
challenges with regard to migration. It strives, then, to promote the development
and implementation of projects of pastoral care for migrants and the specialized
training of pastoral workers in the field of migration, at the service of the particular
Churches and in accordance with its proper competences.
Ad extra, the Commission is called to respond to global challenges and migratory
emergencies with focused programs, always in communion with the local Churches.
As an organization of civil society on the international level, it is also engaged in
advocacy. The Commission expresses the Church’s commitment and works for a
broader international awareness on issues involving migration. In this way, it
fosters respect for human rights and promotes human dignity in line with the
Church’s social doctrine.
I offer you my heartfelt thanks for the Commission’s work over the past seventy
years. Many of these activities have had a truly decisive impact. I thank you in
particular for your committed efforts to help the Churches respond to the
challenges associated with the vast displacement of persons caused by the conflict
in Ukraine, which has seen the largest movement of refugees in Europe since the
Second World War.
At the same time, we cannot forget the millions of asylum seekers, refugees and
displaced persons in other parts of the world, who desperately need to be
welcomed, protected and loved. As a Church, we wish to serve everyone and to
work diligently to build a future of peace. You have the opportunity to give a face to
the Church’s charitable activity on their behalf!
I offer all of you my prayerful good wishes for the fruitfulness of your work, and I
assure you of my remembrance in prayer. And I ask you, please, to remember me
in your own prayers.

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16 May ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO MEMBERS OF THE “POLITICAL FRATERNITY” OF THE “CHEMIN NEUF” COMMUNITY

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Dear friends!
I am very pleased to welcome you, the young members of the “Political Fraternity”
of Chemin Neuf. When we met last year, you had asked me to pray for your
participation in the Changemakers event in Budapest. There you experienced
moments of encounter and learning, as well as activities, along with local groups.
The way you participated in this event strikes me as a good method of putting into
practice the genuine meaning of politics, especially for Christians. Politics is
encounter, reflection, action.
Politics is, first and foremost, an art of encounter. Certainly, this encounter consists
of being open to others and accepting their differences as part of a respectful
dialogue. For Christians, however, there is more. Because the Gospel demands that
we love our enemies (cf. Mt 5:44), we cannot rest content with superficial and
formal dialogue, along the lines of the often hostile negotiations between political
parties. Instead, we are called to see political encounters as fraternal encounters,
especially with people who disagree with us. That means regarding our dialogue
partner as a true brother or sister, a beloved son or daughter of God. The art of
encounter, then, begins with changing the way we look at others, with showing
them unconditional acceptance and respect. Without such a change of heart,
politics often risks turning into a violent confrontation, where people try to impose
their own ideas and pursue particular interests over the common good, contrary to
the principle that “unity prevails over conflict” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 226-230).
From a Christian standpoint, politics is also reflection, that is, the devising of a
common project. An eighteenth-century political leader, Edmund Burke, thus told
the electors of Bristol that as a Member of Parliament he would not be limited to
defending their particular interests, but sent in their name to pursue along with
other members of Parliament the interest of the entire country, the general good.
As Christians, we recognize that politics is practiced not only through encounter, but
also through shared reflection in the pursuit of this general good, not simply
through the clash of differing and often opposed interests. In a word, “the whole is
greater than the part” (cf. ibid., 234-237). Our own compass for advancing this
common project is the Gospel, which brings to the world a profoundly positive
vision of humanity as loved by God.
Finally, politics is also action. I am pleased that your Fraternity is not satisfied to be
merely a forum for discussion and exchange, but is also directing you to concrete
forms of commitment. As Christians, we must always be realistic, confronting our
ideas with hard reality, lest we build on sands that sooner or later end up shifting.
Let us not forget that “realities are more important than ideas” (cf. ibid., 231-233).
In this regard, I encourage your efforts on behalf of migrants and ecology. I have
also learned that some of you have chosen to live together in a working-class
quarter of Paris, in order to listen to the voices of the poor: that is a Christian way
of engaging in political life! Don’t forget these things, that realities are more
important than ideas: politics cannot be practiced with ideology. That the whole is
greater than the part, and that unity prevails over conflict. Always seek unity and
do not get lost in conflict. […]

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29 Apr ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY SESSION OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
I welcome you and I wish you well in your work in this plenary session of the
Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. And I thank Professor Zamagni for his kind
and insightful words.
You have focused your attention on the reality of the family. I appreciate this choice
and also the perspective from which you consider it, namely as a “relational asset”.
We know that social changes are altering the living conditions of marriage and
families all over the world. Moreover, the current context of prolonged and multiple
crises is putting a strain on the projects of stable and happy families. This state of
affairs can be responded to by rediscovering the value of the family as the source
and origin of the social order, as the vital cell of a fraternal society capable of caring
for the common home.
The family is almost always at the top of the scale of values of different peoples,
because it is inscribed in the very nature of woman and man. In this sense,
marriage and the family are not purely human institutions, despite the many
changes they have undergone over the centuries and the cultural and spiritual
differences between peoples. Beyond all the differences, there are common and
permanent traits that reveal the greatness and value of marriage and the family.
However, if this value is lived out in an individualistic and private way, as is partly
the case in the West, the family can be isolated and fragmented in the context of
society. The social functions that the family performs among individuals and in the
community are lost, especially in relation to the weakest, such as children, people
with disabilities and the dependent elderly.
It is a question, then, of understanding that the family is an asset for society, not
insofar as it is a mere aggregation of individuals, but insofar as it is a relationship
founded in a “bond of mutual perfection”, to use an expression of Saint Paul (cf. Col
3:12-14). Indeed, the human being is created in the image and likeness of God,
who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8,16). The mutual love between man and woman is a
reflection of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves the human being,
destined to be fruitful and to be fulfilled in the common work of the social order and
the care of creation.
The good of the family is not aggregative, that is, it does not consist in aggregating
the resources of individuals to increase the utility of each, but it is a relational bond
of perfection, which consists in sharing relationships of faithful love, trust,
cooperation, reciprocity, from which derive the goods of the individual members of
the family and, therefore, their happiness. Understood in this way, the family, which
is a relational asset in itself, also becomes the source of many assets and
relationships for the community, such as a good relationship with the State and the
other associations in society, solidarity between families, welcoming those in
difficulty, caring for the least, combating the processes of impoverishment, and so
on.
This perfective bond, which we might call its specific “social genome”, consists in
loving action motivated by gift, by living according to the rule of generous
reciprocity and generativity. The family humanizes people through the relationship
of “us” and at the same time promotes the legitimate differences of each one. This
– take heed – is really important in order to understand what is meant by a family,
which is not just an aggregation of people.
The social thought of the Church helps to understand this relational love proper to
the family, as I tried to do in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, following in
a great tradition, but also taking a step forward from it.
One aspect I would like to stress is that the family is the place of acceptance. We
don’t talk about it much, but it is important. Its qualities manifest themselves in a
special way in families where there are frail or disabled members. These families
develop special virtues, which enhance the capacity for love and patient endurance
in the face of life’s difficulties. We think of the rehabilitation of the sick, the
reception of migrants, and in general the social inclusion of those who are victims of
marginalization, in all social spheres, especially in the world of work. Integrated
home care for the severely disabled sets in motion a caring capacity in family
members that is able to respond to the specific needs of each individual. Think also
of families that generate benefits for society as a whole, including adoptive and
foster families. The family – as we know – is the main antidote to poverty, both
material and spiritual, as it is also to the problem of demographic winter or
irresponsible motherhood and fatherhood. These two things should be stressed. The
demographic winter is a serious matter. Here in Italy, it is a serious matter
compared to other countries in Europe. It cannot be ignored – it is a serious matter.
And irresponsible motherhood and fatherhood is another serious matter that must
be taken into account to help prevent it from happening.
The family becomes a bond of perfection and a relational asset to the extent that it
allows its own nature to flourish, both by itself and with the help of other people
and institutions, including governmental ones. Family-friendly social, economic and
cultural policies need to be promoted in all countries. These include, for example,
policies that make it possible to harmonize family and work; tax policies that
acknowledge family burdens and support the educational functions of families by
adopting appropriate instruments of fiscal equity; policies that welcome life; and
social, psychological and health services that focus on supporting couple and
parental relationships. […]

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17 Apr URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS EASTER 2022

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[…] I hold in my heart all the many Ukrainian victims, the millions of refugees and
internally displaced persons, the divided families, the elderly left to themselves, the
lives broken and the cities razed to the ground. I see the faces of the orphaned
children fleeing from the war. As we look at them, we cannot help but hear their cry
of pain, along with that of all those other children who suffer throughout our world:
those dying of hunger or lack of medical care, those who are victims of abuse and
violence, and those denied the right to be born.
Amid the pain of the war, there are also encouraging signs, such as the open doors
of all those families and communities that are welcoming migrants and refugees
throughout Europe. May these numerous acts of charity become a blessing for our
societies, at times debased by selfishness and individualism, and help to make
them welcoming to all. […]

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15 Apr GOOD FRIDAY THE PASSION OF THE LORD THE WAY OF THE CROSS LED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

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Fourteenth Station
The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb
V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi
R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.
Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own
new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door
of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting
opposite the sepulcher. (Matthew 27:59-61)
Now we are here. We have died to our past. We wanted to live in our own land but
war prevented that. It is difficult for a family to have to choose between its dreams
and its freedom, between its hopes and survival. We are here after travels in which
we witnessed the death of women and children, friends, brothers and sisters. We
are here, the survivors. We are perceived as a burden. At home, we were
important, but here we are numbers, categories and statistics. And yet we are
much more than just migrants. We are persons. We came here for the sake of our
children. Each day we die for them so that they can try to live a normal life, without
bombs, without bloodshed, without persecution. We are Catholics but even this
seems less important than the fact that we are migrants. If we do not give up, it is
because we know that the great stone at the entrance of the tomb will one day be
rolled away.
Lord Jesus, you were lowered from the cross by kindly hands.
R/. Dona nobis pacem.
You were buried in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
R/. Dona nobis pacem.
45
You did not know the corruption of the tomb.
R/. Dona nobis pacem.
All:
Our Father…
Lord Jesus,
you descended into hell
to free Adam and Eve and their children from their ancient captivity.
Hear our prayers for the families of migrants.
Rescue them from the deadly pain of isolation,
and grant that all of us may see you in every person,
in every one of our beloved brothers and sisters.
You who live and reign forever and ever.
R/. Amen.

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03 Apr APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO MALTA (2-3 APRIL 2022) ANGELUS

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am grateful for Archbishop Scicluna’s kind words on your behalf, but I am really
the one who should be thanking you! Thank you very much!
I would like to express my gratitude to the President of the Republic and the civil
authorities, to my brother Bishops, to you, dear priests, men and women religious,
and to all the citizens and faithful of Malta and Gozo for your warm and affectionate
welcome. This evening, I will meet some of our migrant brothers and sisters, and
then it will be time to return to Rome. I will bring back many memories of the
events and conversations of these days. Above all, I will remember many of your
faces, as well as the luminous face of Malta and the many kind gestures! I thank all
those who worked so hard to prepare for this visit, and I cordially greet our
brothers and sisters of the different Christian denominations and religions whom I
have met in these days. I ask all of you to pray for me, as I will for you. Let us pray
for one another.
These islands breathe a sense of the People of God. May you continue to do so,
mindful that faith grows in joy and is strengthened in giving. Forge further links in
the chain of holiness that has led so many Maltese to devote their lives with
enthusiasm to God and to others. I think, for example, of Dun Ġorġ Preca,
canonized fifteen years ago. Finally, I would like to say a word to the young, who
are your future. Dear young friends, I want to share with you the most beautiful
thing in life. Do you know what it is? It is the joy of giving ourselves completely in
love, which makes us free. That joy has a name: it is Jesus. I wish you the beauty
of falling in love with Jesus, who is the God of mercy – we heard this in today’s
Gospel – and who believes in you, dreams with you, loves your lives and will never
disappoint you. Keep going forward always with Jesus, with your family and with
the People of God; do not forget your roots. Speak with your elders, speak with
your grandparents, speak with elderly people!
May the Lord accompany you, and Our Lady keep you. Let us now pray to her for
peace, as we think of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in war-torn Ukraine,
which continues to be bombarded in the sacrilegious war. May we be tireless in
praying and in offering assistance to those who suffer. Peace be with you!

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03 Apr APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO MALTA (2-3 APRIL 2022) MEETING WITH MIGRANTS ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I greet all of you with great affection, and I am very happy to end my visit to Malta
by spending some time here with you. I thank Father Dionisio for his welcome. I am
also very grateful to Daniel and to Siriman for their testimonies: you opened your
hearts and shared your lives, and at the same time gave a voice to so many of our
brothers and sisters who were constrained to leave their homelands in search of a
secure refuge.
Let me repeat what I said some months ago in Lesvos: “I am here… to assure you
of my closeness… I am here to see your faces and look into your eyes” (Address in
Mytilene, 5 December 2021). Since the day I visited Lampedusa, I have not
forgotten you. You are always in my heart and in my prayers.
This meeting with you, dear migrants, makes us think of the significance of the logo
chosen for my Journey to Malta. That logo is taken from the Acts of the Apostles,
which relates how the people of Malta welcomed the Apostle Paul and his
companions, shipwrecked nearby. We are told that they were treated with “unusual
kindness” (Acts 28:2). Not merely with kindness, but with rare humanity, a special
care and concern that Saint Luke wished to immortalize in the Book of Acts. It is my
hope that that is how Malta will always treat those who land on its shores, offering
them a genuinely “safe harbour”.
Shipwreck is something that thousands of men, women and children have
experienced in the Mediterranean in recent years. Sadly, for many of them, it ended
in tragedy. Just yesterday we received news of a rescue off the coast of Libya, of
only four migrants from a boat that was carrying about ninety people. Let us pray
for these our brothers and sisters who died in the Mediterranean Sea. Let us also
pray that we may be saved from another kind of shipwreck taking place: the
shipwreck of civilization, which threatens not only migrants but us all. How can we
save ourselves from this shipwreck which risks sinking the ship of our civilization?
By conducting ourselves with kindness and humanity. By regarding people not
merely as statistics, but, as Siriman told us, for what they really are: people, men
and women, brothers and sisters, each with his or her own life story. By imagining
that those same people we see on crowded boats or adrift in the sea, on our
televisions or in the newspapers, could be any one of us, or our sons or
daughters… Perhaps at this very moment, while we are here, there are boats
heading northwards across the sea… Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of
ours who risk their lives at sea in search of hope. You too experienced this ordeal
and you arrived here.
Your experiences make us think too of the experiences of all those thousands and
thousands of people who in these very days have been forced to flee Ukraine
because of the unjust and savage war. But also the experiences of so many others
in Asia, Africa and the Americas; I also think of Rohingya…. All of them are in my
thoughts and prayers at this time.
Some time ago, I received from your Centre another testimony: the story of a
young man who told me about the sad moment when he had to take leave of his
mother and his family of origin. His story moved me and made me think. But you,
Daniel, and you, Siriman, each had that same experience of having to leave by
being separated from your own roots, of being uprooted. And that experience of
being uprooted leaves its mark. Not just the pain and emotion of that moment, but
a deep wound affecting your journey of growth as a young man or woman. It takes
time to heal that wound; it takes time and most of all it takes experiences of
human kindness: meeting persons who accept you and are able to listen,
understand and accompany you. But also the experience of living alongside other
traveling companions, sharing things with them and bearing your burdens
together… This helps heal the wounds.
I think of these reception centres, and how important it is for them to be places
marked by human kindness! We know how difficult that can be, since there are
always things that create tensions and difficulties. Yet, on every continent, there
are individuals and communities who take up the challenge, realizing that
migrations are a sign of the times, where civility itself is in play. For us Christians
too, in play is our fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus, who said: “I was a stranger and
you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35). None of this can be accomplished in a day! It takes
time, immense patience, and above all a love made up of closeness, tenderness and
compassion, like God’s love for us. I think we should say a big word of thanks to all
those who took up this challenge here in Malta and established this Centre. Let us
do that with a round of applause, all of us together!
Allow me, brothers and sisters, to express a dream of my own: that you, who are
migrants, after having received a welcome rich in human kindness and fraternity,
will become in turn witnesses and agents of welcome and fraternity. Here, and
wherever God wants, wherever his providence will lead you. That is the dream I
want to share with you and which I place in God’s hands. For what is impossible for
us is not impossible for him. I believe it is most important that in today’s world
migrants become witnesses of those human values essential for a dignified and
fraternal life. They are values that you hold in your hearts, values that are part of
your roots. Once the pain of being uprooting has subsided, you can bring forth this
interior richness, this precious patrimony of humanity, and share it with the
communities that will welcome you and the environments of which you will be a
part. This is the way! The way of fraternity and social friendship. Here is the future
of the human family in a globalized world. I am happy to be able to share this
dream with you today, just as you, in your testimonies, have shared your dreams
with me!
Here, I think, is also the answer to a question at the heart of your own testimony,
Siriman. You reminded us that those forced to leave their country leave with a
dream in their hearts: the dream of freedom and democracy. This dream collides
with a harsh reality, often dangerous, sometimes terrible and inhuman. You gave
voice to the stifled plea of those millions of migrants whose fundamental rights are
violated, sadly at times with the complicity of the competent authorities. That is the
way it is, and I want to say it the way it is: Sadly, at times with the complicity of
the competent authorities. And you drew our attention to the most important thing:
the dignity of the person. I would reaffirm this in your own words: you are not
statistics but flesh and blood people with faces and dreams, dreams that are
sometimes dashed.
From there, from the dignity of persons, we can and must start anew. Let us not be
deceived by all those who tell us that “nothing can be done”; “these problems are
too big for us”; “let others fend for themselves while I go about my own business”.
No. Let us never fall into this trap. Let us respond to the challenge of migrants and
refugees with kindness and humanity. Let us light fires of fraternity around which
people can warm themselves, rise again and rediscover hope. Let us strengthen the
fabric of social friendship and the culture of encounter, starting from places such as
this. They may not be perfect, but they are, truly, “laboratories of peace”.
Since this Centre bears the name of Saint John XXIII, I would like to recall the hope
that Pope John expressed at the end of his famous encyclical on peace: “May [the
Lord] banish from the souls of men and women whatever might endanger peace.
May he transform all of us into witnesses of truth, justice and brotherly love. May
he illumine with his light the minds of rulers, so that, in addition to caring for the
material welfare of their peoples, they may also guarantee them the fairest gift of
peace. Finally, may Christ inflame the desires of all men and women to break
through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to
learn to understand one another, and to pardon those who have done them wrong.
Through his power and inspiration may all peoples see one another as brothers and
sisters, and may the peace for which they long always flourish and reign among
them” (Pacem in Terris, 171).
Dear brothers and sisters, soon I will join some of you in lighting a candle before
the image of Our Lady. It is a very simple yet meaningful gesture. In the Christian
tradition, that little flame is a symbol of our faith in God. It is also a symbol of
hope, a hope that Mary, our Mother, keeps alive even at most difficult moments. It
is the hope that I have seen in your eyes today: the hope that has made your
journey meaningful and the hope that keeps you pressing forward. May Our Lady
help you never to lose this hope! To her, I entrust each of you and your families. I
will carry you with me in my heart and in my prayers. And I ask you, please, not to
forget to pray for me. Thank you!
Prayer of His Holiness Pope Francis at the Conclusion of the Meeting with
Migrants
Lord God, Creator of the universe,
source of all freedom and peace,
love and fraternity,
you created us in your own image,
breathed in us the breath of life
and made us sharers in your own life of communion.
Even when we broke your covenant
you did not abandon us to the power of death,
but continued, in your infinite mercy,
to call us back to you,
to live as your sons and daughters.
Pour out upon us your Holy Spirit
and grant us a new heart,
sensitive to the pleas, often silent,
of our brothers and sisters who have lost
the warmth of their homes and homeland.
Grant that we may give them hope
by our welcome and our show of humanity.
Make us instruments of peace
and practical, fraternal love.
Free us from fear and prejudice;
enable us to share in their sufferings
and to combat injustice together,
for the growth of a world in which each person
is respected in his or her inviolable dignity,
the dignity that you, O Father, have granted us
and your Son has consecrated forever.
Amen.