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03 Dec APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO CYPRUS AND GREECE (2-6 DECEMBER 2021) ECUMENICAL PRAYER WITH MIGRANTS

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is a great joy to be here with you and to conclude my visit to Cyprus with this
prayer meeting. I thank Patriarchs Pizzaballa and Béchara Raï, and Ms. Elisabeth
of Caritas. I greet with affection and gratitude the representatives of the
different Christian confessions present in Cyprus.
I want to say, from my heart, a big “thanks” to you, the young migrants who
offered your testimonies. I received copies of them in advance, about a month
ago. They made a great impression on me then, and again hearing them today.
More than just moved, I had the powerful sensation that comes from
encountering the beauty of truth. Jesus was moved in that way when he cried
out: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants”
(Mt 11:25). I too give praise to the heavenly Father because this is happening
today, here and throughout the world. God is revealing his Kingdom, his
Kingdom of love, justice and peace, to the little ones.
After listening to you, we better understand all the prophetic power of the word
of God, who, through the apostle Paul, tells us: “You are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the
household of God” (Eph 2:19). Those words were addressed to the Christians of
Ephesus, not far from here, centuries ago, yet those words remain as timely as
ever, as if they were written for us today: “You are no longer strangers, but
fellow citizens”. This is the prophecy of the Church: a community that, for all its
human limitations, incarnates God’s dream. For God too dreams, like you,
Mariamie, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who described yourself as
“full of dreams”. Like yourself, God dreams of a world of peace, in which all his
children live as brothers and sisters. God wants this, God dreams of this. We are
the ones who don’t want it.
Your presence, migrant brothers and sisters, is very significant for this
celebration. Your testimonies are like a “mirror” held up to us, to our Christian
communities. When you, Thamara, who come from Sri Lanka, told us that
people often ask, “Who are you?”: the brutal experience of migration calls our
very identity into question. “Is this what I am? I don’t know…Where are my
roots? Who am I?” When you ask these questions, you remind us that we too
are sometimes asked the same question: “Who are you?” And sadly, all too
often, what is really being asked is: “Whose side are you on?”, “What group do
you belong to?” Yet as you said, we are not numbers, names on a list; we are
“brothers and sisters”, “friends”, “believers”, “neighbours” to one another. Yet
when group or political interests, including those of nations, start to push, many
of us end up being set aside and without wanting it, become slaves. For interest
always enslaves, it always creates slaves. Love, which is expansive and the
opposite of hatred, makes us free.
When you, Maccolins, who come from Cameroon, tell us that in the course of
your life you have been “wounded by hate”, you spoke about this, about these
wounds inflicted by interests: and you reminded us that hate has also poisoned
relationships between us Christians. And this as you said, changes us; it leaves a
deep and long-lasting mark. It is a poison. Yes, you made us feel this by the
passion with which you spoke. Hate is a poison hard to remove, a twisted
mind-set that, instead of letting us see ourselves as brothers and sisters, makes
us see one another as enemies, as rivals, or even as objects to be sold or
exploited.
When you, Rozh, who come from Iraq, say that you are someone “on a journey”,
you remind us that we ourselves are a community on a journey; we are
journeying from conflict to communion. On this road, which is long and has its
ups and downs, we should not be afraid of our differences, but afraid of the
close-mindedness and prejudice that can prevent us from truly encountering one
another and journeying together. Close-mindedness and prejudice re-erect the
wall of division, the hostility between us, that Christ tore down (cf. Eph 2:14).
Our journey towards full unity can only advance to the extent that, together, we
keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on him who is “our peace” (ibid.), the
“cornerstone” (v. 20). It is he, the Lord Jesus, whom we encounter in the faces
of our marginalized and discarded brothers and sisters. In the face of the
migrant who is despised, rejected, put in a cage, exploited… But at the same
time – as you said – the face of the migrant journeying to a goal, to a hope, to
greater human companionship…
In all these ways, God speaks to us through your dreams. The danger is that
many times we do not let our dreams in, we would rather sleep and not dream.
It is easy to look the other way. And in this world we have grown accustomed to
a culture of indifference, a culture of looking the other way and thus sleeping
peacefully. Yet that way it is impossible to dream. God speaks through your
dreams. God does not speak through people who are dreamless, because they
have everything or because their hearts are hardened. God calls us not to be
content with a divided world, content with divided Christian communities, but to
journey through history drawn by his own dream: the dream of a humanity freed
of walls of division, freed of hostility, where there are no longer strangers, but
only fellow citizens, as we heard Paul say in the passage I just mentioned. Fellow
citizens who are diverse, yet proud of that diversity and individuality, which are
God’s gifts. Diverse, proud to be diverse, but always reconciled, always brothers
and sisters.
May this island, marked by a painful division – from here I can see that wall –
become by God’s grace a workshop of fraternity. I thank all those who are
working to make that happen. We must realize that this island is generous, but it
cannot do everything, since the number of people arriving is greater than their
possibilities of insertion, integrating, accompanying and promoting. Its
geographical closeness may make it easier… but it is not easy. We must
understand the limits to which the island’s leaders are bound. But on this island,
and I have seen this in the leaders I have met, a commitment to become, by
God’s grace, a workshop of freedom. And it will, if two things can happen. First,
an effective recognition of the dignity of every human person (cf. Fratelli Tutti,
8). Our dignity is not up for sale; it cannot be rented out; it must not be
squandered. Hold your head high and say: I am a child of God; I have my
dignity. The effective recognition of this dignity is the ethical foundation, a
universal foundation, which is also at the core of Christian social doctrine.
Second, a trusting openness to God the Father of all; this is the “leaven” that
we, as believers, are called to offer (cf. ibid., 272).
If these two things can happen, the dream can translate into a daily journey,
made up of concrete steps from conflict to communion, from hate to love, from
escape to encounter. A patient journey, which day by day leads us to the land
God has prepared for us. The land where, when people ask “Who are you?”, you
can readily respond, “Look, I am your brother, your sister. Don’t you recognize
me?” And then, go your way in peace.
As I listen to you and see your faces, I am reminded of another thing: your
suffering. You arrived here, but how many of your brothers and sisters are still
making the journey? How many desperate people have set out in difficult and
precarious conditions, but did not arrive? We can think about this sea, which has
become a great cemetery. Looking at you, I see the suffering caused by your
journey; I see all those people who were kidnapped, sold, exploited… and who
are still on the journey, we know not where. We are speaking of slavery, of
universal enslavement. We see what is happening, and the worst thing is that we
are becoming used to it. “Oh yes, today another boat capsized… so many lives
were lost….” This “becoming used” to things is a grave illness, a very grave
illness, and there is no antibiotic for it! We have to resist this vice of getting used
to reading about these tragedies in the newspapers or hearing about them on
other media.
Looking at you, I think too of all those people who had to return because they
were turned away and ended up in concentration camps, real concentration
camps, where the women have been sold, and men tortured and enslaved… We
are appalled when we read stories of the concentration camps of the last
century, those of the Nazis or those of Stalin, and we say: “How could this
possibly have happened?” Brothers and sisters, it is happening today, on nearby
coasts! Places of enslavement. I have seen some filmed testimonies about this:
places of torture and human trafficking. I say all this because it is my
responsibility to help open people’s eyes to this reality. Forced migration is not a
kind of “tourism”! And our sinfulness leads us to think: “Those poor people,
those poor people!”, and with those words, “poor people”, we blot everything
out. This is today’s war: the suffering of our brothers and sisters, which we
cannot pass over in silence. Brothers and sisters who left everything behind to
get on a boat, in the dark of night, and then… without knowing if they would
ever arrive. And all those who were turned away and ended up in the
concentration camps, true places of torture and enslavement.
Such is the story of this developed civilization that we call the West. And then –
forgive me, but here I would like to say what is in my heart, at least so that we
can pray for one another and do something – and then, there is the barbed wire.
We see it here: it is part of a war of hatred dividing a country. Yet in other
places, barbed wire is set up to prevent the entrance of refugees, those who
come in search of freedom, food, assistance, fraternity, joy, those fleeing from
hatred but then find themselves facing a form of hatred called barbed wire. May
the Lord awaken the conscience of us all before these realities.
Excuse me if I have spoken of things as they really are, but we cannot remain
silent and look the other way amid this culture of indifference.
May the Lord bless all of you! Thank you.

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03 Dec APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO CYPRUS AND GREECE (2-6 DECEMBER 2021) HOLY MASS HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER

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Greeting of His Holiness Pope Francis at the Conclusion of Mass
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am the one who would like to thank you, all of you! Tomorrow morning, before
leaving the country, I will have occasion to bid farewell to the President of the
Republic, here present, but right now I would like to express my heartfelt
gratitude to everyone for the welcome and affection that you have shown me.
Thank you!
Here in Cyprus, I feel something of that atmosphere typical of the Holy Land,
where antiquity and the variety of Christian traditions enrich every pilgrim. This
is good for me, and it is also encouraging to meet communities of believers who
live in the present with hope and openness to the future, and who share this
greater vision with those most in need. I think in particular of the migrants in
search of a better life, with whom, together with my brothers and sisters of
various Christian confessions, I will have my final meeting on this island.
My thanks go to all those who helped to organize this visit! Please pray for me.
May the Lord bless you and Our Lady protect you. Efcharistó! [Thank you!]

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02 Dec APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO CYPRUS AND GREECE (2-6 DECEMBER 2021) MEETING WITH PRIESTS, CONSACRATED PERSONS, DEACONS, CATECHISTS, ECCLESIAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MOVEMENTS OF CYPRUS ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

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[…] I also greet the Latin Church, present here for more than a millennium,
which over time has witnessed the enthusiasm of the faith increase, together
with her children. Now, thanks to the presence of many of our migrant brothers
and sisters, it appears as a “polychrome” people, a true point of encounter
between different ethnicities and cultures. This face of the Church reflects
Cyprus’ own place in the European continent: it is a land of golden fields, an
island caressed by the waves of the sea, but above all else a history of
intertwined peoples, a mosaic of encounters. The Church, as catholic, universal,
is an open space in which all are welcomed and gathered together by God’s
mercy and invitation to love. Walls do not and should not exist in the Catholic
Church. Let us never forget that! None of us has been called here to proselytize
as preachers, never. Proselytism is sterile and does not give life. We have all
been called by the mercy of God, who never tires of calling, never tires of being
near, never tires of forgiving. Where do we find the roots of our Christian
vocation? In God’s mercy. We must never forget that. The Lord does not
disappoint us; his mercy does not disappoint us. He is always waiting for us.
Please remember, walls do not and should not exist in the Catholic Church. For
the Church is a common home, a place of relationships and of coexistence in
diversity, with a variety of rites. One person thinks this way, another sees things
that way, this Sister sees things in a different way… This is the diversity of the
whole; and there, in that diversity, is the richness of unity. Who makes this
unity? The Holy Spirit. Who makes this diversity? The Holy Spirit. Whoever sees
this will understand. The Holy Spirit is the author of diversity and the author of
harmony. Saint Basil used to put it this way: “Ipse harmonia est”. The Spirit is
the one who gives the diversity of gifts and makes the harmonious unity of the
Church. […]

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02 Dec APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS TO CYPRUS AND GREECE MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS

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[…] A pearl in fact becomes what it is, because it takes shape over time. It
takes years for its various layers to become compact and give it lustre. So too,
the beauty of this land comes from the cultures which over the centuries have
met and blended here. Today too, the light of Cyprus is richly variegated. Many
peoples and nations have contributed different shades and tints to this people. I
think too of the presence of many immigrants: percentagewise, more than any
other country of the European Union. To preserve the multicolored and
multifaceted beauty of the whole is no easy thing. As in the formation of a pearl,
it takes time and patience; it demands a broad vision capable of embracing a
variety of cultures and looking to the future with foresight. I think in this regard
of the importance of protecting and supporting all the members of society,
especially those who are statistically a minority. I think too of the various
Catholic agencies that would benefit from a suitable institutional recognition, so
that the contribution they make to society through their activities, particularly
their educational and charitable works, can be clearly defined from the legal
standpoint.
A pearl develops its beauty in situations of difficulty. It is born in obscurity, when
the oyster “suffers” after experiencing an unexpected threat to its safety, such
as a grain of sand that irritates it. To protect itself, it reacts by assimilating the
thing that wounded it: it encloses the foreign body that endangers it and makes
it into something beautiful: a pearl. The pearl of Cyprus has been darkened by
the pandemic, which has prevented many visitors from visiting it and seeing its
beauty; here, as in other places, this has aggravated the effects of the financial
and economic crisis. In this period of recovery, however, it will not be anxious
efforts to recover what was lost that will ensure and consolidate growth, but the
commitment to promote the recovery of society, especially through a decisive
fight against corruption and everything that violates the dignity of the person;
here I think, for example, of the scourge of human trafficking. […]

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01 Dec POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE

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APPEAL
[…] Tomorrow I will go to Cyprus and then to Greece to visit the dear
populations of these countries that are rich in history, spirituality and civilization.
It will be a journey to the sources of apostolic faith and of fraternity among
Christians of various confessions. I will also have the opportunity to draw near to
a humanity wounded in the persons of so many migrants in search of hope: I will
visit Lesbos. I ask all of you, please, to accompany me with your prayer. Thank
you. […]

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28 Nov POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS

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After the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Yesterday I met members of associations, groups of migrants, and people who
share their journey with a spirit of fraternity. They are here in the Square with
that large banner! Welcome! But how very many migrants are exposed, even
during these days, to great dangers, and how many lose their lives at our
borders! I feel sorrow hearing the news about the situation in which so many of
them find themselves. I think of those who died crossing the English Channel,
those on the borders of Belarus, many of whom are children, and those who
drown in the Mediterranean. There is so much sorrow when thinking about them.
Of those who are repatriated to North Africa, they are captured by traffickers
who turn them into slaves: they sell the women and torture the men… I think of
those who, also this week, have tried to cross the Mediterranean seeking a
better land and find instead their grave there; and so many others. I assure my
prayers to the migrants who find themselves in these crisis situations. Know also
that from my heart I am always close to you, in prayer and action. I thank all
the institutions both of the Catholic Church and elsewhere, especially the
national Caritas agencies and all those who are committed to alleviating their
suffering. I renew my heartfelt appeal to those who can contribute to the
resolution of these problems, especially civil and military authorities, so that
understanding and dialogue may finally prevail over any kind of
instrumentalization and guide the will and efforts towards solutions that respect
the humanity of these people. Let us remember migrants, their suffering, and let
us pray together in silence… (moment of silence). […]

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27 Nov GREETING OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE INTERCULTURAL FESTIVAL OF GIÀVERA DEL MONTELLO

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Please note that this document is an unofficial translation and is provided for reference only.

[…] This way of seeing the reality of migration does not mean hiding or ignoring
the difficulties and problems. Who better than you knows them and can testify to
them? And therefore it is important that your experiences are also made
available to good politics , to help those with government responsibilities at
local, national and international level to make choices that always know how to
combine healthy realism with respect for people’s dignity.. I saw one of the
paintings you brought, about the torture that migrants suffer when those
traffickers take them. And this happens today. We can’t close our eyes! The
dignity of people. This is why your Festival, like other similar initiatives in Italy
and in various countries, should not be reduced to a folkloric event or a
gathering of idealists. No, I also say this as a food for thought and verification
for yourselves. We can ask ourselves, after thirty years: has our experience been
able, and to what extent, to affect the level of political choices, dialoguing with
institutions and civil society? It seems important to me to ask ourselves this
question.
Dear friends, above all I thank the Lord with you for the journey he has given
you to make in recent years through the experience of the Festival. I wish you to
move forward with an ever-renewed spirit. I propose that you take Abraham as a
model, whom God called to leave and who always remained a migrant
throughout his life. Abraham is a “father” that as Christians we share with Jews
and Muslims, but he is a figure in which all men and women can recognize
themselves who conceive life as a journey in search of the promised land, a land
of freedom and peace, where live together as brothers. […]

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25 Nov VIDEO MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE 11th FESTIVAL OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

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[…] In the Encyclical Fratelli tutti I recall that “the pandemic enabled us to
recognise and appreciate once more all those around us who, in the midst of
fear, responded by putting their lives on the line. We began to realise that our
lives are interwoven with and sustained by ordinary people valiantly shaping the
decisive events of our shared history: doctors, nurses, pharmacists,
storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caretakers,
transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and
public safety, volunteers, priests and religious”, and so forth… These people
understood “that no one is saved alone”, no one is saved alone (FT 54). Here are
talents put to use…. Here is the hope that sustains and guides creativity with
boldness and courage. Therefore, I renew my invitation to walk in the hope that
“is bold, can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and
compensations which limit our horizon, and can open us up to grand ideals which
make life more beautiful and worthwhile” (FT 55; Greeting to young people at
the Fr. Félix Varela Cultural Centre, Havana – Cuba, 20 September 2015). […]

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20 Nov ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE FOOTBALL GAME OF THE WORLD ROM ORGANIZATION

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Dear Rom friends,
Dear brothers and sisters!
I welcomed with joy the proposal of the World Rom Organization to play a
football match here, in Rome, with a “Pope’s team”, which is made up of
cardinals: that is, a Vatican squad.
In fact, the team with which – and not “against” which – you will play tomorrow
represents a style of sporting passion lived with solidarity and gratuitousness,
with an amateur and inclusive spirit. You will be playing alongside some Swiss
Guards, priests working in offices of the Roman Curia, Vatican employees and
some of their children.
On the pitch – wearing a shirt bearing the words “Fratelli tutti” – there will also
be a young footballer with Down’s syndrome, a member of the “Special
Olympics”, and three migrants. These, after a journey marked by abuse and
violence, which saw them pass from the Greek camp of Lesbos and then to Italy,
have been welcomed by the Sant’Egidio Community and are living an experience
of integration. Thank you all for agreeing to be part of the “Pope’s team”! It is a
team where there are no barriers and which makes inclusion the simple
normality. It makes inclusion the simple normality: this is clear. I thank the
Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Ravasi, for this concrete action of witness
in the world of sport, especially through “Athletica Vaticana”, which lives this
mission of service among sportsmen and women every day.
Dear Roma friends, I am familiar with your history, your reality, your fears and
your hopes. That is why I encourage with particular affection the project “Un
calcio all’esclusione” (“Give exclusion the boot”), launched by the diocese of
Rome, so that this match does not remain just an isolated event. I greet Bishop
Ambarus, the auxiliary in charge of pastoral care among the Roma, accompanied
by the boys from the oratory of the parish of San Gregorio Magno alla Magliana.
Thanks also to you, boys, and best wishes because I know that tomorrow you
will be the first to take to the field in a preparatory match with your Lazio peers.
And thanks to the Lazio club, which is kindly and generously hosting and
supporting this initiative.
On 14 September in Košice, Slovakia, I visited the Roma community. I invited
people to move away from prejudice to dialogue, from closure to integration.
After listening to the testimonies of some members of the community – stories of
pain, redemption and hope – I reminded everyone that to be Church is to live “as
a people called by God, each with his or her special role to play, to be part of the
same team”. I used precisely these expressions, taken from the language of
football, which also fit in very well with the meaning of your match. All too often,
I told the Roma people of Košice, “you have been the object of prejudice and
harsh judgments, discriminatory stereotypes, defamatory words and gestures.
As a result, we are all poorer, poorer in humanity”.
For this reason, the sporting event you will be organising has great significance:
it shows that the way to peaceful coexistence is integration. And the basis is the
education of children. Dear Roma friends, I know that in Croatia you give life to
many sporting initiatives of inclusion, to help mutual knowledge and friendship.
It is a sign of hope! Because children’s great dreams cannot break against our
barriers. Children, all children, have the right to grow up together, without
obstacles and without discrimination. And sport is a place of encounter and
equality, and can build community through bridges of friendship.
Thank you for this visit! I wish you a good game. It doesn’t matter who scores
the most goals, because you score the decisive goal together, the goal that wins
hope and gives a kick to exclusion. Thank you all!

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19 Nov ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “ERADICATING CHILD LABOR, BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE”

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Your Eminence,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear brothers and sisters!
I have the pleasure of welcoming you all, gathered here from many parts of the
world, despite the difficulties due to the pandemic, to attend the international
conference “Eradicating child labour, building a better future”, which will take
place this afternoon at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human
Development.
The scourge of the abuse child labour, on which you are reflecting together
today, is of particular importance for the present and the future of our humanity.
The way we relate to children, the extent to which we respect their innate
human dignity and fundamental rights, expresses what kind of adults we are and
want to be, and what kind of society we want to build.
It is shocking and disturbing that in today’s economies, whose productive
activities rely on technological innovations, so much so that we talk about the
“fourth industrial revolution”, the employment of children in work activities
persists in every part of the world. This endangers their health and their mental
and physical well-being, and deprives them of the right to education and to live
their childhood with joy and serenity. The pandemic has further aggravated the
situation.
Child labour is not to be confused with the small domestic tasks that children, in
their spare time and according to their age, can perform as part of family life, to
help parents, siblings, grandparents or other members of the community. These
activities are generally beneficial to their development, as they allow them to
test their skills and grow in awareness and responsibility. Child labour is
something else entirely! It is the exploitation of children in the production
processes of the globalised economy for the profit and gain of others. It is the
denial of children’s rights to health, education and harmonious growth, including
the possibility to play and dream. This is tragic. A child who cannot dream, who
cannot play, cannot grow up. It is robbing children of their future and therefore
humanity itself. It is a violation of human dignity.
Extreme poverty, lack of work and the resulting desperation in families are the
factors that expose children most to labour exploitation. If we want to eradicate
the scourge of child labour, we must work together to eradicate poverty, to
correct the distortions in the current economic system, which centralises wealth
in the hands of a few. We must encourage states and business actors to create
opportunities for decent work with fair wages that enable families to meet their
needs without their children being forced to work. We must combine our efforts
to promote quality education that is free for all in every country, as well as a
health system that is accessible to all without distinction. All social actors are
called upon to combat child labour and its causes. The participation in this
conference of representatives of international organisations, civil society,
business and the Church is a sign of great hope.
I urge the Department for the Service of Integral Human Development, which is
also responsible for promoting children’s development, to continue its work of
stimulating, facilitating and coordinating the initiatives and efforts already
underway at all levels to combat child labour.
And to you, speakers and participants at this meeting, I express my gratitude:
thank you for sharing your expertise and commitment to this cause, which is
truly a question of civilisation. I encourage you to continue along this path,
without becoming discouraged by the inevitable difficulties, but always
expanding the network of people and organisations involved. Let us always keep
in mind the words of Jesus in the Gospel: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to
one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”. (Mt 25:40).
I entrust you, your families and your work to the maternal intercession of Mary
Most Holy, and I bless you from my heart. Thank you.