CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis’ prayer intention of the month of November is for himself — the pope.
“Pray to the Lord that he will bless me,” Pope Francis said in a video released Oct. 31. “Your prayer gives me strength and helps me to discern and to accompany the Church, listening to the Holy Spirit.”
“The fact that someone is pope doesn’t mean they lose their humanity,” he added. “On the contrary, my humanity grows each day with God’s holy and faithful people.”
The Holy Father called his role as pope “a process.”
He explained that throughout the process, a pope “learns how to be more charitable, more merciful, and, above all, more patient, like God Our Father, who is so patient.”
“I can imagine that at the beginning of their pontificate, all the popes had this feeling of trepidation, apprehension, knowing that he will be judged harshly,” he said. “For the Lord will ask us bishops to give a serious account.”
Pope Francis asked the faithful to “judge benevolently” and to “pray that the pope, whoever he might be — today it is my turn — may receive the help of the Holy Spirit, that he may be docile to that help.”
He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray for the pope, so that in the exercise of his mission, he may continue to accompany in the faith the flock entrusted to him by Jesus, always with the help of the Holy Spirit. And pray for me! Favorably!”
Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
His Holiness Pope Francis is a world leader blessed with a dynamic spirituality. People of good will in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania keep praying for the wellbeing and good health of the Supreme Pontiff.