Pope Francis gives his Angelus address on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023 / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Nov 19, 2023 / 07:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis during his weekly Angelus on Sunday spoke to the faithful gathered, reflecting on the parable of the tale… […]
Pope Francis gives his Angelus address June 29, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 30, 2023 / 07:26 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday encouraged Christians to learn how to seek and find the precious things in life, including a relat… […]
Pope Francis waves to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square during his Angelus address on June 25, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 25, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has urged Christians not to be afraid of suffering criticism, economic loss, and persecution for being faithful to what the Church teaches.
“There is a cost to remain faithful to what counts. The cost is going against the tide, freeing oneself from being conditioned by popular opinion, being separated from those who ‘follow the current,’” Pope Francis said on June 25.
In his Sunday Angelus address, the pope underlined how Jesus’ words “do not be afraid” still apply today. He reflected in particular on Jesus’ warning in the Gospel of Matthew: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Mt. 10:28).
Pope Francis said: “It was like saying: You do not need so much to be afraid of suffering misunderstanding and criticism, of losing prestige and economic advantages to remain faithful to the Gospel, but of wasting your existence in the pursuit of trivial things that do not fill life with meaning.”
Pope Francis gives his Sunday Angelus address on June 25, 2023. Vatican Media
The pope explained how Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid shortly after telling them about the persecutions that they would have to undergo for the Gospel, something, he noted, that still applies today.
“Since her beginning, in fact, the Church has experienced many persecutions, along with joys—of which there have been many. It seems paradoxical: the proclamation of the Kingdom of God is a message of peace and justice, founded on fraternal charity and on forgiveness; and yet it meets with opposition, violence, and persecution,” he said.
“Jesus, however, says not to fear, not because everything will be all right in the world, no, but because we are precious to his Father and nothing that is good will be lost.”
Pope Francis added that Jesus’ warning means that the only true fear one should have is of throwing one’s life away chasing things that do not ultimately matter.
“Even today, in fact, some are ridiculed or discriminated against for not following certain fads, which, however, place second-rate realities at the center – for example, to follow after things instead of people, achievement instead of relationships,” he said.
The pope gave the example of a priest or religious sister who dedicates his or her time to service, while forgetting to dedicate time to being with Jesus, falling into spiritual worldliness, or parents who spend all their time working to provide for their family without spending enough time with their children.
He added that young people can also get so caught up in sports, school, social media, and their cell phones that they focus too much of their time on “passing things.”
“All of this requires some renunciation regarding the idols of efficiency and consumerism. … Think of the least who are often treated like waste products and unwanted objects,” Pope Francis said.
“What matters is not to throw away the greatest good: life. This is the only thing that should frighten us,” he added.
After praying the Angelus prayer in Latin with the crowd gathered below in St. Peter’s Square, the pope gave a shoutout to volunteers with Radio Maria Italy who held up a long banner inviting everyone to place themselves “under the mantle” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square held up a long banner inviting everyone to place themselves “under the mantle” of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Vatican Media
The pope said that he was saddened to learn of the prison riot in the Támara Women’s Penitentiary Center in Honduras earlier this week in which 46 inmates were killed.
“Terrible violence between rival gangs sowed death and suffering,” he said. “I pray for the deceased, I pray for the family members. May the Virgin of Suyapa, Mother of Honduras, help hearts open to reconciliation and make room for fraternal coexistence, even within prisons.”
“I would like to use this anniversary to express, once again, my closeness to the family members, especially her mother, and assure them of my prayers. I extend a remembrance to all families who bear the sorrow of a dear one who has disappeared,” he said.
Pope Francis appeared in the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Sunday, June 18 to make his first public speech since his release from the hospital. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 18, 2023 / 05:25 am (CNA).
Pope Francis appeared in … […]
Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. At least 26 people have reportedly been killed with dozens more injured following devastating storms across western Mississi… […]
Pope Francis waves to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on March 5, 2023, during his Sunday Angelus reflection. / Vatican Media
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 5, 2023 / 08:20 am (CNA).
During his Sunday morning Angelus address, Pope Francis urged the faithful to reflect on the miracle of the Transfiguration and to see the same beauty in the faces of the people we interact with every day.
In the March 5 address, the pope discussed the “beauty” shown in Sunday’s Gospel reading of Matthew 17:1-9. In this passage, Peter and James and his brother John witness Christ “transfigured before them” with his face shining “like the sun” and his clothes “dazzling white” as he conversed with Moses and Elijah on the top of a mountain.
Pope Francis said that we must “see the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day,” such as family, friends, and colleagues.
“How many luminous faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us,” the pope said.
“Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love diving into our daily occupations more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness,” the Holy Father said. “The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.”
Reflecting on beauty the apostles respond to in the Gospel account, the pope asked, “Of what does this beauty consist? What do the disciples see? A special effect? No, that is not it.
“They see the light of God’s holiness shining on the face and on the clothing of Jesus, the perfect image of the Father,” the pope continued.
“God’s majesty, God’s beauty is revealed. But God is Love. Therefore, the disciples had been beholding with their eyes the beauty and splendor of divine Love incarnate in Christ. They had a foretaste of paradise. What a surprise for the disciples!” he said. “They had the face of Love before their very eyes for so long without ever being aware of how beautiful it was! Only now do they realize it with such joy, with immense joy.”
Pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square to hear Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus reflection on March 5, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis warned against reducing the miracle to simply a “magical moment,” which he said would be “false, artificial, something that would dissolve into the fog of passing sentiment.” He said, rather, this demonstrates something deeper.
“Christ is the light that orients our journey like the pillar of fire for the people in the wilderness,” the pontiff explained. “Jesus’ beauty does not alienate his disciples from the reality of life, but gives them the strength to follow him all the way to Jerusalem, all the way to the cross. Christ’s beauty is not alienating. It always brings you forward. It does not make you hide. Go forward!”
The Gospel reading also “traces a path for us,” according to Pope Francis. He explained how the passage “teaches us how important it is to remain with Jesus even when it is not easy to understand everything he says and does for us.” By staying with Christ, he said “we learn to recognize on his face the luminous beauty of love he gives us, even when it bears the marks of the cross.”
Near the end of his address, Pope Francis told people to ask themselves whether they “recognize the light of God’s love in our lives” and whether they “recognize it with joy and gratitude on the faces of the people who love us.”
“Do we look around us for the signs of this light that fills our hearts and open them to love and service?” the pope told people to ask themselves. “Or do we prefer the straw fires of idols that alienate us and close us in on ourselves? The great light of the Lord and the false, artificial light of idols. Which do I prefer?”
Following his address, Pope Francis said he is continuing to pray for the victims of a Feb. 28 train accident in Greece, many of whom are young students. He said he is also praying for the victims of a Feb. 26 shipwreck near Crotone, Italy. The pope also welcomed pilgrims and asked people to continue praying for him.