A collection of the Pope’s Wednesday Audiences.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! During these days the Church of Italy is holding its National Congress at Florence -- the Cardinals, Bishops, consecrated, and laymen all together. I invite you to pray a Hail Mary to Our Lady for them [Hail Mary]. Today we will reflect on a characteristic quality of family life, which [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! The Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which ended a short while ago, reflected in depth on the vocation and mission of the family in the life of the Church and of contemporary society. It was an event of grace. At the end the Synodal Fathers gave me the text [...]
CARDINAL JEAN-LOUIS TAURAN’S GREETING Holiness, Fifty years have gone by since the promulgation of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, when the Church, listening to a world in rapid change, began to invite her members in a decisive way to promote relations of respect, friendship and dialogue with persons of other religions. Therefore, we are immensely grateful [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! In the last meditation we reflected on the important promises that parents make to their children, when they were thought of in love and conceived in the womb. We can add that, looking at it well, the whole family reality is founded on a promise: think about this well: the [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! As the weather forecasts were rather uncertain and rain was expected, today this Audience is made contemporaneously in two places: we, here, in the Square and 700 sick in Paul VI Hall, who are following the Audience on a giant screen. We are all united and we greet them with [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! A few days ago the Synod of Bishops began on the theme “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World.” The family that follows the way of the Lord is fundamentally witnessing the love of God and merits, therefore, all the dedication of [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today’s Audience will be in two places: here in the Square and also in Paul VI Hall, where many sick are, who are following the Audience on a large screen. As the weather is not very good, we decided they should be there covered and more tranquil. Let us join [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today I would like to focus our attention on the bond between the family and the Christian community. It is, so to speak, a “natural” bond, because the Church is a spiritual family and the family is a small Church (cf. Lumen gentium, 9). The Christian community is the home [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! In this last stage of our course of catechesis on the family, we look at the way the family lives the responsibility to communicate the faith, to transmit the faith, be it within or outside itself. Initially, some evangelical expressions can come to mind that seem to oppose the bonds [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! After reflecting on how the family lives times of celebration and work, we now consider the time of prayer. The most frequent lament of Christians has to do, in fact, with time: “I should pray more ... I would like to, but I often lack the time.” We hear this [...]