Pope Francis holds General Audience: English Summary

Pope Francis held his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, continuing his catechesis on Christian hope.

He focused his remarks on Jesus’ Our Father prayer as presented in the Gospel of Luke (11:1-4) and on “The Fatherhood of God, wellspring of our Hope”.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In our continuing catechesis on Christian hope, we now consider the source of that hope in the fatherhood of God.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he taught them to call God Our Father.  Here we see the great religious revolution introduced by Christianity: taught by the Saviour’s command, we dare to speak to the transcendent and all-holy God as children speak, with complete trust, to a loving father.  In the parable of the merciful father, who welcomes his prodigal son with supreme forgiveness, Jesus speaks to us of the Father’s unconditional love.

In his Letters, Saint Paul twice repeats the original Aramaic word used by Jesus in his prayer: “Abba” (cf. Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6).  As God’s adoptive sons and daughters in the Holy Spirit, we share in the intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father, and this is the basis of our sure hope in God’s saving help.

Each day, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, may we be confirmed in the knowledge that, in his merciful love, our heavenly Father will watch over us, respond to our petitions, and never abandon us.

Vatican Radio