“Every state of life leads to holiness, always”, but only if we are open to the grace of God’s gift, said Pope Francis Wednesday speaking of the universal call to holiness of all baptized at his general audience.

Below is the Holy Father’s catechesis:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.

A great gift of the Second Vatican Council was to have retrieved a vision of the Church founded on communion, and to have also embodied the principle of authority and hierarchy in this context…

Human rights and Christian values in Europe and ecumenism and interfaith dialogue in Turkey top the Pope’s busy agenda next week as he prepares for his 5th and 6th pastoral visits abroad.

At a press conference on Monday morning, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, Director of the Vatican Press Office illustrated the Pope’s schedule for the last week in November which will take him to Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament and Council of Europe, and only two days afterwards  to Ankara and Istanbul in occasion of the festivity of Saint Andrew…

Pope Francis on Monday confirmed he will be attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia next year.

“I wish to confirm according to the wishes of the Lord, that in September of 2015, I will go to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families,” said Pope Francis.  “Thank you for your prayers with which you accompany my service to the Church…

Pope Francis met with the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors on Saturday. He urged them to resist “false compassion” and “witness by word and by example that human life is always sacred, valuable, and inviolable.”

I welcome you on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors. In particular, I address a cordial greeting to the chaplain, Msgr…

The Kingdom of God is growing every day thanks to those who witness without making any “noise”, praying and living their faith in the family, at work, in communities, said Pope Francis at morning Mass, Thursday in Casa Santa Marta.

In the silence of a home, where there may only be 50 cents left until the end of the month, but where there is always prayer, care for children and grandparents, there is the Kingdom of God…

Pope Francis has appealed to international and local leaders to take action to protect and support persecuted Christians in various parts of the world; he expressed his closeness to the people of Mexico for the disappearance of a group of students who have allegedly been killed by drug traffickers; and he recalled the 30th anniversary of the peace treaty between Argentina and Chile invoking dialogue and peacemaking for all peoples locked in conflict.   
 
In a series of appeals issued during the weekly General Audience, the Pope spoke off- the-cuff to various language groups present in St…