General Audiences

Pope at Audience: Christ is our future

Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!

Three days ago I returned from my trip to Hungary. I wish to thank all those who prepared and accompanied this visit with prayer, and to renew my gratitude to the Authorities, the local Church, and the Hungarian people, a courageous people, rich in memory. During my stay in Budapest I was able to feel the affection of all Hungarians… Read more »

Pope at Audience: We are all sinners

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Let us continue our catechesis on the witnesses of apostolic zeal. We started with Saint Paul, and last time we looked at the martyrs, who proclaim Jesus with their lives, to the point of giving their lives for Him and for the Gospel. But there is another great witness that runs through the history of faith: that of the nuns and monks, sisters and brothers who renounce themselves and who renounce the world to imitate Jesus on the path of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and to intercede on behalf of all… Read more »

Pope at Audience: Every Christian is called to the witness of life

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

After… talking about evangelization and talking about apostolic zeal, after considering the witness of Saint Paul, the true “champion” of apostolic zeal, today we will turn our attention not to a single figure, but to the host of  martyrs, men and women of every age, language and nation who have given their life for Christ, who have shed their blood to confess Christ… Read more »

Pope at Audience: Are you disposed to let Jesus change your heart?

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

After having seen, two weeks ago, St Paul’s personal zeal for the Gospel, we can now reflect more deeply on the evangelical zeal as he himself speaks of it and describes it in some of his letters.

By virtue of his own experience, Paul is not unaware of the danger of a distorted zeal, oriented in the wrong direction… Read more »

Pope at Audience: Think about this – What can I do for others?

  Saint Peter's Square, the Vatican

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

This past Sunday, the Liturgy had us listen to the Passion of the Lord. It ended with these words: “They sealed the stone” (cf. Mt 27:66). Everything seemed over. For the disciples, that boulder signified the final end of their hope. The Teacher was crucified, killed in the cruelest and most humiliating manner, hung upon the infamous gallows outside the city – a public failure, the worst possible ending, it was the worst at that time… Read more »

Pope at Audience: We need to receive the word of God and change our life – every day

  Saint Peter's Square, The Vatican

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today we will listen to the “magna carta” of evangelization in the contemporary world: Saint Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi (EN, 8 December 1975). It is topical, it was written in 1975 but it is as though it were written yesterday. Evangelization is more than just simple doctrinal and moral transmission… Read more »

Pope at Audience: God’s love is not only for a little group

  Saint Peter's Square, Vatican

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In the last catechesis we saw how the first “council” in the history of the Church – council, like that of Vatican II –, the first council, was convened in Jerusalem over a matter linked to evangelization, namely the proclamation of the Good News to non-Jews – it was thought that Gospel should be proclaimed only to Jews… Read more »

Pope at Audience: How many of us pray to the Spirit?

  Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

In our catechetical itinerary on the passion for evangelizing, today we start from the words of Jesus that we have heard: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19). ‘Go,’ says the Risen One, ‘not to indoctrinate, not to make proselytes, no, but to make disciples, that is, to give everyone the opportunity to come into contact with Jesus, to know and love Him freely… Read more »

Pope at Audience: why to proclaim, what to proclaim, how to proclaim

  Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

We continue our catechesis; the theme we have chosen is “The passion of evangelizing, apostolic zeal.” Because evangelizing is not saying, ‘Look, blah, blah, blah’ and nothing more. There is a passion that involves everything: the mind, the heart, the hands, going out… everything, the whole person is involved with this proclamation of the Gospel, and for this reason we talk about the passion for evangelizing… Read more »