Pope Francis celebrated popular piety as a means of transmitting the faith and cultivating it in ordinary Catholics but said such piety must be practiced in communion with the hierarchy in order to maintain the church’s unity. “Popular piety is a road which leads to what is essential, if it is lived in the church in profound communion with your pastors,” the pope said May 5 to an overflow crowd in St. Peter’s Square, including some 50,000 members of traditional confraternities from various European countries.
On the National Day of Children Victims of Violence, Pope gave a special greeting to the ‘Meter’ Association. “This gives me the opportunity to turn my thoughts to all those who have suffered and who are suffering because of abuse. I want to assure them that they are present in my prayers but I also want to forcefully state that we must all commit ourselves with clarity and courage so that every human person, especially children who are among the most vulnerable, be always defended and protected.”