Franco Pisano

People can find Jesus if they “accept his ways and his challenges, without complaint, without suspicion, without criticism and long faces. In other words, Jesus asks you to accept him in the daily reality that you live; in the Church of today, as it is; in those who are close to you every day; in the reality of those in need”. The pontiff noted that the Lunar New Year, which begins this Tuesday, will provide many families with “opportunities to gather together and experience moments of love and joy!”

“We can hardly fail to see that these days, in addition to the pandemic, an ‘infodemic’ is spreading: a distortion of reality based on fear, which in our global society leads to an explosion of commentary on falsified if not invented news,” Francis said. “Fake news has to be refuted, but individual persons must always be respected, for they believe it often without full awareness or responsibility,” he added. “[T]ruth is never merely a concept having to do with judgment about things; no, that is only a part of what truth is. Truth regards life as a whole”.

"I I appeal to everyone, especially educators and families, to foster in the new generations an awareness of the horror of this black page of history". "I ask you to pray the Our Father for peace in Ukraine, now and throughout this Day. Let us ask the Lord to grant that the country may grow in the spirit of brotherhood, and that all hurts, fears and divisions will be overcome."

Humility is “the one way to come to worship God in the same house, around the same altar.” The “great band of martyrs’ around Jesus, indicates “to us here below a clear way, the way of unity!”

“Fundamentally, listening is a dimension of love,” the pope says. “This is why Jesus calls his disciples to evaluate the quality of their listening. ‘Take heed then how you hear’”. Recently, “So much previously accumulated mistrust towards ‘official information’ has also caused an ‘infodemic’, within which the world of information is increasingly struggling to be credible and transparent.” If we want to “overcome prejudices about migrants and [. . .] melt the hardness of our hearts, we should try to listen to their stories.”

Discernment is also needed in dissolving the marriage bond "in favorem fidei" and when confronted by “alleged supernatural phenomena”. The synodal path is not about “listening to everyone, undertaking an inquiry and providing results. So many vows, so many vows, so many vows... No.” It is necessary "to continually discern opinions, points of view, reflections.”

“[T]ransparency in decision-making processes and economic choices is fundamental. It makes it possible to avoid unfair competition, which in the economic and labour fields often means job losses, as well as support for unreported or underpaid work.”

"Our sins, our mistakes, our falls, do not frighten God, let's get that straight in our heads, but he is frightened by the closure of our hearts, by our lack of faith in His love". "It is right that those who have erred should pay for their error, but it is just as right that those who have erred should be able to redeem themselves from their error. There can be no condemnation without a window of hope." "We pray that all disciples of Christ may persevere on the path of unity."

The task of the Holy Land Editions is the dissemination of the “Fifth Gospel”, i.e., “the historical and geographical environment in which the Word of God was revealed and took on the flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, for us and for our salvation.” This “also means talking about the people who live there at present, the life of Christians of the various Churches and denominations, but also that of Jews and Muslims, in an attempt to build, in a complex and difficult context such as the Middle East, a fraternal society.”

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated from 18 to 25 January, centred this year on the theme: “We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him”. In Cana, “the first sign Jesus accomplished was not an extraordinary healing or something prodigious in the temple of Jerusalem, but an action that responded to a simple and concrete need of common people, a domestic gesture. Let us put it this way – a miracle done on tip toes”.

"What gives dignity is not bringing bread home. You can get it from Caritas — no, this doesn’t give you dignity. What gives you dignity is earning bread — and if we don’t give our people, our men and women, the ability to earn bread, that is a social injustice in that place."

In his address to the diplomats representing 183 States accredited to the Holy See, Francis stressed the need to tackle issues such as vaccines for all and openness to those who are forced to leave their country, as well as the main crisis hotspots, from Syria and Afghanistan to the Ukraine and Myanmar.