Franco Pisano

"If we proceed with the tired step of grumbling and gossiping, we will not bring God to anyone. Instead, it is so good to cultivate a healthy humour, as did, for example, St Thomas More or St Philip Neri. Let us ask for this grace, for healthy humour". Prayers for the people of the Philippines affected by typhoon Rai.

"Saint Joseph, man of silence, you who in the Gospel did not utter a single word, teach us to fast from vain words, to rediscover the value of words that edify, encourage, console and support. Be close to those who suffer from words that hurt, like slander and backbiting, and help us always to match words with deeds."

“The rights of workers, migrants, the sick, unborn children, those at the end of their life and the poorest are ever more frequently neglected and or denied in this throwaway culture. Those who do not have the capacity to spend and to consume seem to be worth nothing. But to deny fundamental rights, to deny the right to a dignified life, to physical, psychological and spiritual care, to a fair wage, is to deny human dignity.”

“[L]et us look into the eyes of the discarded people we meet, let us be provoked by the faces of children, children of desperate migrants. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by their suffering in order to react to our indifference; let us look at their faces, to awaken us from the slumber of habit!” Holiness is “living humbly and joyfully, like the Madonna, what happens each day, freed from ourselves, with our eyes fixed on God and the neighbour we meet”.

In his meeting with journalists, Francis describes the EU document on Christmas “an anachronism" based on "watered down secularism". In his view, every government should say how many migrants it can welcome, and democracy can be weakened by populisms and "references" to international economic and cultural powers. A meeting with Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow is not in the far distant future.

"When we reject the poor, we reject peace. History teaches us that narrow self-interest and nationalism lead to disastrous consequences." "The causes should be attacked, not the poor people who pay the consequences and are even used for political propaganda. To remove the root causes, more is needed than merely patching up emergency situations. Coordinated actions are needed. Epochal changes have to be approached with a breadth of vision."

Democracy "complex, whereas authoritarianism is peremptory and populism’s easy answers appear attractive. In some societies, concerned for security and dulled by consumerism, weariness and malcontent can lead to a sort of skepticism about democracy". “Worldly poisons" have contaminated the common "apostolic roots" of Catholics and Orthodox throughout history.

“May the Lord awaken the conscience of all of us before these things. We cannot remain silent and look the other way from such a culture of indifference,” Francis said. “I have seen some filmed testimonies about this: places of torture and human trafficking. I say all this because it is my responsibility to help open people’s eyes to this reality. Forced migration is not a kind of ‘tourism’! And our sinfulness leads us to think: ‘Those poor people, those poor people!’ and with those words, ‘poor people,’ we blot everything out.”

“We are thus heirs of the same apostolic zeal, and a single path joins us,” he said. “[H]ostility and prejudice with regard to one another, preconceptions often based on scarce and distorted information, and spread by an aggressive and polemical literature”. The joy of the Gospel “fills the hearts” and “leads to witness and frees us from the risk of a private, gloomy and querulous faith.”

Francis arrived in Nicosia, the last European capital divided by barbed wire. For the pontiff, this is not the time to let hatred prevail, nor should healing wounds be deferred. “It is also an important message for the Church throughout Europe, marked by the crisis of faith.” For Francis, “there is no need to be impulsive, [nor] aggressive, nostalgic or mournful,” but “it is good to go forward reading the signs of the times as well as the signs of the crisis. It is necessary to begin again to proclaim the Gospel with patience, especially to the new generations.”

Francis hopes that “understanding and dialogue can finally prevail over every type of manipulation and direct the will and efforts towards solutions that respect the humanity of these people.” He urges the faithful not to be “sleeping Christians” and “not to allow the heart to become lazy and the spiritual life to soften into mediocrity.”

In his message for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Pope Francis writes that the “the Church loves you and needs each of you for the fulfilment of her mission at the service of the Gospel.” He adds that “the Directory for Catechesis stated explicitly that ‘no one can deny the sacraments to persons with disabilities’.” He also writes: “Dear brothers and sisters, today your prayers are more urgently needed than ever before. Saint Teresa of Avila wrote that ‘at times of difficulty, God’s friends need to be strong in order to support those who are weak’.”