Franco Pisano

"Being sensitive to the many shipwrecked people of history who arrive exhausted on our shores, so that we too know how to welcome them with that brotherly love that comes from our encounter with Jesus".

The Holy Spirit "is the guarantee that God remains in us", whilst worldliness makes us thoughtless, to the point of not distinguishing good from evil. It is "even worse than sinning.” For the pontiff, the faithful should not trust every spirit, trust what they feel, but put it to a test instead. Thus “we will know what happens in our heart” because "many Christians have hearts like a road and do not know who is going and who is returning; they come and go because they do not know how to see what happens inside.”

One year ago the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople granted autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Makarios: the division from Moscow stems from the refusal to be subject to the political will of others and of not to being able to serve the Ukrainian people.

​ "We are the ones who have to change, to transform our way of life even in the usual environment, to change the criteria for judging the reality that surrounds us. Here is the difference between the true God and the treacherous idols, such as money, power, success ...; between God and those who promise to give you these idols, like magicians, fortune tellers, sorcerers."

Rediscovering adoration as a "requirement" of faith, because "once we lose the sense of worship, we lose our direction in the Christian life, which is a journey towards the Lord, not towards ourselves". "Theology and pastoral effectiveness mean little or nothing unless we bend the knee; unless we kneel down like the Magi, who were not only knowledgeable about planning a journey, but also capable of setting out and bowing down in worship".

Francis appeal while "the terrible air of tension is felt in many parts of the world". With his birth, Jesus he wanted to introduce us into his filial relationship with the Father, to make us capable of becoming saints in love, in response to his call.

In the message for the upcoming World Day of the Sick, Francis asks "to the governments of all the countries of the world" that "by combining the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, they cooperate so that everyone has access to adequate care to protect and recover their health".

Celebrating the “Te Deum” at the end of the year, Francis affirms that “we are called to meet others and listen to their existence, their cry for help. To listen is already an act of love! To have time for others, to dialogue, to recognize, with a contemplative gaze, the presence and action of God in their existence, to witness with deeds more than with words the new life of the Gospel, is truly a service of love that changes the reality".

During Midnight Mass, Francis said “God does not love you because you think and act the right way. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you.” “At Christmas, the question is this: ‘Do I allow myself to be loved by God? Do I abandon myself to his love that comes to save me?’ for if I welcome him, I will change myself and therefore the world.

Video message at the end of today's interview at the Vatican. The no to hunger, to abuse, to exploitation. "The use of religion to incite hatred, violence," cries revenge in the presence of God, "but the arms race and nuclear rearmament also cries to God for revenge. The use and also the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral".

During a meeting with a group of refugees, Francis said that detention camps in Libya are "places of torture and despicable slavery" and should be emptied. For him, “blocking their boats does not solve the problem.”

Francis received six new ambassadors. It is about “renouncing our desire to dominate others and learning to see one another as persons, sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters’,” he said. “Increasingly, we see that the path to peace is blocked also by a lack of respect for our common home and particularly by the abusive exploitation of natural resources”.