Franco Pisano

In a joint statement, Francis and the Catholic Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East note the progress on the path of unity and reiterate that "it is not possible to imagine the Middle East without Christians. This conviction is founded not simply on religious grounds, but also on social and cultural realities, since Christians, with other believers, greatly contribute to the specific identity of the region”.

"It is true that the celebrations must be beautiful - beautiful - but not worldly, because worldliness depends on the god of money. It is an idolatry like others. This makes us think about our attitude to the house of God, our respect for churches when we enter ".

"How often is there murmuring in parishes?” he asked, pointing out that whenever “I don’t like the testimony, or there is a person that I don’t like, murmuring immediately breaks out.”". "And in the diocese? The 'intra-diocesan' struggles ... The internal struggles of the dioceses; you know this. And also in politics. And this is bad. When a government is not honest, it tries to dirty the opponents with the murmurings ".

Illustrating the commandment "You shall not steal", Francis recalls the "universal destination of goods" affirmed by the social doctrine of the Church. "If there is hunger on earth, it is not because of lack of food! Indeed, market demands sometimes leads to us destroying it. What is lacking is a free and far-sighted entrepreneurship, which ensures adequate production, and a solidarity approach, which ensures fair distribution.

"Those who refuse Jesus, Jesus waits, he gives a second chance, maybe a third, a fourth, a fifth ... But in the end he too will refuse". "And this rejection must make us think of us, sometimes that Jesus calls us; he calls us to celebrate with him, to be near him, to change his life ".

The subject of the Pope Francis message to be on "political responsibility” which “belongs to every citizen, and in particular to those who have received the mandate to protect and govern".

In a meeting with a delegation of rabbis from the World Congress of Mountain Jews, Francis reiterated that a “Christian cannot be an anti-Semite” and that commemorating the Holocaust was necessary. Friendship between Jews and Catholics, he noted, is “based on a fraternity grounded in the history of salvation and it finds concrete expression in concern for one another.”

"When we read the news of wars, we think of the news of the hunger of children in Yemen, the result of war: it is far, poor children ... but why do not they have [enough] to eat? But the same war is made at home, in our institutions with this rivalry: start there, the war! And peace must be made there: in the family, in the parish, in the institutions, in the workplace, always seeking unanimity and harmony and not one's own interest ".

During the memorial Mass for cardinals and bishops who passed away over the past year, Pope Francis stressed that God looks at the heart, not appearances. “Whatever will remain of life, at the doorstep of eternity, is not what we gained but what we gave away”.

Francis celebrated Mass in Rome’s Laurentino cemetery, which has a “Garden of the Angels" for unborn children. The beatitudes are the lights that show us the way “to get where they are waiting for us with so much love”.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue issued a statement for Diwali, noting that “Attentiveness and cooperation are needed, not only to defend the legitimate place and rights of the vulnerable in society, but also to cultivate a culture of care and concern in their regard.”

"The Church does not need aspirants to the role of priests, but men whose heart is touched by the Holy Spirit with unconditional love for the Bride of Christ". "The human body is not an instrument of pleasure, but the place of our call to love, and in authentic love there is no room for lust and for its superficiality. Men and women deserve more! ".