VATICAN - Pope Francis at the Genreal Audience: "Without the Holy Spirit the Church cannot move forward"

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "Without the Holy Spirit the Church cannot move forward", said Pope Francis at the first general audience after the summer break in July. During the meeting with pilgrims from all over the world, which took place in the Paul VI Audience Hall due to the high temperatures, the Pope continued the cycle of catechisms on the Holy Spirit, focusing on the incarnation of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. This, according to Francis, is "an ecumenical fact of faith, because all Christians profess together that same Symbol of faith. Catholic piety, since time immemorial, has drawn from it one of its daily prayers, the Angelus." Mary, the Bishop of Rome continues, "first conceived, then bore Jesus: first she welcomed Him into herself, in her heart and her flesh, then she gave birth to Him. This happens for the Church: first she welcomes the Word of God, letting it “speak tenderly to her” (cf. Hos 2:14), and “fill [her] stomach” (cf. Ez 3:3), in accordance with two biblical expressions, and then she gives birth to it with her life and preaching. The second operation is sterile without the first."
"The Church too," the Pope continues, "when faced with tasks beyond her strength, spontaneously asks the same question: “How is this possible?”. How is it possible to proclaim Jesus Christ and His salvation to a world that seems to seek only well-being? The answer is also the same as then: “You shall receive power of the Holy Spirit”.
And he added: “Without the Holy Spirit the Church cannot move forward, the Church does not grow, the Church cannot preach”. “What is said about the Church in general,” he warns, “also applies to us, to every baptized person. All of us sometimes find ourselves, in life, in situations beyond our strength. It helps, in such cases, to repeat to ourselves what the angel said to the Virgin: “With God nothing will be impossible”.
So let us too, every time, resume our journey with this comforting certainty in our hearts: “With God nothing will be impossible”.
At the end of the Audience, in his greeting in Italian, the Pope recalled the peoples devastated by the horrors of war: “I continue to follow the situation in the Middle East with great concern, and I reiterate my appeal to all the parties involved that the conflict does not spread, and that there may be an immediate ceasefire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is very serious and unsustainable. I pray that the sincere search for peace will extinguish strife, love will overcome hatred and vengeance will be disarmed by forgiveness.”
Finally, the Pope asked all the faithful to join in his “prayer also for tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan: may these war-torn populations soon find the peace for which they yearn.
Let us join our efforts and prayers that ethnic discrimination in regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan be eliminated, and especially discrimination against women.” (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 7/8/2024)

Share:

pope francis

---

---

catholic church

---

---