VATICAN - Pope at the Angelus asks that we accompany him with our prayers, “so that I may faithfully carry out this great task, entrusted to me by Providence, as successor to the Apostle Peter.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Gospel passage of the paralitic who was forgiven and healed (Ml 2:1-12) “Jesus has the power not only to heal the sick body but also to forgive sins; and indeed, the physical healing is a sign of the spiritual healing that his forgiveness produces.” This is what the Holy Father Benedict XVI mentioned prior to the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday, February 22, in reflecting on the Gospel from the Sunday Liturgy with the faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square. “In effect, sin is a kind of paralysis of the spirit, from which only the power of the merciful love of God can liberate us, allowing us to pick ourselves up and set out again along the path of goodness.”
Thus, recalling that February 22 is also the feast of the Chair of Peter, which symbolizes “ the authority of the Bishop of Rome, who is called to perform a special service for the whole People of God,” Benedict XVI mentioned that “this feast provides me with the occasion to ask you to accompany me with your prayers, so that I may faithfully carry out this great task, entrusted to me by Providence, as successor to the Apostle Peter. We invoke the Virgin Mary, whom we celebrated yesterday, here in Rome, under the title of Our Lady of Confidence. We ask her to help us to enter into the Lenten season -- which will begin on Wednesday with the evocative Rite of Ashes -- with devout dispositions of soul. May Mary open our hearts to conversion and to a docile listening to the Word of God.”
(S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2009)