Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Focus on prayer, the poor, peace, Pope says

byCNS
17 June 2014 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Pope Francis with people

Pope among the people: Pope Francis greets the crowd as he arrives to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria in Rome's Trastevere neighbourhood on June 15. The Pope visited members of the Community of Sant'Egidio, which has its headquarters near the basilica. At right is Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Pope Francis with people
Pope among the people: Pope Francis greets the crowd as he arrives to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood on June 15. The Pope visited members of the Community of Sant’Egidio, which has its headquarters near the basilica. At right is Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community.
Photo: CNS/Paul Haring

IN a historic square in the centre of Rome, Pope Francis urged Catholics to gather strength in prayer and then set out for the margins of society, bringing the Gospel and material aid to the poor, the elderly, the young and the excluded.

“Prayer saves the anonymous city dweller from a temptation that we, too, face: activism that believes everything revolves around us, indifference or self-pity,” he said on June 15 during an evening visit with members of the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio.

The community, founded in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood and now active in 73 countries, combines prayer, Bible-reading and service to the poor, including through inter-religious dialogue and peacemaking.

Tens of thousands of Romans, tourists and community members braved repeated downpours to gather in the narrow streets and open squares of Trastevere to cheer the Pope, shake hands with him, ask for his blessing or pose for a “selfie”.

In the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, where community members and others gather each night for evening prayer, Pope Francis listened to the stories of a 90-year-old woman who visits the elderly in nursing homes, a Syrian Orthodox bishop pleading for peace in his country, a refugee from Afghanistan, a Gypsy man and others talk about the friendship and assistance they received from community members.

Pope Francis told the community members their gatherings in the centre of Rome were not and could not be a way to forget the suffering communities on the outskirts of the city. “Listen to and welcome the Gospel of love here in order to go out and meet your brothers and sisters on the margins of the city and the world,” he said.

The Pope listened intensely to the remarks of Irma Lombardo, the 90-year-old woman who said she got involved with Sant’Egidio 20 years ago when she began feeling old and useless. Too many elderly were cut off from their families and friends, she said, and end up feeling they were being punished for something.

Pope Francis said it was “a horrible sign” of a lack of civility when a society or culture allowed the elderly to live in isolation and even die alone, but that was exactly what happened when money was an idol and profits were the only focus of the global economy.

“Anything that does not produce is thrown away,” the Pope said. Birthrates dropped and the aged were ignored to the point that they were subjected to a “hidden euthanasia”.

Looking specifically at Europe, Pope Francis said the focus on money alone – and the declining birthrates it brought – meant not only was the continent aging, but “Europe is tired. We must help it rejuvenate,” including through welcoming immigrants and helping them begin new lives.

Related Stories

Pope Francis asks for prayers after 50 migrants found dead in Texas trailer truck

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

The Pope also praised Sant’Egidio’s work in inter-religious dialogue and in mediating peace talks in several countries, particularly in Africa.

“In several countries suffering from war, you try to keep alive hopes for peace,” he said. “Working for peace doesn’t give rapid results, but is an activity for patient craftspeople, who look for what unites.

“More prayer and more dialogue are necessary. The world suffocates without dialogue.”

“Follow this path: prayer, the poor and peace,” the Pope told community members. “Walking this path you will increase compassion in the heart of society – that is the real revolution, the revolution of compassion and tenderness – to make friendship grow in the place of the phantoms of enmity and indifference.”

CNS

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Would you crawl to Mass?

Next Post

St Mary’s cracks the whip

CNS

Related Posts

Tragedy: Debra Ponce, left, and Angelita Olvera of San Antonio mourn near the scene where dozens of immigrants were found dead inside a trailer truck a day earlier on June 28. Photo: CNS
World

Pope Francis asks for prayers after 50 migrants found dead in Texas trailer truck

29 June 2022
Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech
Family

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

27 June 2022
Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families
News

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

27 June 2022
Next Post

St Mary’s cracks the whip

What is your calling?

Anglican meeting

Pope, Anglican archbishop urge joint action to share God's love

Popular News

  • Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

    Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Archbishop Coleridge unveils new cross at Banyo church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Fr El Louie Jimenez ordained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Australian Plenary Council aims to avert Church ‘moment of crisis’

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Fr Josh braves ‘freezing’ June night to raise awareness for homelessness at Vinnies Sleepout

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship
Education

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship

by Hannah Kennelly
2 July 2022
0

YOUNG Aboriginal and South Sea Islanders education students, Jedda Ellison and Hayden Kubler have been awarded the...

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

2 July 2022
Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

1 July 2022
Evarist D’Souza

Archbishop Coleridge unveils new cross at Banyo church

1 July 2022
Netball Superstar: St John Fisher student Jayden Molo.

St John Fisher College student selected for the Australian Netball U17 Squad

1 July 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping