2010-01-27 13:18:53

Pope's General Audience of Jan. 27


(January 27, 2010) Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing him speak. The Holy Father delivers a spiritual reflection and greets various groups in their languages, including in English. The General Audience of January 27 was held in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. It began with aides taking turns reading a scripture passage in various languages. One of the aides greeted the Pope on behalf of the English-speaking pilgrims, and presented the various groups to him. Pope Benedict then delivered a reflection in English.

Listen: RealAudioMP3
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Continuing our catechesis on the Christian culture of the Middle Ages, we now turn to Saint Francis of Assisi, one of the greatest figures of the Church’s history. The story of Saint Francis’ life and conversion, and his complete devotion to Christ, poor and suffering, is well known. After gathering a small group of companions and followers, including Saint Clare, Francis sought the approval of Pope Innocent III for his movement which was completely committed to the renewal of the Church in holiness and to the preaching of the Gospel. Near the end of his life, Francis’ configuration to the Crucified Lord culminated in his reception of the stigmata at La Verna. His deep piety found expression in a great devotion to the Eucharist, as the sacrament of Christ’s real presence, and his love for creation as God’s handiwork. The life and teaching of Saint Francis has inspired countless people to the imitation of Christ through the embrace of inward and outward poverty. May his example teach us ever greater love for the Lord and his Church, and help us to know the immense spiritual joy born of the imitation of Christ and the pursuit of holiness.
A warm welcome to all of the English speaking pilgrims present at today’s audience! I particularly greet high school students from Jordan and Israel, members of the initiative Aqabat Eilat: “one more step towards peace”, students and faculty from the Bossey Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies, as well as pilgrims from England, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and the United States. God bless you all!

At the end of the audience, Pope Benedict recalled the 65th anniversary of liberation of Nazi Germany’s notorious death camp of Auschwitz in Poland on January 27, 1945, a day commemorated around the world as Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Today, we celebrate "Remembrance Day” in memory of all the victims of these crimes, especially the planned annihilation of Jews, and in honour of those who, risking their lives, protected the persecuted and opposed the murderous madness,” the Pope said in Italian. He denounced the “horror” of the Shoah and the “unheard of brutality” of death camps created by Nazi Germany. The German-born Pontiff recalled the countless victims of blind racial and religious hatred, who suffered deportation, imprisonment and death in those abhorrent and inhuman places. He wished that the memory of this event, particularly the tragedy of the Holocaust that hit the Jews, will inspire a more convinced respect for the dignity of every person so that all feel as belonging to one family. He prayed that God may enlighten people’s hearts and minds so that such tragedies never repeat themselves. Shoah is Hebrew for the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II, including 1 million at the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps. Pope Benedict concluded the General Audience with his blessing.







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