Pope Francis thanks Papal Foundation for its support

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted members of “The Papal Foundation” on Friday. They are in Rome on their annual pilgrimage.

The Papal Foundation was founded in the United States in 1988 to establish an endowment to support the mission of the Holy Father. The endowment has grown to over $220 million, with a total of $111 million awarded in grants and scholarships.

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“The wide variety of projects supported by the Foundation gives witness to the ceaseless efforts of the Church to promote the integral development of the human family, conscious as she is of the immense and ongoing needs of so many of our brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said.

He also praised the Foundation for the “sizeable percentage” of its resources used for the education and formation of young priests, religious and lay men and women in places where the local churches are in need of help.

Pope Francis said this support would help hasten the day when these Churches may be self-supportive “and, indeed, pass on the fruits of such generosity to others.”

The full text of the Pope’s remarks to The Papal Foundation are below

Greetings of the Holy Father

to “The Papal Foundation”

17 April 2015

 

Your Eminence,

Dear Friends,

                I offer a warm welcome to you, the Members and Trustees, and Stewards of Saint Peter of The Papal Foundation who have come to Rome for your annual pilgrimage.  Your visit to the tombs of the Apostles is a reverent sign of the communion with the See of Peter which has been the hallmark of the Foundation since its beginning.  I pray that this experience may deepen your faith, and encourage you to give fresh expression in your living and transmitting the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith that comes to us from the Apostles.

                The wide variety of projects supported by the Foundation gives witness to the ceaseless efforts of the Church to promote the integral development of the human family, conscious as she is of the immense and ongoing needs of so many of our brothers and sisters.  Wisely does The Papal Foundation devote a sizeable percentage of its resources to the education and formation of young priests, religious and lay men and women, hastening the day when their local Churches may be self-supportive, and, indeed, pass on the fruits of such generosity to others.  I wish to reaffirm my gratitude for the hard work and sacrifice that your offering entails, and to assure you of my heartfelt prayers for you, your loved ones, and all those whom you support.

              As the Church prepares for the coming Jubilee of Mercy, I ask our Lord Jesus Christ, “the face of the Father’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 1), to refresh and renew each one of you through his mercy, the greatest of his many gifts.  May each of you experience the healing and freedom that come from the encounter of forgiveness and gratuitous love offered in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.  I commend each of you and your families to the loving intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that of Saint Peter.  Upon you, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace in Christ Jesus the Risen Savior.