Pope's general audience of Nov. 7

November 07, 2012 - Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called the general audience, where pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing him speak in several languages and receive his blessing. The general audience of Nov. 7 was held in the open in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. It began with aides reading a passage from the Book of Psalms in several languages. The aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English speaking pilgrims. Pope Benedict then spoke in English.

Listen:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Continuing our catechesis for the Year of Faith, we now consider the mysterious desire for God which lies deep in the human heart. God has created us for himself and, in the words of Saint Augustine, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. Even in today’s secularized society, this desire for God continues to make itself felt, above all in the experience of love. In love, which seeks the good of the other, we find ourselves by giving ourselves away, in a process involving the purification and healing of our hearts. So too in friendship, in the experience of beauty and the thirst for truth and goodness: we sense that we are caught up in a process which points us beyond ourselves to a mystery in which we dimly perceive the promise of complete fulfilment. Thanks to this innate religious sense, we can open our hearts to the gift of faith which draws us ever closer to God, the source of all good and the fulfilment of our deepest desire. During this Year of Faith, let us pray for our contemporaries who seek the truth with a sincere heart, that they may come to know the joy and freedom born of faith.
I welcome the Inter-ministerial Delegation for Religious Affairs from Vietnam on official visit to the Vatican. I also greet the group from Saint Paul High School in Japan. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience, including those from England and Wales, Denmark, Finland, Ghana, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Canada and the United States, I cordially impart God’s abundant blessings.