General audience Archives

Witness of Colombian people a wealth for the church, pope says
- Catholic News Service, Vatican
- September 13, 2017
Recalling Colombia’s tragic 52-year armed conflict, which was responsible for the deaths of more than 220,000 people, Pope Francis said during his general audience that while the country was torn apart, its strong Christian roots “constituted a guarantee of peace, the solid foundation of its reconstruction and the lifeblood of its invincible hope.”
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Pope says youth not looking for meaning in life “have gone into retirement”
- Catholic News Service, Vatican
- August 30, 2017
During his general audience, Pope Francis said young people who are not seeking something or looking for meaning in life “are not young, they have gone into retirement, they have aged before their time.” Throughout the Gospels, the pope said, Jesus responds to the people he meets along the way; he is like an “arsonist” setting people’s hearts ablaze.
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Francis meets Brazilian soccer team struck by air tragedy last year
- Vatican
- August 30, 2017
A delegation from the Chapecoense soccer club met with Pope Francis during his general audience on Wednesday. Most of the team’s staff and players were killed last November in a plane crash in Colombia. The Brazilians are in Rome to play A.S. Roma, in a charity match to raise funds for the club’s rebuilding, and the pope asked them to communicate the “sweetness of God’s love.”
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Francis: Facing tragedies like Barcelona and Congo, Christians look to God to console us

August 23, 2017

When we turn on the TV we see tragedies that push us to lose hope, such as the deaths in Barcelona and the Democratic Republic of Congo or the plight of children and refugees, but Christian hope rests in looking toward Heaven, where our Father will wipe away our tears and bring us into the fold, Pope Francis said during his weekly general audience.

Pope Francis: Jesus embraces “the outcast, the untouchables”

Vatican

August 9, 2017

“I believe that many Catholics believe themselves to be perfect and despise others. This is sad,” the pope said in an off-the-cuff remark during his weekly general audience. “We who are used to experiencing the forgiveness of sins, perhaps a little too ‘cheaply’, should sometimes remember how much we cost the love of God.”

Haitian children, Andrea Bocelli sing for Pope Francis

A choir of children from Haiti led by world-renown opera singer Andrea Bocelli sang for Pope Francis after his weekly general audience on Wednesday. The choir, called “Voices of Haiti,” is made up of youth ages 9-15 from the poorest areas of Haiti and are in Rome for their two-week-long European tour.