VATICAN CITY — For Christians, memory involves remembering God’s promises for the future; it’s not about “nostalgia, which is a real spiritual pathology,” Pope Francis said. Nostalgia “blocks creativity and makes us rigid and ideological people even in the social, political and ecclesial spheres,” he said, while memory, which is “intrinsically linked to love and experience,” is an essential dimension of human life. The pope sent a video message Nov. 26 to Italy’s national Festival of the Social Doctrine of the Church, a three-day online event focusing on the theme, “Memory of the Future.” The title, Pope Francis said, is a call to hope. “For us Christians, the future has a name and this name is hope,” he said. “Hope is the virtue of a heart that does not close in the dark, does not stop at the past, does not just get by in the present, but knows how to see tomorrow.” If one has been baptized into Christ, the pope said, then one must remember the sacrifice that Christ made for the salvation of all and live a life that prepares for his promised coming again and for the establishment of his kingdom. “We are therefore called to live our lives in communion with God, that is: in the intimacy of prayer in the presence of the Lord; in love for the people we meet, which is in charity; and finally toward mother Earth, which indicates a process of transfiguration of the world,” he said.
Seek contact with nature to change polluting lifestyles, pope says Humanity must have more direct contact with nature to counter the modern lifestyles that are destroying the planet, Pope Francis said.
Apostolic nuncio delivers annual Cardinal Bernardin lecture Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, delivered the 2024 Cardinal Bernardin Lecture at Loyola University Chicago on April 11, titled “Pope Francis: Discernment and the Dialectic of Mercy.”
On Easter, pope asks Christ to 'roll away' the stones of war worldwide Just as Jesus removed the stone that sealed his tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, on Easter Christ alone "has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life" and which trap humanity in war and injustice, Pope Francis said.