VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Every Christian and every Christian community is called to conversion, a process that lasts a lifetime and is much needed by those who feel stuck on the path. in holiness, Pope Francis told the officials of the Roman Curia.
“The side of conversion is ‘immobility,’ the hidden feeling that there is nothing else to learn from the Gospel,” the pope told cardinals and other top aides Dec. of last year.
Pope Francis went from the meeting in the Blessed Sacrament to the Vatican auditorium where he gave his Christmas greetings and prayers for peace and tranquility to the Vatican staff and members of their family
The Gospel calls for conversion and peace, as one relates to family and friends, which is the center of the Pope’s message to the Curia.
In October, the church celebrated the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which Pope Francis said was “a great moment of conversion for the whole church.”
“The conversion raised by the council is an attempt to fully understand the Gospel and make it relevant, alive, and good in our time,” he said, and the process “it’s not over.”
Constantly thinking about “synodality,” and making sure that the members of the church listen to God and to each other, he said, “it is the fruit of our faith that never ends the process of knowing the word of Christ, but it always scares us.”
Conversion, he said, “is not to avoid sin but to do all the good things we can. In the Gospel, we are like children who must teaching. The deception we have learned in all things causes us to fall into spiritual pride.”
Pope Francis said that it is a “mistake” to try to “divide the message of Jesus into a single, eternal truth,” because, while the meaning of the Gospel remains, the methods of preaching analysis and interpretation must deepen over time and must respond to new needs and problems every year.
“The true heresy is not only in preaching a different gospel as St.
“Saving means preserving life and not keeping the word of Christ,” the pope said.
Pope Francis pointed to the parables of Jesus, including the parable of the prodigal son, to explain how the wanderers often see God when they sin and turn back in repentance.
But in the parable, the eldest son knew that he was at home, doing his business, and therefore he thought that he should not convert.
“Those who live at home,” he said, often do not see the faults of their parties, “convincing themselves that they are mere wretched people, wronged by established power.” and, in the last sight, by God Himself.”
Pope Francis told the Curia officials that “at this time of our lives, we must pay close attention to the fact that, in general, we live at ‘home,’ within the walls of the office, in the service. of the Holy House, in the heart of the church. For this reason, we can easily fall into the temptation of thinking that we are safe, better than others , should not be converted.
In fact, he said, the sense of security means that “we are more in trouble than all the others, because we are troubled by the ‘beautiful demon’ ,’ he does not put in a loud voice, but comes with arrows in his hand,” trying. It’s easy to convince someone that no further changes are necessary.
Pope Francis also used the opportunity to call out Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world.
“The culture of peace is not built between nations and peoples alone,” he said. “It begins in the heart of each of us” by attracting the hatred or anger of another.
Personal peace begins with looking at oneself, the pope said, urging leaders to ask: “How much bitterness is in our hearts? What is feeding? What is the cause?” of hate often creates distance between us and causes anger and resentment? Why has cursing in all its forms become the only way to talk about things around us ?
Peace can be destroyed by “blasphemy, emotional abuse, the evil of abuse of power, the hidden evil of slander,” he said. “In the presence of the Prince of Peace who is coming into the world, we will lay down all weapons of every kind.”
