Opus Dei Opus Dei Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis to Cyprus and Greece

Francisco's apostolic journey to the two Mediterranean countries, from December 2 to 6, follows the steps of Pope Emeritus in Cyprus in 2010 and Pope St. John Paul II in Greece in 2001.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

- Meeting with priests, religious and religious, deacons, catechists, associations and ecclesial movements of Cyprus in the Maronite Cathedral of Our Lady of Thanks, Nicosia

- Meeting with the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps in the "Hall Ceremonial" of the Presidential Palace of Nicosia

Friday, December 3, 2021

- Courtesy visit to its Crystomo II beatitude, Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus in the Orthodox Archbishopric of Cyprus, Nicosia

- Meeting with the Holy Synod in the Orthodox Cathedral of Nicosia

- Holy Mass at the Nicosia GSP Stadium

- Ecumenical prayer with migrants in the parish church of La Santa Cruz, Nicosia

Saturday, December 4, 2021

- Meeting with the authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps in the presidential palace of Athens

- Meeting of his Beatitude Jerónimo II and his Holiness Francis

- Meeting with the bishops, priests, religious and religious, seminarians and catechists in the Cathedral of San Dionisio de Athens

Sunday, December 5, 2021

- Visit to refugees at the Mitilene reception and identification center

- Holy Mass in "Megaron Concert Hall" by Athens

- Courtesy visit of his Beatitude Jerónimo II to the Holy Father in the Apostolic Nunciature of Athens

Monday, December 6, 2021

- Meeting with young people at the San Dionisio School of the Ursulin Sisters of Marusi, Athens

- Farewell ceremony at the Athens International Airport


Thursday, December 2

Meeting with priests, religious and religious, deacons, catechists, associations and ecclesial movements of Chipre

Beatitudes, dear bishops, dear priests, religious and religious, dear catechists, brothers and sisters: χαίρετε![Hello!]

I feel happy to be among you.I want to express my gratitude to Cardinal Béchara Bourtos Raï for the words he has addressed to me and greet the Patriarch Pizzaballa Patriarch.Thanks to all of you for your ministry and service;In particular to you, sisters, for the educational work they carry out in school, which so many young people of the island, a meeting place, dialogue and learning of the art of building bridges attend.Thank you!Thank you all for your proximity to people, especially in social and work contexts where it is more difficult.

I share my joy of visiting this land, walking as a pilgrim behind the footprints of the great Apostle Bernabé, son of this people, disciple in love with Jesus, intrepid announcer of the Gospel that, going through the nascent Christian communities, saw how the grace of God andHe was glad, urging "all to remain united to the Lord firmly from heart" (Acts 11,23).And I come with the same desire: see the grace of God by working in his church and in his land, rejoicing with you for the wonders that the Lord works and exhorting them to always persevere, without getting tired, without ever discouraging.God is bigger!God is bigger than our contradictions.Ahead!

I look at them and see the richness of their diversity.It's true, a good "Macedonia."All different.I greet the Maronita Church, which in the course of the centuries has arrived several times to the island and that, often going through many evidence, has persevered in faith.When I think of Lebanon, I feel a lot of concern about the crisis in which the suffering of a town tired and proven by violence and pain is found and notice.I take to my prayer the desire of peace that goes up from the heart of that country.I thank you what they do in the church, for Cyprus.Lebanon cedars are cited numerous times in writing as models of beauty and greatness.But even a great cedar arises from the roots and grows slowly.You are these roots, transplanted in Cyprus to spread the fragrance and beauty of the Gospel.Thank you!

I also greet the Latin Church, present here by millennia, who has seen growing in time, along with his children, the enthusiasm of faith and that today, thanks to the presence of so many migrant brothers and sisters, he presents himself as a people "Multicolor", a true meeting place between different ethnicities and cultures. This face of the Church reflects the role of Cyprus in the European continent: a land of golden fields, an island stroked by the waves of the sea, but above all a story that is the crossing of peoples and mosaic of encounters. This is also the Church: Catholic, that is, universal, open space in which all are welcomed and achieved by the mercy of God and his invitation to love. There are no walls in the Catholic Church. And this, let's not forget, none of us has been called here to proselytize as preachers, that ever. Proselitism is sterile, does not give life. We have all been called by the mercy of God, who never tires of calling, never tires of being close, never tires of forgiving. Where are the roots of our Christian vocation? In the mercy of God. We must never forget that. The Lord does not disappoint; His mercy does not disappoint. He always awaits us. There is no and there should be no walls in the Catholic Church, please. And a common house is the place of relationships, it is the coexistence of diversity: that rite, that other rite; One thinks so, that nun saw it that way, the other saw it otherwise. The diversity of all and, in that diversity, the wealth of unity. And who does unity? The Holy Spirit. And who does diversity? The Holy Spirit. Who can understand that he understands. He is the author of diversity and is the author of harmony. San Basilio used to say it: "Ipse Harmonia est". He is the one who makes the diversity of gifts and the harmonious unity of the Church.

Dear friends, now I would like to share something with you about San Bernabé, your brother and employer, inspiring me in two words of your life and your mission.

The first word is patience. There is talk of Bernabé as a great man of faith and balance, who was chosen by the Church of Jerusalem - he can say about the Mother Church - as the most suitable person to visit a new community, that of Antioch, which was composed by various people who had recently become paganism. He was sent to go and see what was happening, almost like an explorer. There he found people who came from another world, from another culture and religious sensitivity; People who had just changed life and that is why they had a faith full of enthusiasm, but still fragile, as at the beginning. In all this situation, Bernabé's attitude was of great patience. He knows how to wait. He knows how to expect the tree to grow. It is the patience of being willing to constantly go on a trip, the patience of entering the life of people until that moment unknown, the patience of receiving the novelty without judging it hastily, the patience of discernment, which knows how to capture the signs of the work of the work of God everywhere, the patience of "studying" other cultures and traditions. Bernabé had mostly the patience of accompaniment, lets grow, accompanying. He did not suffocate the fragile faith of newcomers with strict, inflexible attitudes, or with too demanding requirements regarding the observance of the precepts. No. He let them grow, accompanied them, took them by the hand, dialogue with them. Bernabé is not scandalized, as a father and a mother do not scandalize with their children, they accompany them, they help them grow. Keep in mind this, divisions, proselytism within the Church do not go. He lets grow and accompany. And if you have to scold someone, he scolds, but with love, with peace. He is the man of patience.

We need a patient church, dear brothers and sisters. A church that is not allowed to be disturbed and disconcerted by changes, but also welcomes the novelty and discerns situations in the light of the Gospel. On this island the work they carry out in the reception of new brothers and sisters that arrive from other parts of the world is beautiful. As Bernabé, you are also called to cultivate a patient and attentive look, to be visible and credible signs of God's patience that never leaves anyone away from home, no one deprived of your tender hug. The church in Cyprus has these open arms: it welcomes, integrates and accompanies. It is also an important message for the Church throughout Europe, marked by the crisis of faith. It is not useful to be impulsive, it is useless to be aggressive, or nostalgic or complaining, it is better to move forward reading the signs of the times and also the signs of the crisis. It is necessary to start again and announce the gospel with patience, take in hand the beatitudes, especially to announce them to the new generations. To you, bishops, I would like to tell you: be patient pastors in closeness, never get tired of looking for God in prayer; Look for priests, at the meeting; to the brothers of other Christian confessions, with respect and request; And to the faithful, where they live. And to you, dear priests who are here, I would like to tell you: be patients with the faithful, always willing to encourage them, tireless ministers of forgiveness and mercy of God. Never severe judges, always love parents.

When I read the parable of the prodigal son: the older brother was a rigorous judge, but the father was merciful, the image of the father who always forgives, more, is always waiting to miss us. Last year a group of young people who make pop music shows, wanted to make the parable of the prodigal son, sung in pop music and dialogues. Handsome! But the most beautiful thing is the final discussion, when the prodigal son approaches a friend and says: “I can't continue like this. I want to go home, but I'm afraid that dad closes the door on my face, that I will. I have this fear and I don't know how to do. "But your dad is good," "Yes, but you know ... my brother is there warming up." Towards the end of that pop opera about the prodigal son, his friend says: “Do one thing: write to your dad and tell him what you want to return, but you are afraid that he does not receive you well. Tell your dad that, if he wants to welcome you, put a handkerchief in the highest window of the house, so your dad will tell you first if he will welcome you or he will reject you. ” That act ends. In the other act, the son addresses his father's house. And when he is on his way, he turns and sees his father's house: that he was full of white scarves. Full! This is God for us. This is God for us. He never tires of forgiving. And when the son begins to speak: "Ah, sir, I did ...", "call yourself, and cover her mouth.

To you priests: please, do not be rigorous in confession.When you see someone is in trouble, "I understand, I understand."This does not mean "wide manga", no.It means a father's heart, as a father's heart has.

The work that the Lord does in the life of each person is a sacred story, let's be passionate about it.In the multiform variety of his people, patience also means having ears and heart to host different spiritual sensibilities, ways of expressing different faith and diverse cultures.The Church does not want to standardize, please not.But integrate all cultures, all the psychologies of people, with maternal patience, because the Church is mother.This is what we want to do with the grace of God in the Synodal itinerary: patient prayer, listens patiently from a docile church to God and open to man.Patience was one of Bernabé's aspects.

In Bernabé's story there is a second important aspect that I would like to underline: his encounter with Pablo de Tarso and the fraternal friendship between them, which will lead them to live the mission together. After Paul's conversion - who had been a fierce persecutor of Christians before, "everyone feared him, because they didn't believe he was also a disciple" (Acts 9,26). Here the book of the Acts of the Apostles says something very beautiful: Bernabé took it with him, presented it to the community, he told what had happened to him and responded by him (cf. v. 27). Let's listen to this "he took it with him." The expression refers to the same mission of Jesus, who took with him the disciples through the paths of Galilee, who took our humanity wounded by sin on himself. It is an attitude of friendship, an attitude of sharing life. "Take with it", "Take on itself" means taking charge of the history of the other, to give time to know it without labeling it, loading it on the shoulders when it is tired or wounded, as the good Samaritan does (cf. Lc 10,25-37 ). This is called fraternity, and this is the second word that I want to tell you. The first, patience and the second fraternity.

Bernabé and Paul, as brothers, traveled together to announce the Gospel, even in the midst of persecutions. In the Church of Antioch "a whole year were together and instructed many people" (Acts 11,26). Then both had a larger mission reserved and, sent by the Holy Spirit, "embarked for Cyprus" (Acts 13,4). And the Word of God ran and grew not only for their human qualities, but above all because they were brothers in the name of God and this fraternity among them made the commandment of love shine. Different brothers, like the fingers of one hand, all diverse, but all with the same dignity. Brothers. Then, as in life, something unexpected happened. The facts say that the two had a strong disagreement and their paths separated (cf. Acts 15,39). Also among the brothers it is discussed, sometimes there are disputes. But Pablo and Bernabé did not separate for personal reasons, but were discussing their ministry, on how to carry out the mission, and had different visions. Bernabé also wanted to bring the young Marcos to the mission, and Paul did not want. They discussed, but for some successive letters it is intuited that there was no grudge between them. Even Timothy, who had to reach it later, Paul wrote: "Come see me as soon as possible [...] collects Marcos [just him!] And bring it with you, because it will be very helpful in my ministry" (2 Tm 4.9.11). This is fraternity in the Church, you can discuss visions, about points of view, it is good to do it. A little discussion is always good. In particular about different sensibilities and ideas, since it is bad to never discuss. When there is too rigorous peace, it is not of God. As a family, the brothers discuss, exchange views. I suspect those who never argue, because all the time they have hidden "agendas". This is the fraternity of the Church: you can discuss visions, sensibilities, different ideas, and in some cases say things frankly, this helps, and not saying them behind with a criticism that does not do anyone well. Discussion is an opportunity for growth and change. But always remember that war is not discussed, to impose itself, but to express and live the vitality of the spirit, which is love and communion. It is discussed, but we are still brothers.

I remember that when I was a child we were five.We argued among us, sometimes strongly, not every day, and then we were all together at the table.The discussion of the family that has a mother, the Mother Church: the children argue.

Dear brothers and sisters, we need a fraternal church that is an instrument of fraternity for the world. Here in Cyprus there are many spiritual and ecclesial sensibilities, several stories of origin, of rites of different traditions; But we should not feel diversity as a threat against identity, nor should we suspend and worry about the respective spaces. If we fall into this temptation, fear grows, fear generates distrust, distrust leads to suspicion and, sooner or later, leads to war. We are brothers loved by a single father. You are immersed in the Mediterranean, a sea with different stories, a sea that has rocked numerous civilizations, a sea from which people, peoples and cultures from all over the world are still landing today. With their fraternity they can remember everyone, all of Europe, that to build a future man of man it is necessary to work together, overcome divisions, knock down the walls and cultivate the dream of unity. We need to host and integrate, walk together, be all brothers and sisters.

I thank you what they are and what they do, the joy with which they announce the Gospel, the fatigue and resignations with which they hold it and make it move forward.This is the path drawn by the Holy Apostles Paul and Bernabé.I wish you to always be a patient church, which discerns, that never scares, that accompanies and integrates;And a fraternal church, which makes the other space, which argues but remains linked and grows in the discussion.I bless each of you.And please continue praying for me, because I need.Efcharistó![Thank you!]

Meeting with the authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps in the "Hall Ceremonial" of the Nicosia Presidential Palace

Mr. President of the Republic, members of the Government and the diplomatic corps, distinguished religious and civil authorities, distinguished representatives of society and the world of culture, ladies and gentlemen:

I greet them cordially, expressing my joy for being here.I thank you, Mr. President, the reception he has given me in the name of the entire population.I have come as a pilgrim to a small country for its geography, but great for its history;to an island that over the centuries has not isolated people, but has joined it;to a land whose limit is the sea;to a place that represents the eastern door of Europe and the western door of the Middle East.They are an open door, a port that brings together.Cyprus, crossroads of civilizations, carries in itself the innate vocation to the encounter, favored by the cozy character of the chipriotas.

We have just honored the first president of this Republic, the Archbishop Makarios, and when making this gesture I wanted to honor all citizens.His name, Makarios, evokes the initial words of Jesus' first speech: the beatitudes (cf. Mt 5,3-12).Who is that makaries, who really is that blessed according to the Christian faith, to whom this earth is indissolubly linked?Blessed can all be, and they are first and foremost the poor in spirit, those who have been injured by life, those who live with meekness and mercy, how many practice justice and build peace without being noticed.The beatitudes, dear friends, are the perennial constitution of Christianity.Living them allows the Gospel to always be young and feed the society of hope.The beatitudes are the compass that guides, in all latitudes, the routes that Christians address on the journey of life.

Precisely from here, where Europe and the East meet, the first great inculturation of the Gospel began in the continent and for me it is exciting to tour the steps of the great missionaries of the origins, in particular of the saints Paul, Bernabé and Marcos. Here, then, a pilgrim among you to walk with you, dear chipriotas; With all of you, with the desire that the good news of the Gospel leads from here to Europe a cheerful message in the sign of the beatitudes. What the first Christians gave the world with the humble force of the spirit was in effect an unprecedented beauty message. It was the surprising novelty of bliss to everyone to conquer the hearts and freedom of many. This country has a particular inheritance in that regard, as a messenger of beauty among the continents. Cyprus translies beauty in its territory, which must be preserved and protected with timely and concerted environmental policies with neighbors. Beauty is also reflected in architecture, in art - particularly in sacred art -, in the religious craft and in the numerous archaeological treasures. Bringing an image of the sea around us, I would like to say that this island represents a pearl of great value in the heart of the Mediterranean.

A pearl, in effect, becomes what it is because it is formed with the passage of time, requires years for the various stratifications to make it compact and gleaming. In this way, the beauty of this land derives from the cultures that were found and mixed over the centuries. Also today the light of Cyprus has many nuances, several are the peoples and people who, with diverse tones, make up the chromatic range of this population. I also think about the presence of many immigrants, what percentage is the most relevant among the countries of the European Union. Safeguarding the multicolored and polyhedral beauty of the set is not easy. Time and patience are needed, as for the formation of the pearl. A wide look is required that embraces the variety of cultures and teat towards the future with amplitude of sights. In this sense, it is important to protect and promote each component of society, in a special way to those who are statistically minority. I also think of several Catholic entities that would benefit from timely institutional recognition, so that the contribution they bring to society through their activities, in particular educational and charitable, is properly defined from the legal point of view.

A pearl shows its beauty in difficult circumstances. She is born from darkness, when the oyster "suffers" after having received an unexpected visit that threatens her incolumity, such as a grain of sand that irritates her. To protect himself from her, she reacts assimilating what has hurt her, wraps what she is dangerous and strange and transforms him into beauty, a pearl. The pearl of Cyprus was eclipsed by the pandemic, which prevented many visitors who agreed to see their beauty, aggravating, as in other places, the consequences of the economic and financial crisis. What will guarantee a solid and lasting development in this period of reactivation will not be the enthusiasm to recover how much it has been lost, but the commitment to promote the recovery of society, particularly through a determined fight against corruption and the pests that attempt against the dignity of the person; I refer, for example, to the traffic of human beings.

But the wound that makes this land the most is that caused by the terrible laceration he has suffered in the last decades. I refer to the inner suffering of those who cannot return to their homes and places of worship. I pray for your peace, for the peace of the entire island, and desire it with all the forces. The path of peace, which heals conflicts and regenerates the beauty of fraternity, is marked by a word: dialogue that you Mr. President has repeated so many times. We have to help us believe in the patient and humble force of dialogue, that force of patience, to "carry on the backs," Hypomoné, which we can extract from the beatitudes. We know that it is not an easy path; It is long and tortuous, but there are no alternatives to reach reconciliation. Let's feed hope with the power of gestures instead of making hope in the gestures of power. Because there is a power of the gestures that peace prepares, it is not about the gestures of power, the threats of revenge and the demonstrations of force, but about the gestures of relaxation, of the specific steps of dialogue. I refer, for example, to the commitment to establish a sincere debate that puts the demands of the population in the first place, to an increasingly active implication of the international community, to the safeguard of religious and cultural heritage, to the restitution of how much In this sense, it is more loved by people, such as places or at least sacred objects. In this regard, I would like to express my appreciation and encourage them in relation to the religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Project, promoted by the Sweden Embassy, ​​to cultivate dialogue between religious leaders.

The times that do not seem favorable and in which dialogue decays are precisely those that can prepare peace. It reminds us once again the pearl, that it becomes such when, with patience and in the dark, she weaves new substances next to the agent who has hurt her. At this juncture, let's not let hate prevail, do not give up healing wounds, let's not forget the cases of missing persons. And when the temptation of discouragement comes, let's think of future generations, which wish to inherit a pacified, collaborator, united, not inhabited by perennial rivalries and contaminated by unresolved conflicts. For this, dialogue is necessary, without which suspicion and resentment grow. That our reference is the Mediterranean, which now unfortunately is a place of conflicts and humanitarian tragedies; In its deep beauty is the Mare Nostrum, the sea of ​​all the peoples that appear to it to be connected, not divided. Cyprus, geographical, historical, cultural and religious crossroads, has this position to launch a peace action. That is an open work in which peace is built in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Frequently, peace is not born from great characters, but from everyday determination, every day, of the little ones.The European continent needs reconciliation and unity, needs courage and impulse to walk forward.Because it will not be the walls of fear or the vetoes dictated by nationalist interests that will contribute to progress, nor the economic recovery alone may guarantee security and stability.Let's look at the story of Cyprus and see how the encounter and reception have given beneficial fruits in the long term;Not only in regard to the history of Christianity, for which Cyprus was "the launch trampoline" in the continent, but also for the construction of a society that has found its own wealth in integration.This broad spirit, this ability to look beyond the rejuvenated borders, allows you to find the lost brightness again.

Referring to Cyprus, the facts of the apostles narrate that Paul and Bernabé "crossed the entire island until they reached pafos" (Acts 13,6).For me it is a reason for joy to go through these days the history and soul of this land, with the desire that your desire for unity and beauty message will continue to guide their way.Or Theós Na Evloghí Tin Kipro![God bless Cyprus!]


Friday, December 3

Meeting with the Holy Synod in the Orthodox Cathedral of Nicosia

Beatitude, dear bishops of the Holy Synod:

I am happy to find myself among you and I thank you for the cordial reception.Thank you, dear brother, for your words, for the opening of the heart and for the commitment to promote dialogue between us.I want to extend my greeting to priests, deacons and all the faithful of the Orthodox Chipre Church, particularly remembering the monks and nuns, who with their prayer purify and raise the faith of all.

The grace of being here leads me to think that we have a common apostolic origin: Paul crossed Cyprus and later arrived in Rome.Therefore, we descend from the same apostolic ardor and unite a single way: that of the Gospel.I like to see that we continue walking in the same direction, in search of a growing fraternity and full unit.In this Retazo of the Holy Land that spreads the grace of the holy places in the Mediterranean, the memory of so many pages and biblical figures comes naturally.Among all, I would like to refer again to San Bernabé, highlighting some aspects that can guide us on the road.

"José, whom the apostles called" Bernabé "" (Acts 4,36): this is presented in the Acts of the Apostles.We know him and venerate him by his nickname, because of how much the person of his defined.Now, the word Bernabé means at the same time "son of comfort" and "son of exhortation."It is beautiful that both characteristics are founded in the figure of it, indispensable for the announcement of the Gospel.Indeed, every true consolation cannot be intimate, but must translate into exhortation, guide freedom towards good.At the same time, every exhortation in faith can only be based on the comforting presence of God and be accompanied by fraternal charity.

In this way Bernabé, son of Consuelo, urges his brothers to undertake the same mission of proclaiming the gospel to men, inviting us to understand that the announcement cannot be based on general exhortations, on the repetition of precepts and norms to observe , as done frequently. You have to follow the path of personal encounter, pay attention to people's questions, their existential needs. To be children of the comfort, before saying anything, it is necessary to hear, let yourself be questioned, discover the other, share: because the gospel is transmitted by communion. This is what, as Catholics, we want to live in the coming years, rediscovering the synodal dimension, constituting the being of the Church. And in this we feel the need to walk more intensely with you, dear brothers, who through the experience of your synodality can be truly helpful. Thank you for your fraternal collaboration, which is also manifested in active participation in the International Mixed Commission for the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

Desire of heart that increase the possibilities of finding us, to know each other better, to tear down many preconceptions and to dispose of a serene listening of the respective experiences of faith. It will be a stimulating exhortation so that each one offers the best and this will give a spiritual fruit of consolation to all. The apostle Paul, who we descend, often speaks of consolation and it is beautiful Let us comfort ourselves with the same comfort we receive from God (cf. 2 co 1,3-5). In this sense, dear brothers, I want to assure you my prayer and closeness, as well as that of the Catholic Church, both in the most painful problems that distress them and in the most beautiful and bold hopes that encourage them. The sorrows and joys of you belong to us, we feel ours; And we also feel that we need much of its prayers.

Then - second appearance -, San Bernabé is presented in the Acts of the Apostles as "a Levite born in Cyprus" (Acts 4,36). The text does not add other details, or in terms of its appearance or in terms of its person, but immediately later it reveals to Bernabé through emblematic action: «He sold a field of his property, took the amount and made it available to the apostles »(v. 37). This magnificent gesture suggests that to revitalize ourselves in communion and in the mission we must also have the courage to strip us of what, even being valuable, is terrain, to favor the fullness of the unit. I do not certainly mean what is sacred and helps us find the Lord, but to the risk of absolutizing certain uses and customs that are not essential to live faith. Let us not be paralyzed by the fear of opening and making bold gestures, we do not support the "irreconcilable character of the differences" that does not find correspondence in the Gospel. We do not allow traditions - plural and with the tiny "t" - tend to prevail over tradition - in singular and with the capital "t". This urges us to imitate Bernabé, to leave how much, even being good, it can compromise the fullness of communion, the primacy of charity and the need for unity.

Bernabé, leaving everything he had at the foot of the apostles, entered their hearts. We are also invited by the Lord to rediscover ourselves as part of the same body, to go to the feet of the brothers. It is true that history, in the field of our relationships, has opened wide furrows between us, but the Holy Spirit wants us to come back to humility and respect again. He invites us not to resign ourselves to the divisions of the past and to cultivate together the field of the kingdom, with patience, regular and in a concrete way. Because if we leave abstract theories and work together, side by side - for example, in charity, in education and in the promotion of human dignity - we will rediscover the brother and communion will mature for herself, for God's glory. Each will keep the own ways and style itself but, over time, joint work will increase the concord and will be fruitful. Just as these Mediterranean lands were embellished by the respectful and patient of man, we also cultivate, with the help of God and with humble perseverance, our apostolic communion.

For example, it is a good fruit that happens here in Cyprus in the church of "Our Lady of the Golden City."The temple, dedicated to the Panaghia Chrysopolysa, is currently a place of worship for several Christian confessions, loved by the population and frequently chosen for marriages celebrations.It is therefore a sign of communion of faith and life, under the gaze of the Holy Mother of God, which brings together her children.In addition, within the complex a column is preserved where, according to tradition, St. Paul suffered thirty -nine whips for having announced faith in pafos.The mission, as well as communion, always happens through sacrifices and tests.

Opus Dei Opus Dei Viaje apostólico del Papa Francisco a Chipre y Grecia

The third aspect that I highlight from the figure of Bernabé is precisely a test, which marked its history and the origins of the dissemination of the Gospel in these lands. Upon returning to Cyprus with Pablo and Marcos, Bernabé found Elimas, "Magician and false prophet", who opposed them with malice, trying to twist the rights of the Lord (cf. Acts 13,6.8.10). Nor are falsities and deceptions that the past puts us in front of us and that hinder the way. Centuries of division and distances that have led to assimilate, even involuntarily, not a few hostile prejudices with respect to others, preconcepts based on often in poor and distorted information, disclosed by aggressive and controversial reading. But all this twists the path of God, which is oriented towards concord and unity. Dear brothers, Bernabé's holiness is also eloquent to us. How many times in history, among the Christians we have worried about opposing others, instead of carefully welcoming the path of God, which tends to rebuild divisions in charity. How many times have we enlarged and widespread prejudices about others, instead of fulfilling the exhortation that the Lord repeats especially in the Gospel written by Mark, who was with Bernabé to this island: to get small and serve others (cf. Mc 9, 35; 10,43-44).

Beatitude, today in our dialogue I have been moved when you talked about the Mother Church.Our church is a mother, she is a mother who always brings together her children with tenderness.We trust this Mother Church, which brings us together to all and that, with patience, tenderness and courage, leads us forward on the way of the Lord.But, to feel the motherhood of the Church, we all have to go where the Church is mother.All of us, with our differences, but all children of the Mother Church.Thanks for that reflection she has done with me today.

Let's supply Lord wisdom and courage to follow his paths and not ours.Let's ask for it by intercession of the saints.Leontios Machairas, chronicler of the fifteenth century, defined Cyprus as the "Santa Island" for the number of martyrs and blessed that this land has known throughout the centuries.In addition to the most famous and venerated, such as Bernabé, Pablo and Marcos, Epifanio, Bárbara, Espiridón, there are many others, innumerable crowds of saints who, united in the only celestial church - the mother church -, they drive us to navigate together towards himPort for which we all sigh.From the hereafter they invite us to make Cyprus - which is already a bridge between the East and West - a bridge between heaven and earth.So it is, for the glory of the Holy Trinity, for our good and for the good that of all.Thanks.

Holy Mass at the Nicosia GSP Stadium

While Jesus passed, two blinds shouted at his misery and hope: "Son of David, have mercy on us!"(Mt 9,27)."Son of David" was a title attributed to the Messiah, which the prophecies announced as from David's lineage.The two protagonists of today's Gospel are blind and, nevertheless, they see the most important thing: they recognize Jesus as the Messiah who has come to the world.Let's stop in three steps of this encounter that, on this way of Advent, can help us to welcome the Lord who is coming, the Lord who passes.

The first step: go to Jesus to heal.The text says that the two blind shouted the Lord as they followed him (cf. v. 27).They didn't see him, but they listened to his voice and followed his steps.They sought in Christ what the prophets had pre -announced, that is, the signs of healing and compassion of God in the middle of his people.In this regard, Isaiah had written: "The eyes of the blind will take off" (35,5).And another prophecy, included in today's first reading: "The eyes of the blind will see without shadow or darkness" (29,18).The two blind of the Gospel trust Jesus and follow him in search of light for his eyes.

And why, brothers and sisters, these two people trust Jesus? Because they perceive that, in the darkness of history, he is the light that illuminates the nights of the heart and the world, which defeats darkness and expires all blindness. We also, like the two blind, have blindness in the heart. We, like the two blind, are also often immersed in the darkness of life. The first thing to do is go to Jesus, as he said: "come to me all tired and overwhelmed by charges, and I will make them rest" (Mt 11,28). Who of us is not tired and overwhelmed? All. But we resist going to Jesus; Many times we prefer to be locked in ourselves, be alone with our darkness, self -patient, accepting the bad company of sadness. Jesus is the doctor, only he, the true light that illuminates every man (cf. Jn 1,9), gives us light, heat and love in abundance. Only he frees the heart of evil. We can ask ourselves: Do I find myself in the dark of melancholy, which dry the sources of joy, or go to the encounter of Jesus and offer my life? Do I follow Jesus, "I pursue", I shout my needs, I give my bitterness? Let's do it, let's give Jesus the possibility of healing our hearts: this is the first step; Interior healing requires another two.

The second step is to wear the wounds together. In this evangelical story, a single blind man is not cured, such as Bartimaeus (cf. Mc 10,46-52) or the blind of birth (cf. Jn 9,1-41). Here the blind are two. They are together along the way. Together they share the pain for their condition, together they want a light that can make a glow shine in the heart of their nights. The text we have heard is always in the plural, because the two do everything together: both follow Jesus, both, addressing him, ask him for healing; Not everyone on his side, but together. It is significant that they say to Christ: have mercy on us. They use the "we", they don't say "me." He does not think of each one in his own blindness, but ask for help together. This is the eloquent sign of Christian life, the distinctive feature of the ecclesial spirit: thinking, speaking and acting as a "we", coming out of individualism and the claim of self -sufficiency that gets sick.

The two blind, sharing their sufferings and with their fraternal friendship, teach us a lot.Each of us is somehow blind because of sin, which prevents us from "seeing" God as a father and others as brothers.This is what sin does: it distorts reality, makes us see God as the master and others as problems.It is the work of the tempting, who falsifies things and tends to show them under a negative light to throw ourselves in discouragement and bitterness.And the horrible sadness, which is dangerous and does not come from God, nests well in solitude.Therefore, you cannot face the darkness being alone.If we carry our inner blinds alone, we are overwhelmed.We need to put each other next to the other, share the wounds and face the way together.

Dear brothers and sisters, in front of each personal darkness and the challenges that are presented to us in the Church and in society we are called to renew the fraternity.If we remain divided between us, if each one thinks only in himself or his group, if we do not get together, if we do not talk, if we do not walk together, we will not be able to heal the blindness fully.Healing comes when we carry the wounds together, when we face the problems together, when we listen and talk to each other.And this is the grace of living in community, of understanding the value of being together, of being a community.I ask you to always be together, always united;Go ahead and with joy, Christian brothers, children of the only father.And I also ask for me.

And the third step is to announce the gospel with joy.After being cured together by Jesus, the two anonymous protagonists of the Gospel, in which we can reflect, began to spread the news throughout the region, to talk about that everywhere.There is a bit of irony in this fact: Jesus had recommended that they say nothing to anyone, however, they did exactly the opposite (cf. Mt 9,30-31).But by the story it is understood that it was not his intention to disobey the Lord, but simply failedJoy of the Gospel, which is unstoppable, "fills the heart and the whole life of those who meet Jesus" (Exhort. Ap. Evangelii Gaudium, 1);The joy of the Gospel releases the risk of intimate, distant and complaining faith, and introduces the dynamism of the testimony.

Dear friends, it is beautiful to see them and perceive that the gospel liberating announcement live with joy: I thank you for this. It is not about proselytism - please, never proselytize - but testimony; It is not moralism that judges - no, do not do it - but mercy that embraces; It is not an exterior cult, but of lived love. I encourage you to move forward on this path. As the two blind of the Gospel, we also renew the encounter with Jesus and leave ourselves without fear to testify to those who we find. Let's get the light we have received, let us illuminate the night that often surrounds us. Brothers and sisters, illuminated Christians are needed, but above all luminous, who touched the brothers' blindness, who with gestures and words of comfort light lights of hope in the dark; Christians who sow evangeling outbreaks in the aggregate fields of everyday life, which take caresses to the solitudes of suffering and poverty.

Brothers, sisters, the Lord Jesus passes, also passes through our streets of Cyprus, listens.And he also addresses the question he asked those blind: "Do you think I can do this?"(Mt 9,28).Do we believe that Jesus can do this?We renew our trust in Him. Let's say: Jesus, we believe that your light is greater than any of our darkness, we believe that you can cure us, that you can renew our fraternity, that you can multiply our joy;And with the whole church we invoke you, all together: Come, Lord Jesus![Everyone repeats: "Come, Lord Jesus!"] Come, Lord Jesus![Everyone repeats: "Come, Lord Jesus!"] Come, Lord Jesus![Everyone repeats: "Come, Lord Jesus!"]

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Greetings at the end of Holy Mass

Dear brothers and sisters:

It is me who wants to thank all of you.Tomorrow morning, by saying goodbye to this country, I will have the opportunity to greet the President of the Republic, here present, now I want to express my gratitude to all for the reception and affection they have given me.Thank you!

Here in Cyprus I am breathing a little of that typical atmosphere of Holy Land, where the antiquity and variety of Christian traditions enrich the pilgrim.This is good for me, and it is good to find communities of believers who live the present with hope, open to the future, and who share this horizon with the most needy.I particularly think about migrants looking for a better life, with which I will have my last encounter on this island, along with the brothers and sisters of various Christian confessions.

Thanks to all those who have collaborated on this visit.Pray for me.May the Lord bless you and the Holy Virgin protects them.Efcharistó![Thank you!]

Ecumenical prayer with migrants in the parish church of La Santa Cruz, Nicosia

Dear brothers and sisters:

It is a great joy to be here with you and conclude my visit to Cyprus with this prayer meeting.I thank the Patriarchs Pizzaballa and Béchara Raï, as well as Mrs. Elisabeth de Cáritas.I greet with affection and gratitude to the representatives of the various Christian confessions present in Cyprus.

To you, young migrants who have given your testimonies, I want to tell you a huge "thank you" of heart.I had received the testimonies in advance, about a month ago, and they had excited me a lot, and they have also moved me again when they hear them.But it is not just emotion, it is much more, it is the shock that comes from the beauty of truth, like Jesus's when he exclaimed: «I praise you, father, lord of heaven and earth, because you have revealed all this toThe little ones and you have hidden from the wise and the cunning ”(Mt 11,25).I also praise the heavenly Father because this happens today, here - as also throughout the world - God reveals his kingdom to the little ones: kingdom of love, justice and peace.

After listening to you, we better understand all the prophetic force of the Word of God that, through the apostle Paul, says: "You are no longer strangers or outsiders, but fellow citizens of the saints and family of God" (Eph 2.19).They were written words to the Christians of Ephesus - not far from here;Very distant over time, but close words, that they are more current than ever, as if they had been written today for us: "You are not outsiders, but fellow citizens."This is the prophecy of the Church, a community that embodies - with all human limits - the dream of God.Because God also dreams, like you, Mariamie, who come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and you have defined yourself "full of dreams."Like you, God dreams of a world of peace, in which his children live as brothers and sisters.God wants this, God dreams this.It is we who do not want it.

His presence, migrant brothers and sisters, is very significant in this celebration. His testimonies are like a "mirror" for us, Christian communities. When you, Thamara, who come from Sri Lanka, you say: "They often ask me who I am": the brutality of migration puts one's identity at stake. “But this is me? I do not know. Where are my roots? Who I am?". And when you say this, you remind us that we are also sometimes asked this question: "Who are you?" And unfortunately, what is meant is: “What part are you? What group do you belong to? But as you have told us, we are not numbers, we are not individuals who have to catalog: we are "brothers", "friends", "believers" and "we protected" each other. But when group interests or political interests, also of nations, press, many among us are separated and, unintentionally, slaves are seen. Because interest always enslaves, always create slaves. The love that is broad and that is contrary to hate, makes us free.

When you, Maccolins, who come from Cameroon, you say that throughout your life you have been "injured by hatred", you are talking about this, these wounds of interest;And you remind us that hate has also contaminated our relationships between Christians.And this, as you have said, leaves a brand, a deep brand that lasts a long time: it is a poison.Yes, you have expressed it with your passion: hate is a poison from which it is difficult to detoxify.And hate is a distorted mentality that, instead of making us recognize brothers, leads us to see ourselves as adversaries, as rivals, or if not as objects that are sold or exploited.

When you, Rozh, that you come from Iraq, you say that you are "a person on the way", you remind us that we are also a community on the way, that we are under the conflict to communion. In this path, which is long and is formed by ups and downs, we should not scare the differences between us, but rather, our locks should be scared, and our prejudices, which prevent us from really being found and we walk together. Cerrazones and prejudices build between us that wall of separation that Christ has demolished, that is, enmity (cf. Eph 2,14). And then our journey to the full unit can advance to the extent that we all look at Jesus, which is "our peace" (ibid.), Which is the "main stone" (v. 20) . And he, the Lord Jesus, comes to our encounter in the face of the marginalized and discarded brother, on the face of the despised, rejected, oppressed, exploited migrant. But also - as you said - on the face of the migrant that is on the way to something, towards a hope, towards a more human coexistence.

And so God speaks to us through his dreams. The danger is that many times we do not let dreams into us, we prefer to sleep and not dream. It is easier to look elsewhere. And in this world we get used to the culture of indifference, to the culture of looking elsewhere, and falling asleep, calm. But along this way you can never dream. It's hard. God speaks through him. God does not speak through people who cannot dream anything, because they have everything or because their heart has hardened. God also calls us not to resign ourselves to live in a divided world, not to resign ourselves to divided Christian communities, but to walk in history attracted by God's dream, which is a humanity without walls of separation, freed from enmity , without more strangers but only fellow citizens, as Paul told us in the passage I have cited. Different, it is true, and proud of our peculiarities; Proud of being different, of these peculiarities that are a gift of God, different, proud to be, but always reconciled, always brothers.

That this island, marked by a painful division - I am looking at the wall, there [through the open door of the church] -, can become with the grace of God into fraternity workshop. I thank all those who work for this. To think that this island is generous, but it cannot do everything, because the number of people who arrives is superior to their possibilities to incorporate, to integrate, to accompany, to promote. Its geographical closeness facilitates, but it is not easy. We must understand the limits that the rulers of this island have. But it is always present on this island, and I have seen it in those responsible that I have visited, [the commitment] of becoming, with the grace of God, in fraternity workshop. And it may be with two conditions: the first is the effective recognition of the dignity of each human person (cf. Letter En. Fratelli Tutti, 8). Our dignity is not sold, it is not rented, it is not lost. High forehead: I am worthy son of God. The effective recognition of the dignity of every human person: this is the ethical foundation, a universal foundation that is also in the center of the Christian social doctrine. The second condition is the openness entrusted to God, everyone's father, and this is the "ferment" that we are called to be as believers (cf. ibid., 272).

With these conditions it is possible that the dream translates into a daily journey, made of concrete steps that go from the conflict to communion, of hate to love, of the flight to meet.A patient path that, day after day, makes us enter the earth that God has prepared for us, the land where, if they ask you: "Who are you?", You can respond to the discovered face: "Look, I am your brother,Don't you know me?And walk like this, slowly.

Listening to you, looking at your face, memory goes further, goes to sufferings. You arrived here, but how many of your brothers and sisters stayed on the road? How many, desperate, began the trip in very difficult, even precarious conditions, and could not arrive? We can say that this sea has become a great cemetery. Looking at you I see the sufferings of the road, so many who have been kidnapped, sold, exploited; They are still on their way, we don't know where. It is the history of slavery, a universal slavery. We look at what happens, and the worst thing is that we are getting used to this: "Ah, yes, today a ship sank, there, many missing." But see that this getting used to it is a serious illness, it is a very serious disease and there is no antibiotic for this disease. We must react against this vice of getting used to reading these tragedies in the newspapers or listening to them in other media. Looking at you, I think of so many who had to return because they rejected them and ended up in the refugee fields, true concentration camps, where women are sold, tortured, enslaved men. We regret when we read the stories of the concentration camps of the last century, those of the Nazis, those of Stalin, we regret when we see that and say: "But how is it possible that that happened?" Brothers and sisters: It is happening today, on the nearby coasts. Slavery places. I have seen some recorded testimonies of that: places of torture, for sale of people. I say this because it is my responsibility to help us open our eyes. Forced migration is not an almost tourist custom, please! And the sin we have inside drives us to think like this: "poor people, poor people." And with that "poor people" we erased everything. It is the war of this moment, it is the suffering of brothers and sisters that we cannot silence. Those who have given everything they had to get on a ship, at night without knowing if they would arrive. And then, so many of them are rejected and end up in the concentration camps, true places of confinement, torture and slavery.

This is the history of this developed civilization, which we call the West.And then - have love me, but I would like to say what I have in my heart, at least to pray for each other and do something - then the barbed wires.I see one here: this is a hate war that divides a country.But the barbed wires, in other places where they are, put themselves to not let the refugee in, which comes to ask for freedom, bread, help, brotherhood, joy, which is fleeing hate and is facing a hate calledbarbed wire.That the Lord awakens the consciences of all of us in front of these things.

And forgive me if I have said things as they are, but we cannot shut up and look the other way, in this culture of indifference.

May the Lord bless you all.Thanks.

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Meeting with the authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps in the presidential palace of Athens

Mrs. President of the Republic, members of the Government and the diplomatic corps, distinguished religious and civil authorities, distinguished representatives of society and the world of culture, ladies and lords:

I greet them cordially and I thank the president of the welcome words that he has directed me on behalf of you and all the Greek citizens.It is an honor to be in this glorious city.I make my words of San Gregorio Naciannceno: "Aurea Athens and good dispenser ... When I sought eloquence, I found happiness" (Oratio 43,14).I come as a pilgrim to these places that exceed spirituality, culture and civilization, to perceive the same happiness that excited the great father of the Church.It was the joy of cultivating wisdom and sharing its beauty.A happiness, therefore, that is not individual or isolated, but, born from astonishment, tends to infinity and opens to the community;Wise happiness, which from these places has spread everywhere.Without Athens and without Greece, Europe and the world would not be what they are: they would be less wise and less happy.

From here, Horizons of Humanity have dilated. I also feel invited to raise my gaze and stop it in the highest part of the city: the acropolis. Visible from afar for travelers who have arrived there through the millennia, offered an essential reference to divinity. It is the call to expand the horizons to the top, from Mount Olympus to the Acropolis and the Mount Atos. Greece invites man of all time to guide the journey of life to the high: towards God, because we need transcendence to be truly human. And while today in the West, which has been born here, the need for heaven tends to be obfusca Infinite, for the beauty of being, for the joy of faith. Here the roads of the Gospel that have joined the East and the West, the Holy Places and Europe, Jerusalem and Rome; Those gospels that, to bring to the world the good news of God lover of man, were written in Greek, immortal language used by the word - the logos - to express themselves, language of human wisdom turned into a voice of divine wisdom.

But in this city the gaze, in addition to heading to the top, is also promoted towards the other.The sea reminds us of, to which Athens looks out and that guides the vocation of this land, located in the heart of the Mediterranean to be a bridge between people.Here great historians were passionate about the stories of the near and distant peoples.Here, according to Socrates's known statement, he began to feel citizens not only of the homeland itself, but of the entire world.Citizens, here the man became “a political animal” (cf. Aristotle, politics, i, 2) and, as part of a community, he saw in others not only subjects, but citizens with whom to organize together the polis.Here democracy was born.The cradle, millennia later, became a house, a great house of democratic peoples: I refer to the European Union and the dream of peace and fraternity that represents for so many peoples.

However, one cannot fail to verify with concern how today, not only in the European continent, there is a setback of democracy.This requires the participation and involvement of all and therefore demands effort and patience;Democracy is complex, while authoritarianism is expeditious and the easy promises proposed by populisms are attractive.In various societies, concerned about security and anesthetized by consumerism, fatigue and discomfort lead to a kind of "democratic skepticism."However, everyone's participation is a fundamental demand, not only to achieve common objectives, but because it responds to what we are: social, unrepeatable beings and at the same time interdependent.

But there is also skepticism, in relation to democracy, caused by the distance of institutions, by fear of loss of identity and bureaucracy. The remedy to this is not in the obsessive search for popularity, in the thirst for visibility, in the proclamation of impossible promises or in adherence to abstract ideological colonizations, but is in good policy. Because politics is a good thing and so it must be in practice, as a supreme responsibility of the citizen, as an art of the common good. To make the good really participated, you have to direct particular attention, I would say a priority, to the weakest stripes. This is the direction to follow, that a founding father of Europe indicated as an antidote for the polarizations that encourage democracy, but that threaten to exasperate it: «There is much talk about who is on the left or right, but the decisive thing is to go to Go ahead, and go forward it means heading towards social justice ”(A. of Gasperi, speech in Milan, April 23, 1949). In this sense, a change of rhythm is necessary, while every day fears are disseminated, amplified by virtual communication, and theories are elaborated to oppose others. Let us help, on the other hand, to move from partisanship to participation; of the mere commitment to sustain the faction itself to actively involve by the promotion of all.

From partisanship to participation. It is the motivation that must be promoted on several fronts: I think of the weather, the pandemic, in the common market and especially in extended poverty. These are challenges that ask to collaborate in a concrete and active way, the international community needs it, to open peace paths through a multilateralism that is not suffocated by excessive nationalist claims; Politics needs it, to put the common demands before private interests. It may seem like a utopia, a hopeless journey in a turbulent sea, a long and unrealizing odyssey. And yet, as the great Homeric story teaches, the trip in an agitated sea is often the only way. And it reaches the goal if it is encouraged by the desire of a home, by the search to move forward together, by the nostos Álgos, for nostalgia. In this regard, I would like to renew my appreciation for the difficult route that has led to the “Prespa Agreement”, signed between this Republic and that of Macedonia del Norte.

Looking even at the Mediterranean, a sea that opens us to the other, I think of its fertile coasts and the tree that could be erected as a symbol: the olive tree, from which the fruits have just been collected and that combines diverse lands that appear to the only sea. It is sad to see how many centenary olive trees burned in recent years, consumed by fires caused frequently by adverse weather conditions, which in turn were caused by climate change. Faced with the wounded landscape of this wonderful country, the olive tree can symbolize the will to contrast the climatic crisis and its devastations. In fact, after the flood, the primordial catastrophe narrated by the Bible, a dove returned to Noah "carrying an olive leaf that had started" (Gen 8,11). It was the symbol of recovery, of strength to begin again by changing the lifestyle, renewing the relationships with the creator, creatures and creation. In this sense, I wish that the commitments assumed in the fight against climate change are shared more and more and are not facade, but are carried out seriously; That the words follow the facts, so that the children do not pay once again the hypocrisy of the parents. In this sense, the words that Homer put in Achilles's mouth: "It is as hateful as the doors of Hades who thinks one thing and manifests another" (Iliad, IX, 312-313).

In writing, the olive tree also represents an invitation to be supportive, particularly with respect to those who do not belong to the people themselves. The Bible says: «If you collect the fruit of your olive trees, do not return to look for more. It will be for the migrant ”(DT 24,20). This country, characterized by the reception, has seen in some of its islands a greater number of migrant brothers and sisters than that of the same inhabitants, thus increasing the problems, which are still affected by the difficulties brought by the economic crisis. But also European delays last. The European Community, torn by nationalist selfishness, rather than being a solidarity train, is sometimes shown and without coordination. If ideological contrasts prevented the construction of bridges between the east and west of the continent, today the immigration issue has also opened gaps between the south and north. I would like to exhort again to an overall, community vision, in the face of the immigration issue, and encourage the most in need of the most needy so that, according to the possibilities of each country, they are welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated into full respect of their human rights and their dignity. More than an obstacle to the present, that represents a guarantee for the future, so that it is a sign of a peaceful coexistence for those who are forced to flee in search of a home and hope, and that are increasingly numerous. They are the protagonists of a terrible modern odyssey. I like to remember that when Ulises landed in Ithaca, he was not recognized by the lords of the place, who had usurped his house and his assets, but for whom he had taken care of him. His's nurse realized that it was him when she saw his scars. The sufferings unite us and recognize belonging to the same fragile humanity will help us build a more integrated and peaceful future. Let us transform into bold chance what only looks like an unfortunate adversity!

Instead, pandemic is the great adversity. He has caused us to rediscover fragile, in need of others. Also in this country it is a challenge that requires appropriate interventions by the authorities - I mean the need for the vaccination campaign - and not a few sacrifices for citizens. But in the midst of so much effort a notable sense of solidarity has been made, to which the local Catholic Church is happy to continue contributing, with the conviction that this constitutes an inheritance that should not be lost with the slow to placate the storm. Some words of the Hippocrates oath seem written for our time, such as the effort to "regulate life tenor for the good of the sick", for "refraining from all damage and offense" to others, for safeguarding life in everything moment, particularly in the maternal breast (cf. oath of Hippocrates, ancient text). The right to care and treatments for all must always be privileged, so that the weakest are never discarded, in particular the elderly; that the elderly are not the first people excluded by the culture of discard. The elderly are the sign of the wisdom of a people. Indeed, life is a right; It is not death, which is accepted, it is not supplied.

Dear friends, some copies of Mediterranean olive trees attest to such a long life that precedes the birth of Christ. Millennaries and durable, have resisted the passage of time and remind us of the importance of guarding strong, innervated memory roots. This country can be defined as the memory of Europe, - you are the memory of Europe - and I am happy to visit it after twenty years of the historic visit of Pope John Paul II and in the bicentennial of its independence. In this regard, the phrase of General Plancotronis is known: "God has put his signing on Greece's freedom." God gladly puts Him on human freedom, always and everywhere, is the greatest gift of Him and what, in turn, more values ​​us. He, in effect, has created us free and what pleases him is that we freely love him and neighbor. Laws contribute to make it possible, but also education in the responsibility and growth of a culture of respect. In this regard, I want to renew my thanks for the public recognition of the Catholic community and I assure your will to promote the common good of Greek society, orienting in that sense the universality that characterizes it, with the desire that in practical terms you always guarantee the necessary conditions to perform your service well.

Two hundred years ago, the country's provisional government addressed Catholics with moving words: “Christ has established the commandment of love for others. But who is more neighbor to you, our fellow citizens, although there are some differences in the rites? We have a single homeland, we belong to a single town; We Christians are brothers, brothers in the roots, in growth and in the fruits through the Holy Cross. ” Being brothers under the sign of the cross, in this country blessed by faith and by its Christian traditions, urges all believers in Christ to cultivate communion in all areas, in the name of that God who embraces everyone with his mercy. In this sense, dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for their commitment and urged them to make this country progress in openness, inclusion and justice. From this city, from this cradle of civilization it rose - and always rise - a message oriented towards the top and other; that to the seductions of authoritarianism respond with democracy; That individualistic indifference opposes the care of the other, of the poor and of creation, essential pillars for a renewed humanism, which is what our times and our Europe need. Or Theós Na Evloghí Tin Elládha! [God bless Greece!]

Meeting of his Beatitude Jerónimo II and His Holiness Francisco

Bliss:

"Grace and peace from God" (RM 1,7).I greet him with these words of the great apostle Paul, the same with which, while he was on Greek land, he addressed the faithful of Rome.Today our encounter renews that grace and that peace.Praying to the trophies of the Church of Rome, which are the tombs of the apostles and the martyrs, I have felt driven here as a pilgrim, with great respect and humility, to renew that apostolic communion and feed the fraternal charity.In this sense I want to thank him, beatitude, for the words he has directed me and that I correspond to affection, greeting, through his, to clergy, the monastic communities and to all the Orthodox faithful of Greece.

Five years ago we were in lesbos, in the emergence of one of the greatest dramas of our time, that of so many migrant brothers and sisters who cannot be left in indifference and seen only as a burden that must be managed or, still, still, still worse, you have to delegate another. Now we meet again to share the joy of fraternity and look at the Mediterranean that surrounds us not only as a place that worries and divides, but also as a sea that unites us. A moment ago I remembered the centenary olive trees that combine these lands. Returning to these trees that link us, I think of the roots we share: they are underground, they are often neglected, but they exist and hold everything. What are our common roots that have gone through the centuries? They are the apostolic roots. Saint Paul showed them by recalling the importance of being "built on the foundation of the apostles" (Eph 2,20). These roots, which have grown from the seed of the Gospel, began to bear great fruits precisely in the Hellenic culture, I think of so many parents and the first great ecumenical councils.

Unfortunately, then we have grown up: we have contaminated mortal poisons, the tares of suspicion increased the distance and stopped cultivating communion. St. Basilo Magno said that the true disciples of Christ are "modeled only based on what they see in Him" ​​(Moralia, 80,1). Shame - I recognize him for the Catholic Church - actions and decisions that have little or nothing to do with Jesus and with the Gospel, based rather on the thirst for profits and power, have wilt communion. In this way we have let fertility be threatened by divisions. The story has its weight and today I feel the need to renew the plea of ​​forgiveness to God and the brothers for the mistakes that so many Catholics have made. But it is a great comfort to know that our roots are apostolic and that, despite the distortions of time, the plant of God grows and bear fruit in the same spirit. And it is a grace that we recognize the fruits of others and that together we thank the Lord for it.

The final fruit of the olive tree is oil, that oil that was contained in beautiful vessels and containers, which abound among the archaeological treasures of this country.The oil has provided the light that illuminated the nights of antiquity.During millennia it was the "liquid sun, the first mysterious state of the flame of the lamps" (C. Boureux, les plants of the Bible et Leur Symbolique, Paris 2014, 65).To us, dear brother, the oil evokes us to the Holy Spirit, who gave birth to the Church.Only he, with the splendor of him who does not know the sunset, can dissipate the darkness and illuminate the steps of our path.

Yes, because the Holy Spirit is, above all, communion oil. In writing there is talk of the oil that shines the face of man (cf. Sal 104.15). How much is needed today to recognize the unique value that shines in every man, in each brother. Recognizing this common characteristic of humanity is the starting point to build communion. But, unfortunately - as a great theologian has written, "communion seems to touch a sensitive rope," a delicate issue, not only in society, but often also among the disciples of Jesus "in a Christian world nourished by individualism and of institutional stiffness ». However, if their own traditions and specificities of each lead to entrust and take distance from others, if "otherness is not something qualified by communion, life can hardly be given to adequate culture" (I. Zizioulas, Communione e Alterità, Rome 2016, 16). Instead, communion among the brothers brings with it the divine blessing. The psalms compare it with a "precious perfume that spills over the head, which descends on the beard" (Ps 133,2). The spirit that spills in minds drives us in effect to a more intense fraternity, to structure ourselves in communion. Therefore, we are not afraid, let's help ourselves to worship God and serve others, without proselytizing and fully respecting the freedom of others, because - as Saint Paul wrote - "where the spirit of the Lord is freedom" (2 co 3.17). I pray for the spirit of charity to come our resistance and make us constructors of communion, because "if love manages to completely expel fear and this, transformed, becomes love, then we will see that unity is a consequence of salvation" ( S. Gregorio de Nisa, Homily 15, on the book of Song of Songs). On the other hand, how can we testify to the world of the concord of the Gospel if we Christians are still separated? How can we announce the love of Christ that brings together people, if we are not united among us? Many steps have been taken to meet. Let us invoke the spirit of communion to drive us on your paths and help us to found communion not based on calculations, strategies and conveniences, but on the only model we have to look at: the Holy Trinity.

Second, the spirit is wisdom oil. He anointed Christ and wants to inspire Christians. Docile to the humble wisdom of Him, we grow in the knowledge of God and open ourselves to others. I would like to express my recognition for the importance of this Orthodox Church, heiress of the first great inculturation of faith - inculturation with Hellenic culture - to formation and theological preparation. I would also like to remember the fruitful collaboration in the cultural field between the Apostolikí Diakonía of the Church of Greece - whose representatives I had the joy of finding in 2019 - and the Pontifical Council for the promotion of the unity of Christians, as well as the importance of The intercristian symposia promoted by the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Salonicco with the Pontifical University Antonianum of Rome. They are occasions that have allowed us to establish cordial relationships and carry out useful exchanges between the academics of our confessions. I also appreciate the active participation of the Orthodox Church of Greece in the International Mixed Commission for theological Dialogue. May the spirit help us continue with wisdom on these paths!

Finally, the same spirit is a consolation oil, a paraclite that is close to us, balm of the soul, healing of our wounds.He has consecrated Christ with the anointing to proclaim the good news to the poor, the liberation to the captives, the freedom to the oppressed (cf. Lc 4,18).And he still drives us to take care of the weakest and the poorest, and so that his cause - first to the eyes of God - is released to the world.Here, as anywhere else, the support offered to the most needy during the toughest periods of the economic crisis has been indispensable.Let us develop together forms of cooperation in charity, let's abrome and collaborate in ethical and social matters to serve the men of our time and bring them the consolation of the Gospel.Indeed, the spirit calls us, today more than in the past, to cure the wounds of humanity with the oil of charity.

Christ himself asked his people, at the time of anguish, the consolation of closeness and prayer.The image of the oil leads us to the garden of the olive trees.Jesus said: "Stay here and watch" (Mc 14,34).His request to the apostles was in the plural.Also today we want us to watch and pray.To bring to the world the comfort of God and heal our wounded relationships we need to pray for each other.It is essential that we reach the necessary purification of historical memory.With the grace of the Holy Spirit, the disciples of the Lord, animated by love, by the force of truth and for the sincere will to forgive each other and reconcile, are called to reconsider together their painful past and the wounds that it unfortunately continues to produceAlso today ”(S. John Paul II, Letter. Enc. Ut Unum Sint, 2).

This urges us, in particular, faith in resurrection. The apostles, fearful and hesitant, reconciled with the lacerating disappointment of passion when they saw the risen Lord before them. Precisely from their sores, which seemed impossible to heal, they found a new hope, an unavailable mercy, a love greater than their own mistakes and miseries, which would transform them into a single body, together with the spirit in the multiplicity of many different members of many different members . Let the spirit of the resurrected crucified come on us, which grants us "a calm and clean look, vivified by divine mercy, capable of freeing the spirits and raising in each one a renewed availability" (ibid.); That he helps us not to be paralyzed by the negativity and prejudices of the past, but to look at reality with new eyes. Then, yesterday's tribulations will leave space to the consolations of the present, and we will be comforted by treasures of grace that we will rediscover in the brothers. As Catholics, we have just started an itinerary to deepen the synodality and we feel that we have to learn a lot from you; We want it with sincerity. It is true that, when the brothers in faith are approaching, the comfort of the spirit is spilled in hearts.

Beatitude, dear brother, who accompany us the numerous and distinguished holy of these lands, and the martyrs, which unfortunately today in the world are more than in the past.Of various confessions on earth, they live together the same sky.That intercede so that the spirit, holy oil of God, becomes infunded on us in a renewYour consolation.

I find the bishops, priests, religious and religious, seminarians and catechists in the Cathedral of San Dionisio de Athens

Dear bishops, dear priests, religious and religious, seminarians, dear brothers and sisters: Kalispera Sas![Buenas tardes!]

I thank you from the heart and the words of greeting that Mons. Rossolatos has directed me.And thanks, sister, for his testimony.It is important that religious and religious live their service with this spirit, with a passionate love that is made for the community where they are sent.Thank you!Thank you also to Rokos for the beautiful testimony of faith lived in the family, in everyday life, along with children who, like so many young people, at a certain moment questions are asked, they question themselves, they become a bit critical about some things.But that's fine, because it helps us as a church to reflect and change.

I am happy to find them in a land that is a gift, a heritage of humanity on which the foundations of the West have been built.We are all a little children and debtors in their country: without poetry, literature, philosophy and art that developed here we could not know so many facets of human existence, or satisfy so many interior questions about life, love,pain and also death.

Within this rich heritage, at the beginning of Christianity a "workshop" was inaugurated here for the inculturation of faith, directed by the wisdom of many Church parents, which with their holy behavior of life and their writings represent a Luminous beacon for believers of all times. But if we ask ourselves who has inaugurated the encounter between the Christianity of the origins and the Greek culture, the thought can only go to the apostle Paul. It is he who opened the "Faith Workshop" that synthesized these two worlds; And he did it precisely here, as the facts of the apostles report. He arrived in Athens, began to preach in the square and the scholars of that time led him to Areopago (cf. Acts 17,16-34), which was the Council of the Elders, of the Sages who judged issues of public interest. Let's stop in this episode and let ourselves guide, in our path as a church, by two attitudes of the apostle that are useful to our current elaboration of faith.

The first attitude is trust.While Paul preached, some philosophers began to wonder what he wanted to teach that "charlatan" (v. 18).They called him that way, Charlatán, one who invents things taking advantage of the good faith of those who listen to him, so they led him to the areau.Therefore, we don't have to imagine that they opened the curtain of a stage.On the contrary, they took him there to interrogate him: «Can you know which new doctrine is this that you teach?We want to know what these strange things mean that we hear you ”(vv. 19-20).Pablo, in short, was cornered.

These circumstances of his mission in Greece are also important for us today: the apostle was cornered. A little earlier, in Thessaloniki, he had been hindered in his preaching and, because of the tumults raised in the town, who accused him of seeking disorders, he had to escape during the night. Now, in Athens, he was taken by a charlatan and, as an unwanted guest, they led him to Areopago. Therefore, he was not living a triumphant moment, but he was carrying out the mission in difficult conditions. Perhaps in many moments of our path, we also perceive tiredness and sometimes the frustration of being a small community or a church with little force that moves in a context not always favorable. They meditate on Pablo's story in Athens: he was alone, surpassed in number and had few chances of success, but he did not let himself be overcome by discouragement, he did not give up the mission or let himself be caught by the temptation to lament. This is very important, be careful not to be launching. This is the attitude of the true apostle: move on with confidence, preferring the concern of the unexpected situations to custom and repetition. Paul had that courage, where was he born? Of trust in God. His courage was that of trust, confidence in the greatness of God, that He loves to always work in our weakness.

Dear brothers and sisters, we have confidence, because being a small church makes us an eloquent sign of the Gospel, of the God announced by Jesus who chooses the little ones and the poor, who changes the story with the simple feats of the humble. We, as a church, are not asked for the spirit of the conquest and victory, the magnificence of large numbers, worldly splendor. All that is dangerous, is the temptation of triumphalism. We are asked to follow the example of the mustard granite, which is very small, but grows humbly and slowly; He is the smallest of all seeds, ”says Jesus - but when he grows he becomes a tree (cf. Mt 13,32). We are asked to be yeast that ferments in the hidden, patient and silently, within the mass of the world, thanks to the incessant work of the Holy Spirit (cf. v. 33). The secret of the Kingdom of God is contained in small things, in what is often not seen or makes noise. The apostle Paul, whose name refers to smallness, lived in trust because he welcomed these words of the Gospel in the heart, to the point of teaching them to the brothers of Corinth: «What seems weak in God is stronger than everything human "," He chose those who the world is weak, to embarrass the strong "(1 co 1.25.27).

So, dear friends, I would like to tell them: bless smallness and do it, he prepares them to trust God and only in Him. Being a minority - and in the whole world the Church is minority - does not mean being insignificant, but going through the path he opened The Lord, who is that of smallness, that of kenosis, the abocation, of the condescension, of the sykatabasis of God in Jesus Christ. He descended until he was hiding in the folds of humanity and in the sores of our flesh. He has saved us, serving us. He, in effect, "Paul says," "stripped himself assuming the slave status" (Flp 2,7). Many times we have the obsession of wanting to appear, to attract attention, but "the kingdom of God does not come so that they can detect it visibly" (Lk 17,20). He secretly comes as the rain, slowly, on earth. Let us help us to renew this trust in the work of God, not to lose the enthusiasm of the service. Cheer up and go on this path of humility and smallness!

Now I would like to highlight Paul's second attitude in the Athens areau: the reception. It is the necessary internal disposition for evangelization, it is not to want put in their hearts, before our arrival. Let us remember that God always precedes us, God always precedes our planting. Evangelizing is not to fill an empty container, it is first of all to give birth to what God has already begun to perform. And this extraordinary pedagogy is the one that the apostle demonstrated before the Athenians. He did not say "they are wrong in everything" or "now I teach you the truth", but that he began by welcoming his religious spirit: "Athenians, I see that you are, from every point of view, very religious people. Because while he walked and contemplated his sacred monuments I found an altar in which he was written: "To the unknown God" (Acts 17,22-23). Take a valuable element of the Athenians. The apostle recognized the dignity of his interlocutors and welcomed his religious sensitivity. Even though the streets of Athens were full of idols, which had made it "shudder within them" (cf. v. 16), Paul welcomed the desire of God hidden in the heart of those people and kindly wanted to convey the astonishment of the astonishment of the faith. His style was not tax, but propositive; He was not founded on proselytism, never, but in the meekness of Jesus. And that was possible because Paul had a spiritual look on reality, he believed that the Holy Spirit works in the heart of man, beyond religious labels. We have heard this in Rokos's testimony. At a certain time, children move away a little from religious practice, but the Holy Spirit had worked and continues to work, and thus they believe a lot in unity and fraternity with others. The spirit always works, beyond what is seen externally, let's remember this! The attitude of the apostle at all times begins, because, to welcome the other, let's not forget that "grace supposes culture, and the gift of God is embodied in the culture of who receives it" (Exhort Ap. Evangelii Gaudium, 115) . There is no abstract grace by turning on our heads, grace is always embodied in a culture, there is embodied.

Regarding Paul's visit to Areopago, Benedict XVI said that we must be very interested in agnostic or atheistic people, but that we have to be attentive because «when we talk about a new evangelization, these people may be scared. They do not want to see themselves as a mission object, or give up their freedom of thought and will ”(speech to the Roman curia, December 21, 2009). Also today we are asked for the attitude of the reception, the style of hospitality, a heart animated by the desire to create communion amid human, cultural or religious differences. The challenge is to elaborate the passion for the whole, that leads us - catalogs, orthodox, brothers and sisters of other creeds, as well as agnostic brothers, all - to listen to us reciprocally, to dream and work together, to cultivate the "mystique" of the Fraternity (cf. exhort Ap. Evangelii Gaudium, 87). Last story still remains an open wound on the path of this affable dialogue, but we hugged the challenge that is presented today.

Dear brothers and sisters, here in Greek land, St. Paul expressed his serene confidence in God and that made him welcome the areopagitas who suspected him. With these two attitudes he announced to that God that he was unknown to his interlocutors, and came to present the face of a God who in Christ Jesus sowed the germ of the resurrection, the universal right to hope, which is a human right, the right to the hope. When Paul announced this good news, most of them ridiculed him and left. However, "some men joined him and hugged faith, including Dionisio, Areopagita, a woman named Dámaris and some more" (Acts 17,34). The majority left, a small rest joined Pablo, including Dionisio, head of this cathedral. It was a small portion, but this is how God weaves the threads of history, from then until today. I wish you from the heart to continue the work in their historic workshop of faith, and do so with these two ingredients: trust and welcome, to savor the gospel as an experience of joy and also as a fraternity experience. I take them with me in affection and prayer. And you, please, don't forget to pray for me. Or Theós Na Sas Evloghi! [God bless you!]


Sunday, December 5, 2021

Visit to refugees at the Mitilene reception and identification center

Dear brothers and sisters:

Thank you for your words.I thank her, Mrs. President, for her presence and her words.Sisters, brothers, I am here again to meet you;I am here to tell you that I am close to you from you;I am here to see their faces, to look them in the eye: eyes loaded with fear and hope, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes furrowed with too many tears.Five years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarch and dear brother Bartolomé said on this island something that struck me: «He who is afraid has not looked into them.The one who is afraid has not seen their faces.He who is afraid does not see his children.He forgets that dignity and freedom transcend fear and division.Forget that migration is not a problem of the Middle East and of northern Africa, of Europe and Greece.It is a problem in the world »(speech, April 16, 2016).

Yes, it is a problem in the world, a humanitarian crisis that concerns everyone. Pandemia has affected us globally, it has made us feel all in the same boat, it has made us experience what it means to have the same fears. We have understood that great issues face together, because in today's world fragmented solutions are inadequate. But while vaccinations are carried out at the planetary level and - even in the midst of many delays and uncertainties - something seems to be moving in the fight against climate change, everything seems terribly opaque in terms of migrations. And yet, people, human lives are at stake. The future of all is at stake, which will only be serene if it is integrated. The future will only be prosperous if you reconcile with the weakest. Because when the poor are rejected, peace is rejected. Closures and nationalisms - the story teaches - lead to disastrous consequences. Indeed, as the Second Vatican Council recalled, "it is absolutely necessary to Gaudium et Spes, 78). It is an illusion to think that it is enough to safeguard ourselves, defending ourselves from the weakest they knock on the door. The future will put us more and more with each other; To guide it towards good, unilateral actions, but broader policies. The story, I repeat, teaches us, but we have not yet learned. Do not turn their backs to reality, that the continuous rebound of responsibilities ends, that the immigration issue is not always delegated to others, as if none cared and it was only a useless burden that some is forced to endure.

Sisters, brothers, their faces, their eyes ask us not to look elsewhere, that we do not renegate the humanity that unites us, that we make our stories and do not forget their dramas. Elie Wiesel, witness of the greatest tragedy of the last century, wrote: "I approach men, my brothers, because I remember our common origin, because I refuse to forget that her future is as important as mine" (from the Kingdom Of Memory, Reminiscense, New York, 1990, 10). In this Sunday, I beg God to awaken the oblivion of whoever suffers, who shakes us from the individualism that excludes, that awakens the deaf hearts to the needs of others. And I also pray to man, every man: let's overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference he kills, the cynical disinterest in silk gloves condemns those who are on the margins. Let us face the dominant thought from its root, which revolves around the self, to personal and national selfishness, which become measured and criteria of everything.

Five years have passed since the visit I made with the beloved Bartolomé and Ionymos brothers. After all this time we find that little has changed on the immigration issue. Certainly, many have committed themselves to the reception and integration, and I would like to thank the numerous volunteers and to how many, at all levels - institutional, social, charitable, political - have assumed great efforts, taking care of people and the immigration issue I recognize the commitment in the financing and construction of decent host structures and I thank the local population for all the good it has done and the numerous sacrifices they have accepted. I would also like to thank the local authorities, who receive, guard and help to get ahead to these people who come to us. Thanks for what they do. But we must bitterly admit that this country, like others, is currently going through a difficult situation and that in Europe there are still people who persist in dealing with the problem as an issue that does not incumbent. This is tragic. I remember his last words [addressing the president]: "What Europe does the same." And, how many unworthy conditions of man! How many critical points where migrants and refugees live in borderline situations, without glimpsing solutions on the horizon! And yet, respect for people and human rights - especially in the continent that does not cease to promote them in the world - should always be safeguarded, and the dignity of each one should be prevented from everything. It is sad to hear that the use of common funds is proposed as a solution to build walls, to build barbed wires. We are at the time of the walls and barbed wires. Certainly, fears and insecurities, difficulties and dangers are understandable. Tiredness and frustration, exacerbated by the economic and pandemic crisis, are perceived, but is not raising barriers as problems are solved and coexistence is improved, but by joining strength to take care of others according to the real possibilities of each and In respect for legality, always putting the inalienable value of the life of every man, every woman, every person. I quote Elie Wiesel again: "When human lives are in danger, when human dignity is in danger, national limits become irrelevant" (acceptance discourse of the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 1986).

In several societies, the concepts of security and solidarity, local and universal, tradition and openness are opposing ideologically. Rather than sustaining ideas, it can help from reality, stop, expand the look, immerse yourself in the problems of the majority of humanity, of so many populations victims of humanitarian emergencies that have not caused but only suffered, often after long exploitation stories still in progress. It is easy to drag public opinion, promoting fear of the other; Why, on the other hand, with the same tone, do not talk about the exploitation of the poor, or of the forgotten and often generously funded wars, or of the economic agreements that are made at the expense of the people, or of the maneuvers hidden to traffic weapons and make your trade proliferate? Why don't you talk about this? You have to face remote causes, not the poor people who pay the consequences of it, being also used as political propaganda. To remove the deep causes you can only solve emergencies. Concerted actions are needed. It is necessary to approach historical changes with amplitude of sights. Because there are no easy answers to complex problems; There is rather the need to accompany the processes from within, to overcome the ghettos and favor a slow and indispensable integration, to welcome the cultures and traditions of others in a fraternal and responsible way.

Above all, if we want to recommend, let's look at children's face.Let's find the courage to be ashamed of them, which are innocent and are the future.Our consciences question and ask us: "What world do they want to give us?"Let's not quickly escape from the raw images of his little lifeless bodies on the beaches.The Mediterranean, which for millennia has joined diverse peoples and distant lands, is becoming a cold cemetery without tombstones.This great water basin, cradle of so many civilizations, now seems like a death mirror.Let's not let Mare Nostrum become a bleak Mortuum, or that this meeting place becomes a conflict scenario!We do not allow this "sea of memories" to become the "sea of oblivion."Brothers and sisters, I beg you: We stop this shipwreck of civilization!

God became man on the banks of this sea. His word has resonated by carrying God's announcement, which is "father and guide of men" (S. Gregorio Naciannceno, Sermon 7, in honor of his brother's brother, 24). He loves us as children and wants us to be brothers. And, on the other hand, we offend God, despising man created in his image, leaving him at the mercy of the waves, in the tide of indifference, sometimes justified even in the name of alleged Christian values. Faith asks us compassion and mercy - let's not forget that this is the style of God: closeness, compassion and tenderness. Faith urges hospitality, to that philoxenia that permeated classical culture, then finding in Jesus its own definitive manifestation, especially in the parable of the good Samaritan (cf. Lc 10,29-37) and in the words of chapter 25 of the 25 Matthew Gospel (cf. Vv. 31-46). It is not religious ideology, they are concrete Christian roots. Jesus solemnly states that He is there, in the stranger, in the refugee, in which He is naked and hungry; And the Christian program is to be where Jesus is. Yes, because the Christian program, Pope Benedict wrote, "is a heart that sees" (Letter Enc. Deus Caritas Est, 31).

And I would not want to finish this message without thanking the Greek people for the reception, because so many times the reception becomes a problem because it finds no way out for people, to move elsewhere.Thank you, Greek brothers and sisters, thanks for this generosity.And now let's ask the Virgin Mary to open our eyes to the sufferings of the brothers.She quickly put on the way to meet her cousin Isabel, who was pregnant with her.How many pregnant mothers found death quickly, being traveling, while they took life in her belly!May the Mother of God help us to have a maternal look, that she sees in the sons of God, sisters and brothers to welcome, protect, promote and integrate;and to love with tenderness.May Mary Holy Teach us to put the reality of man to ideologies and ideologies, and to take agile steps to the encounter that he suffers.

Now let's pray to the Virgin all together.

Holy Mass in "Megaron Concert Hall" by Athens

In this second Sunday of Advent, the Word of God presents the figure of San Juan Bautista.The Gospel underlines two aspects: the place where it is - the desert - and the content of his message - conversion.Desert and conversion: this insists today's Gospel;And so much insistence makes us think that these words directly affect us.Let's contemplate both.

The desert. The evangelist Lucas introduces this place in a particular way. He speaks, in effect, of solemn circumstances and great characters of time: he quotes the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius, he tells Governor Poncio Pilato, King Herod and other "political leaders" of that time. He later mentions the religious, Anás and Caifás, who were in the temple of Jerusalem (cf. Lc 3,1-2). In this regard he declares: "The Word of God was addressed to John, the son of Zacarías, who was in the desert" (Lk 3,2). But how? We would have expected the Word of God to address one of the great mentioned above. And instead, no. From the lines of the Gospel a subtle irony emerges: from the upper floors where those who hold power suddenly pass to the desert, an unknown and lonely man reside. God surprises, his decisions surprise; These do not enter into human forecasts, do not pursue the power and greatness with which man usually associates it. The Lord prefers smallness and humility. Redemption does not begin in Jerusalem, in Athens or in Rome, but in the desert. This paradoxical strategy gives us a very beautiful message: having authority, being cults and celebrities is not a guarantee to please God; On the contrary, I could lead to re -over and reject it. It is necessary instead being poor inside, as poor is the desert.

Let's stay in the desert paradox. The precursor prepares the coming of Christ in this inaccessible and inhospitable place, full of dangers. Now, if one wants to give an important announcement, he usually goes to beautiful places, where there are many people, where there is visibility. Juan, on the other hand, preached in the desert. Precisely there, in the place of aridity, in that empty space that extends to the horizon and where there is almost no life, there is revealed the glory of the Lord, which-as the Scriptures prophesy (cf. is 40,3-4-4 ) - Change the desert in lagoons, the sterile land in water sources (cf. is 41,18). This is another comforting message: God, today as then, leads the look where sadness and loneliness dominate. We can experience it in life, he often fails to reach us while we are in the midst of applause and we only think of ourselves; He reaches us especially at the time of the test; He visits us in difficult situations, in our gaps that leave space, in our existential deserts. There he visits the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, in the life of a person or a people there are no lack of moments in which you have the impression of being in a desert. And it is precisely where the Lord is present, which is often not welcomed by those who feel successful, but by whom he feels that he can no longer follow. And he arrives with words of closeness, compassion and tenderness: «Do not fear, because I am with you. Do not be distressed, because I am your God. I strengthen you and help you »(v. 10). Preaching in the desert, John assures us that the Lord comes to free us and return our lives right in situations that seem irremediable, without escape: there comes. There is therefore no place that God does not want to visit. And today we can only experience joy to see him in the desert to reach us in our smallness that he loves and in our dryness he wants to satisfy. So, dear friends, do not fear smallness, because the question is not to be small or few, but to open to God and others. And neither are they afraid of aridity, because God does not fear it, and that is where He comes to visit us.

Let us now move on to the second aspect, conversion. The Baptist preached her without rest and vehemence (cf. Lc 3,7). This is also an "uncomfortable" theme. Just as the desert is not the first place we wanted to go, the invitation to conversion is certainly the first proposal we would like to hear. Talking about conversion can raise sadness; It seems difficult to reconcile with the Gospel of Joy. But this happens when conversion is reduced to a moral effort, as if it were just a fruit of our effort. The problem is just there: on base everything on our own strength; That does not work. There they also nest spiritual sadness and frustration. We would like to become, be better, overcome our defects, change, but we feel that we are not fully capable and, despite our good will, we always fall again. We have the same experience of St. Paul that, precisely from these lands, wrote: "It is within my reach to love good, but not to do it, since I do not do the good that I want and, instead, I practice the evil that I do not want" (RM 7,18-19). Therefore, if we do not have the ability to do the good we want, what does it mean that we should become?

We can help us with its beautiful language, the Greek, with the etymology of the evangelical verb "become", methaneoin.It is composed of the Metá preposition, which means here beyond, and the Noéin verb, which means thinking.Become, then, is to think further, that is, to go beyond the usual way of thinking, beyond the mental schemes to which we are accustomed.I think of the schemes that reduce everything to our self, to our claim of self -sufficiency.Or in those schemes closed by the rigidity and fear they paralyze, by the temptation of "it has always done so, why change?", Because of the idea that the deserts of life are places of death and not of thepresence of God.

Juan, exhorting us to conversion, invites us to go further and not stop here, to go beyond what our instincts tell us and represent our thoughts, because reality is bigger, bigger than our instincts and that our thoughts. The reality is that God is bigger. Becoming, then, means not to give heard to what corrodes hope, to whom he repeats that nothing will never change - the usual pessimists; It is to refuse to believe that we are destined to sink into the Movedizas sands of mediocrity; It is not to surrender to the interior ghosts, which are presented mainly in the moments of proof to discourage us and tell us that we cannot, that everything is wrong and that being saints is not for us. Not so, why is God. It is necessary to trust him, because he is our beyond, our strength. Everything changes if the first place is left to Him. That is the conversion: the Lord is enough that we leave our door open to enter and do wonders, as a desert was enough and the words of John to come to the world. He doesn't ask for more.

Let us ask the grace to believe that with God things change, that he cures our fears, heals our wounds, transforms arid places into water springs. Let's ask for the grace of hope. Because hope revives faith and revives charity. Because the deserts of the world today are thirsty for hope. And while this encounter renews us in the hope and joy of Jesus, and I joy being with you, let's ask our Blessed Mother to help us be, like her, witnesses of hope, sowers of joy around us - hope , brothers and sisters, does not disappoint, never disappoint - not only when we are happy and we are together, but every day, in the deserts where we live. Because it is there that, with the grace of God, our life is called to become. There, in the numerous deserts we have inside or that surround us, there life is called to flourish. That the Lord grant us the grace and courage to welcome this truth.

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Greetings at the end of Holy Mass

Dear brothers and sisters:

At the end of this celebration, I want to express my gratitude for the reception I have received among you.Thanks from my heart!Efcharistó![Thank you!]

The word Eucharist, which comes from the Greek language, synthesizes the gift of Christ for the whole Church.And, in this way, thanks is inscribed for us Christians in the heart of faith and life.That the Holy Spirit can do our whole being and our work, an action of thanks to God and a gift of love to the brothers.

In this context, I renew my deep thanks to the civil authorities, the president of the Republic, here present, and my bishops, as well as to all those who have collaborated in different ways to prepare and organize this visit.Thank you all!And thanks to the choir that has helped us pray so well.

Tomorrow I will leave Greece, but I will not leave you.I will take them with me, in memory and prayer.And also you, please, keep praying for me.Thank you!


Monday, December 6, 2021

Meeting with young people at the San Dionisio School of the Ursulin Sisters of Marusi, Athens

Dear brothers and sisters: Kaliméra sas! [¡Buenos días!]

I thank you for coming here, many of you from distant places.Efcharistó![Thank you!] I am happy to meet you ending my visit to Greece, and I take the opportunity to renew my gratitude for the reception and for all the work they carried out to organize it.Efcharistó!

His beautiful testimonies have impressed me.I had already read them and resolve with you some parts.

Katerina, you have told us about your recurring doubts about faith. I would like to tell you and all of you, do not be afraid of doubts, because they are not lack of faith. Do not be afraid of doubts; On the contrary, doubts are "vitamins of faith", help strengthen it, make it stronger, that is, more conscious, make it grow, make it freer and more mature. They make it more available to put on their way, to move forward every day with humility. And faith is precisely this, a daily path with Jesus that leads us by the hand, accompanies us, encourages us and, when we fall, we get up again; He never frightens. It's like a love story, where you always move on together, day after day. And as in a love story, moments come when you need to question yourself, ask questions. And it does well, the level of the relationship grows. And this is very important for you, because you cannot go blind along the path of faith, no, but you have to dialogue with God, with one's conscience and others.

I would like to highlight an important point in Katerina's experience. Sometimes, in the face of misunderstandings or difficulties of life, in the moments of loneliness or disappointment, this doubt can call the door of our heart: “Maybe it's me that I am not going well, maybe I am wrong, I am wrong ” Friends, it is a temptation that must be rejected. The devil puts this doubt in the heart to throw ourselves in sadness. What is there to do? What to do when a doubt of this type becomes suffocating and does not leave us alone, when trust is lost and it is not known where to start? It is necessary to find the starting point again. Which? To understand it, let's listen to your great classical culture. Do you know what the starting point of philosophy was, but also of art, culture and science? Do you know which one? It all started with a spark, by a discovery that is expressed with a magnificent word: Thaumàzein. It is marveling, astonishment. Thus began philosophy, to marvel at what is, in front of our existence, the harmony of creation and the mystery of life.

But astonishment is not only the beginning of philosophy, but also the beginning of our faith. The Gospel tells us many times that when someone finds Jesus, he feels admiration. In the encounter with God there is always that stupor, which is the beginning of dialogue with God. And this is because having faith does not consist mainly in a set of things that must be believed and of precepts that must be fulfilled. The heart of faith is not an idea, it is not a moral; The heart of faith is a reality, a beautiful reality that does not depend on us and that leaves us with an open mouth: we are beloved children of God! This is the heart of faith: We are beloved children of God! Beloved children, we have a father who watches over us and never stops loving ourselves. Let us reflect: anything you think or do, even the worst, God continues to love you. I would like to understand this well: God does not tire of loving. Some can tell me: "But if I fall into the ugliest things, does God love me?" God loves you. "And if I am a traitor, a tremendous sinner, and I end badly, in the drug, does God love me?" God loves you. God always loves. He can't stop loving. He always loves and despite everything, he looks at your life and sees her very good (cf. Gen 1,31). He never regrets us. If we get in front of the mirror, we may not see ourselves as we would like, because we run the risk of focusing on what we don't like. But if we get before God the perspective changes. We can only be amazed that we are for him, despite all our weaknesses and our sins, children loved always and forever. So, rather than start the day in front of the mirror, why don't you open the window of your room and stop at everything, in everything beautiful that exists, in all the beautiful you see? Get out of yourself. Dear young people, think that, if our eyes are beautiful, in the eyes of God each of you is infinitely beautiful. He, says writing, "has made wonders, admirable wonders" (cf. Sal 139,14). We, for God, are an admirable wonder. Let this amazement invade you. Let yourself love who you always believe in you, for whom he loves you more about how much you can love yourself. It is not easy to understand this width, this depth of love, it is not easy to understand it, but it is so; Just be looked at by the gaze of God.

And when they are disappointed by something they have done, there is another astonishment that they do not have to let out: the astonishment of forgiveness.In this I want to be clear: God always forgives.It is we who get tired of apologizing, but he always forgives.There, in forgiveness, there is the face of the father and the peace of the heart.There, he restores us again, spills his love in a hug that raises us again, that disintegrates the evil and makes the unstoppable beauty shine again in us, being the favorite children of him.Let us not allow laziness, fear or shame to steal the treasure of forgiveness.Let God love the love!We will rediscover ourselves;Not what they say of us or what the drives of the moment raise in us, not what the advertising slogans throw us on us, but our deepest truth, the one that God sees, that in which he believes: the unrepeatable beauty that we are.

Do you remember the famous registration at the entrance of the Delphi Temple? γνῶθι σeαυτόν, "know yourself." Today we run the danger of forgetting what we are, obsessed with thousands of appearances, by machacones messages that make the lives of the clothes we wear, the car we drive, the way in which others look at us. But that ancient invitation, know yourself, is still worth today. Recognize that you are worth what you are, not for what you have. Do not vouchers for the brand of clothes or the footwear you carry, but because you are unique, you are unique. I think of another ancient image, that of the mermaids. As Ulysses on your itinerary back home, also in life, which is a bold trip to the father's house, you will find sirens. In the myth they attracted navigators with their song to crash them against the reefs. In reality, today's sirens want to hypnotize them with seductive and insistent messages, which point to easy benefits, to false needs of consumerism, to the cult of physical well -being, to fun at all costs. There are many fireworks, which shine for a moment, and then only leave smoke in the air. I understand them, resist is not easy. Do you remember how Ulysses resisted, besieged by the mermaids? He made himself tie to the main stick of the ship. But another character, Orpheus, teaches us a better path: he sang a more beautiful melody than sirens and thus silenced them. That is why it is important to feed the astonishment, the beauty of faith! We are not Christians because we owe, but because it is beautiful. And precisely because we want to protect this beauty we say no to what you want to overshadow it. The joy of the Gospel, the astonishment that Jesus causes makes resignations and fatigue go to the background. Then we agree? Remember this: being a Christian is not fundamentally about doing this, of doing that; to do things. You have to do things, but it is not fundamentally that. Being a Christian is fundamentally to let God love you, and recognize that before the love of God you are unique, you are unique.

Let's move on to another chapter. The faces of others. Ioanna, I liked that, to tell us about your life, you have talked about others, especially the two most important women of your life, your mother and grandmother, who "have taught you to pray, to thank God every day ” Thus you assimilated faith naturally, genuine. And you have given us advice that does well: that we go to the Lord in any circumstance, "let's talk to him, let's confess our concerns." That way, Jesus became familiar to you. How happy is when we open to him! Thus God is known. Because to know him it is not enough to have clear ideas about him - that is a small part, it is not enough - it takes to go to him with life. Maybe this is the reason why so many ignore it, because they only feel preaching and speeches. Instead, Jesus is transmitted through faces and specific people. Test the facts of the Apostles and see how many people, faces and encounters; Thus our parents knew Jesus in faith. God does not give us a catechism in hand, but he is present through people's stories. He passes through us. God does not give us a book in our hands to learn things by heart, no. God is understood with closeness, accompanying us in the path of life. Knowing Jesus is precisely the core of our faith.

Precisely in this sense, Ioanna, you have told us about a decisive person for you, a religious who showed you the joy "of seeing life as a service." I underline this: see life as a service. It is true, serving others is the way to conquer joy. Dedicating to others is not of losers, it is winners; It is the way to do something really new in history. I knew that in Greek "young" it is said "new" and new means young. The service is the novelty of Jesus; The service, devoting to others is the novelty that makes life always young. Do you want to do something new in life? Do you want to rejuvenate? Do not be content to publish any post or a tweet. Do not content with virtual encounters, look for the real ones, especially with whom he needs you; Do not look for visibility, but to the invisible. This is original, this is revolutionary. Get out of oneself to find others. But if you live prisoner in yourself, you will never find others, you will never know what it is to serve. Serving is the most beautiful, biggest gesture of a person, serving others. Many today are "social networks" but little "social", locked in themselves, prisoners of the phone in their hands. But on the screen the other is missing, his eyes, his breathing, his hands are missing. The screen becomes easily a mirror, where you think you are in front of the world, but in reality you are alone, in a virtual world full of appearances, tricked photos to always look beautiful and in shape. How beautiful, on the other hand, it is to be with others, discover the novelty of the other, dialogue with the other, cultivate the mystique of the whole, the joy of sharing, the ardor of serving!

In this regard, in the meeting with young people in Slovakia, last September, some young people showed an interesting banner.He had only two words: "All brothers."I liked.Often in the stadiums, in the demonstrations, in the streets banners are exposed to encourage the faction itself, the ideas themselves, the team itself, the rights themselves.But the banner of these young people said something new: that it is beautiful to feel brothers and sisters of all, to feel that others are part of a us, not people to take distance.I am happy to see them all together, united, even coming from such different countries and stories.Dream of fraternity!

In Greek there is an illuminating saying: o Fílos ineset Állos Eaftós, "the friend is another self." Yes, the other is the way to meet oneself again; It is not the mirror, it is the other. Certainly, it costs to get out of comfort areas, it is easier to be sitting on the couch in front of television. But that is something old, it is not young. But look: a young man on the couch, what old thing! Young is to react, open when you feel alone, look for others when the temptation to close, train in this "soul gymnastics." Here the largest sporting events, the Olympics, the marathon were born. Beyond the fighting spirit that does well to the body, is what does well to the soul: training for opening, traveling long distances from oneself to shorten them with others, throwing the heart through obstacles, loading some the weights of the others. Training in this will make them happy, you will keep them young and make them feel the adventure of living.

By the purpose of adventure, Aboud, your testimony has impacted us: the flight, along with yours, of the beloved and martyred Syria, after having been several times about to be killed in the war.And after so many "no" and thousands of difficulties, they arrived in this country in the only possible way, by boat, remaining "in a rock without water and without food, waiting for dawn and a ship of the Coast Guard": a true odysseyof our day.And it came in mind that, in Homer's Odyssey, the first hero that appears is not Ulysses, but a young man, Telémaco, his son, who lived a great adventure.

He had not met his father and was distressed, discouraged because he didn't know where he was and even if he was alive. He felt without roots and was in front of a crossroads: stay there, waiting, or perhaps make madness and throw himself in search. There are several voices, including that of divinity, which urged him to be brave and from. And he does it, he gets up, prepares the ship hidden and quickly, in the sun, the sun rises. The meaning of life is not to stay on the beach waiting for the wind to bring news. Salvation is in an open sea, it is in the impulse, in following the dreams, the true ones, those who dream with their eyes open, which entail effort, fight, opposite winds, sudden storms. Please, do not let yourself be paralyzed by fear, dream big! And dream together! As with Telemachus, there will be those who try to stop them. There will always be someone who will tell them: "Leave it, don't risk, it's useless." These are the annulments of dreams, the hitmen of hope, the incurable nostalgic of the past.

You, on the other hand, please feed the courage of hope, the one you have had, Aboud.How is it done?Through their decisions.Choosing is a challenge, is to face the fear of the unknown, is to leave the swamp of approval, is to decide to take one's life in the hands.To make appropriate decisions, you can remember one thing: good decisions always include others, not just oneself.Those are the decisions that are worth risking, the dreams to be made;Those who require courage and who involve others.

And, by saying goodbye to you, I wish you the courage to move forward, the courage to risk, the courage not to stay on the couch.The courage to risk, to meet others, never isolated, always with others.And with that courage, each of you will find yourself, you will find others and find the meaning of life.I wish you this, with the help of God, to love them all.God loves them, be brave, keep going!Brostà, óli Masí![Go ahead, all together!]