A sunny morning, not without some cold, accompanied the words of Pope Francis before the prayer of the Regina Coeli, from the window of the pontifical apartments.
Addressing a much larger group of the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, the Pope emphasized how God, the Good Shepherd, loves each creature individually. "The Good Shepherd] thinks of each one of us as the love of his life," the Pope recalled.
This idea, the Pope emphasized, "is not just a figure of speech. Christ loves us because, like a shepherd, he lives with us day and night: "Being a shepherd, especially in the time of Christ, was not just a job, but a life: it was not a matter of having a specific occupation, but of sharing whole days, and even nights, with the sheep, of living in symbiosis with them," the Pope explained.
The Pontiff stressed that, in the midst of the existential crises of so many people who "consider themselves inadequate or even mistaken, Jesus tells us that we are always of great value to him. And we can only become aware of this love of Christ by seeking moments "of prayer, adoration and praise, so as to be in the presence of Christ and allow ourselves to be caressed by him.
Cry for peace
The Pope recalled the World Day of Prayer for Vocations celebrated today by the Catholic Church. In this context he called to "build peace and discover in the Church a polyphony of charisms".
Peace was the focus of the last part of the Pope's words before the greetings. Francis did not forget the areas of the world where peace is still a dream.
In this way, he invited people to pray for the situation in the Middle East, which, as he pointed out, continues to be a source of concern. The Pope reiterated his call "not to give in to the logic of the vengeance of war" and asked that "dialogue and diplomacy prevail".
He also did not forget the war in Israel and Palestine and the need to continue to pray for the martyred Ukraine and asked for prayers for the soul of Matteo Pettinari, a Consolata missionary who died in a traffic accident in Ivory Coast.
