Thank you.
Thank you.
Everybody.
Welcome.
What do you mean?
This is so good. Good to see you guys.
They don't go.
Welcome to America.
Chicago, right.
Hallelujah.
Everybody.
Papa, Texas. Texas.
I love you.
You.
You.
Down.
Window.
I love you.
Oh my god. Football.
I think so.
You got to go.
Papa.
Heat. Heat.
Praised be Jesus Christ. A very warm welcome on behalf of Vatican Media, Vatican Radio, and all my colleagues here at the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication. I'm Joseph Tolluk, and I'll be providing the English language translation and commentary for this broadcast of the general audience today, the 30th of September. A warm welcome to all of you, whether you're joining us via our Vatican News YouTube channel or via any of our official partner television and radio stations, including EWTN TV, Catholic Faith Network, Salt and Light TV, Catholic Television of San Antonio and Texas, Shalom News, Radio Maria UK, Shalom World TV, or Luminous Radio India. And welcome to all of our friends from the Deaf Catholic Youth Initiative for the Americas. You can visit our Vatican News YouTube channel to find translation of this general audience in American Sign Language.
Pope Leo is arriving now here at his seat in St. Peter Square to lead the general audience. Today he's going to be reflecting on his recent apostolic journey to France. He got back on Monday. He had a day of rest yesterday. It was a four-day trip which saw him visit three cities in France. He started in Paris where he met with the president and celebrated a mass for some 800,000 pilgrims. He then went to Lourdes, the famous Marian sanctuary, and he finished off in Metz on Monday. And we'll hear very shortly his reflections on that visit. But first we'll get started with a gospel reading in lots of different languages.
It's being announced in Italian that the Pope is about to introduce the general audience with a liturgical greeting, and we're invited to listen prayerfully to the Pope's words.
The Pope says, "Peace be with you." And that's how we get started on this Wednesday morning.
That was today's reading, which is taken from the letter to the Colossians in Italian there. And now we'll hear it in French.
And now we'll hear that same reading in English.
A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians. In our prayers for you, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. The word of the Lord.
And now we hear those same words of St. Paul's in German. They're taken from Colossians chapter 1, verses 3 to 6.
And now the same reading in Spanish.
And now the reading in Chinese. Again, the reading is Colossians chapter 1, verses 3 to 6.
So that was the reading in Portuguese, and we'll now hear it in Arabic. That's the second last language, and we'll have Polish, and then after that we'll hear the Pope's catechesis.
And now we hear the reading from St. Paul for the last time. This time in Polish.
Having heard that reading, we'll now hear a catechesis from Pope Leo again about his apostolic journey to France, from which he's just returned.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome.
Today I would like to talk to you about the apostolic journey I made to France in recent days. It was a great gift for me and for the people of God in that country, and I give thanks to the Lord for it. I wish to express once again my gratitude to all those who welcomed me, the civil authorities and the pastors of the church, and to the many people who wished to meet the Pope or even just greet him in the streets. As an apostle of Christ and a messenger of peace, thank you to everyone. I would like to gather my thoughts and impressions, still very vivid, of this pastoral visit around one single great symbol: the cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris.
There, in the afternoon of the first day, we celebrated the vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a solemn yet also joyful liturgy in which music, song, and the beauty of the temple stirred the hearts of those united in prayer. It is precisely Notre Dame, with the tragedy it has suffered, that can symbolically shed light on this entire apostolic journey, offering a perspective that I would summarize in one word: rebirth. The Cathedral of Paris, which just seven years ago seemed mortally wounded by a devastating fire, has now been rebuilt and is more splendid than ever. That disaster sparked a positive reaction at every level, some more visible and practical, others more hidden and of a spiritual nature. Its restoration was a test of the possible collaboration between the church, the state, public institutions, and civil society. This approach made it possible to make the most of the generosity of benefactors and the expertise of professionals and skilled workers. This synergy for the common good should be the norm for institutions, for political and social forces, and all those with civil and economic responsibilities. This is the message that I chose to convey to the French authorities as well as to the members of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which has its headquarters in Paris. I thus highlighted the fundamental criterion upon which such collaboration must be based: the dignity of the human person.
But above all, Notre Dame is the image of the church made up of living stones, of the holy people of God. It is interesting to draw a parallel between the celebration of vespers in the cathedral and the vigil of young people which took place the same evening in the huge Stade de France in Paris. Two completely different locations, yet two complementary events almost united spiritually. What was it that united them? The church, which is not made up of stones or cement, but of people who love Jesus Christ because they have been loved by him. At Notre Dame there were priests and deacons, consecrated persons and pastoral workers. At the stadium, there was the new French generation, new, I would say, not only in terms of age, but even more so in spirit and the freedom of heart and faith. Young people who sang and shouted, but who also remained silent, listening, attentive and emotional faces, which revealed hearts yearning for truth and love. To them, I said with joy, "You are the saints of France." The vigil was a great sign of hope.
The same was true in the smallness that God favors of the meeting at the Maison Bakita, a shelter for people in need, one of the many places, fruits of the gospel, where people commit themselves every day to serving the dignity of the human person. There is, however, a sign of renewal within the church in France that has been evident for some years now, namely the remarkable and growing number of young people and adults seeking baptism. In response to this beautiful surprise from God, a provincial synodal assembly is currently underway in Paris at which I was able to speak, encouraging the journey of the catechumens and neophytes together with the communities to which they belong. The climax of my visit to the capital was the Place de la Concorde. There the sign of rebirth appeared in a surprising way. The liturgical assembly, which in the vast square brought together the priests, the choir, and a remarkable crowd, extended all the way along the avenue up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond. At the moment of communion, everyone was able to receive the Eucharist, which was distributed everywhere. This is the true reconstruction, the restoration of the church that only God can bring about through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
And so it was natural and proper that after Paris I should make a pilgrimage to Lourdes to venerate the Mother of the Church, Mary, she who in the hour of passion and death keeps alight the lamp of faith and hope. In Lourdes, the Lord, through the maternal care of the Virgin Mary, conveys to everyone, pilgrims and especially those who are sick in body and spirit, a message of hope and of rebirth, a message that I wish to openly reaffirm. Every human life, in whatever condition, even in the most extreme frailty, retains its inviolable dignity and deserves to be cared for, to be accompanied and relieved of suffering with human compassion and with the aid of the means offered by science. For this reason, Lourdes represents for the entire world a sanctuary of the civilization of love. In this context, I met some people who were victims of abuse, and they asked me to help me express to other victims too my own wish and that of the whole church to listen to them and walk alongside them as they seek healing, acknowledging the pain inflicted upon their lives and working to prevent abuse.
The third and final stage of the apostolic journey was the city of Metz, in a region of France and Europe ravaged by the Second World War. It was there that Robert Schuman, one of the principal inspirers of the process of European unification, carried out his work. Contemporary Europe was indeed born as a project for peace in the wake of the destruction wrought by war. We might say that what happened to Notre Dame in Paris with the fire was what had happened to Europe during the Second World War. And Europe was reborn, founded on those principles of democracy, solidarity, and fraternity amongst peoples which owe much to its Christian roots. Even today, it is on these foundations and with this vital lifeblood that the European project can be renewed in a far more globalized world where interreligious dialogue plays a role of primary importance. For this reason, at Metz, I met with representatives of various religious traditions who read and signed in my presence the Metz Appeal for Dialogue and Peace.
Dear friends, the theme of my pastoral visit to France was "I came that they may have life." They are Jesus's words which encapsulate his entire mission of salvation, and which during the journey fully express the gospel meaning of every encounter. May they now inspire our prayer as we ask God that this event of grace might bear abundant and lasting fruit.
