As is customary during the weekly General Audience, Pope Francis has special words of greeting to pilgrims of different languages and cultures.
By Vatican News
In line with the theme of his catechesis that is dedicated to “Prayer”, Pope Francis on Wednesday had a specially tailored message for each language group following the audience.
Addressing the French-speaking pilgrims, the Pope reminded them of the upcoming Solemnity of Pentecost and invited them to pray to the Holy Spirit to become men and women of peace and kinship that can bring gifts of trust and hope into the world.
The Solemnity of Pentecost was also at the heart of his words to the English-speaking believers upon whom he invoked an abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Then the Pope invited the Germans to follow the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “with her constant prayer together with the Apostles, she invoked the Holy Spirit upon the Church who renews men and women in Christ’s love. May the Spirit of Charity fill our hearts so that we continually turn to the the Lord in prayer”.
The Pope encouraged the Spanish-speaking faithful to read the first pages of the Book of Genesis in order to “rediscover the power that the prayer of the ‘friends of God’ have so that we might do the same”. He then urged them to invoke God’s name confidently so that the Lord “might heal the world from all its wounds and so that we might experience the joy of salvation”.
To the Arabic-speaking listeners, the Pope said : ”Prayer does not change God, but changes us, making us more docile to His will”. He said that “Praying allows us to gradually enter into the divine light that purifies our hearts from all darkness,” .
Pope Francis reminded Polish believers that we enter the Novena of Pentecost imploring the presence of the Holy Spirit so that we may go forward in our Christian lives with His gifts. In this difficult time, he said “Let us pray with the words spoken by Saint John Paul II in Warsaw, ‘May your Spirit descend and renew the face of the earth! Of this earth !”
Finally, Pope Francis greeted Portuguese-speakers reminding them that prayer opens the doors of our life to God who teaches us to go out of ourselves towards others, offering consolation, hope and support.
