“Before the bishop blesses his people, he asks that you pray to the Lord to bless me, the prayer of the people for the blessing of their bishop.” Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aries, Argentina, is elected the 266th bishop of Rome. He takes the name Francis.
“This is what I am asking you — be shepherds with the smell of sheep.”
“May the church be the place of God’s mercy and love, where everyone can feel themselves welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live according to the good life of the Gospel. … To make others feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged, the church must have open doors so that all might enter.”
“I want things messy and stirred up in the congregations. I want you to take to the streets. I want the church to take to the streets.”
Francis addresses the world’s Catholic priests during his homily at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday.
Francis’ series of meditations on the church.
Francis addressing youth on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro during World Youth Day.
March 28
June 12
July 25
March 13, 2013
“Jesus never disappoints us.”
“The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old. The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other, and the problem is they don’t even look for them anymore. They have been crushed by the present.” Francis’ interview with La Repubblica.
During a visit to St. Alfonso Maria Liguori Parish in Rome to visit a “living Nativity set,” organized by the parish each year, a lamb was draped over Francis’ shoulders.
Oct. 1
Jan. 6, 2014
IN HIS WORDS: QUOTES FROM
POPE FRANCIS’ FI RST YEAR
March 17
May 27
July 5
July 29
Nov. 24
“Mercy is the Lord’s most powerful message. … Let us never tire of asking God’s forgiveness.”
“We understand reality better not from the center, but from the outskirts.”
“Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted, but something which enhances our lives.”
“If [gay people] accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?”
Francis visited Sts. Elizabeth and Zechariah Parish in the northern suburbs of Rome.
From Lumen Fidei (“The Light of Faith”), the encyclical issued under Francis’ name but largely written by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis speaking to journalists aboard the papal plane on his way back to Rome.
“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘Thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. … The [global] socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.”
At his first public Mass, Francis preached on John 8:1-11, the woman caught in adultery.
From Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”).
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