From St. Peter's Square, he once again remembered Palestine, Israel and Ukraine today. And especially to all the “prisoners of war.” The catechism was dedicated to temperance: “The virtue of just measure. It is the sensitive person, who knows how to cry and is not ashamed of it; defeated, he rises; victorious, he is capable of returning to his previous hidden life.”
Vatican City () – Also today, as he usually does on many other occasions, Pope Francis' thoughts were directed to the “peoples at war.” After greeting the Italian-speaking pilgrims, at the end of Wednesday's general audience, the Pontiff recalled – in these hours of serious tension between Tel Aviv and Tehran – the Holy Land, referring to both Palestine and Israel. He also remembered Ukraine, a nation “martyred,” as he often describes it, by two years of war.
Becoming close to the pain that imprisons these regions of the world, Bergoglio invited us to think about the “prisoners of war” and asked the faithful to pray that “the Lord moves the will to free them all.” Above all, he paid special attention to those who, while imprisoned, are subjected to torture practices, “something horrible, which is not human,” Francis stated. There are many forms of torture. “They hurt the dignity of the person.” The bishop of Rome asked to have present “all those who are tortured.”
During the greeting to the pilgrims and faithful gathered in a sunny St. Peter's Square, he dedicated a special welcome to the “religious Josephites of Murialdo” and to the priests of the dioceses of Milan and Andria, “who celebrate significant anniversaries of priestly ordination,” encouraging them “in their dedication to Christ and in service to their brothers.” Then, the Holy Father referred to “the sick, the elderly, the newlyweds, the young,” and especially to all the students, who “make us happy with your presence.” “My wish for each one – he told them – is that, when you leave the Eternal City and return to your respective living environments, you bear witness to a renewed commitment of active faith, and in this way contribute to making the in the world the light of the risen Lord.”
Today's audience, starting from the reference reading (Ecclesiasticus 5,2; 6,4; 14,14), began with the catechesis that continues the cycle of in-depth analysis of “The Vices and Virtues.” Pope Francis spoke about temperance, the “fourth and final cardinal virtue” – in audiences over the past three weeks he reflected on prudence, justice and fortitude. This virtue “shares with the other three a history that goes back far in time and does not belong only to Christians,” Bergoglio explained. Indeed, the ancient Greeks already talked about practicing virtues to achieve happiness. The Pontiff recalled Aristotle's treatise on Ethics dedicated to his son Nicomachus, where he dedicates a space to the enkráteia, that is, temperance. The Greek term literally means “power over oneself,” he continued. “This virtue is, therefore, the capacity for self-control, the art of not letting oneself be overwhelmed by rebellious passions, of bringing order to what Manzoni calls 'the jumble of the human heart.'”
Pope Francis then enunciated the definition of the cardinal virtue that is now contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and seeks balance in the use of created goods.” This then is “the virtue of just measure,” he said. Making it your own contributes to being trustworthy people. “In a world where so many people pride themselves on saying what they think, the temperate person prefers, instead, to think what they say,” he added. Explaining that the temperate person “acts judiciously” to avoid “losing taste for everything.” “It is better then to find the right measure: for example, to appreciate a good wine, it is better to savor it in small sips than to swallow it all at once.” Another characteristic of those who practice temperance is knowing how to “weigh and measure their words well.” Don't let yourself be controlled by anger. However, “although the temperate person knows how to control his irascibility, this does not mean that he is always seen with a peaceful and smiling face,” Pope Francis said.
Finally, temperance “goes well with evangelical attitudes such as smallness, discretion, non-showiness, meekness.” The temperate person is not afraid to show himself fragile, to let the emotions he feels shine through. “He is sensitive, he knows how to cry and is not ashamed of it, but he does not cry over himself. Defeated, he rises; victorious, he is able to return to the old life hidden from him. He does not seek applause, but he knows that he needs others,” he explained. To conclude, the Holy Father spontaneously asked the Lord “to give us this gift: the gift of maturity, of maturity of age, of emotional maturity, of social maturity.”
