Before entering the Gemelli Polyclinic to undergo surgery, Francis received the relics of the Carmelite patron saint of the missions in Saint Peter’s Square, announcing that he will dedicate an Apostolic Letter to her on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of her birth, which is celebrated this year. He invited the faithful to come “frequently and with devotion to Jesus, Bread of Life” on the Corpus Christi feast.
Vatican City () – In front of the relics of Saint Teresa of Lisieux, universal patroness of the missions, he said that “charity is the motor of the mission”. This was the gesture of Pope Francis this morning during the general audience in Saint Peter’s Square, before going to the Gemelli Polyclinic to undergo a new intervention on the intestines.
Continuing with his catechetical cycle on the evangelizing passion, Francis dedicated his entire reflection to the figure of Teresa of Lisieux, whose 150th anniversary of birth this year is celebrated (January 2, 1873). And he did it while keeping close to the relics of this great Carmelite nun, who these days are making a stop at the church of Sant’Antonio Abate on the Esquiline in Rome. “It is beautiful that this happens while we reflect on apostolic zeal,” said the Pope, who announced that on this anniversary he intends to dedicate an Apostolic Letter to her.
“She is patroness of the missions, but she never missioned: how do you explain this? – She was a Carmelite nun and her life was one of smallness and weakness: she called herself ‘a small grain of sand’. Weak health, she died when she was only 24 years old. But if her body was sick, her heart was vibrant, she was a missionary. In her ‘diary’ she tells that her desire was to be a missionary and that she wanted to be one not only for a few years, but for the rest of her life, even until the end of the world”.
“Teresa was the ‘spiritual sister’ of various missionaries: from the monastery she accompanied them with her letters, with prayers and offering continuous sacrifices for them. Without appearing, she interceded for the missions, like a hidden engine that gives a vehicle the strength to move forward.” When reviewing her life, Francisco paid particular attention to two episodes: on Christmas 1886, when she was still very young, she recounts in her diary how God worked a miracle by freeing her from the prison of her selfishness, she began to feel that “charity entered into her heart with the need to forget herself”. And then the correspondence with the prisoner Enrico Pranzini, “a criminal sentenced to death for horrible crimes”: “Teresa took him to her heart and did everything she could: she prayed in every possible way for his conversion”, until in the gallows – after having always rejected it – Pranzini suddenly grabbed a Crucifix that the priest presented to him and kissed the wounds of Jesus three times.
“Here is the force of intercession moved by charity – the Pontiff commented – here is the motor of the mission”. In fact, the missionaries, of whom Teresa is patron, are not only those who travel a long way, learn new languages, do good works and are skilled at announcing; no, a missionary is also the one who lives, there where he is, as an instrument of God’s love; he is the one who does everything so that, through his testimony, his prayer, his intercession, Jesus passes by”. Repeating once again that “one does not become a Christian because someone forces him, but because he is touched by love”. Francis added that “the Church, faced with so many means, methods and structures, which sometimes distract from what is essential, needs hearts like Teresa’s, hearts that attract love and draw us closer to God. Let us ask the saint – he concluded – for the grace to overcome our selfishness and ask her for the passion to intercede so that this attraction is greater in people and so that Jesus is known and loved “.
The Pope, recalling in his greeting to the faithful the imminent feast of Corpus Christi, then invited them to come “frequently and with devotion to Jesus, Bread of life that gives strength, light and joy: He will become the source of his choices and their actions. Finally – inviting to join in prayer the initiative “One minute for peace” that International Catholic Action proposes for tomorrow at 1 pm – the pontiff invited to pray “for the end of wars in the world and especially for the beloved and tormented Ukraine”.
