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Let 'tears of repentance' flow, pope tells priests at chrism Mass

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just before some 1,500 priests, bishops and cardinals renewed their priestly promises, Pope Francis asked them to embrace "compunction," which he said was "an aspect of the spiritual life that has been somewhat neglected yet remains essential."

Looking at its etymology, he said that "compunction is 'a piercing of the heart' that is painful and evokes tears of repentance," but it also is the only path to spiritual growth and to a merciful ministry to others.

Presiding over the chrism Mass March 28 in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis ended his lengthy homily by thanking the priests present and, by extension, those around the world.

Pope Francis at chrism Mass
Pope Francis listens to the Gospel reading during his celebration of the chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 28, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

"Thank you, dear priests, for your open and docile hearts. Thank you for all your hard work and your tears. Thank you, because you bring the miracle of God's mercy to our brothers and sisters in today's world," he said. "May the Lord console you, strengthen you and reward you."

Pope Francis preached for more than 20 minutes without apparent difficulty. While he presided over the chrism Mass, which is named after the olive oil mixed with balsam that is blessed during the liturgy, the principal concelebrant at the altar was Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope's vicar for Rome.

The Holy Week Mass was the first major liturgical celebration in the basilica since the towering baldachin over the main altar was wrapped in scaffolding for a 10-month restoration project funded by the Knights of Columbus.

Some 40 cardinals, 40 bishops and 1,500 priests concelebrated the liturgy.

After the homily, the clergy present renewed the promises made to their bishop at their ordinations and pledged to strive to be more united to Christ, "faithful stewards" of the sacraments and zealous pastors of souls.

Pope Francis breathes over chrism oil
Pope Francis breathes on the chrism oil, a gesture symbolizing the infusion of the Holy Spirit, as he celebrates Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 28, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Twelve deacons then wheeled large silver urns of oil down the center aisle of St. Peter's Basilica for the pope's blessing. The blessed oils will be distributed to Rome parishes and used for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick in the coming year.

In his homily, Pope Francis said that compunction is "not a sense of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial 'piercing' that purifies and heals the heart" and often leads to the gift of tears, which are "the holiest waters after those of baptism."

Christians who feel compunction, he said, "increasingly feel themselves brothers and sisters to all the sinners of the world, setting aside airs of superiority and harsh judgments" and are "filled with a burning desire to show love and make reparation."

"Dear brother priests, from us, his shepherds, the Lord desires not harshness but love, and tears for those who have strayed," the pope said. "How greatly we need to be set free from harshness and recrimination, selfishness and ambition, rigidity and frustration, in order to entrust ourselves completely to God and to find in him the calm that shields us from the storms raging all around us."

In increasingly secular societies, Pope Francis said, priests and other church workers can be tempted to be "hyperactive" and yet feel completely inadequate.

"When that happens, we can become bitter and prickly," he said. But "if bitterness and compunction are directed not to the world but to our own hearts, the Lord will not fail to visit us and raise us up."

Compunction, Pope Francis said, should promote "a spirit of repentance," but one motivated by love for the Lord and certain of the Lord's love always.

"Let us rediscover our need to cultivate prayer that is not obligatory and functional, but freely chosen, tranquil and prolonged," he told the priests. "Let us return to adoration and the prayer of the heart. Let us repeat: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Let us sense God's grandeur even as we contemplate our own sinfulness and open our hearts to the healing power of his gaze."

 

Pope asks priests to be brotherly, avoid harshness

Pope asks priests to be brotherly, avoid harshness

During his Chrism Mass, Pope Francis encouraged priests to be brotherly and avoid harshness.

Pope writes to Holy Land Catholics living under 'dark clouds of Good Friday'

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis told Catholics in the Holy Land that he knows Holy Week this year is "so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection."

In a letter published March 27, Pope Francis told the region's Catholics that he was remembering all of them in his prayers, but in a particular way, "I embrace those most affected by the senseless tragedy of war: the children robbed of their future, those who grieve and are in pain, and all who find themselves prey to anguish and dismay."

The Hamas attack on Israel in early October and Israel's retaliation on Gaza have led to death and suffering for Christians in Gaza, but also have seriously restricted the number of pilgrims to the Holy Land, which impacts the livelihood of many Christian families. In addition, heightened Israeli security measures have meant that many Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, cannot cross the border to work.

"I would like each of you to feel my paternal affection, for I am conscious of your sufferings and your struggles, particularly in the course of these recent months," the pope wrote.

"Easter, the heart of our faith, is all the more significant for you who celebrate this feast in the very places where our Lord lived, died and rose again," he said. "The history of salvation, and indeed its geography, would not exist apart from the land in which you have dwelt for centuries."

Pope Francis wrote that he knows Christians want to remain in the Holy Land, and he thanked them "for your testimony of faith, thank you for the charity that exists among you, thank you for your ability to hope against all hope."

Pope Francis at his general audience March 27
Pope Francis speaks to visitors and pilgrims during his general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

He also prayed that the region's Catholics would be able to "sense the love of Catholics throughout the world!"

"You are not alone," he told them. "We will never leave you alone but will demonstrate our solidarity with you by prayer and practical charity."

The letter came about a month and a half after Pope Francis had sent a letter to "my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel," expressing his heartbreak at the violence unleashed by the Hamas attack and repeating the Catholic Church's condemnation of all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.

In his letter to Catholics in the Holy Land, Pope Francis quoted from a letter St. Paul VI had written on March 25, 1974, on the needs of Catholics and the Catholic Church in the Holy Land: "The continuing tensions in the Middle East, and the lack of concrete progress toward peace, represent a constant and dire threat not only to the peace and security of those peoples -- and indeed of the entire world -- but also to values supremely dear, for different reasons, to much of mankind."

Down through the centuries, local Christians have protected the "the places of our salvation," the sites associated with Jesus' life, ministry and resurrection, he said. But also, the Christian community has "borne enduring witness, through its own sufferings, to the mystery of the Lord's Passion."

"By your ability to rise anew and press forward, you have proclaimed, and continue to proclaim, that the crucified Lord rose from the dead," the pope told them.

"In these bleak times, when it seems that the dark clouds of Good Friday hover over your land, and all too many parts of our world are scarred by the pointless folly of war -- which is always and for everyone a bitter defeat -- you are lamps shining in the night, seeds of goodness in a land rent asunder by conflict," Pope Francis told them.

He also penned a prayer for them: "Lord, you are our peace. You who proclaimed blessed the peacemakers: set human hearts free from hatred, violence and the spirit of revenge. We look to your example, and we follow you, who are merciful, meek and humble of heart. May no one rob our hearts of the hope of rising anew with you. May we never tire of defending the dignity of every man, woman and child, without distinction of religion, ethnicity or nationality, beginning with the most vulnerable among us: women, the elderly, children and the poor."

 

Pope preaches patience, even amid war, during Holy Week audience

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Contemplating Christ's passion should inspire Christians to be more patient in the face of their own suffering and trials, Pope Francis said.

"There is no better witness to the love of Christ than meeting a patient Christian," Pope Francis said during his general audience March 27, highlighting the many mothers, fathers, workers, doctors, nurses and sick people who "every day, in hiddenness, adorn the world with holy patience."

"However, we must be honest: We are often lacking in patience," he said. "In daily life, we are all impatient."

Three days after raising concerns about his health when he skipped his homily at Palm Sunday Mass, Pope Francis walked across the stage of the Vatican audience hall using a cane and waving to visitors; he read the entirety of his speech without visible signs of difficulty and added off-the-cuff remarks. The audience was scheduled to take place in St. Peter's Square but was moved indoors due to inclement weather.

Pope Francis greets visitors.
Pope Francis greets two fathers who both lost their daughters in violent conflicts, Bassam Aramin from Palestine and Rami Elhanan from Israel, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

In his catechesis, the pope said that the virtue of patience is an "essential vitamin" needed to combat the human instinct to "become impatient and respond to evil with evil."

Quoting St. Augustine, Pope Francis said that patience entails "knowing how to endure evils."

The pope then pointed to two men seated in the front row of the audience hall, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who had both lost daughters in violent conflicts; the pope praised them for choosing friendship instead of focusing on "the enmity of war."

Patience is more than a value that helps one lead a good life, the pope said; it is a countercultural Christian calling.

"If Christ is patient, Christians are called to be patient," he said, which requires countering today's fast-paced culture and a widespread mentality of wanting "everything and now."

"Let us not forget that haste and impatience are enemies of spiritual life," Pope Francis said. "God is love, and he who loves does not tire, he is not irritable, he does not give ultimatums; God is patient, God knows how to wait."

Pope Francis gives a blessing.
Pope Francis greets two fathers who both lost their daughters in violent conflicts, Bassam Aramin from Palestine and Rami Elhanan from Israel, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

During Holy Week, Pope Francis urged Christians to ask the Holy Spirit for the "meek power of patience" and told them to contemplate Christ on the cross to learn from his patience.

"It is precisely in the Passion that there emerges the patience of Christ, who with gentleness and meekness accepts being arrested, beaten and unjustly condemned," he said. "This is the patience of Jesus."

The pope encouraged Christians to pray before the crucified Christ and to ask for the grace to put into practice "an act of mercy as well-known as it is neglected: patiently enduring bothersome people."

Christians should look at people who may annoy them "with compassion, with God's gaze, knowing how to distinguish their faces from their mistakes," he said.

"We have the habit of categorizing people by the mistakes they make," he said. "No, this is not good. Let us look at people by their faces, by their hearts and not by their mistakes."

Pope Francis ended his audience by praying for peace in Ukraine, where he noted the intense bombings taking place, as well as in Israel and Palestine.

"That the Lord may give peace to all as a gift of his Easter," he prayed.

Pope hails example of an Israeli and an Arab dad

Pope hails example of an Israeli and an Arab dad

A look at Pope Francis' general audience March 27.  

Bishop Burbidge Invites Faithful to Prayer as Supreme Court Hears Case on Abortion Drugs

WASHINGTON – “Abortion is not health care, and no child should experience such violence,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington. As the Supreme Court of the United States hears oral argument in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, Bishop Burbidge, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities said today, “With dangerous abortion drugs now making up the majority of abortions and increasing in use, we pray that the Supreme Court will restore the Food and Drug Administration’s safeguards for the health of women and protect more preborn children.” His full statement follows:

“With dangerous abortion drugs now making up the majority of abortions and increasing in use, we pray that the Supreme Court will restore the Food and Drug Administration’s safeguards for the health of women and protect more preborn children. The FDA’s diminishing safety standards in recent years means that a woman, for example, can now be led to order a chemical abortion pill online without seeing a doctor in person to make sure that she does not have a complicating condition and that she has not been pregnant for longer than the approved ten-week limit.

“Abortion is not health care, and no child should experience such violence. At the same time, a vulnerable mother who obtains an abortion must not be left alone without medical care afterwards.  In addition, we ourselves are to make present to her God’s mercy and love, which are, as we see especially now in Holy Week, without end.

“Yesterday, on the eve of oral argument, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, and I made an invitation to prayer for an end to abortion and for the protection of women and preborn children. We encourage you to join in this prayer until the Court’s decision, and to search for ways in your community to help support mothers in need and make abortion unthinkable.”

The USCCB submitted an amicus brief in this case in February. Archbishop Broglio’s and Bishop Burbidge’s invitation to prayer may be found at https://www.usccb.org/prolife/nationwide-invitation-prayer. For more information on chemical abortion drugs, visit https://www.usccb.org/chemical-abortion-fact-sheets.

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Pope writes meditations for Via Crucis at Colosseum, Vatican says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For the first time in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis has chosen to write his own meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross service at Rome's Colosseum, the head of the Vatican press office said.

For the service March 29, Pope Francis has chosen the theme "In prayer with Jesus on the way of the cross," Matteo Bruni, the press office director, told reporters March 26.

St. John Paul II began a tradition in 1985 of entrusting the writing of the meditations to cardinals and other church personalities, well-known writers or groups of people, including young people and journalists. However, he wrote the reflections himself for the Colosseum ceremony during the Holy Year 2000.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote the meditations for Good Friday 2005, less than a month before being elected Pope Benedict XVI. Throughout his pontificate, though, he entrusted the drafting to different people each year.

Pope Francis at the Colosseum
Pope Francis leads the Way of the Cross outside the Colosseum in Rome April 15, 2022. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The meditations in 2023 focused on the theme, "Voices of peace in a world at war." Several dicasteries of the Roman Curia formulated the prayers and meditations drawing from comments made at meetings with Pope Francis by people suffering from a lack of peace.

Pope Francis has asked Catholics to observe 2024 as a year of prayer in preparation for the Holy Year 2025.

The choice of "in prayer with Jesus" as the theme for the Way of the Cross, Bruni told reporters, is an indication that it will be "an act of meditation and spirituality with Jesus at the center."

Vatican News reported the meditations will have fewer direct references to current events than many previous editions had when migrants and refugees, victims of trafficking or people from countries at war helped write or inspired the reflections.

Bruni also told reporters that as of March 26 Pope Francis was still planning on attending the service. However, the weather and the pope's health will be the deciding factors. Released from the hospital just five days before Good Friday 2023, Pope Francis did not go to the Colosseum.

 

Young people are the living hope of a missionary church, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Young people need to understand how much Christ loves them unconditionally and how much the church needs their voices and presence, Pope Francis said.

"Dear young people, you are the living hope of a Church on the move! For this reason, I thank you for your presence and for your contribution to the life of the Body of Christ," the pope told the world's young people in a written message.

The pope's message was released by the Vatican March 25 to mark the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation "Christus Vivit" ("Christ is Alive"), published in 2019 and reflecting on the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment.

Pope Francis said he wanted to reach out again to young people with a message that could be "a source of renewed hope for you."

Christ is alive, he said in his message, and "his love for you is unaffected by your failings or your mistakes. He gave his life for you, so in his love for you he does not wait for you to be perfect."

"Walk with him as with a friend, welcome him into your life and let him share all the joys and hopes, the problems and struggles of this time in your lives," the pope wrote. "You will see that the path ahead will become clearer and that your difficulties will be much less burdensome, because he will be carrying them with you."

Pope Francis at World Youth Day 2023
Pope Francis, accompanied by an international group of World Youth Day pilgrims, waves to the crowd before beginning the WYD prayer vigil at Tejo Park in Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

"In today's world, marked by so many conflicts and so much suffering, I suspect that many of you feel disheartened. So together with you, I would like to set out from the proclamation that is the basis of our hope and that of all humanity: 'Christ is alive!'" he wrote, and "he loves you with an infinite love."

"How greatly I want this proclamation to reach every one of you, for you to accept it as living and true in your own lives, and feel the desire to share it with your friends!" the pope wrote.

Pope Francis noted that April 14 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first great gathering of young people that, during St. John Paul II's Holy Year of the Redemption, "was the seed of the future World Youth Days."

Pope Francis recalled his first World Youth Day as pope in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, and how "I urged you to make your voices heard! 'Hagan lio!' Make a mess!"

"Today, once again, I ask you: make your voices heard! Proclaim, not so much in words but by your life and your heart, the truth that Christ is alive! And in this way, help the whole Church to get up and set out ever anew to bring his message to the entire world," he wrote.

He encouraged young people to never "leave us without your good way of 'making a mess,' your drive, like that of a clean and well-tuned engine, and your own particular way of living and proclaiming the joy of the risen Jesus!"

 

On Palm Sunday, pope prays people open hearts to God, quell all hatred

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Only Jesus can deliver humanity from hatred and violence, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.
 
"Jesus entered Jerusalem as a humble and peaceful king," he said in brief remarks after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. He prayed that the faithful would open their hearts to the Lord because he alone "can deliver us from animosity, hatred, violence, because he is mercy and the forgiveness of sins."

On a sunny and windy day, about 60,000 people attended the Mass March 24, which began with a solemn procession of hundreds of people carrying green palm branches followed by about 60 cardinals and bishops, carrying "palmurelli," pale green palm branches that were woven and braided. 

palm sunday
Prelates carry palm fronds in procession as Pope Francis looks on at the start of the celebration of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 24, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks. Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was the main celebrant at the altar.

The Vatican offered no explanation about why there was no homily. The pope did read brief remarks after praying the Angelus, greeted the cardinals in attendance from his wheelchair, and he rode in the popemobile for about 15 minutes enthusiastically greeting the faithful, waving, gesturing, offering a thumbs up and occasionally calling out remarks to those he saw. 

In his brief remarks, he expressed his sorrow over a deadly attack in Moscow March 22 in which more than 130 people were killed inside a crowded concert venue.

He prayed for the victims of this "cowardly terrorist attack" and called for the conversion of the "hearts of those who plan, organize and carry out these inhumane actions that offend God, who commanded, 'Thou shalt not kill.'"

The pope extended his prayers to all people who suffer because of war, particularly those in Ukraine, "where so many people find themselves without electricity because of intense attacks against the infrastructure that, in addition to causing death and suffering, carry the risk of an even larger humanitarian catastrophe." 

He also asked people not to forget about the people of Gaza who "are suffering so much" and the many other places experiencing war.

Pope: Pray for war-torn regions this Holy Week

Pope: Pray for war-torn regions this Holy Week

A look at Pope Francis' Palm Sunday.

U.S. Bishops’ President and Chairman of International Justice and Peace Issue Holy Week Call to Prayer for an End to the Israel-Hamas War

WASHINGTON – Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace call on the faithful to renew their prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope. It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of good will to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war.

“Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop. As the Holy Father recently said, ‘One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.’ To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.  

“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land.”  

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Discernment is essential to discipleship, papal preacher says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Holy Spirit is like a line prompter at a theater, behind the scenes and constantly whispering to Christians the words of Jesus, said the preacher of the papal household.

"However, he does not mechanically suggest the words of the Gospel, like from a script, but explains them, adapts them and applies them to specific situations," Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis, cardinals and members of the Roman Curia.

Concluding his series of Friday Lenten meditations March 22, Cardinal Cantalamessa insisted that listening to the Holy Spirit and discerning what the Spirit is saying to individuals and to the church at large is an exercise essential to following Jesus.

"We don't start out knowing the concrete path of holiness God wants for each of us," he said. "God reveals it step by step, so it is not enough to have a well-crafted plan and then follow it. There is no model of perfection that is identical for everyone."

God does not produce saints with a cookie cutter -- "God does not like cloning," he said. "Every saint is an original invention of the Spirit."

Faith, for a Christian, is not just a belief or even a feeling of love for the Lord, the cardinal said, it is a call to follow Jesus concretely in the way one lives and shares in the mission of the church.

And that, too, is different for each person, he said.

Cardinal Cantalamessa leads Lenten meditation
Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, gives a Lenten meditation to Pope Francis, cardinals, members of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 22, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

A person comes to understand their unique call through prayer, meditating on Scripture, speaking with a spiritual guide and following the teaching of the church, he said. But especially important are the promptings and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which also give the person "the necessary strength and often the joy to accomplish it if the person consents."

Of course, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, understanding that call requires discernment, which is not as easy as judging something as good or bad.

"The most delicate problem about inspirations has always been to discern those that come from the Spirit of God from those that come from the spirit of the world or from your own passions or from the evil spirit," he said.

Jesus told his disciples that a true or false prophecy can be judged by the fruit it produces, the cardinal said, which is a helpful thing to keep in mind as the universal church continues to grow in the process of synodality and its encouragement to listen and pray together to discover the promptings of the Holy Spirit for sharing the Gospel today.

"In the moral field," Cardinal Cantalamessa said, "a fundamental criterion is the Spirit's coherence with itself. One cannot ask for something that is contrary to divine will as expressed in the Scriptures, in the teaching of the church and in the obligations of one's own state in life. A divine inspiration will never ask one to do something the church considers immoral."

"The flesh," he said, tries to make its own arguments and sometimes they sound good, "for example, that God is love and everything that is done for love is from God."

St. Ignatius of Loyola taught that "what comes from the Spirit of God brings with it joy, peace, tranquility, sweetness, simplicity, light. What comes from the spirit of evil, instead, brings with it disturbance, agitation, anxiety, confusion, darkness," he said.

"But it is true that in practice things are more complex," he said. "Inspiration can come from God, and despite that, cause great disturbance. But this is not due to the inspiration, which is sweet and peaceful like everything that comes from God. Rather it is born from resistance to the inspiration or from the fact that we are not ready to do what we are asked to do."

However, he said, "if inspiration is accepted, the heart will soon find itself in a deep peace. God rewards every little victory in this area by making the soul feel its approval, which is the most beautiful thing, the purest joy that exists in this world."

 

Pope urges the church to see the face of Christ in migrants

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church can draw closer to Jesus by accompanying migrants in their pursuit of a better life, Pope Francis said.

In the faces of migrants, the church "discovers the face of Christ," he wrote, and like St. Veronica who offered a cloth to wipe Jesus' face during his passion, the church "brings relief and hope on the 'Way of the Cross' of migration."

The pope wrote his comments in a letter March 21 to participants at a meeting between bishops, church officials and migrants in Lajas Blancas, Panama, near the Darién Gap jungle crossed by thousands of migrants each day. The meeting took place during a three-day conference organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for bishops from Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to discuss accompanying migrants.

Migrant brothers and sisters "represent the suffering flesh of Christ" since they are "forced to leave their land, to face the risks and tribulations of a hard road without finding another way out," Pope Francis wrote in his message to the group.

Bishops and other members of the church who support migrants "are the face of a mother church that walks with her sons and daughters," he wrote.

Pope Francis at his weekly general audience
Pope Francis makes brief remarks at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Francis urged the migrants to "never forget about your human dignity," and encouraged them to "not be afraid to look others in the eye, because you are not discarded, but you form part of the human family and the family of God's children."

"I also am the son of migrants who left in search of a better future," the pope told them, referencing his upbringing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the child of Italian immigrants. "There were times when they were left with nothing, even starving, with their hands empty but their hearts full of hope."

The meeting of church officials and migrants took place outside of the Darién Gap jungle that straddles the Panama-Colombia border. Record numbers of migrants have risked their lives to cross the Darién Gap in recent months, subjected to rampant extortion, physical abuse and sexual violence by criminal gangs. More than 500,000 people crossed the gap in 2023, according to data published by the Panamanian government.

In a message to the bishops a day earlier, Pope Francis had written that the church's pastors must break free from indifference in addressing the crisis of forced migration across the Americas and that every migrant challenges Christians to embrace a spirit of hospitality.