POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

A few moments ago, the Eucharistic celebration that marked the beginning of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops concluded in St. Peter's Basilica. The Synod Fathers, from all parts of the world and gathered around the Successor of Peter, will reflect for three weeks on the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in society, engaging in careful spiritual and pastoral discernment. We will keep our gaze fixed on Jesus to identify, based on his teaching of truth and mercy, the most appropriate ways for the Church to engage with and for families, so that the Creator's original design for man and woman may be fulfilled and act in all its beauty and power in today's world.

This Sunday's liturgy reiterates the fundamental text from the Book of Genesis on the complementarity and reciprocity between man and woman (cf. Gen 2:18-24). This is why—the Bible says—a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and the two become one flesh, that is, one life, one existence (cf. v. 24). In this unity, spouses transmit life to new human beings: they become parents. They participate in the creative power of God himself. But remember! God is love, and we participate in his work when we love with him and like him. For this purpose—says Saint Paul—love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Rom 5:5). And it is also this love that is given to spouses in the sacrament of marriage. It is love that nourishes their relationship, through joys and sorrows, serene and difficult times. It is love that awakens the desire to have children, to await them, to welcome them, to raise them, to educate them. It is the same love that, in today's Gospel, Jesus shows to children: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14).

Today, we ask the Lord that all parents and educators throughout the world, and indeed society as a whole, may become instruments of the welcome and love with which Jesus embraces the most vulnerable. He looks into their hearts with the tenderness and care of a father and, at the same time, a mother. I think of the many children who are hungry, abandoned, exploited, forced to fight in wars, and rejected. It is painful to see images of unhappy children, with lost looks, fleeing poverty and conflict, knocking at our doors and our hearts, begging for help. May the Lord help us not to be a fortress society, but a family society, capable of welcoming, with appropriate rules, but welcoming nonetheless, always welcoming, with love!

I invite you to support the work of the Synod through prayer, so that the Holy Spirit may make the Synod Fathers fully receptive to His inspirations. Let us invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, uniting ourselves spiritually with those who, at this moment, at the shrine of Pompeii, are reciting the "Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary."