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Pope Francis on St. Stephen’s Day highlighted the importance of the family in the life of every person.
“The family is the story from which each of us comes,” the pope stressed Sunday at the Angelus prayer on the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Family. Francis expressed concern about the population decline in Europe. The “demographic winter” that is weighing heavily on Italy in particular is a “tragedy,” he said.
“Many couples prefer to stay without a child or with only one child. Think about it: It’s a tragedy. We must overcome this demographic winter that is directed against our families, against our homeland and also against our future,” the pope said.
Addressing the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis acknowledged the importance of the family for every human being. “We come from a history woven of bonds of love, and the person we are today was born not so much from the material goods we have enjoyed, but from the love we have received, from the love in the bosom of the family.”
Francis called on the faithful to overcome conflicts in the family. “Every day in the family we must learn to listen and understand one another, to walk with one another, to overcome conflicts and difficulties,” the Holy Father explained. This, he said, is the daily challenge that can be won with the right attitude, with small attentions, with simple gestures, with taking care of the details of our relationships.
“It helps us so much to talk in the family, the dialogue between parents and children, the dialogue between siblings helps us to revive this family root that comes from the grandparents. To preserve harmony in the family it is necessary to fight the dictatorship of the ego. It is dangerous when we do not listen to each other, and blame each other for our faults; when, instead of caring for others, we are fixated on our own needs.”
For Christmas, Francis received many congratulations. For this, he thanked them publicly on St. Stephen’s Day. “In the past few days I have received a many congratulations. Since I cannot respond to each one, today I express my sincere gratitude to all, especially for the gift of your prayers,” the church leader said.
The pope had stressed the importance of dialogue in times of pandemic in his Urbi et orbi blessing message on Christmas Day. “Our capacity for social relations is being severely tested; there is a growing tendency to close oneself off, to want to do everything alone; people refrain from going out, meeting one another and doing tasks together. At the international level, there is a danger of a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue,” the pope said. The pandemic leads to choosing shortcuts instead of taking the longer paths of dialogue.
- source: k.at/picture: instagram #franciscus
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