The blood of St. Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, was placed front and center during a meeting with Pope Francis. Priests, nuns, and other religious received the Pope with great excitement.
The archbishop even allowed religious from seven cloistered convents to go out.
Excited religious overtook protocol and approached the Pope, causing some funny and endearing confusion.
'Sisters, later! Sisters, later! And these are the closers. If they were not closers, what would happen? '
As he often does, Pope Francis gave some advice to the religious so that they could improve their relationship with God and create fraternity.
He reminded them that they should always follow the path of Jesus by not giving in to temptation. The Pope also sent a special message to the seminarians.
POPE FRANCIS
'If Jesus is not central, postpone ordination. If you are not sure that Jesus is the center of your life, wait a little longer.'
During his impromptu speech, the Pope asked the religious to avoid diseases such worldliness or gossip.
POPE FRANCIS
'It is the 'terrorism of gossip' because gossip is a terrorist who throws a bomb, destroys, and leaves.'
Before leaving, he prayed the Our Father, kissed the relic of St. Januarius, and said the blessing with it in hand. And the solidified blood became liquid.
ARCH. CRESCENZIO SEPE
Archbishop of Naples
'The sign that San Gennaro loves the Pope, who is Neapolitan like us: the blood is already liquid.'
And in that moment, the blood wasn't liquid at all. With humor, the Pope made this recommendation.
POPE FRANCIS
'It seems that the saint loves us a little bit. We have to convert a little more for him to love us completely.'
The phenomenon of the liquefaction of the saint's blood has not happened in the presence of a Pope since 1848. John Paul II and Benedict XVI did not do it during their visits.
