Pope Francis heard songs of greeting as he arrived on stage before his General Audience.
At this week's audience, Pope Francis noted that two large factories in a town in northern Italy, Borgo Valbelluna, are about to close, leaving 800 people (and with them, 800 families) without work.
POPE FRANCIS
'The logic of profit must not prevail, but that of fair and supportive distribution. The person and his dignity must always be at the center of every labor issue. When bread is not earned, dignity is lost. We must pray a lot for these people.'
The Pope also recalled that a day of prayer for the victims and survivors of abuse is being observed in Italy this week, and asked that they be supported in their emotional and spiritual recovery.
POPE FRANCIS
'It is the necessary duty of everyone who has a role in educating the family, in the parish, in schools, in places of recreation and sport, to protect and respect the adolescents and young people entrusted to their care. For it is precisely in these places that most abuses occur.'
Pope Francis began a new series of catechesis on St. Joseph to commemorate the special year he dedicated to him which will end on December 8.
He says that St. Joseph, who lived in a virtually unknown village and led a simple life, demonstrates God's love for those on the margins, where God manifests himself.
POPE FRANCIS
'The Lord always acts in a hidden way, always in secret, in the peripheries, even in our soul, in the peripheries of our soul, of our feelings, perhaps in the feelings that we are ashamed of, but the Lord is there to help us go forward. The Lord continues to manifest himself in the peripheries, both geographically and existentially.'
The Pope ended his catechesis with a special prayer dedicated to those who are forgotten in geographic peripheries or in marginalizing situations, and reminded them that St. Joseph is their special protector.
JMB
TR: JM
