Pope Francis received the Friars Minor of La Verna and the Tuscan Province to celebrate the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving stigmata or the wounds of Jesus' crucifixion.
The Friars brought a relic of the saint's blood and the Pope reflected on what the wounds mean for Jesus' followers.
POPE FRANCIS
The disciple of Jesus finds in the stigmatized St. Francis a mirror of his identity. The believer does not belong to a group of thought or action held together by human strength alone, but to a living Body, the Body of Christ which is the Church.
Pope Francis said Christians see the stigmata as a call to live in solidarity on a daily basis. He stressed they must be attentive like St. Francis was to meeting people around them who are marked with the same wounds or are suffering.
The Pope encouraged the Friars to live in fraternity and he closed with one of St. Francis' prayers.
PA
TR: KG
