For the past three years, Pope Francis has used the feast of Pentecost to call for unity among Christians.
POPE FRANCIS
“We are always tempted to build 'nests.' This is to gather around one's own group, one's own preferences, the same with the same, allergic to any contamination. From the nest to the sect, the step is short, also within the Church.”
The following year, in the midst of the health crisis, he insisted on this point. He asked followers to go beyond their own personal opinions to help others.
POPE FRANCIS
The world sees conservatives and progressives; the Spirit sees children of God. A worldly gaze sees structures to be made more efficient; a spiritual gaze sees brothers and sisters pleading for mercy.
In 2021, he recalled the three great pieces of advice given by the Holy Spirit: to live in the present, to build unity, and to trust in God's help rather than in one's own strength.
POPE FRANCIS
If you feel the darkness of solitude, if you feel that an obstacle within you is blocking the way to hope, if your heart has a festering wound, if you cannot see a way out, then open your heart to the Holy Spirit.
Knee permitting, Pope Francis will preside at the Pentecost Mass this Sunday. It will be the first time after two years of the pandemic that many pilgrims will be able to experience this feast close to the Pope. In 2020 and 2021 only a handful of collaborators and curial staff were able to participate.
MRR
TRANS: OG
