The Vatican train station opened to receive a very special visit: from the 'Children's Train.'
Each year it brings a group of the smallest travelers here to spend the morning with the pope.
This year they are from Italian neighborhoods in Naples, Sardinia and Genoa.
After strolling through the gardens, they began their meeting with Pope Francis.
This girl asked him the first question.
'How were you at school? How did school go for you?'
The pope confessed that as a child he did not like to study, but that he had to learn to do it. He admitted that studying helped him a lot.
POPE FRANCIS
'So, there is an important thing a very good teacher taught me: never, never hate a classmate from school. Never. Is it true that sometimes there is someone who is a little unfriendly, a little... yes or no?
Is anyone among you unfriendly?”
No... Yes…
POPE FRANCIS
'Yes? No? What do you do when there is someone who is unfriendly? I'll tell you what you do: it's the same that I did. First, you go and speak poorly about him or her with another. Do you do this?'
Yes.
POPE FRANCIS
“Must we do this or no?”
No!
POPE FRANCIS
No...
'But, father, I like to say something about someone who does not like me. Is this good or not?'
No!
POPE FRANCIS
'What do I have to do when I feel like talking bad about others? I have an infallible recipe, a recipe for not talking bad about others. Do you want me to tell you?'
Yes!
POPE FRANCIS
'Pay attention: When you have the desire to speak poorly of others, bite your tongue. Hard, hard! In this way, the tongue swells up and you cannot talk. Do you understand? Never speak poorly of others.'
'There are many things to agree on! Why fight? Great wars happening now, wars in which people kill the others, start like this... with a little hatred in small things. This is something my teacher taught me.'
The pope asked them to distinguish who inspires the good things in their hearts and who the bad ones. That is, to listen to the advice of God and not that of the devil.
He also told them not to consider money as the end all be all in their lives.
It was a really unforgettable morning for these children, with Pope Francis.
