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“It is a humiliation, but I offer it for your country,” Pope Francis told pilgrims from Slovakia.
The pontiff was addressing the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The pope was addressing members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
The pope said that the foundation brings ‘love, hope, and mercy’ to those it supports.
The 85-year-old pope canceled his engagements the day before the audience due to knee pain.
The pope praised the book’s ‘valuable teaching on the alliance of the generations.’
The change follows sweeping reform of the Catholic Church’s penal sanctions.
Knee pain has forced the 85-year-old pope to curtail his activities in recent weeks.
The pope commissioned the first Missionaries of Mercy in 2016.
It was the first Wednesday audience in St. Peter's Square since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Brothers and sisters, let us allow the peace of Christ to enter our lives, our homes, our countries,” Pope Francis said.
An estimated 50,000 people were in St. Peter's Square for the pope's Easter Sunday Mass.
Pope Francis did not preside over the Easter Vigil Mass, but he delivered the homily and baptized seven people.
‘War is everywhere,’ he told interviewer Lorena Bianchetti.
‘The priest with a functionalist mindset has his own nourishment, which is his ego,’ he said.
The pope will visit the prison of Civitavecchia, outside Rome.
The two men prayed together ‘after a brief and affectionate conversation.’
The pope described war as ‘a blasphemous betrayal of the Lord of Passover.’
Pope Francis reflected on Jesus’ words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
“Let the weapons be put down. Let the Easter truce begin,” Pope Francis urged.