Pope Francis says "...a Church that knows how to take care of the weakest...announce the Gospel in active charity...Don't get tired of going against the grain in a world that..." to Volunteers of UNITALSI - FULL TEXT
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SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE VOLUNTEERS AND SICK PEOPLE OF UNITALSI
Paul VI Hall on Thursday, December 14, 2023
_____________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome everyone!
I am happy to meet the Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Sanctuaries (UNITALSI), founded 120 years ago. Your numerous and varied presence - sick people, people with disabilities, volunteers, stretcher bearers, families, healthcare workers, young people, priests - testifies to the beauty of a Church that knows how to accompany, a Church that knows how to take care of the weakest, a Church that knows announce the Gospel in active charity. Thank you, thank you so much for what you do! Don't get tired of going against the grain in a world that, in the name of well-being and efficiency at all costs, marginalizes and discards.
I encourage you in your precious service, and I do so by referring to the symbols you have placed in the anniversary logo: the staff and sandals, signs of the pilgrim, and the Virgin. An invitation to cherish the spirit of the pilgrimage, animated by the Gospel, and to keep our gaze on Mary.
Pilgrimage has been at the center of your work, since the young Giovanni Battista Tomassi, suffering from irreversible deforming arthritis, founded UNITALSI after experiencing the comfort of prayer during a trip to Lourdes. In the Marian city he had imagined taking his own life and instead, right there, he rediscovered the profound sense of his being, there he found the strength of faith. Even today, the pilgrimages you organize are a balm for the wounds of many people with disabilities, sick, elderly or in need of help, whom you accompany to Lourdes and to the other main Italian and foreign sanctuaries. They are journeys for life, healing journeys - in different dimensions - which promote the dignity of every human existence, especially marked by illness, fragility and suffering. In pilgrims - as we all are in this world - the face of Christ is reflected, who took upon himself our infirmities to imbue them with the strength of the Resurrection.
The experience of pilgrimage has within it the values of welcome, hospitality, solidarity, and in your initiatives it puts healthy and sick people, elderly and young people, consecrated and lay people on the same path; thus it becomes a living sign of a Church that walks together, that supports those who can't make it and that doesn't want to leave anyone behind. It is an image of the Church as a "field hospital" which, like the Good Samaritan, approaches with compassion and binds the wounds by pouring oil and wine (see Luke 10:34). And all in silence, all with discretion, because in the face of suffering, words must leave room for closeness and gestures of tenderness. Please remember: may this always be your style!
Your Association, widespread and deeply rooted throughout Italy, ensures a point of reference for families and communities, carrying out a protective function for life in fragility. At the same time, it carries out a work of evangelization and apostolate. He does it sine glossa, as Saint Francis would say, that is, with facts, with example, with an announcement that has the flavor of concreteness. This is a language that can speak to everyone, as we see in the Gospel, when people looked for Jesus because in Him they felt the strength of God who heals, of God who forgives, of God who consoles, of God who gives hope. May the Word of God always be your nourishment and also your "stick", which supports you on the journey, so as not to falter even when the road becomes arduous and your strength seems to fail.
And then, dear friends, trust in Mary. Her embrace is often the goal of your pilgrimages. Continue to seek her, to contemplate her, to invoke her, to lay at her feet her toils, the anguish, the pains that everyone carries with them. On this anniversary you wanted the effigy of Our Lady of Lourdes to visit Italy, with a peregrinatio through your local Sections, involving thousands of people, in churches, in hospitals, in retirement and reception homes, in prisons. And today she arrived here too. Thank you so much!
In these days that lead us to Christmas, the figure of Mary appears even more familiar to us, closer: let us look at her and let ourselves be looked at by her, to learn to say "yes", to welcome God's plans without fear, and to take care of smaller and defenseless. May she, the pilgrim Mother in faith and hope, accompany the steps of your Association. I bless you all and bless your service. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
TO THE VOLUNTEERS AND SICK PEOPLE OF UNITALSI
Paul VI Hall on Thursday, December 14, 2023
_____________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome everyone!
I am happy to meet the Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Sanctuaries (UNITALSI), founded 120 years ago. Your numerous and varied presence - sick people, people with disabilities, volunteers, stretcher bearers, families, healthcare workers, young people, priests - testifies to the beauty of a Church that knows how to accompany, a Church that knows how to take care of the weakest, a Church that knows announce the Gospel in active charity. Thank you, thank you so much for what you do! Don't get tired of going against the grain in a world that, in the name of well-being and efficiency at all costs, marginalizes and discards.
I encourage you in your precious service, and I do so by referring to the symbols you have placed in the anniversary logo: the staff and sandals, signs of the pilgrim, and the Virgin. An invitation to cherish the spirit of the pilgrimage, animated by the Gospel, and to keep our gaze on Mary.
Pilgrimage has been at the center of your work, since the young Giovanni Battista Tomassi, suffering from irreversible deforming arthritis, founded UNITALSI after experiencing the comfort of prayer during a trip to Lourdes. In the Marian city he had imagined taking his own life and instead, right there, he rediscovered the profound sense of his being, there he found the strength of faith. Even today, the pilgrimages you organize are a balm for the wounds of many people with disabilities, sick, elderly or in need of help, whom you accompany to Lourdes and to the other main Italian and foreign sanctuaries. They are journeys for life, healing journeys - in different dimensions - which promote the dignity of every human existence, especially marked by illness, fragility and suffering. In pilgrims - as we all are in this world - the face of Christ is reflected, who took upon himself our infirmities to imbue them with the strength of the Resurrection.
The experience of pilgrimage has within it the values of welcome, hospitality, solidarity, and in your initiatives it puts healthy and sick people, elderly and young people, consecrated and lay people on the same path; thus it becomes a living sign of a Church that walks together, that supports those who can't make it and that doesn't want to leave anyone behind. It is an image of the Church as a "field hospital" which, like the Good Samaritan, approaches with compassion and binds the wounds by pouring oil and wine (see Luke 10:34). And all in silence, all with discretion, because in the face of suffering, words must leave room for closeness and gestures of tenderness. Please remember: may this always be your style!
Your Association, widespread and deeply rooted throughout Italy, ensures a point of reference for families and communities, carrying out a protective function for life in fragility. At the same time, it carries out a work of evangelization and apostolate. He does it sine glossa, as Saint Francis would say, that is, with facts, with example, with an announcement that has the flavor of concreteness. This is a language that can speak to everyone, as we see in the Gospel, when people looked for Jesus because in Him they felt the strength of God who heals, of God who forgives, of God who consoles, of God who gives hope. May the Word of God always be your nourishment and also your "stick", which supports you on the journey, so as not to falter even when the road becomes arduous and your strength seems to fail.
And then, dear friends, trust in Mary. Her embrace is often the goal of your pilgrimages. Continue to seek her, to contemplate her, to invoke her, to lay at her feet her toils, the anguish, the pains that everyone carries with them. On this anniversary you wanted the effigy of Our Lady of Lourdes to visit Italy, with a peregrinatio through your local Sections, involving thousands of people, in churches, in hospitals, in retirement and reception homes, in prisons. And today she arrived here too. Thank you so much!
In these days that lead us to Christmas, the figure of Mary appears even more familiar to us, closer: let us look at her and let ourselves be looked at by her, to learn to say "yes", to welcome God's plans without fear, and to take care of smaller and defenseless. May she, the pilgrim Mother in faith and hope, accompany the steps of your Association. I bless you all and bless your service. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
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