Pope Francis: Saints Peter and Paul show transforming power of Christ’s grace
June 30, 2014
The lives of Saints Peter and Paul show that the grace of Christ can transform us, even “if we should happen to fall into the gravest sins, and into the darkest night,” Pope Francis said in his June 29 Sunday Angelus address.
Recalling that St. Peter denied Christ three times and that St. Paul persecuted the Church, Pope Francis said that “the grace of Christ accomplished great things in them, it transformed them.”
“Both welcomed the love of God and allowed themselves to be transformed by His mercy; they became friends and apostles of Christ,” he continued. “God is always able to transform us, as He transformed Peter and Paul, to transform our hearts and forgive us everything, thus transforming the darkness of sin into a dawn of light.”
Grace “pushes us to overcome the selfishness that we have in our heart in order to follow decisively the Master who has given His life for His friends,” he added. God can transform us “if we open our hearts and ask for forgiveness.”
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Further information:
- Le parole del Papa alla recita dell’Angelus (Holy See Press Office)
- Pope: Grace of Christ transformed Peter and Paul (Vatican Radio)
- English translation (Holy See)
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