Pope speaks on family, prays for victims of terrorism

December 17, 2014

Pope Francis devoted his December 17 general audience to the family.

According to the Vatican Radio synopsis of the audience, the Pontiff called the family a “great gift of the Lord to the world, right from the beginning, when he entrusted Adam and Eve with the mission to ‘be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth.’”

The Son of God, Pope Francis continued, chose to be born into the Holy Family in the peripheries of the Roman Empire. The Pope added that Jesus “was raised in an atmosphere of religious devotion, learning from the words and examples of Mary and Joseph, and growing in wisdom, age and grace,” according to Vatican Radio’s summary of the Pope’s remarks.

Following the audience, which took place on the Pope’s 78th birthday, the Pope prayed for the victims of the “inhuman terror attacks perpetrated in the past days in Sydney, Australia, and in Peshawar, Pakistan.”

The Pontiff asked those present in St. Peter’s Square to join him in praying to the Lord to “receive the deceased in peace, to bring comfort to their families and to convert the hearts of the violent who do not hold back even before children.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope prays for conversion of terrorists who do not even spare children (Vatican Radio)
• Happy Birthday, Pope Francis! (Vatican Radio)