In a festive atmosphere, thousands of faithful Catholics participated in the solemn inaugural Mass of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which began with a presbyteral procession and all the concelebrating ministers. After the opening rites, a video message sent by Pope Francis was shared, in which he expressed his joy at \u201cbeing able to participate, even from a distance, in this great ecclesial meeting under the beautiful theme \u201cFraternity to heal the World.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his message, the Holy Father stressed that the theme of fraternity was chosen for the Congress, which – he said – is “an essential condition for a new world, a more just world, a more humane world.”<\/p>\n
He explained that \u201cthe sign of the Bread ignites in the people of God the desire for brotherhood; for just as Bread cannot be made from only one grain, we too must walk together, for being many, we are one body, one Bread,\u201d as the early Fathers of the Church have expressed.<\/p>\n
For the Bishop of Rome, \u201cfraternity must also be proactive\u201d and after recalling a thought of the German nun Angela Autsch, who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp, who \u201cinvited her little nephews, who were approaching Holy Communion for the first time, she invited her relatives who were somewhat distant. She also invited those who remained devout to rebel against this evil, with simple gestures and, in certain dangerous environments, to come as close as possible to the Sacrament of the Altar, to reveal themselves by receiving Communion.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cThese simple gestures are what make us more aware that if one member suffers, the whole body suffers with it. They are what help us to become Cyrenians of Christ, who took upon himself the weight of the world’s pain to heal the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the final part of his video message, Pope Francis invited us to learn \u201cthis lesson\u201d and to recover \u201cthis radical fraternity with God and among men. We are one, in the one Lord of our life. We are one, in a way that we are not able to fully understand, but what we do understand is that only in this unity can we serve the world and heal it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a festive atmosphere, thousands of faithful Catholics participated in the solemn inaugural Mass of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which began with a presbyteral procession and all the concelebrating ministers. After the opening rites, a video message sent by Pope Francis was shared, in which he expressed his joy at \u201cbeing able to participate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,143],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n