• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Thursday, March 30, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Instagram
Home
Uncategorized

Pope Francis: God never tires of forgiving

Monday, March 18, 2013

Pope Francis gestures as he leads his first Angelus from the window of his private apartment in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 17. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Citing a distinguished German theologian and an anonymous elderly penitent from Argentina, Pope Francis told an overflow crowd in St. Peter’s Square never to despair of God’s mercy to sinners.

“The Lord never tires of forgiving,” the pope said March 17, before leading his listeners in praying the midday Angelus. “It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness.”

Pope Francis, who was elected March 13, spoke from his window in the Apostolic Palace for the first time. Despite gray skies, a crowd easily numbering 150,000 turned out to see the pope for his first scheduled appearance in St. Peter’s Square since the night of his election.

He opened with an expression of what has already become his trademark informality, greeting listeners with a simple “buongiorno!”

Commenting on the day’s Gospel reading (Jn 8:1-11), Pope Francis noted that Jesus addresses a woman caught in adultery, not with words of scorn or condemnation, “but only words of love, of mercy, which invite her to conversion: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'”

Pope Francis referred to a book on the subject of mercy by German Cardinal Walter Kasper, retired president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, whom he described as a “superb theologian.”

“But don’t think I’m advertising my cardinals’ books. That’s not it,” the pope said in the sort of spontaneous aside that listeners have already to come expect from him.

“This book has done me so much good,” Pope Francis said, apparently referring to a work published in 2012 under the German title “Barmherzigkeit” (Mercy).

“Cardinal Kasper said that to feel mercy, this word changes everything,” the pope said. “A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just.”

The Argentine pope also recalled an encounter more than 20 years ago with an elderly woman in Buenos Aires, who told him: “If the Lord did not forgive all, the world would not exist.”

Pope Francis said he had wanted to ask her if she had studied at Rome’s prestigious Pontifical Gregorian University, because her words reflected the “wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit: interior wisdom regarding the mercy of God.”

Following the Angelus, the pope offered a particular greeting to Romans and other Italians, noting that he had chosen for his papal name that of St. Francis of Assisi, which he said “reinforces my spiritual tie with this land, where — as you know — my family origins lie.”

Earlier that morning, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the Church of St. Anne inside Vatican City, where his homily also treated the subject of divine mercy.

“It is not easy to trust in the mercy of God, because that is an incomprehensible abyss,” he said. “But we must do it.”

Jesus likes us to tell him even our worst sins, the pope said. “He forgets; he has a special ability to forget.”

At the end of Mass, Pope Francis drew attention to the presence of Father Gonzalo Aemilius, founder of the Liceo Jubilar Juan Pablo II, a high school in Montevideo, Uruguay. He described the priest as one “who has long worked with street kids, with drug addicts. He opened a school for them, he has done so much to make them know Jesus.”

“I don’t know how he came to be here today,” the pope said. “I’ll find out.”

Afterward, outside the church, the pope personally greeted each of the approximately 200 members of the congregation, then walked over to the nearby St. Anne’s Gate and greeted members of a crowd that had formed on the other side of the boundary separating Vatican from Italian territory.

He also sent his first official Tweet from @pontifex: “Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pope Francis.”

 

  • Tags
  • Pope Francis
  • The Texas Catholic
  • Vatican
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article The real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
Previous article Pope Francis: Don't give in to pessimism

Related Posts

Sharing Faith Through Music News
Friday, March 24, 2023

Sharing Faith Through Music

How to successfully accompany young Hispanic Catholics Uncategorized
Wednesday, March 22, 2023

How to successfully accompany young Hispanic Catholics

Kevin, un monaguillo que  da lecciones de inclusión Revista Catolica
Sunday, March 5, 2023

Kevin, un monaguillo que da lecciones de inclusión

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.