• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Columnists
  • Pope Francis
  • Revista Catolica
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Tuesday, March 2, 2021
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Columnists
  • Pope Francis
  • Revista Catolica
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
Home
Pope Francis

True prayer, like true faith, leads to care for others, pope says

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Pope Francis greets the crowd during his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Oct. 21, 2020. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Being indifferent to or hating others is to deny the existence of God’s presence in one’s neighbor, Pope Francis said.

“This is practical atheism,” the pope said Oct. 21 during his weekly general audience.

“To not recognize the human person as an image of God is a sacrilege, an abomination, the worst offense that can be directed toward the temple and the altar,” he said.

Arriving in the Paul VI audience hall, the pope once again observed social-distancing measures by taking his seat immediately rather than going to greet members of the crowd up close.

He also apologized and explained that mingling with them would increase “the danger of infection for you.”

“I am sorry for this, but it’s for your safety,” he said. “But please know that I am close to you in my heart. I hope you understand why I do this.”

Before his main talk, the pope said he noticed a mother cuddling and breastfeeding her crying baby at the start of the audience.

Upon seeing this, he said, “I thought, ‘That’s what God does with us, like that mother, who with such tenderness tried to rock the baby, to feed the baby. It is a beautiful image.”

“Never silence a child who cries in church. Never. Because it is a voice that recalls God’s tenderness,” he said.

Continuing his series of talks on prayer, the pope talked about “the wicked” person often mentioned in the Book of Psalms and described them as someone who “lives as if God does not exist.”

The Book of Psalms, he said, presents prayer as a “fundamental reality of life” that serves as a “boundary,” which prevents “us from venturing into life in a predatory and voracious manner.”

However, he said, there are “the wicked” ones, like those who go to Mass “only to be seen” or to show off, or those who pray out of habit and with no depth, thus rendering “a false prayer” to God.

“The worst service someone can give God, and others as well, is to pray tiredly, in a habitual way, to pray like a parrot: blah, blah, blah. No. We must pray with our hearts,” the pope said.

“Prayer is not a sedative to alleviate life’s anxieties; or, in any case, this type of prayer is certainly not Christian,” he added. “Rather, prayer makes the person responsible” for others as can be seen “clearly in the ‘Our Father’ that Jesus taught his disciples.”

Pope Francis said the psalms teach Christians that prayer is more than just seeking God’s help for oneself but rather a “collective patrimony, to the point of being prayed by everyone and for everyone,” the pope said.

“If you pray so many rosaries and then gossip about others, you have resentments, you have hate against others, this (prayer) is purely artificial,” the pope said.

  • Tags
  • Faith
  • Pope Francis
  • Vatican
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Bishop Kelly: The Rosary, A Language of Faith
Previous article Father Bayer: Examining Our Conscience Before Voting

Related Posts

Fight temptation with faith, prayer, penance, pope says at Angelus Pope Francis
Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Fight temptation with faith, prayer, penance, pope says at Angelus

A day that begins with prayer is a good day, pope says Pope Francis
Wednesday, February 10, 2021

A day that begins with prayer is a good day, pope says

Naming undersecretaries for synod, pope gives a woman a vote Pope Francis
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Naming undersecretaries for synod, pope gives a woman a vote

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, Interim 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.