“Volunteering is prophecy and a sign of hope, because it testifies to the primacy of gratuity, solidarity and service to the most needy”. For the fourth Sunday in a row The Pontiff, hospitalized at Gemelli, makes Angelus words come in writing. And he underlines that, “in my prolonged hospitalization here in the hospital, I too prompted the concern of the service and the tenderness of the care, In particular by doctors and health workers, whom I thank you very much. And while I am here, I think of many people who in different ways are close to the sick and are for them a sign of the presence of the Lord. We need this, of the “miracle of tenderness”, which accompanies who is in the test bringing some light into the night of pain. I would like to thank all those who are showing me their closeness in prayer: thanks to everyone! Please too for you. And I join spiritually to those who in the next few days will participate in the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia ».
Francesco, while recalling that the penitential itinerary of Lent “calls us to conversion of the heart and leads us to the joy of Easter”, also asks that this time is of “purification and spiritual renewal, a path of growth in faith, hope and charity”.
And to the world of volunteering, which celebrates its Jubilee writes that “in our societies too enslaved to market logic, where everything risks being subject to the criterion of interest and in search of profit, volunteering is prophecy and sign of hope, because it testifies the primacy of gratuity, solidarity and service to the most needy. To those who commit themselves in this field I express my gratitude: thanks for the offer of your time and your skills; Thanks for the closeness and tenderness with which you take care of others, awakening hope in them! ».
Finally, he does not get tired of praying for “the gift of peace, in particular in the battered Ukrainian, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Myanmar, Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In particular, I learned with concern about the resumption of violence in some areas of Syria: I hope that they will definitively cease, in full respect of all the ethnic and religious components of society, especially of civilians “.
