prison; and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the
cell; and he struck Peter on the side ... And the chains fell off his hands'.
 Let us think about how many times the Lord has heard our prayer and sent us an
angel? An angel who unexpectedly comes to pull us out of a difficult situation?
Who comes to snatch us from the hands of death and from the evil one; who
points
out the wrong path; who rekindles in us the flame of hope; who gives us tender
comfort; who consoles our broken hearts; who awakens us from our slumber to the
world; or who simply tells us, 'You are not alone'.
 How many angels he places on our path, and yet when we are overwhelmed by
fear,
unbelief or even euphoria, we leave them outside the door, just as happened to
Peter when he knocked on the door of the house and the 'maid named Rhoda came
to
answer. Recognising Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the door'.
 No Christian community can go forward without being supported by persistent
prayer! Prayer is the encounter with God, with God who never lets us down; with
God who is faithful to his word; with God who does not abandon his children.
Jesus asked himself: 'And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day
and night?'. In prayer, believers express their faith and their trust, and God
reveals his closeness, also by giving us the angels, his messengers.
 A call to faith: in the second reading Saint Paul writes to Timothy: 'But the
Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully ... So I was
rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save
me for his heavenly Kingdom'. God does not take his children out of the world
or
away from evil but he does grant them strength to prevail. Only the one who
believes can truly say: 'The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall
want'.
 How many forces in the course of history have tried, and still do, to destroy
the Church, from without as well as within, but they themselves are destroyed
and the Church remains alive and fruitful! She remains inexplicably solid, so
that, as Saint Paul says, she may acclaim: 'To him be glory for ever and ever'.
 Everything passes, only God remains. Indeed, kingdoms, peoples, cultures,
nations, ideologies, powers have passed, but the Church, founded on Christ,
notwithstanding the many storms and our many sins, remains ever faithful to the
deposit of faith shown in service; for the Church does not belong to Popes,
bishops, priests, nor the lay faithful; the Church in every moment belongs
solely to Christ. Only the one who lives in Christ promotes and defends the
Church by holiness of life, after the example of Peter and Paul.
 In the name of Christ, believers have raised the dead; they have healed the
sick; they have loved their persecutors; they have shown how there is no power
capable of defeating the one who has the power of faith!
 A call to witness: Peter and Paul, like all the Apostles of Christ who in
their
earthly life sowed the seeds of the Church by their blood, drank the Lord's
cup,
and became friends of God.
 Paul writes in a moving way to Timothy: 'My son, I am already on the point of
being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is
laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved
his appearing'.
 A Church or a Christian who does not give witness is sterile; like a dead
person who thinks they are alive; like a dried up tree that produces no fruit;
an empty well that offers no water! The Church has overcome evil thanks to the
courageous, concrete and humble witness of her children. She has conquered evil
thanks to proclaiming with conviction: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God'.
 Dear Archbishops who today receive the Pallium, it is a sign which represents
the sheep that the shepherd carries on his shoulders as Christ the Good
Shepherd
does, and it is therefore a symbol of your pastoral mission. The Pallium is 'a
liturgical sign of communion that unites the See of Peter and his Successor to
the Metropolitans, and through them to the other Bishops of the world'.
 Today, by these Pallia, I wish to entrust you with this call to prayer, to
faith and to witness. The Church wants you to be men of prayer, masters of
prayer; that you may teach the people entrusted to your care that liberation
from all forms of imprisonment is uniquely God's work and the fruit of prayer;
that God sends his angel at the opportune time in order to save us from the
many
forms of slavery and countless chains of worldliness. For those most in need,
may you also be angels and messengers of charity!
 The Church desires you to be men of faith, masters of faith, who can teach the
faithful to not be frightened of the many Herods who inflict on them
persecution
with every kind of cross. No Herod is able to banish the light of hope, of
faith, or of charity in the one who believes in Christ!
 The Church wants you to be men of witness. St. Francis used to tell his
brothers: 'Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words!'. There is no
witness without a coherent lifestyle! Today there is no great need for masters,
but for courageous witnesses, who are convinced and convincing; witnesses who
are not ashamed of the Name of Christ and of His Cross; not before the roaring
lions, nor before the powers of this world. And this follows the example of
Peter and Paul and so many other witnesses along the course of the Church's
history, witnesses who, yet belonging to different Christian confessions, have
contributed to demonstrating and bringing growth to the one Body of Christ. I
am
pleased to emphasise this, and am always pleased to do so, in the presence of
the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, sent by my
beloved brother Bartholomew I.
 This is not so straightforward: because the most effective and authentic
witness is one that does not contradict, by behaviour and lifestyle, what is
preached with the word and taught to others.
 Teach prayer by praying, announce the faith by believing; offer witness by
living!"

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 Angelus: the legacy of Sts Peter and Paul is a source of pride for Rome
 Vatican City, 29 June 2015 (VIS) - At midday, after celebrating Holy Mass with
the new metropolitan archbishops in the Vatican Basilica, the Pope appeared at
the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St.
Peter's Square.
 "The solemnity of the Saints Peter and Paul is celebrated, as you know, by the
universal Church, but it is lived with particular joy by the Church of Rome, as
her foundations lie in their witness, sealed with blood. Rome nurtures a
special
affection and acknowledgement for these men of God, who came from a faraway and
to announce, at the expense of their lives, the Gospel of Christ to Whom they
were totally dedicated. The glorious legacy of these two apostles is a reason
for spiritual pride for Rome and, at the same time, is a reminder to live
Christian virtues and in particular faith and charity: faith in Jesus the
Messiah and Son of God, that Peter professed first and Paul announced to the
people; and charity, which this Church is called upon to serve with a universal
outlook".
 "In the Angelus prayer", he explained, "we associate the memory of Saints
Peter
and Paul with that of Mary, the living image of the Church, Christ's spouse,
whom the two Apostles made fruitful with their blood". Peter personally knew
Mary and, conversing with her, especially in the days preceding Pentecost, he
was able to deepen his knowledge of the mystery of Christ. Paul, in announcing
the fulfilment of the salvific plan 'in the fullness of time', does not neglect
to mention the 'woman' to whom the Son of God was born in time. In the
evangelisation of the two apostles here in Rome there are also the roots of the
Romans' deep, centuries-long devotion to the Holy Virgin, invoked in particular
as Salus Populi Romani. Mary, Peter and Paul: they are our travelling
companions
in our search for God, they are our guides on the path of faith and holiness;
they drive us towards Jesus, to do all that He asks of us. Let us invoke their
help, so that our heart may always be open to the suggestions of the Holy
Spirit
and encounter with our brothers".
 Francis asked all those present to pray in a special way for Rome, for its
spiritual and material well-being, and that divine grace might support the
Roman
people to live Christian faith fully. After the Marian prayer he reminded those
present of his upcoming apostolic trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay from 5
to 12 July, and again asked the faithful to accompany him in prayer to Our Lady
during the trip.

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 Angelus: faith is touching Jesus and receiving the grace that saves us
 Vatican City, 28 June 2015 (VIS) - The resurrection of Christ that acts
throughout history as the source of renewal and hope was the theme of the
Pope's
reflection during this Sunday's Angelus, in which which he commented on the two
readings of the day's liturgy, the awakening after death of the daughter of one
of the heads of the synagogue, and the healing of the bleeding woman.
 In the first passage, Jesus is called by the father of the dead child, says
"Do
not fear, only believe" and, entering the house, he orders her to rise. The
child awakens and begins to walk. "Here we see Jesus' absolute power over
physical death, that for Him is like a slumber from which one can reawaken".
 In the second reading, Jesus heals a woman who has suffered bleeding for two
years, an illness that in the cultural context of the time would have rendered
her "impure" and obliged her to avoid all human contact, "as if she were
condemned to a civil death", the Pope explained. "This anonymous woman, in the
midst of the crowd following Jesus, says to herself, 'If I touch even his
garments, I will be made well'. And so it was: the need to be freed drives her
to boldness and her faith 'seizes', as it were, the cure. Those who believe
touch Jesus and draw from Him the Grace that saves. It saves our spiritual life
and it saves us from many problems".
 "These two episodes - healing and resurrection - have a sole centre: faith.
The
message is clear, and can be summarised in a question: do we believe that Jesus
can heal us and reawaken us from death? All the Gospel is written in the light
of this faith: Jesus is resurrected, he conquers death, and by this, his
victory, we too will rise again. ... Christ's Resurrection acts in history as a
source of renewal and hope. Whoever is desperate and tired, unto death, if he
trusts in Jesus and His love, may begin to live again. Also starting out on a
new life, changing one's life, is a way of rising again, of resuscitating.
Faith
is a force of life that gives fullness to our humanity; and he or she who
believes in Christ must recognise this so that it may promote life in every
situation, and enable everyone, especially the weakest, to experience God's
love
that liberates and saves".
 "Let us ask the Lord, by the intercession of Our Lady, for the gift of strong
and courageous faith, that drives us to spread hope and life among our
brethren", concluded the bishop of Rome.

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 The Pope's telegrams for the terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait
 Vatican City, 28 June 2015 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin
has sent telegrams on behalf of the Holy Father to the representatives of the
Holy See in France, Tunisia and Kuwait following the terrorist attacks on 26
June in Saint-Quentin Fallavier, Sousse and Kuwait City.
 The Pope writes to the apostolic nuncio in France that he participates in
prayer in the suffering of the family of the victim of the attack in
Saint-Quentin Fallavier, and with the wounded and their relatives. He repeats
his condemnation of "violence that gives rise to so much suffering", invokes
the
Lord's gift of peace, and blesses the afflicted families and all the French
people.
 In his telegram to the apostolic nuncio in Tunisia, Francis expresses his
heartfelt condolences to the Tunisian people and in particular to the families
of the deceased following the attack in Sousse. Again condemning violence, he
asks God to welcome the souls of the departed in His light, and blesses the
injured, their loved ones and all Tunisian citizens.
 In his third telegram, the Holy Father declares his sadness at the tragic loss
of life and injuries caused by the attack on a mosque in Kuwait City, and
offers
his prayers for the victims and for all those who mourn. Deploring these acts
of
barbarism, he reaffirms his spiritual closeness to all the families affected
and
to the Kuwaiti people, encouraging them not to lose heart in the face of evil,
and invokes upon the nation the consoling and healing love of the Almighty.


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