for the sake of all the families of the world, and thus overcome the scandal of
a narrow, petty love, closed in on itself, impatient of others".
 "How beautiful it would be if everywhere, even beyond our borders, we could
appreciate and encourage this prophecy and this miracle", concluded the Holy
Father. "May God grant to all of us, as the Lord's disciples, the grace to be
worthy of this purity of heart which is not scandalised by the Gospel".
 Following the Eucharist, Pope Francis gave the Gospel of St. Luke to five
families representing the five continents, from, respectively, Kinshasa
(Africa), Havana (America), Hanoi (Asia), Syney (Australia) and Marseilles
(Europe).

___________________________________________________________

 Francis leaves the United States: I thank the Lord that I was able to witness
the faith of God's people in this country
 Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - Following Holy Mass at Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, the Pope travelled by car to the airport in Philadelphia
where
he embarked on his return flight to Rome. He was welcomed at the airport by
five
hundred people, mostly members of the Organising Committee and volunteers and
benefactors of the World Meeting of Families, as well as the vice president of
the United States, Joe Biden. The Holy Father expressed his gratitude to them
and to the families who had shared their witness during the Meeting.
 "It is not so easy to speak openly of one's life journey! But their honesty
and
humility before the Lord and each of us showed the beauty of family life in all
its richness and diversity. I pray that our days of prayer and reflection on
the
importance of the family for a healthy society will inspire families to
continue
to strive for holiness and to see the Church as their constant companion,
whatever the challenges they may face".
 The Pope thanked all those who had prepared for his stay in the archdioceses
of
Washington, New York and Philadelphia. "It was particularly moving for me to
canonise St. Junipero Serra, who reminds us all of our call to be missionary
disciples, and I was also very moved to stand with my brothers and sisters of
other religions at Ground Zero, that place which speaks so powerfully of the
mystery of evil. Yet we know with certainty that evil never has the last word,
and that, in God's merciful plan, love and peace triumph over all".
 He asked the vice president, Joe Biden, to renew his gratitude to President
Obama and to the Members of Congress, together with the assurance of his
prayers
for the American people. "This land has been blessed with tremendous gifts and
opportunities", he remarked. "I pray that you may all be good and generous
stewards of the human and material resources entrusted to you".
 "I thank the Lord that I was able to witness the faith of God's people in this
country, as manifested in our moments of prayer together and evidenced in so
many works of charity. Jesus says in the Scriptures: 'Truly, I say to you, as
you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me'. Your
care for me and your generous welcome are a sign of your love for Jesus and
your
faithfulness to Him. So too is your care for the poor, the sick, the homeless
and the immigrant, your defence of life at every stage, and your concern for
family life. In all of this, you recognise that Jesus is in your midst and that
your care for one another is care for Jesus Himself.
 "As I leave, I ask all of you, especially the volunteers and benefactors who
assisted with the World Meeting of Families: do not let your enthusiasm for
Jesus, His Church, our families, and the broader family of society run dry. May
our days together bear fruit that will last, generosity and care for others
that
will endure. Just as we have received so much from God -gifts freely given us,
and not of our own making - so let us freely give to others in return".
 "Dear friends, I embrace all of you in the Lord and I entrust you to the
maternal care of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States. I will pray
for you and your families, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. May God bless
you all. God bless America!" concluded Francis.
 At 8 p.m. local time (2 a.m., 28 September in Rome), the aircraft carrying the
Holy Father departed from Rome, where it landed this morning at 9.58 a.m. On
the
way back to the Vatican he paused at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray
before the image of the Salus Populi Romani and to thank the Virgin for the
fruits of this apostolic trip.

___________________________________________________________

 Message for World Youth Day in Krakow, 2016: "Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy"
 Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - The following is the full text of the
Pope's message for the 31st World Youth Day, to be held in Krakow, Poland in
July 2016.
 "Dear Young People,
 We have come to the last stretch of our pilgrimage to Krakow, the place where
we will celebrate the 31st World Youth Day next year in the month of July. We
are being guided on this long and challenging path by Jesus' words taken from
the Sermon on the Mount. We began this journey in 2014 by meditating together
on
the first Beatitude: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven' (Mt 5:3). The theme for 2015 was: 'Blessed are the pure in heart,
for
they shall see God' (Mt 5:8). During the year ahead, let us allow ourselves to
be inspired by the words: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy'.
 1. The Jubilee of Mercy
 With this theme, the Krakow 2016 WYD forms part of the Holy Year of Mercy and
so becomes a Youth Jubilee at world level. It is not the first time that an
international youth gathering has coincided with a Jubilee Year. Indeed, it was
during the Holy Year of the Redemption (1983/1984) that St. John Paul II first
called on young people from around the world to come together on Palm Sunday.
Then, during the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, over two million young people
from around 165 countries gathered in Rome for the 15th World Youth Day. I am
sure that the Youth Jubilee in Krakow will be, as on those two previous
occasions, one of the high points of this Holy Year!
 Perhaps some of you are asking: what is this Jubilee Year that is celebrated
in
the Church? The scriptural text of Leviticus can help us to understand the
meaning of a 'jubilee' for the people of Israel. Every fifty years they heard
the sounding of a trumpet (jobel) calling them (jobil) to celebrate a holy year
as a time of reconciliation (jobal) for everyone. During that time they had to
renew their good relations with God, with their neighbours and with creation,
all in a spirit of gratuitousness. This fostered, among other things, debt
forgiveness, special help for those who had fallen into poverty, an improvement
in interpersonal relations and the freeing of slaves.
 Jesus Christ came to proclaim and bring about the Lord's everlasting time of
grace. He brought good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, sight to the
blind and freedom to the oppressed. In Jesus, and particularly in his Paschal
Mystery, the deeper meaning of the jubilee is fully realised. When the Church
proclaims a jubilee in the name of Christ, we are all invited to experience a
wonderful time of grace. The Church must offer abundant signs of God's presence
and closeness, and reawaken in people's hearts the ability to look to the
essentials. In particular, this Holy Year of Mercy is 'a time for the Church to
rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to her by the Lord on the day
of
Easter: to be a sign and an instrument of the Father's mercy'.
 2. Merciful like the Father
 The motto for this Extraordinary Jubilee is 'Merciful like the Father'. This
fits in with the theme of the next WYD, so let us try to better understand the
meaning of divine mercy.
 The Old Testament uses various terms when it speaks about mercy. The most
meaningful of these are hesed and rahamim. The first, when applied to God,
expresses God's unfailing fidelity to the Covenant with his people whom he
loves
and forgives forever. The second, rahamim, which literally means 'entrails',
can
be translated as 'heartfelt mercy'. This particularly brings to mind the
maternal womb and helps us understand that God's love for his people is like
that of a mother for her child. That is how it is presented by the prophet
Isaiah: 'Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of
her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you'. Love of this kind
involves making space for others within ourselves and being able to sympathise,
suffer and rejoice with our neighbours.
 The biblical concept of mercy also includes the tangible presence of love that
is faithful, freely given and able to forgive. In the following passage from
Hosea, we have a beautiful example of God's love, which the prophet compares to
that of a father for his child: 'When Israel was a child I loved him; out of
Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me...
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them
with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an
infant to his cheeks... I stooped to feed my child'. Despite the child's wrong
attitude that deserves punishment, a father's love is faithful. He always
forgives his repentant children. We see here how forgiveness is always included
in mercy. It is 'not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality with which he
reveals his love as of that of a father or a mother, moved to the very depths
out of love for their child. It gushes forth from the depths naturally, full of
tenderness and compassion, indulgence and mercy.
 The New Testament speaks to us of divine mercy (eleos) as a synthesis of the
work that Jesus came to accomplish in the world in the name of the Father. Our
Lord's mercy can be seen especially when he bends down to human misery and
shows
his compassion for those in need of understanding, healing and forgiveness.
Everything in Jesus speaks of mercy. Indeed, he himself is mercy.
 In Chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel we find the three parables of mercy: the lost
sheep, the lost coin and the parable of the prodigal son. In these three
parables we are struck by God's joy, the joy that God feels when he finds and
forgives a sinner. Yes, it is God's joy to forgive! This sums up the whole of
the Gospel. 'Each of us, each one of us, is that little lost lamb, the coin
that
was mislaid; each one of us is that son who has squandered his freedom on false
idols, illusions of happiness, and has lost everything. But God does not forget
us; the Father never abandons us. He is a patient Father, always waiting for
us!
He respects our freedom, but He remains faithful forever. And when we come back
to him, He welcomes us like children into His house, for He never ceases, not
for one instant, to wait for us with love. And His heart rejoices over every
child who returns. He is celebrating because He is joy. God has this joy, when
one of us sinners goes to Him and asks his forgiveness'.
 God's mercy is very real and we are all called to experience it firsthand.
When
I was seventeen years old, it happened one day that, as I was about to go out
with friends, I decided to stop into a church first. I met a priest there who
inspired great confidence, and I felt the desire to open my heart in
Confession.
That meeting changed my life! I discovered that when we open our hearts with
humility and transparency, we can contemplate God's mercy in a very concrete
way. I felt certain that, in the person of that priest, God was already waiting
for me even before I took the step of entering that church. We keep looking for
God, but God is there before us, always looking for us, and He finds us first.
Maybe one of you feels something weighing on your heart. You are thinking: I
did
this, I did that. Do not be afraid! God is waiting for you! God is a Father and
He is always waiting for us! It is so wonderful to feel the merciful embrace of
the Father in the sacrament of Reconciliation, to discover that the
confessional
is a place of mercy, and to allow ourselves to be touched by the merciful love
of the Lord Who always forgives us.
 You, dear young man, dear young woman, have you ever felt the gaze of
everlasting love upon you, a gaze that looks beyond your sins, limitations and
failings, and continues to have faith in you and to look upon your life with
hope? Do you realise how precious you are to God, who has given you everything
out of love? St. Paul tells us that 'God proves His love for us in that, while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us'. Do we really understand the power
of
these words?
 I know how much the WYD cross means to all of you. It was a gift from St. John
Paul II and has been with you at all your World Meetings since 1984. So many

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