Pope Francis lamented this Tuesday that the persecution of Christians continues and that there are those who struggle to follow the Gospel, “while the world laughs at them and preaches something else.”
“Today, two thousand years later, we see with sadness that the persecution continues,” he said during the Angelus prayer.
According to Francis, there are still – and there are many – “those who suffer and die for bearing witness to Jesus, as well as those who are penalized at different levels for behaving in a manner consistent with the Gospel, and those who fight every day to remain faithful, without fanfares, to their good duties, while the world laughs at them.”
From the window of the Apostolic Palace, he added: “These brothers and sisters may also seem like failures, but today we see that this is not the case. In fact, now as then, the seed of their sacrifices, which seemed to die, sprout and bear fruit, because God, through them, continues to work wonders, changing hearts and saving men.”
Pope Francis also asked the faithful if they worry and pray “for those who, in various parts of the world, continue to suffer and die for their faith” and if, at the same time, they seek “to bear witness to the Gospel, with coherence, meekness and trust.”
The leader of the Catholic Church expressed his closeness to Christian communities that suffer discrimination and urged them to preserve their peaceful struggle for justice and religious freedom.
Source: TSF
