Pope Francis before meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro in Vatican City, Vatican on May 10, 2015.
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Looking forward to the December 8 opening of the Jubilee Year, the Pope said that God always leaves the door of mercy open, welcoming all those who seek entry. “The Jubilee Year recalls the great door of God’s mercy, but also the small doors of our churches – open to let the Lord in – or to let the Lord out, who is often the prisoner of our structures, our selfishness, and of so many things”. An inhospitable Church, like a family closed in on itself, mortifies the Gospel and makes the world arid. Before us is the door, but not only the Holy Door, the other – the great door of God’s Mercy, a…
Middle school teacher Angela Cappone, who brought students to the audience from Lorsarno, Calabria, said a few mothers anxious about allowing their children to go on the trip, “but we encouraged them to let them come”.
It also means that “we do not know where the next incident is going to take place”, he said.
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While this door will be opened to everyone to offer grace of forgiveness, the Pope said we also must have the courage to enter.
While the invitation is always present, God never forces us to enter, Pope Francis continued. “No more reinforced doors in the Church!” he exclaimed. The door is opened frequently, to see if there is anyone waiting outside, who perhaps does not have the courage or even the strength to knock. We have lost their trust; please, we must not let this happen.
Today, Francis was surrounded by almost 20 dark-suited bodyguards during his tour through St. Peter’s Square aboard his open-sided popemobile, more than the normal 12 who usually jog alongside him. “The gatekeeper does not choose the sheep, the parish secretary doesn’t choose them”, the pope said.
The gatekeeper, that is, everyone in the church, must obey the voice of God and remember “the church is the custodian of the Lord’s house, not the master of the Lord’s house”.
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Among the groups he greeted following the audience was the Polish trade union Solidarity, whose activities helped lead to the fall of communism in the Eastern bloc.
