“We are all sinners”. “Jesus tells us that he stands knocking at our door, asking that we open it to Him”, he said.
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Police said some 20,000 people attended the pope’s regular audience, far fewer than usually turn out.
Turning his attention to the gift of creation, the Pope said the anxiety that the Church has, in fact, is the fate of the human family and of all creation which needs to be nurtured in order to be passed on to future generations.
“There are places in the world where you still don’t have to lock your doors, but there are so many other places where the doors are barred shut, and where that has become normal”, he said. “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”.
He added: “The Church is the caretaker of God’s house, not its owner!” “May the doors of our Christian homes be signs and symbols of the door of God’s mercy, a door ever open to all who knock and desire to meet Jesus”. “In a world lacerated by violence this is the right moment to launch a mercy offensive”, says Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pope’s Secretary of State.
“It’s everyone’s duty to protect children and put their welfare above all else, so that they’re never subject to forms of slavery and mistreatment and forms of exploitation”, Pope Francis said.
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.
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Pope Francis commended Solidarity for its protection of the rights of persons and society, telling them: “Be faithful to this commitment, so that political or economic interests do not prevail over the values which constitute the essence of human solidarity”.
