Pope Francis to Hold Meeting with Children

October 5, 2023202 views0

Pope Francis to Hold Meeting with Children

2023-10-05T11:34:01+01:00

By Church News

Pope Francis on Sunday announced a meeting with children to be held at the Vatican on Nov. 6.The event in the Paul VI Audience Hall, sponsored by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, will be dedicated to the theme “Let us learn from boys and girls.”“It is an event to show the dream we all have: To go back to having the pure sentiments of children because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them,” the pope said after praying the midday Angelus on Oct. 1.Accompanied by five children from five continents, the pope on Sunday said that children “teach us how to be transparent in relationships, how to welcome strangers, and how to care for creation.”Recently, the pope elevated 21 new cardinals from 15 different countries during a consistory in St. Peter’s Square.Later in the day, he led an ecumenical prayer vigil, a prelude to the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, also known as the Synod on Synodality, which began Wednesday and continues through October. The synod’s participants began a three-day retreat Sunday led by Father Timothy Radcliffe. The Dominican priest interrupted his opening meditation, which was live-streamed by the Vatican, for the Angelus.Sunday also marked the feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose “little way” of holiness is the subject of a new apostolic letter Pope Francis will publish on Oct. 15. Following his Gospel reflection the pope spoke briefly about the document, calling the “Little Flower” a saint of trust. “May St. Thérèse help us to trust and to work for the missions,” he said.The apostolic exhortation will be released on the feast of the saint for whom Thérèse is named, St. Teresa of Avila.ALSO READ: Travis Tritt Releases ‘Country Chapel’