Pope remembers victims of the Holocaust and those who risked their lives to defend Jews

Francis, recalled Benedict XVI, was born in 1181 in Assisi, to a rich family.  He enjoyed a "light-hearted adolescence and youth,  spent nurturing the chivalrous ideals of time" and he also took part in a war. His capture by the enemy was the beginning of a "slow process of spiritual renewal " that led him to abandon his previous life. Recalling in particular the episode of the crucifix in the church of Saint Damien which spoke to him three times, saying, 'Go and repair my house which, as you see, is in ruins ", Benedict XVI spoke of "deep symbolism. Initially Francis was called to repair that little church, a dramatic symbol of the state of the Church of the thirteenth century which did not believe and did not form life”.  The inner destruction of the Church was also the unity destroyed by heretical movements. However in that ruined church the crucifix stands in the middle, saying to Francis "renew the Church of Christ with his radical faith and his love for the Gospel."

A similar event took place in 1207 in a dream had by Innocent III. " the Lateran was collapsing, a small and contemptible religious friar bears the weight of the Church on his shoulders so it will not fall. Is not the pope, bearing the weight, but a small religious friar". "Innocent III was a" powerful pope, of great theological and even political culture, but he is not called upon to prop up the church, rather a small despicable religious", but nonetheless a religious who is not alone, but in communion with the Pope. Together the true renewal is born".  

As for Francis, faced with his father’s reproach over his generosity to the poor, he stripped himself  of his clothes, "indicating his renunciation of his father's legacy”. In 1208 there is another important event. "Listening to the passage of the Gospel of Matthew,  with the address to the apostles sending them out on mission, he felt called to live in poverty and to devote himself to preaching. Other companions join him, and in 1209 he went to Rome to submit the design of a new form of Christian life to Innocent III. He received a paternal welcome from the great Pontiff, who sensed, enlightened by the Lord Himself, the divine origin of the movement he inspired. The poor man of Assisi understood that every charism is given by the Holy Spirit at the service of the Body of Christ, which is the Church, so he always acted in full communion with Church authorities. In the lives of the saints there is no conflict between the prophetic charisma and charisma of government and, if any tension is created, they know how to wait patiently the time of the Holy Spirit. "

Pope Honorius III in 1218 also "supported the singular development of the friars minor who opened their missions in Europe and even in Morocco” and in 1219 Francis was allowed to travel to Egypt to meet with the Muslim sultan Melek el-Kamel. "I want to emphasize this episode in the life of St. Francis. In an era when there was a clash between Christianity and Islam, Francis, deliberately armed with only his faith and gentleness, effectively travelled the path of dialogue. The chronicles tell us of the benign and friendly welcome he received from the Muslim sultan. It is a model that should inspire relations between Christians and Muslims even today, to promote a dialogue in truth, in mutual respect and mutual understanding. " "It seems then that in 1220 Francis had visited the Holy Land, thus laying a seed that would bring forth much fruit: his spiritual children, in fact, made of the places where Jesus lived a privileged framework of their mission. I think with gratitude today of the great merits of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. "  

In 1224 in Averna he saw the crucifix and received "the gift of the stigmata, intimate identification with the Lord." He died in 1226 at the Porziuncola. "He died lying on the bare ground. Two years later Gregory IX enrolled him in the book of saints. "

St. Francis “was also called the brother of Jesus In fact, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus, to contemplate the Christ of the Gospel, to love him deeply, imitating his virtues. In particular he wanted to give fundamental value to interior and exterior poverty,  he also taught this to his spiritual children. The first beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, is brilliantly realised in the life and words of Saint Francis. Really, dear friends, the saints are the best interpreters of the Bible, they, embody in their lives the Word of God, making it more attractive than ever. The testimony of Francis, who loved poverty to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be an invitation for us to cultivate inner poverty to grow in confidence in God, and lead a sober lifestyle, detached from material goods”.  

A final aspect of the Spirituality of St. Francis emphasized by the Pope is "the sense of universal brotherhood and love for creation, which inspired the famous Canticle of the Creation. It is a very timely message. As I mentioned in my recent Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, only a development that respects creation and that will not damage the environment is sustainable, and in my message for World Day of Peace this year, I emphasized that the construction of a firm peace is linked to respect for creation. Francis reminds us that in creation the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator unfolds".