"Today is a somewhat special stage" and "it’s a pause for prayer." With these words Pope Francis recalled, at this morning's General Audience in the Paul VI Hall, that today we are celebrating the Annunciation: this event "the beginning of the mystery of the Incarnation, shows us just how much God wanted for His Only-begotten Son to not only be conceived in a mother's womb, but also to be welcomed into a real family." After inviting all those present to recite a Hail Mary, the Pope's reflection focused on "Evangelium Vitae," signed by St. John Paul II on March 25th, twenty years ago. This Encyclical "reminds us that the human couple was blessed by God from the beginning to form a community of love and life, to which He entrusted the mission of procreation." The Church, for its part, "is solemnly committed to the care of the family that results from it, as a gift of God for her own life, in good fortune and in bad: the bond between the Church and the family is sacred and inviolable. The Church, as mother, never abandons the family, even when it is weak, wounded and mortified in many ways. Even when it falls into sin, or moves away from the Church; She will always do everything to try to cure and heal it, to invite it to conversion and reconcile it with the Lord."
The Pope then renewed the prayer for the Synod of Bishops on the family, calling for the commitment to continue praying until next October's Ordinary Assembly of the Synod, which will be dedicated to the family. "I would like—he said—for this prayer, and the entire Synodal journey, to be animated by the compassion of the Good Shepherd for his flock, especially for people and families who for various reasons are worn out and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9:36)." "I ask you, please," he insisted "to not neglect your prayer. All of us—the Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, men and women religious, as well as laypeople—are all called to pray for the Synod. This is needed, not chatter! I invite even those who feel distant, or who are no longer used to doing so, to pray. This prayer for the Synod on the family is for the good of all."
Read the catechesis and the prayer for the Synod
