Pope Francis: 'Promote a culture of life'

Pope Francis has urged all believers to uphold and promoting a "culture of life". Speaking to the crowds gathered in St Peter's Square for the Angelus, the Holy Father marked Sunday's celebration in Italy of the 'Day for Life' with a call to join the Italian Bishops in promoting a culture of life in which "no one is left alone."

"Each life is sacred" Pope Francis said, let's pray together for those children who risk a pregnancy termination and for those who are nearing the end of life... May no one be left alone and may love defend the sense of life."

Quoting tMother Teresa of Calcutta, he said: "Life is beauty, admire it; Life is life, fight for it....That is true for the child about to be born and for the person who is about to die: "Every life is sacred!"

During his catechesis, the Pope referred to the Gospel reading of the day that tells of the Sermon on the Mount and urged Christians to preserve society from corruption and gossip. "We are the salt of the earth" he said, and the mission of Christians in society is to give flavour to life with faith and with the love that Christ has given us "rejecting the polluting germs of selfishness, envy and gossip...These germs ruin the texture of our communities that must be places of welcome, solidarity and reconciliation."

To be able to fulfill this mission, he continued, "it is necessary to be free from the corrupting degeneration of worldly influences that are contrary to Christ and to the Gospel."

Thus, Francis invited the faithful never to let down their guard but to be purified continuously regenerating the spirit of the Gospel every day in our lives.
The Pope pointed out that it is above all our behaviour, for better or for worse, which leaves a mark in others. "Thanks to the light of faith, the gift that we have received, we have the duty and the responsibility not to keep it to ourselves as if it were our property, but to allow it to shine in the world and give it to others through works of charity" he said.

"The world, he said, is much in need of the light of the Gospel that transforms, heals and gives salvation to he who embraces it."

When we give of the light of our faith, Pope Francis said, we do not extinguish it, but strengthen it, but, he warned, it must be nurtured with love and with works of charity.

Pope Francis echoed his Angelus message in his Tweets on Sunday saying firstly:

"Take action! Live life to the full! And when others see the witness you give, they may ask: why do you live this way?"

followed by the message: "Those who do not believe in or search for God have perhaps never been challenged by a testimony of faith."

Source: Vatican Radio