Cardinal Parolin says talks with German bishops continue, calls sanctions talk premature

Pope Francis gives his message during the weekly general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 4, 2023 / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jan 4, 2023 / 02:30 am (CNA).

Benedict XVI “always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Pope Francis said at the start of his weekly public audience on Wednesday.

The pope began his message Jan. 4 with a reference to his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on Dec. 31 at the age of 95. The body of Benedict XVI is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 2-4, before his funeral on Jan. 5.

“Before beginning this catechesis,” Francis said in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, “I would like us to join with those here beside us who are paying their respects to Benedict XVI, and to turn my thoughts to him, a great master of catechesis.”

Catechesis means religious instruction or teaching.

“His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” he said.

“Jesus, Crucified and Risen, the Living One and the Lord, was the destination to which Pope Benedict led us, taking us by the hand,” the pope added. “May he help us rediscover in Christ the joy of believing and the hope of living.”

Pope Francis’ message on Wednesday was the final instruction in a series on the theme of discernment.

One of the important tools to support discernment, he said, is spiritual accompaniment, also called spiritual direction.

“It’s very important not to walk alone,” he underlined, encouraging Catholics to find a spiritual director, a lay person or a priest, who can help to “unmask misunderstandings, even grave ones, in our consideration of ourselves and our relationship with the Lord.”

The pope compared the experience of discernment without accompaniment to looking at yourself alone in a mirror: you can imagine things that are not there or see things in a distorted way.

“God’s grace in us always works on our nature. Thinking of a Gospel parable, we can always compare grace to the good seed and nature to the soil,” Francis said. “First of all, it is important to make ourselves known, without fear of sharing the most fragile aspects, where we find ourselves to be more sensitive, weak, or afraid of being judged.”

He emphasized that the person who accompanies us in our spiritual journey does not replace or substitute the Lord, but “walks alongside him or her, encouraging them to interpret what is stirring in their heart, the quintessential place where the Lord speaks.”

The Church commonly calls someone in this role a “spiritual director,” but Pope Francis said he prefers the name “spiritual companion.”

“Discernment is an art, an art that can be learned and which has its own rules,” he said. “If learned well, it enables spiritual experience to be lived in an ever more beautiful and orderly manner. Above all, discernment is a gift from God, which must always be asked for, without ever presuming to be expert and self-sufficient.”

The pope said the act of recounting our life, experiences, and spiritual searching in front of someone else can bring clarity.

It can also, he added, bring to light “the many thoughts that dwell within us, and which often unsettle us with their insistent refrains — how often, in dark times, have these thoughts come to us: ‘I have done everything wrong, I am worthless, no-one understands me, I will never succeed, I am destined for failure,’ and so on.”

“False and poisonous thoughts, that the exchange with another helps to unmask, so we can feel we are loved and valued by the Lord for what we are, capable of doing good things for him,” he said.

Let us pray, Francis concluded: “Lord, give me the grace to discern. In life’s moments, help me to know what I should do. And send me the people who can help me discern.”

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Pope Francis during the weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

In the first general audience since the opening of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims that Catholics should be aware of the “prohibitions of the Holy Spirit” to ensure the unity and universality of the Church is not compromised.

Continuing his catechesis on the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church, the pope emphasized that unity cannot be “achieved on the drawing board” but only through the will and action of the Holy Spirit.

“The unity of Pentecost, according to the Spirit, is achieved when one makes the effort to put God, not oneself, as the center,” the pope said at the end of his address. “Christian unity is also built in this way.”

Addressing hundreds of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father encouraged his listeners to become “instruments of unity and peace” moved by the Holy Spirit instead of being driven by “one’s own point of view.”

“We all want unity. We all desire it from the depths of our heart and yet it is so difficult to attain that,” he said. “Unity and concord are among one of the most difficult things to achieve, and even harder to maintain. The reason is that, yes, everyone wants unity but based on one’s own point of view.”

In order to achieve unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said it is necessary to also consider the “surprising prohibitions of the Spirit.”

Holy Father cites experience of St. Paul

Referring to the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Father spoke about how even St. Paul and his disciples had to listen to the “prohibitions” of the Holy Spirit about where to preach the Gospel.

“Paul, we read again in Acts, wanted to proclaim the Gospel in a new region of Asia Minor, but it is written that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit,” the pope said. “The following night, the apostle received in a dream the order to pass into Macedonia. Thus the Gospel left its native Asia and entered into Europe.”

Pope Francis also spoke about the synodal “movement of the Holy Spirit” at the Council of Jerusalem, which discussed whether pagan converts to Christianity needed to adopt customs of the Mosaic Law such as circumcision.

“The Holy Spirit does not always create unity suddenly, with miraculous and decisive actions, as at Pentecost. He also does so — and in the majority of cases — with discrete work, respecting human time and differences, passing through people and institutions, prayer and confrontation. In, we would say today, a synodal manner,” the Holy Father said.

Following the catechesis, the Holy Father greeted the crowds of international pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square and encouraged them to continue to pray for peace and unity in the world.

Before concluding the audience with the prayer of the Our Father in Latin, Pope Francis asked his listeners to also turn to Our Lady and pray the rosary during the month of October.

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Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered for his Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 14, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Sep 18, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV, in his first interview since his election,… […]