Pope: Death can’t separate us; our way of being together only changes

Pope Francis broadened his teaching series on St. Joseph to reflect this February 2 on the Communion of Saints. He laughed about how the concept can be difficult to understand. Though we profess we believe in this Communion each Sunday in the Creed, if we're asked what it is, we might not know. "I remember as a child I used to answer immediately, 'Ah, the saints receive Communion.' It’s something that… we don’t understand what we are saying. What is the communion of saints? It’s not the saints receiving Communion, it’s not that. It’s something else," the Pope said.

Pope Francis warned that sometimes even Christians can fall into forms of devotion to saints that reflect a more pagan than Christian mentality.

But there's a fundamental difference, he said: devotion to the saints is not based on "trust in a human being or an image or object."

While the Church recognizes miracles in the process of canonizing a saint, Catholics don't believe that it's saints who work miracles. Instead it is God who works the miracle, with the saint's intercession. The Pope explained this:

The Pope quoted the definition of the Communion of Saints given by the Catechism.

Pope Francis used St. Paul's definition, that form "one single body in which Jesus is the head and we are the members (cf. 1 Cor 12:120)," saying that this image "immediately makes us understand what it means to be bound to one another in communion.

Pope Francis explained the strength of this union in the Communion of Saints.

Pope Francis said that our relationship with the saints is basically a friendship.

The Holy Father noted that in the whole history of the Church, there has been a special affection for and bond with Mary, the "Mother of God and our Mother." But there has also been "special honor and affection" for St Joseph. "After all, God entrusts to him the most precious things he has: his Son Jesus and the Virgin Mary."

The Pope also had a word for our patron saints.