Pope Francis received in audience young patients receiving treatment at the Oncology and Pediatric Hematology Clinic in Wrocław, Poland.
He began by welcoming the children to the audience as they make their “pilgrimage in the Jubilee year.” He reminded that the year-long Jubilee is meant to emphasize hope and that “God wants to grant us special graces.”
Pope Francis told the children in attendance that he “felt a joy in my heart,” for the opportunity to meet them and relay to them his “hope and love,” as well as that of the Church.
“You, dear children and young people, are signs of hope for me. And why? Because I am sure that Jesus is present in you. And wherever He is, there is hope that does not disappoint! Jesus took upon Himself our sufferings, out of love, and so we too, through His love, can join with Him when we are suffering.”
He assured the kids that they were his friends, which means that they share in both joys and hardships, noting that “the pain of the other is also my pain.”
I too call you friends: you are friends! And I would like to ask you to help me to serve the Church. And how? Offering, every now and then, your prayers and your sufferings for the Pope’s intentions. Thank you for this!
And then I invite you to pray together with me for those children – there are many of them, unfortunately – who do not have the chance to be treated: they are sick, or injured, and there are no medicines, there is no hospital, there are neither doctors nor nurses. Let us remember them, let us be close to them!
Dear children, thank you for coming, you are brave! And in this way, you are witnesses of hope for us adults and for your peers.
