One of the last messages from Pope Francis for the world is an exhortation he felt strongly about: the need to listen.
A previously unseen video recorded on January 8 shows the late Pope Francis addressing young people participating in "Listening Workshops."
The initiative was founded in Italy by Luca Drusian and brings together young people and adults to discuss various topics, in hopes of exploring the beauty of being heard and listening to others.
The video was published on Sunday, a day after the late Pope's Requiem Mass, by the Italian weekly magazine Oggi ("Today").
In the video message recorded in the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis, wearing a white sweater, urged young people to always "listen to your grandparents — they teach us so much."
“Dear boys and girls, one of the most important things in life is to listen — to learn how to listen," said the Pope.
"When someone speaks to you, wait for them to finish so you can really understand, and then, if you feel like it, respond. But the important thing is to listen.”
Listen a lot
Pope Francis noted that many people are unable to truly listen to other people, since they are already formulating their response as the other person speaks.
"Look closely at people — people don’t listen," he said. "Halfway through an explanation, they’ll answer, and that doesn’t help peace. Listen — listen a lot.”
A lost art
Pope Francis felt that listening is a lost art in today's world. Earlier this year, in a general audience about St. Joseph, the Pope noted how the father of Jesus was a listener: Joseph “does not speak with empty words, but with concrete deeds,” he insisted, wishing the faithful “the grace to listen more than to speak.”
And in 2022, he suggested "sending the tongue on vacation":
"It is nice, this thing of sending the tongue on holiday and devoting oneself to listening," he said, bringing laughter from the religious sisters with whom he was meeting, "that you work more on hearing than on speaking."
"To listen, the first thing that is needed is silence, deep silence, inner silence, that which we find in prayer," he added.
Our Lady of Silence
Pope Francis offered his support to a shrine and a feast for Our Lady, under the advocation of Our Lady of Silence.
The Holy Father was shown the image by Capuchin Friar Fr. Emiliano Antenucci, and he liked it so much that he had a copy placed next to the elevator he takes every morning to reach the third loggia of the Apostolic Palace.
The Pope also reminded that listening is a key part of family communication: Be disposed to listen patiently to everything the other person wants to say.
In order to do this, we need to have cultivated an interior silence, that makes it possible to listen without mental or emotional distractions.
