The founders of the European Union “did not seek a fleeting consensus, but dreamed of a future for all,” the pope said, and only that kind of farsighted vision can ensure a consolidation of peace, freedom and solidarity on the continent. Using the images of rebuilding homes and the temple in the day’s first reading from the Book of Haggai, Pope Francis said in his homily that just as the ancient Israelites had to “stop being content with a peaceful present and start working for the future,” so must the people of Europe. John Paul II - the popes who accompanied the early years of the council’s existence. 23-26 was to celebrate the council’s 50th anniversary and review its service to the continent in the light of Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship.”Īfter the Mass, the bishops were to renew their profession of faith at the tomb of St. The plenary of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences brought together the presidents of 33 national bishops’ conferences and a dozen other Eastern- and Latin-rite bishops from across the continent. Do we feel concern and compassion for those who have not had the joy of encountering Jesus or who have lost that joy? Are we comfortable because, deep down, our lives go on as usual, or are we troubled by seeing so many of our brothers and sisters far from the joy of Jesus?” Instead, “the word of God challenges us to look to ourselves. “It is easy, but ultimately pointless, to judge those who do not believe or to list the reasons for secularization,” the pope said.

“Certainly, we are ‘preoccupied’ by this, but are we really ‘occupied’ with responding to it?” Pope Francis asked. “So many people are induced to feel only material needs, and not a need for God,” the pope told his brother bishops during the early evening Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St.

23 as he concelebrated the opening Mass of the plenary assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences. “Consider how many people no longer hunger and thirst for God! Not because they are evil, but because there is no one to awaken in them a hunger for faith and to satisfy that thirst in the human heart,” the pope said Sept. VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Bishops and others in the Catholic Church often lament the declining number of Christians, but rarely do they examine their own behavior and failure to show others how much God loves them, Pope Francis told the presidents of European bishops’ conferences.

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