11201974 Paulo VI to Plenary Council OFM

  

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Greeting of HH Paul VI to the members of the Plenary Council of the OFM, in the general audience of Wednesday, November 20, 1974

Precious sons! Be welcome!

We are in a position and perhaps in the duty to make your apology and point out as an example of the Church and the world your history, your testimony, your service for the cause of faith and the glorification of Poverty, understood as freedom of the weight and the bond that economic wealth imposes on those who seek it and possess it for its own sake, and understood as an affectionate and practical concern for the poor, the suffering, the hungry who are still an immense legion in the world and await fraternal help and effective to be freed from their needs and elevated to the condition of free and civilized men.

But another thought now occupies our minds regarding you, oh heirs of Saint Francis! We need you! Your spirituality, your humility, your obedience! That is, your willingness to live and bear witness to the Gospel, with the genuine and paradoxical style of Saint Francis! This service of the Church of God is certainly a great sacrifice long lived, we know it; but the Church needs this; We ask this of your faithful and genuine Franciscan profession.

One of your brothers, clothed with episcopal dignity and mission in a hostile land, and forced to bitter resignations and contestable deprivations of all that belonged to his Church, candidly and wonderfully told me: «A Franciscan cannot lament . You have no right; he only has duties and sacrifices that he must fulfill lovingly!». Yes, precisely like Jesus Christ. Well then, this is what we must still ask of you, because of the confidence we have in your vocation and because of the affection we also have for Saint Francis. You will not disappoint our hopes!

With our Apostolic Blessing!

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