“I am pleased to greet all the ‘volunteers’ who are here in Rome today for their Jubilee pilgrimage. I thank you heartily, dear friends, because, following the example of Jesus, you serve your neighbours unstintingly. On the streets and in homes, in the company of the sick, the suffering and the imprisoned, with the young and the elderly, your generosity and commitment offer hope to our entire society. In the deserts of poverty and loneliness, all those small gestures are helping to make a new humanity blossom in the garden that is God’s dream, always and everywhere, for all of us.” 

As the Holy Father continues medical treatment at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, Cardinal Michael Czerny read Pope Francis’ message dedicated to the approximately 25,000 men and women participating in the March 8-9 Jubilee of the World of Volunteering. 

The Holy Father thanked volunteers associated with non-profit and non-governmental organizations for following Jesus by serving others. Francis underlined that during his current stay in hospital, he is also experiencing the “thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care.”  

In his homily, the Pope also reminded the faithful of the Lenten season and encouraged them to use it for a real new beginning. 

“As we prepare to celebrate this, the central mystery of our faith, we realize that the result of our own trials is different. In the face of temptation, we sometimes fall; we are all sinners. Our defeat, however, is not definitive, because following our every fall, God lifts us up by his infinite love and forgiveness.” 

Adapted by Jacob Stein

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