On the afternoon of Saturday, July 27, Pope Francis visited the studios of “Radio Catedral,” the radio broadcasting station of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, and gave a brief interview. Here is a translation of the words the Holy Father addressed to the listeners.
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Good day, good evening to all listeners. I thank you for your attention and I thank here the members of the Radio for their kindness in giving me the microphone. I thank them and I’m looking at the Radio and I see that today the means of communication are very important. I would say that today a Radio, a Catholic Radio is the closest pulpit we have. It is from where we can proclaim, through radio, human values, religious values and above all proclaim Jesus Christ, the Lord; to give the Lord the grace of making room for him among our things. So I greet and thank you for all the effort of this Archdiocese to have and maintain a Radio with such a large network. I ask all the listeners to join us in prayer and to work, as the priest said a short while ago, for a more humanist culture, richer in values and let’s not exclude anyone. May we all work for that word which isn’t pleasing today: solidarity. It is a word that one attempts to put aside always because it is bothersome and yet it is a word that reflects human and Christian values which today are required to go against – as the priest repeated a short while ago – the throw-away culture, according to which everything can be discarded. A culture that always leaves the people out: that leaves children out, that leaves young people out, that leaves the elderly out, that leaves out all those who aren’t necessary, who don’t produce — this cannot be! On the contrary, solidarity includes everyone. You must continue to work for this culture of solidarity and for the Gospel.
A question on the importance of the family
Not only will I say that the family is important for the evangelization of the new world, but that the family is important, that it is necessary for the survival of humanity. If there is no family, the cultural survival of humanity is at risk. Like it or not, the family is at the base.
[Copyright 2013 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana]
