Pope's Angelus via streaming - Vatican Media

Pope at Angelus Thanks Priests of Northern Italy for Finding 1000 Creative Ways to Be Close to Their People

Encourages Them to Ensure Faithful Do Not Feel Abandoned

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Pope Francis has thanked the priests who are being creative to be close to their people.

The Holy Father during his midday Angelus address, given privately from his papal library and streamed worldwide on Vatican media, gave these words of thanks.

The Holy Father thanked priests for all they are doing to keep the faith alive, especially those in the northern region of Lombardy, which has been hit very badly by the coronavirus epidemic.

He thanked them for their ‘creativity.’

“So much news arrives to me from Lombardy about this creativity,” Francis said, noting how true it is that the region was so badly struck by the virus’ spread.

“Priests [there] who think,” the Pope reflected, “of a thousand ways to be close to the people, in order that the people do not feel abandoned; priests with apostolic zeal, that understood well that in times of a pandemic, one should not be ‘Don Abbondio,’ [a timid character in the Italian work of literature ‘Promessi Sposi.’

“Thanks to all of you priests,” he said.

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Deborah Castellano Lubov

Deborah Castellano Lubov is Senior Vatican & Rome Correspondent for ZENIT; author of 'The Other Francis' ('L'Altro Francesco') featuring interviews with those closest to the Pope and preface by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin (currently published in 5 languages); Deborah is also NBC & MSNBC Vatican Analyst. She often covers the Pope's travels abroad, often from the Papal Flight (including for historic trips such as to Abu Dhabi and Japan & Thailand), and has also asked him questions on the return-flight press conference on behalf of the English-speaking press present. Lubov has done much TV & radio commentary, including for NBC, Sky, EWTN, BBC, Vatican Radio, AP, Reuters and more. She also has contributed to various books on the Pope and has written for various Catholic publications. For 'The Other Francis': http://www.gracewing.co.uk/page219.html or https://www.amazon.com/Other-Francis-Everything-They-about/dp/0852449348/

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