(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 01.18.2025).- On the morning of Friday, January 17, Pope Francis received in audience the seminarians of another Spanish seminary, this time from Andalusia: the Seminary of Córdoba. While the reason for these exclusive meetings with seminarians from Spanish dioceses is not known, Pope Francis has chosen to begin the year by welcoming students from yet another Spanish seminary.
In audience to the students and the formators from the San Pelayo and Redemptoris Mater Seminary, the local bishop, Don Demetrio Fernández, also participated in the audience.
We now present the English translation of the Pope’s address, which was followed, as in previous meetings with seminarians from Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Seville, Toledo, San Sebastián, and others, by an opportunity for spontaneous questions and answers.
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Dear brother,
Dear seminarians and formators,
It is a great joy for me to welcome you to this house, to which you come as pilgrims of hope in this Jubilee year. In the journey of life, we can identify hope as the signs that indicate the way to us.
The first sign is the direction: towards heaven, towards the definitive encounter with Jesus. Not in the first positions, not in the most comfortable places: those are blind alleys from which, if we have the misfortune to enter, we must leave in reverse, with effort and shame.
The second sign is the dangers on the way. You come from a beautiful place that takes its name from Saint Pelagius, and occupies the ancient site of the field of the martyrs. As that boy saint did then, in the midst of the pain of a war, of the cruelty most unworthy of the human being, armed with the helmet of hope, you can bear witness, you can persevere on the path of the Lord, convinced that Jesus will always support you and also give you the strength to be sowers of hope.
And the third sign is the areas of refreshment. On this journey, which has now brought you to Rome, to cross the Holy Door and visit the tombs of the apostles, we need to be sustained, to feel the presence of Him who is our hope, Jesus. He presents Himself to us as Master, as Lord, He gives Himself to us as food in His Word and in the Eucharist, He shelters us when we break down in the middle of the road, and He welcomes us when fatigue overcomes us and we have to stop for a pause. Without this hope, setting out would be foolhardy, but trusting in Him, we have no doubt that we will arrive at the desired port.
However, never think that sowing hope means polite words or opting for a honeyed good-naturedness. This path is the path of Jesus, which leads to the heavenly Jerusalem, passing through the earthly one, embraced by the cross, and supported by a myriad of Cyrenes. A path in which one cannot advance alone, but as a community, guiding, defending, assisting and blessing those whom the Lord has left as our task. May Jesus sustain you in all this and may the Virgen de la Fuensanta protect you.
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