At the end of his weekly General Audience, Pope Francis made an appeal to Catholics all over the world to prayer for our “brother and sisters” in China.
The day of prayer will take place on the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, which is a day of particular devotion for Chinese Catholics and celebrated at the shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.
“I invite all Catholics around the world to join in prayer with our brothers and sisters who are in China to implore from God the grace to announce with humility and joy Christ who died and is risen, to be faithful to his Church and to the successor of Peter and to live daily life in service to their country and their fellow citizens in a manner consistent with the faith they profess,” the Holy Father told the thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square.
The Holy Father offered a prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan, saying: «Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain the commitment of those who in China, amid their daily labors, continue to believe, to hope, to love, so that they may never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world and the world to Jesus.”
Concluding his appeal, Pope Francis implored the Virgin Mary to aid Chinese Catholics in “making their difficult commitments increasingly precious in the sight of the Lord.”
