Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave today before and after praying the midday Regina Caeli with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
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At the end of this Jubilee celebration, my thought goes in a particular way to you, dear boys and girls. You have come from Italy and from different parts of the world, to live moments of faith and of fraternal conviviality. Thank you for your joyful and noisy testimony. Go forward with courage!
Proclaimed Saints yesterday at Burgos, Spain, were the priest Valentin Palencia Marquina and four of his companion martyrs, killed for their faith during the Spanish Civil War. We praise the Lord for these courageous witnesses of His, and through their intercession we pray for the world to be liberated from all violence.
Always alive in me is my concern for brother Bishops, priests and Religious, Catholics and Orthodox, kidnapped for a long time in Syria. May the Merciful God touch the heart of the abductors and grant the release of our brothers, to be able to return to their communities as soon as possible. Therefore, I invite you all to pray, without forgetting the other persons kidnapped in the world.
Let us entrust all our aspirations and hopes to the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy.
[After the Blessing]
Dear young people, you have celebrated the Jubilee: now you go home with the joy of your Christian identity. Standing, with your head held high, and with your identity card in your hands and in your heart! May the Lord accompany you, and please, pray also for me. Thank you.
[Original text: Italian]
[Translation by ZENIT]
