Over the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has dedicated his general audiences to a variety of themes, from the Church and apostolate to prayer and discernment or the family and the value of old age. Find a complete list of the cycles of audiences available as ebooks on this website below, or on the page “News from the Church and the Pope.”
Catechesis on the Holy Spirit & the Church (2024)
“Saint Paul made all of this the fundamental law of Christian action: ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Cor 3:17), he said. A free person, a free Christian, is one who has the Spirit of the Lord. This is a very special freedom, quite different from what is commonly understood. It is not freedom to do what one wants, but the freedom to freely do what God wants! Not freedom to do good or evil, but freedom to do good and do it freely, that is, by attraction, not compulsion. In other words, the freedom of children, not of slaves.”
Catechesis on Vices & Virtues (2024)
“We would be off-course if we thought that saints were the exceptions of humanity: a sort of restricted circle of champions who live beyond the limits of our species. Instead, from the perspective we have just introduced regarding virtues, saints are people who become themselves fully, who fulfil the vocation proper to every man or woman. What a happy world it would be if justice, respect, mutual benevolence, kindness of heart and hope were the shared normality, and not a rare anomaly!”
Catechesis on Apostolic Zeal (2023-2024)
“The community of disciples of Jesus was born apostolic and missionary. The Holy Spirit moulds her outwardly — a Church which goes forth, which goes out — so that she is not closed in on herself but outgoing, a contagious witness of Jesus — faith is also contagious — reaching out to radiate his light to the ends of the earth. It can happen, however, that the apostolic ardour, the desire to reach others with the good news of the Gospel, may diminish, become tepid. Sometimes it seems to be eclipsed; there are ‘closed-off’ Christians, they don’t think of others. But when Christian life loses sight of the horizon of evangelization, the horizon of proclamation, it grows sick: it closes in on itself, it becomes self-referential, it becomes atrophied. Without apostolic zeal, faith withers. Mission, on the other hand, is the oxygen of Christian life: it invigorates and purifies it. Let us embark, then, on a process of rediscovering the evangelizing passion, starting with the Scriptures and the Church’s teaching, to draw apostolic zeal from its sources.”
Catechesis on Discernment (2022-2023)
“Living in the computer age, we know how important it is to know passwords in order to get into programmes where the most personal and valuable information is stored. But spiritual life, too, has its “passwords”: there are words that touch our heart because they make reference to what we are most sensitive to. The tempter, that is, the devil, knows these key words well, and it is important that we know them too, so as not to find ourselves where we do not want to be. Temptation does not necessarily suggest bad things, but often haphazard things, presented with excessive importance... This is why, dear brothers and sisters, it is important to know ourselves, to know the passwords of our heart, what we are most sensitive to, in order to protect ourselves from those who present themselves with persuasive words to manipulate us, but also to recognize what is truly important for us, distinguishing it from current fads or flashy, superficial slogans.”
Catechesis on Old Age (2022)
“Our existence on earth is the time of the initiation into life: it is life, but one that leads you towards a fuller life, the initiation of the fuller one; a life which finds fulfilment only in God. We are imperfect from the very beginning, and we remain imperfect up to the end. In the fulfilment of God’s promise, the relationship is inverted: the space of God, which Jesus prepares for us with the utmost care, is superior to the time of our mortal life. Hence: old age brings the hope of this fulfilment closer. Old age, by now, definitively knows the meaning of time and the limitations of the place in which we live our initiation. This is why old age is wise: this is why the elderly are wise. This is why it is credible when it invites us to rejoice in the passing of time. It is not a threat; it is a promise. Old age is noble; it does not need to beautify itself to show its nobility.”
Catechesis on Saint Joseph (2021-2022)
“In the history of the Church there are some constants that accompany the community of believers: first of all, the great affection and the very strong bond that the Church has always felt towards Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. But also the special honour and affection she has bestowed on Saint Joseph. After all, God entrusts to him the most precious things he has: his Son Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It is always thanks to the communion of saints that we feel that the men and women saints who are our patrons — because of the name we bear, for example, because of the Church to which we belong, because of the place where we live, and so on, as well as through personal devotion — are close to us. And this is the trust that must always animate us in turning to them at decisive moments in our lives.”
Catechesis on the Letter to the Galatians (2021)
“If we lose the thread of spiritual life, if a thousand problems and thoughts assail us, let us heed Paul’s advice: let us place ourselves before Christ Crucified, let us begin again from Him. Let us take the Crucifix in our hands, holding it close to our heart. Or let us pause in adoration before the Eucharist, where Jesus is Bread broken for us, Crucified, Risen, the power of God who pours out his love into our hearts.And now, still guided by Saint Paul, let us take a further step. Let us ask ourselves: what happens when we meet Jesus Crucified in prayer?”
Catechesis on Prayer (2020-2021)
“When we pray we must be humble, so that our words may actually be prayers and not just idle talk that God rejects. We can also pray for the wrong reasons: such as to defeat the enemy at war, without asking ourselves what God thinks of such a war. It is easy to write “God is with us” on a banner; many are eager to ensure that God is with them, but few bother to check whether they are actually with God. In prayer, it is God who must convert us, not we who must convert God. It is humility. I go to pray but You, Lord, convert my heart so that it will ask for what is appropriate, for what will be best for my spiritual health.”
Catechesis on Healing a Wounded World (2020)
“The gesture that enables progress in a society, a family, a neighbourhood, or a city, everyone, is to give oneself, to give, which is not giving alms, but is a giving of self that comes from the heart. A gesture that distances us from selfishness and the anxiety of possessing. But the Christian way of doing this is not a mechanical way: it is a human way... Even the most sophisticated means, capable of doing many things, are incapable of one thing: tenderness. And tenderness is the very sign of Jesus’ presence. Approaching others in order to walk together, to heal, to help, to sacrifice oneself for others...”
Catechesis on Mercy (2015-2016)
“This merciful God is faithful in his mercy and St Paul says something beautiful: if you are not faithful to him, he will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Faithfulness in mercy is the very being of God. For this reason God is totally and always trustworthy. A solid and steadfast presence. This is the assurance of our faith. Thus, in this Jubilee of Mercy, let us entrust ourselves to him totally, and experience the joy of being loved by this ‘God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.’”
Catechesis on the Family (2014-2015)
“Each Christian family can first of all — as Mary and Joseph did — welcome Jesus, listen to Him, speak with Him, guard Him, protect Him, grow with Him; and in this way improve the world. Let us make room in our heart and in our day for the Lord. As Mary and Joseph also did, and it was not easy: how many difficulties they had to overcome! They were not a superficial family, they were not an unreal family. The family of Nazareth urges us to rediscover the vocation and mission of the family, of every family. And, what happened in those 30 years in Nazareth, can thus happen to us too: in seeking to make love and not hate normal, making mutual help commonplace, not indifference or enmity.”