“We pray for the children who cannot go to school, for the children who suffer from wars, for the children who have nothing to eat, for the children who are sick and no one cares for them,” he said.
But striking an optimistic note, the pope asked the children if they knew the motto of the event, telling them that it is taken from the Bible: “Behold, I Make All Things New.”
“This is the motto. It’s beautiful,” Pope Francis said. “Think: God wants this, everything that is not new passes away. God is new. The Lord always gives us news.”
“Let’s move forward and have joy,” the pope said in his closing remarks. “Joy is health for the soul.”
At the end of the address, the pope asked the attendees to join him in praying the Hail Mary. “Let’s pray to the Mother, to the Mother of Heaven. ”
Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis met with a group of Palestinian and Ukrainian children at the Vatican. Some of the children had lost their parents, while others lost limbs or had other visible injuries.
Vatican news reported that the encounter was organized by Father Marcin Schmidt, who introduced the children and spoke on the struggles they’ve faced.
On Sunday morning the children will join Pope Francis for Mass in St. Peter’s Square at 10:30 a.m. Afterward the pope will deliver the Angelus address at noon from the window of the Apostolic Palace, accompanied by Italian actor Roberto Benigni.
Matthew Santucci is a CNA Rome correspondent based in EWTN’s Vatican bureau. He grew up in Connecticut and has been living in Rome since 2020. He has a B.A. in History from Fordham and an M.A. in International Relations from Luiss Guido Carli.