Each Christian and the whole Catholic Church must hold fast to the promise that "nothing is impossible for God," especially when facing difficulties, Pope Francis said.
Resuming his weekly general audiences Aug. 7 after a six-week summer break, the pope returned to his series of audience talks about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.
"Without the Holy Spirit, the church cannot keep moving, the church doesn't grow, the church cannot preach," he told pilgrims and visitors sheltered from the summer heat in the air-conditioned Paul VI Audience Hall.
Two women holding signs and shouting for the church to formally declare bullfighting a sin interrupted the reading of a passage from the Bible at the beginning of the audience. Security escorted them out of the audience hall.
Looking at how the Holy Spirit enlivens and assists the church, Pope Francis said people often wonder, "How is it possible to proclaim Jesus Christ and his salvation to a world that seems to seek only well-being in this world?"
The answer, he said, is given in the Acts of the Apostles: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses."
Notice, the pope said, the words are almost the same as those the Angel Gabriel said to Mary when she asked how it would be possible that she would conceive and bear God's son.
"What is said about the church in general also applies to us, to every baptized person," Pope Francis told the crowd. "In life, all of us sometimes find ourselves in situations beyond our strength, and we ask ourselves: 'How can I cope with this situation?' It helps, in such cases, to repeat to ourselves what the angel said to the Virgin: 'With God nothing will be impossible.'"
The pope prayed that everyone would find the strength to keep going "with this comforting certainty in our hearts: 'With God nothing will be impossible.'"
"If we believe this, we will perform miracles," he said. "With God nothing will be impossible."
Pope prays for peace, calls for end of discrimination in Afghanistan
Meeting leaders of the Afghan community in Italy, Pope Francis condemned violence and discrimination based on religion and later asked people to pray for an end to discrimination in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, particularly discrimination against women.
During his weekly general audience Aug. 7, he asked people to work and pray "that ethnic discrimination in regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan would be eliminated and especially discrimination against women."
Before the audience he had met with nine men representing the Afghan Community Association in Italy.
Afghanistan and Pakistan, he told them, "are made up of many peoples, each proud of their culture, traditions and unique way of life."
Unfortunately, he said, instead of "protecting the characteristics and rights of each group," some people use diversity "as a reason for discrimination and exclusion, if not outright persecution."
"The religious factor, by its very nature, should help soften the harshness of contrasts and create space for everyone to be granted full citizenship rights on an equal footing and without discrimination," he said. "Yet oftentimes religion is manipulated and instrumentalized and ends up being used for contrary ends.
"In such cases, religion becomes a factor of confrontation and hatred, which can lead to violent acts," the pope said. "You have often seen this yourselves. I too have seen these difficult moments reported by the news -- so much difficulty and pain!"
"One cannot invoke God's name to foment contempt, hatred and violence toward others," Pope Francis told the group, thanking them for their "noble endeavor to promote religious harmony and to strive to overcome misunderstandings between different religions in order to build paths of trusting dialogue and peace."
"May the almighty and merciful God assist government leaders and peoples in building a society where all are accorded full citizenship with equal rights; where everyone can live according to their own customs and culture within a framework that takes into account the rights of all, without abuses of power or discrimination," the pope prayed.
With the situation in the Middle East remaining tense after the assassination in Iran of a leader of Hamas, at the end of his general audience Pope Francis again expressed his deep concern and called for a cease-fire, starting in Gaza.
"I continue to follow the situation in the Middle East with great concern, and I reiterate my appeal to all the parties involved that the conflict does not spread, and that there may be an immediate cease-fire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is dire and unsustainable," the pope told the crowd at his audience.
"I pray that the sincere search for peace will extinguish strife, love will overcome hatred and vengeance will be disarmed by forgiveness," he said.
Pope Francis also asked people to join him in praying for Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan. "May these war-torn populations soon find the peace for which they yearn," he said.
