Pope Francis to visit Rome synagogue for first time

Pope Francis’ remarks to Arabic-speaking pilgrims concluded with the words, “May the Lord bless you and protect you from evil”. “There are places in the world where doors should not be locked with a key”. An inhospitable church – just like a family closed inside itself – mortifies the Gospel and parches dry the world. A door is rightly used for protection, he said, but should be open to those in need. These doors are located in specific cathedrals in Rome, Spain, Italy and Quebec and are only opened during jubilee years. He rmarked that the October meeting Synod of Bishops encouraged families to open doors to Christ.

“Despite what we know is happening, we felt very safe”, said Jean Mines, from Casa Grande, Arizona, who was visiting on a parish-organized pilgrimage.

Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in. “The door says many things about the house, and also the Church”.

“We ourselves are the guardians and servants of the Door of God, Who is Jesus”, affirmed Francis. “No more reinforced doors in the Church!” he exclaimed. “These events don’t change the Pope’s agenda at all”, he said.

Like the sheepfold, where God’s people are gathered, the pope said, “the house of God is a shelter, not a prison”. The door is opened frequently, to see if there is anyone waiting outside, who perhaps does not have the courage or even the strength to knock. Jesus is the gate that lets people go in “without fear and go out without danger”.

The gatekeeper, that is, everyone in the church, must obey the voice of God and remember “the church is the custodian of the Lord’s house, not the master of the Lord’s house”. May Christian families make the threshold of their home a little sign of the great Door of God’s mercy and welcome.

Pope Francis also celebrated the unique mission of the contemplative life, using the Presentation of Our Lady as an opportunity to “thanking the Lord for the gift of the vocation of men and women who, in monasteries and hermitages, have dedicated their lives to God”.

Among the groups he greeted following the audience was the Polish trade union Solidarity, whose activities helped lead to the fall of communism in the Eastern bloc.