Assisi, Italy, Aug 4, 2016 / 10:22 am
The path to heaven is through forgiveness and pardon of those who have offended us, just as we have received salvation through the love and forgiveness of the Father, Pope Francis said today in Assisi.
"Today I would like, before all else, to recall the words that, according to an ancient tradition, Saint Francis spoke in this very place, in the presence of all the townsfolk and bishops: 'I want to send you all to heaven!'"
"What finer thing could the Poor Man of Assisi ask for, if not the gift of salvation, eternal life and unending joy, that Jesus won for us by his death and resurrection?" said Pope Francis during his meditation at the Porziuncola church located inside the Papal Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels.
"We are never alone in living the faith; we do so in the company of all the saints and of our loved ones who practiced the faith with joyful simplicity and bore witness to it by their lives. There is a bond, unseen but not for that reason any less real, which makes us, by baptism, 'one body' moved by 'one Spirit.'"