Vatican City, Sep 21, 2019 / 09:59 am
No one is lost to Jesus, neither should they be considered lost to the Church and her members, Pope Francis told Catholics in Albano Laziale Saturday.
The pope reflected on the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector, whom Jesus remembered, sought out, and invited to dine with him.
"If we avoid those who seem lost to us, we are not of Jesus," he said Sept. 21. "We ask for the grace to meet everyone as a brother and not to see anyone as an enemy."
"How wonderful it would be if our neighbors and acquaintances felt the Church is their home!" he added, speaking during Mass at the Cathedral of St. Pancras in Albano Laziale, a town just south of Rome on Lake Albano.