Rome, Italy, Nov 3, 2013 / 14:53 pm
Pope Francis offered Mass on All Saints' Day at a Roman cemetery, preaching on the importance of hope in Christian life and death.
"To see God, to be similar to God: this is our hope. And today, precisely on the day of the Saints and before the day for the dead, it is necessary to think a little about hope: this hope that accompanies us in life," he said Nov. 1 at the Verano Cemetery in Rome.
"The first Christians depicted hope like an anchor, as if life had cast the anchor into the river of Heaven and all of us journeying towards this river were clinging to the anchor's rope," explained Pope Francis.
"This is a beautiful image of hope: to have the heart anchored there where our ancestors are, where the Saints are, where Jesus is, where God is. This is the hope that does not disappoint," he said.