Pope Francis: a society can be judged by the way it treats its children

Visiting a childrens shelter in Manila

Pope Francis spoke about children during his General Audience with pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Wednesday. "Children are a gift to humanity" he said, at which point the crowds applauded. The Pope thanked them and went on: "but they are also a greatly excluded one, because they are even not allowed to be born...a society can be judged, not only morally but also sociologically, on how it treats its children - if it is a free society or a slave society of international interests."

Pope Francis said children are a great gift for humanity and for the Church. Recalling the many happy children he met during his recent journey to Asia, brimming with life and enthusiasm, he said that on the other hand he thinks of the countless children throughout our world who are living in poverty and need. "A society can be judged by the way it treats its children" he said.

The Pope said children remind us that from our earliest years we are dependent on others. We see this in Jesus himself, who was born a child in Bethlehem. This is a precious reminder that in order enter the reign of God we can never consider ourselves self-sufficient, but in need of help, love and forgiveness.

He said that children also remind us that we are always sons and daughters. This identity reminds us that we have been given the gift of life, that we never cease to be radically dependent. Speaking of the many gifts children bring to humanity, Pope Francis said they challenge us to see things with a simple, pure and trusting heart. They have the capacity to receive and to offer warmth and tenderness, to laugh and cry freely in response to the world around us.

"God has no difficulty in being understood by children and children have no trouble in understanding God. It isn't by chance that in the Gospels Jesus speaks beautiful and strong words about the 'little ones'. This term indicates all persons who depend on the help of others, particularly children. ...Children, therefore, are a treasure for humanity and also for the Church because they constantly remind us of the necessary condition for entering into the Kingdom of God: that we must not consider ourselves self-sufficient, but in need of help, of love, and of forgiveness."

Children also remind us that we are always children even when we become adults or if we become parents; beneath it all we keep our identity as a child. "And this always leads us back to the fact that we are not given life, but that we have received it," the Pope said. "The great gift of life is the first gift we have received. Sometimes we risk forgetting about this, as if we were the masters of our existence while instead we are radically dependent. In fact, it is a source of great joy to hear that at every age in life, in every situation, in every social condition, we are and remain sons and daughters. This is the main message that children give us with their presence: with just their presence they remind us that each and every one of us is a child."

Listing some of the other gifts that children bring to humanity the Pope highlighted their way of seeing reality, "with a confident and pure gaze. Children have a spontaneous trust in Mum and Dad and they have a spontaneous trust in God, in Jesus, and in the Madonna. At the same time, their inner gaze is pure, not yet tainted by malice, duplicity, and the 'incrustation' of life that harden one's heart.

We know that even children have original sin, that they can be selfish, but they retain a purity and an inner simplicity. Children are not diplomats. They say what they feel, they say what they see, directly. And many times they make parents uncomfortable, saying in front of other people: 'I don't like this because it's ugly.' But children say what they see. They aren't split persons; they still haven't learned that science of duplicity that we adults have unfortunately learned."

Children also bring with them ability to receive and to give affection. "Tenderness is having a heart 'of flesh' and not 'of stone', as the Bible says," Pope Francis noted. "Tenderness is also poetry. It is 'feeling' things and events, not treating them as mere objects only to use them because they they're useful." The ability to smile and to cry is another gift that children bring, one which "we grown-ups often 'block out'...Many times our smile becomes a cardboard one, something lifeless and cold or even an artificial, clown's smile. Children smile and cry spontaneously. It always comes from the heart, and often our hearts are closed and we lose this ability to smile and to cry. Children, then, can teach us how to smile and how to cry again. ... This is why Jesus invites his disciples to 'become like children' because 'the kingdom of God belongs to such as these'."

"Children bring life, joy, hope, even troubles. But life is like that. They certainly also bring worries and, at times, many problems. But a society with these worries and problems is a better one than a society that is sad and gray because it is childless! Pope Francis concluded inviting all to "welcome and treasure our children, who bring so much life, joy and hope to the world. How sad and bleak would our world be without them!" he said.

On greeting pilgrims from English-speaking countries, the Pope was warmly hailed by students from The Catholic University of America and Loyola University Maryland who are studying in Rome for the semester.

Source: VIS