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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “I continue to follow with great concern the dramatic events that the dear people of Côte d'Ivoire and Libya are experiencing at this time,” said Pope Benedict XVI at the end of the General Audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, 6 April. Then he renewed his appeal for peace with the following words: “Furthermore, I hope that Cardinal Turkson, whom I have commissioned to visit the Ivory Coast to demonstrate my solidarity, may soon be able to enter the country. I pray for the victims and express my closeness to all those who are suffering at this time. Violence and hate are always defeat! I therefore make a renewed and heartfelt appeal to all parties to the cause to initiate a process of peacemaking and dialogue, and to avoid further bloodshed.”
Preceding this, in Italian, the Pope continued his usual catechesis on the Doctors of the Church, this time focusing his reflection on the figure of St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897). She died at the age of only 24 years, living a very simple and hidden life. However, “ after her death and the publication of her writings, became one of the best-known and loved saints” recalled the Pope. “Little Thérèse never failed to help the most simple souls, the little ones, the poor and the suffering who prayed to her, but also illuminated all the Church with her profound spiritual doctrine, to the point that the Venerable John Paul II, in 1997, granted her the title of Doctor of the Church ... and described her as an 'expert in scientia amoris'. Thérèse expressed this science, in which all the truth of the faith is revealed in love, in her autobiography 'The Story of a Soul', published a year after her death” and distributed all over the world,” Benedict XVI went on, inviting everyone to “to discover this small-great treasure, this luminous comment of the Gospel lived to the full!” In fact 'The Story of a Soul' is a marvellous story of love, explained the Pope. “But what was this Love that filled Thérèse’s whole life from her childhood until her death? Dear friends, this Love has a Face, it has a Name, it is Jesus! The Saint speaks continuously of Jesus.” After covering the fundamental stages of her life and of her doctrine, the Holy Father said that “Thérèse is one of the 'little' ones of the Gospel who let themselves be led by God to the depths of his Mystery. A guide for all, especially those who, in the People of God, carry out their ministry of theologians.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 07/04/2011)
