Martyrs from present day state of Georgia (circa 16th century) will be beatified in the fall in Savannah

 

Georgia martyrs killed for defending marriage to be beatified in U.S. this October

Five Spanish Franciscan friars, collectively known as the “Georgia Martyrs,” will be beatified in Savannah, Georgia, on Oct. 31

By Kate Quiñones

The five Spanish Franciscan friars collectively known as the “Georgia Martyrs” will be beatified in Savannah, Georgia, on Oct. 31, according to a recent Vatican announcement.

Cardinal Francis Leo of the Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada, will celebrate the beatification, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

In September 1597, the five Franciscans were killed for defending the sanctity of marriage at a mission in present-day Georgia. In January 2025, Pope Francis recognized Father Pedro de Corpa, Father Blas Rodríguez, Father Miguel de Añon, Brother Antonio de Badajóz, and Father Francisco de Veráscola as martyrs.

The missionaries left their homes in Spain to evangelize and minister to the Indigenous people, about two decades before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. They lived among the native Gaule people along the coast of Georgia, evangelizing, catechizing, and providing sacraments. Often a single Franciscan friar would serve in a village of 1,000, according to the Georgia Martyrs website.

Conflict arose when an heir to a Guale chiefdom, a young Indigenous man named Juanillo, sought to take a second wife as was the Guale custom. Father de Corpa told him that as a baptized Christian, he couldn’t have multiple wives and that he would oppose his succession as chief if he persisted.

In response, Juanillo killed the priest with a stone hatchet on Sept. 14, 1597. He and a band of men proceeded to attack the other Guale missions in the area, killing all of the friars except one, Francisco de Avila, whom they kidnapped and tortured for 10 months until the governor of St. Augustine secured his release.

De Avila refused to testify against the men in a trial because he knew they would be put to death. His personal account of the episode would later be used as a source by Luís Gerónimo de Oré in “The Martyrs of Florida” (c. 1619). Though the original manuscript was never recovered, it, along with two other primary sources, are the principal sources of information for the martyrs’ stories.

The cause for canonization of the Georgia Martyrs officially began in 1950. A documentary of their lives, “For the Sake of the Gospel,” released in 2024, can be viewed here.

Atlanta Bishops express grief, sorrow, pray for healing after latest high school shooting

 

Atlanta bishops say 'hearts ache' for lives

‘cruelly cut short’ by latest high school shooting

By

Kate Scanlon

Law enforcement officers and firefighters work at the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, September 4, 2024. (OSV News photo/Elijah Nouvelage, Reuters)

(OSV News) — The Catholic bishops of Atlanta prayed “for healing and strength” for those injured during a Sept. 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, where the alleged shooter as 14-year-old Colt Gray, who is alive and in custody. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at least four people were killed and at least nine injured requiring hospitalization.

In a joint statement late Sept. 4, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., of Atlanta, joined by the diocese’s auxiliary bishops, said, “Our hearts ache for the lives that have been so cruelly cut short by this devastating tragedy.”

“We grieve and pray with those who lost children and loved ones. We ask God for healing and strength for those who have been injured,” they said. “And we invoke God’s blessing on our first responders and medical personnel, especially during this traumatic time.”

The bishops called the shooting “another grim reminder” that taking additional steps to prevent gun violence “cannot wait for another tragedy to happen.”

“Once again, we implore elected officials to work together, regardless of political or religious affiliation, to enact laws and provide services that will prevent the repetition of such tragedies,” they said.

Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told reporters that two of the deceased were teachers and two were students. Hosey said Gray has been charged with murder and will be prosecuted as an adult.

Apalachee High School will be closed for the rest of the week, said the superintendent, as the school district cooperates with law enforcement.

In an initial statement, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said authorities were dispatched to the school when officers from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a reported active shooting that morning.

The school is located nearly 50 miles outside of Atlanta. A spokesperson for that city’s Grady Health System told CNN the hospital was treating at least one gunshot victim from the school, who was transported to them by helicopter.

Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., wrote in a post on X that he has “directed all available state resources to respond to the incident at Apalachee High School.” He also urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.”

A spokesperson for the White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, “on the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information.”

In a statement, Biden said, “Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed.”

“What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart,” Biden said. “Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”

Biden said his administration is “closely coordinating with officials at the federal, state and local level,” and he is “grateful for the first responders who brought the suspect into custody and prevented further loss of life.”

“Ending this gun violence epidemic is personal to me,” Biden said, noting he signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which he called “the most meaningful gun safety bill in decades,” as well as other executive action on gun violence.

“We’ve made significant progress, but this crisis requires even more,” he said, calling on Republicans and Democrats to work together and “pass common-sense gun safety legislation” after decades of gridlock on the issue.

“We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers,” Biden said. “These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.”

The high school was in session just one month when the shooting took place.

Last year, the Catholic bishops of the Atlanta province signed a joint statement June 27, 2023, urging “decisive action” by federal and state officials to implement meaningful legislation addressing the “plague of gun violence” nationwide and locally. The bishops said the “ready accessibility of firearms presents an immediate threat to the wellbeing of children,” and called on lawmakers to prevent them “from falling into the hands of those who would carry out violent acts against children in schools, against their families or against themselves.”

Indicted along side Donald Trump is this Lutheran Pastor

 

Pastor indicted alongside Trump in Georgia election meddling case

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastor is charged with attempting to influence witnesses and conspiring to solicit false statements and writings, all as part of an effort to influence an election worker.

(RNS) — The latest chapter in Donald Trump’s ongoing legal drama played out on Monday evening (Aug. 14), as a grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president and 18 others as part of a sweeping probe of alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

While most of those indicted are lawyers or people with close connections to Trump, at least one is a faith leader: an Illinois pastor and former police chaplain charged in connection with efforts to intimidate Georgia election workers.

The indictment singles out the Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod denomination, alleging he and 18 others “unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere.” Among the specific charges levied against Lee: attempting to influence witnesses and conspiring to solicit false statements and writings.

Lee’s involvement revolves around his efforts to contact Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman in December 2020. Lee appeared at the election worker’s door roughly two weeks after Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, were falsely accused by Trump of pulling fake ballots from suitcases in Georgia, with Trump suggesting they committed election fraud.

According to the indictment and Reuters’ reporting, Lee knocked on Freeman’s door, left and later parked his car in her driveway. Alarmed, Freeman called the police. Police body cam footage uncovered last year by Reuters shows an officer approaching Lee’s car, at which point Lee identified himself as a faith leader.

“I’m a pastor, and I’m also working with some folks who are trying to help Ruby out — and also get to some truth of what’s going on,” Lee says in the video.

Lee acknowledged he had knocked on Freeman’s door, noting he is also “prior law enforcement,” saying he was a “sergeant out in California.” According to Reuters, Lee served as a police officer in California and then as a police chaplain in New York City.

Later in the body cam video, Lee encouraged the officer to let him speak with the election worker, suggesting he and his cohorts have some “pro-bono service for her.”

According to Reuters, Freeman responded to the offer in a separate body cam video.

“I’m not interested,” she said. She later added: “I have a pastor.”

The indictment alleges the door-knocking incident was part of a broader effort to “influence (Freeman’s) testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County, Georgia, concerning … the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.” Prosecutors allege Lee worked with Willie Lewis Floyd III, the head of Black Voices for Trump, and publicist Trevian Kutti to try to influence Freeman. Floyd and Kutti are also among those indicted.

According to the indictment, Lee contacted Floyd after Freeman rejected his offer, with Lee allegedly telling Floyd the election worker wouldn’t talk to him because he was white.

Their efforts culminated a few weeks later on Jan. 4, 2021, when Kutti met with Freeman. The Chicago-based publicist, who also represented rapper and vocal Trump supporter Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, threatened Freeman with jail time unless she provided information on election fraud. The meeting was also captured on police body cam footage.

Up until at least this weekend, Lee served Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He preached at the church as recently as Sunday, when he delivered a sermon focused on the Book of Job.

Reached by Religion News Service on Tuesday, a representative for Living Word said Lee was working at the church in an interim capacity but is no longer the pastor. The representative declined to offer any statement regarding Lee’s indictment.

Mike Behr, head of communications for the LCMS, confirmed Lee is a pastor in the denomination but described him as retired, saying, “His status is emeritus.” Behr declined to discuss the indictment, citing a policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations. 

Freeman’s daughter, Moss, testified last year before the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The committee also released Freeman’s full testimony on the topic.

“I’ve always believed it when God says he will make your name great, but this is not the way it was supposed to be,” Freeman said.

Papal prayer intentions from today's General Audience

 

Flooding in Slovenia  (BORUT ZIVULOVIC)

POPE

• SLOVENIA
• GEORGIA
• UKRAINE
• EUROPE
• NATURAL DISASTERS
• APPEAL

Pope prays for victims of natural disasters in Slovenia, Georgia

Pope Francis appeals for prayers for people affected by recent natural disasters that have afflicted Slovenia and Georgia, and entrusts the Ukrainian people to the protection of St. Edith Stein on her feast day.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to people suffering from catastrophic nautral disasters in Slovenia and Georgia.

During his remarks to Italian-speaking pilgrims at his Wednesday General Audience, the Pope recalled that, in recent days, "dramatic natural phenomena have occurred in Slovenia and Georgia, causing death and material destruction." He said he is praying for victims:

“I pray for the victims and express my spiritual closeness to their families and to all those suffering from these disasters.”

The Pope thanked those who offered them assistance, especially the volunteers.

Over the weekend, Slovenia was struck by record-breaking rainfall. The flooding, which has affected two-thirds of the small European nation, reportedly killed at least six people and left hundreds homeless.

In Georgia, last Thursday, a massive landslide hit a resort area in the country's Shovi mountains, about 140 kilometers northwest of Tbilisi, and killed at least 19 people. 

Entrusting Ukrainians to Edith Stein

The Pope also turned his attention to Ukraine and the ongoing suffering in the war-torn country.

Recalling that on Wednesday, 9 August, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St. Edith Stein), martyr and co-patroness of Europe, the Holy Father prayed that "her witness might stimulate commitment to dialogue and fraternity among peoples and against all forms of violence and discrimination."

He entrusted "the dear Ukrainian people" to her intercession:

“To her intercession, we entrust the dear Ukrainian people, that they may soon find peace again.”

The Holy Father concluded by imparting upon all of them his blessing.

In Georgia, pregnant women can claim a tax deduction for the baby in the womb

 

Georgia anti-abortion law allows tax deductions for fetuses

By Sharon Bernstein

Aug 2 (Reuters) - Pregnant women in the U.S. state of Georgia will be able to deduct their fetuses as dependents on their taxes under a 2019 anti-abortion law that a judge allowed to go into effect last month, the state said.

The state's tax agency said on Monday that any woman whose fetus has a detectable heartbeat as of July 20, the date of the court ruling, can take a personal tax exemption in the amount of $3,000 for each fetus, if she is carrying more than one.

The Georgia Department of Revenue did not provide details, such as what happens if the pregnancy ends in miscarriage during the tax year. The agency said it would issue further guidance later in 2022.

The law allowing the deduction was part of a so-called fetal heartbeat bill passed three years ago in Georgia, which aimed to ban abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, generally at around six weeks gestation.

That bill, which also allowed women to collect child support for a fetus, was one of a raft of abortion bans and restrictions that were not allowed to go into effect for years - as long as the United States constitution was interpreted as protecting a right to abortion.

After a new conservative super-majority on the U.S. Supreme Court ended those protections by overturning the landmark Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, Georgia's law was allowed to go into effect.

Allowing pregnant women to claim their fetuses as dependents is an idea that has been supported by some in the anti-abortion movement for years. Bills to allow that have been introduced at the federal level at least twice.

Arizona passed a similar statute, but enforcement of its law granting "personhood" to fetuses has been blocked by a court, said Elizabeth Nash, who studies state abortion policy for the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute.

Georgia's tax move is the broadest interpretation of fetal personhood to be enacted thus far, she said through a spokesperson.

The ACLU of Georgia, which is one of several groups suing to block the law, said that while a tax break is welcome, it is dangerous to grant full personhood to an embryo.

“We are all for measures to support pregnant people, through tax credits or otherwise. What’s dangerous and confusing is Georgia’s attempt to treat an embryo from the earliest days of pregnancy as a person with rights equivalent to those of the pregnant person,” said Julia Kaye, an attorney for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project.

The Georgia Department of Revenue did not immediately respond to a request for comment or clarification from Reuters.

The Catholic Bishops of Georgia tell the Governor, too early, not yet, no public masses until end of May

Response from Catholic Bishops of Georgia to Governor Kemp

Dear Friends in Christ,

Knowing how much Catholics everywhere are yearning to return to the Eucharist and to gather once again in our churches, we must communicate that, having struggled with our decision, we believe that we must yet maintain the current practice of sheltering in place. With input and support from the priests of both the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah, we are, for the safety of all Georgia residents, not authorizing the return to congregating at churches or making our churches available for devotions. This determination extends through the month of May.  If the sheltering-in-place and social distancing guidelines are altered significantly during this time, we will reexamine the possibility of congregating at churches.

We took many factors into account in coming to this conclusion. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has been updating data daily and providing guidance on when next steps might be safe. Their current report on Georgia indicates that waiting until June to shift social distancing strategies would be the best course of action.

Many of our priests fall into the high-risk category for this virus, as do a good number of the faithful. In addition to that, priests are reluctant to put their congregations at risk. With more than 200 churches and more than one million Catholics in the state of Georgia, in a great variety of circumstances, we are not able to offer a workable strategy that could apply throughout our diverse population.

If one church offers a unique liturgy or devotion, it might be flooded with attendees. Normally that would be a welcome response, but in the current environment this would not respect the need to remain, for safety’s sake, in place. The same is true for drive-through services and devotions. Parishes that could accommodate a drive-through service or reconciliation for their own members would not be able to safely accommodate the additional people from surrounding communities.

We will take the time from now until we do resume regular liturgies and sacraments to carefully plot the conditions–including matters of numerical management, required spacing, and sanitation–under which churches may safely return to offering regular gatherings,.  The dispensation from Saturday or Sunday Mass attendance is, of course, still applicable, although Catholics are expected to avail themselves of the virtual Mass each week.

Preserving the bonds of parish life is particularly important, even as we see evidence of the strengthening of family worship and devotion in our homes.  Parishes are reaching out to the elderly and homebound, which we heartily endorse.  Providing encouragement, especially in light of the protracted absence from normal activities, is a proper work of mercy.

Parish catechetical activities such as Parish Schools of Religion or other faith formation opportunities should be offered digitally. Both Arch/Diocesan staff and Parish staff have put together resources for both catechetical leaders and families to use, and they are updating their website resource pages almost daily.

The employees of the Chanceries will continue their working remotely, and parishes are strongly encouraged to do likewise.

This is an unprecedented time in history, and we hardly imagined a time when we would have to weigh our Church’s spiritual progress against the brute necessities of general health and survival.  But, we live in the reality of Easter, and even now we rejoice in the goodness of God and the saving grace of the Risen Lord.  May the ever-new and ever-wondrous Paraclete, the Spirit of all truth, sustain us in hope and keep us united in the confession of our Catholic belief.

Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv.

Bishop of Savannah/Archbishop-designate of Atlanta

Bishop Joel M. Konzen, S.M.

Diocesan Administrator of Atlanta

Bishop Bernard Shlesinger

Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta

Wednesday Papal General Audience

English Summary of Pope’s General Audience

This visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan complemented my visit to Armenia in June, and fulfilled my desire to visit all three nations of the Caucasus to confirm the Catholic community and to encourage all the people in their journey toward peace and fraternity.’

October 5, 2016ZENIT StaffGeneral Audience, Pope and Holy See

CTV Pope - General Audience

Here is the Vatican-provided English-language summary of Pope Francis’ General Audience this morning in St. Peter’s Square:
***
Dear Brothers and Sisters: I thank the Lord for the grace of my recent visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan, and I renew my gratitude to the civil and religious authorities of both countries, in particular to the Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, and to the Sheikh of the Muslims of the Caucasus.
This visit complemented my visit to Armenia in June, and fulfilled my desire to visit all three nations of the Caucasus to confirm the Catholic community and to encourage all the people in their journey toward peace and fraternity. Though Georgia and Azerbaijan enjoy ancient historical, cultural and religious roots, they have only just celebrated twenty-five years of independence, and are experiencing great challenges. The Catholic Church is called to be close to them, especially through works of charity and promoting the good of the human person, in communion with the other Churches and Christian communities, and in dialogue with other religious communities. In Georgia, our cooperation is naturally with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and so Patriarch Ilia’s presence at the airport upon my arrival was a very important sign, as well as our visit to the Patriarchal Cathedral and our meeting which was very moving. Our unity is seen in the blood of so many Christian martyrs of different Christian confessions, especially the Assyrian-Chaldean, with whom we prayed for peace in Syria, Iraq and the whole Middle East. In Azerbaijan, a primarily Muslim country, I was able to participate in an interreligious meeting and to celebrate Mass with the small Catholic community. Our communion of faith inspires us to deepen our encounter and dialogue with all who believe in God, so that together we can build a more just and fraternal world. May God bless Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and guide his holy people in those countries.
Speaker: I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States of America. Upon all of you, I invoke the mercy and peace of the Lord, praying that you may share these gifts with all whom you will encounter. May God bless you!
[Original text: English] [Vatican-provided text]

Using imagery to preach his message

In Caucasus, Pope Uses Visual Imagery to Emphasize Key Messages

What world will we offer future generations, Pope asks interreligious meeting in Azerbaijan

October 2, 2016Kathleen NaabPapal Trips

L'Osservatore Romano

Pope Francis showed his poetic side during his trip this weekend to the Caucasus, using visual imagery to drive home two of the main reasons for his trip: a pull for Christian unity, and an appeal to live in peace and understanding.
Catholics in both Georgia and Azerbaijan are a very small minority.
Georgia is primarily Georgian Orthodox (84% of the population) and Catholics there make up less than 1% of the population.
Azerbaijan is mostly Muslim (97% of the population, primarily Shiite) and Catholics there only number in the few hundreds.
Christian unity was a main theme during the Holy Father’s time in Georgia, and the trip spotlighted the difficulties on the path to Orthodox-Catholic unity, coming just days after the Georgian Orthodox Church was in disagreement with the accord reached by the Catholic-Orthodox Commission for theological dialogue, regarding primacy and synodality in the first millennium.
The Patriarch’s welcome of the Pope was warm and the two appeared together on various occasions during the Holy Father’s brief stay in Georgia, but there was a notable absence of a Georgian Orthodox delegation at the Pope’s public Mass.
The Holy Father’s last stop in Georgia was a visit Saturday night to the Patriarchal Cathedral, where, according to tradition, Our Lord’s tunic was buried along with one of Georgia’s most revered saints, St. Sidonia. Drawing on the Church Fathers, the Pope used the imagery of this tunic — which as the Gospel tells us was without seam, woven from top to bottom — to exhort his listeners to work and pray for Christian unity.
Read story here: https://zenit.org/articles/pope-refers-to-christs-tunic-in-plea-for-christian-unity/

Light shining through

Today, in the Muslim country, the Pope again called on his poetic side, offering a visual image to promote a peace rapport between society and religions.
“I refer to the precious artistic windows that have been here for centuries, crafted simply out of wood and tinted glass (Shebeke),” he explained.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabaka_(window)#/media/File:Shaki_khan_palace_1.jpg

The Pope noted how when these windows are made with traditional methods, “there is a peculiar characteristic: neither glue nor nails are used, but the wood and the glass are set into each other through time-consuming and meticulous effort. Thus, the wood supports the glass and the glass lets in the light.”
“In the same way,” he said, “it is the task of every civil society to support religion, which allows a light to shine through, indispensable for living. In order for this to happen, an effective and authentic freedom must be guaranteed. Artificial kinds of ‘glue’ cannot be used, which bind people to believe, imposing on them a determined belief system and depriving them of the freedom to choose; nor is there a need for the external ‘nails’ of worldly concerns, of the yearning for power and money.”
God cannot be used, the Pope said. “He cannot be used to justify any form of fundamentalism, imperialism or colonialism. From this highly symbolic place, a heartfelt cry rises up once again: no more violence in the name of God! May his most holy Name be adored, not profaned or bartered as a commodity through forms of hatred and human opposition.”

Better world

The Holy Father said that prayer and dialogue are “profoundly interconnected: they flow from an openness of heart and extend to the good of others, thus enriching and reinforcing each other.”
And he said that a true peace is “founded on mutual respect, encounter and sharing, on the will to go beyond prejudices and past wrongs, on the rejection of double standards and self-interests; a lasting peace, animated by the courage to overcome barriers, to eradicate poverty and injustice, to denounce and put an end to the proliferation of weapons and immoral profiteering on the backs of others.”
“The blood of far too many people cries out to God from the earth, our common home,” the Pope stated, adding that we must build together a future of peace.
“Now is not the time for violent or abrupt solutions, but rather an urgent moment to engage in patient processes of reconciliation,”  he said. “The real question of our time is not how to advance our own causes, but what proposals for life are we offering to future generations; how to leave them a better world than the one we have received. God, and history itself, will ask us if we have spent ourselves pursuing peace; the younger generations, who dream of a different future, pointedly direct this question to us.”
—
On ZENIT’s web page:
Full text: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-address-at-interreligious-meeting-in-azerbaijan/

Pope Francis says there is a global war to destroy marriage

Pope: there’s a global war against marriage nowadays

Pope Francis during his address to priests, religious and seminarians in Tbilisi, Georgia. - ANSA

01/10/2016 14:15

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ first engagement on Saturday afternoon in the Georgian capital was a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption. In an off-the-cuff address to the gathering, the Pope warned against what he termed “a global war to destroy marriage” in contemporary society, saying the great enemy of marriage nowadays was "gender theory."
In his wide-ranging address to priests, religious and seminarians gathered in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption, Pope Francis spoke about being strong in our faith, the threats facing the institution of marriage and warned about the dangers of proselytizing with our “Orthodox brothers.”
Picking up on the testimony offered by a group of Catholics, the Pope stressed the importance of being strong in our faith and passing it on to the next generation, noting that in many cases it is the grandparents who perform the valuable task of helping to transmit the faith to the young.
Turning next to the issue of marriage and the threats against it mentioned by one of the speakers, Pope Francis said that nowadays there is “a global war to destroy marriage,” saying the great enemy of marriage today is “gender theory.” This war, he explained, is not “being waged with weapons but with ideas,” describing them as ideological colonizations. He warned his listeners against them and said if a couple is arguing and facing problems in their marriage, they must make peace before the end of day.  Don’t forget, said the Pope, that there are three golden expressions that can help keep a marriage afloat. These are “May I, thank you and sorry.”
The question of ecumenism and the problems it can pose, was another issue discussed by the Pope that had been mentioned earlier by one of the speakers. Pope Francis told his listeners never to argue with their Orthodox friends or neighbours and especially warned Catholics never to try “to convert them.” He described proselytism as “a big sin against ecumenism” and encouraged his audience to be on friendly terms with Orthodox believers, to perform works of charity together and never to condemn them or refuse to greet them on account of who they are.
Pope Francis concluded his address by touching on the dangers of worldliness, reminding that Jesus had “spoken out strongly” against this ever present danger facing believers. May the Lord free us from worldliness, he said, and keep us strong in the faith that "we received from our mothers and grandmothers."