IMAGE: CNS photo/Kim Kyung-Hoon, Reuters
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis asked people to pray
for Catholics in China so that they may be able to live their faith with serenity
and in full communion with the pope.
The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady,
Help of Christians May 24. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI established the feast as a world day
of prayer for the church in China because Mary is venerated under that title at the Marian shrine
in Sheshan, outside Shanghai, China.
At the end of his general audience talk in St. Peter’s
Square May 23, Pope
Francis said the feast day “invites us to be united spiritually with all
the Catholic faithful who live in China.”
He asked people pray to Our Lady so that Catholics there
would be able “to live the faith with generosity and serenity” and so
that they would know how to carry out “concrete gestures of fraternity,
harmony and reconciliation, in full communion with the successor of
Peter.”
“Dear disciples of the Lord in China, the universal
church prays with you and for you so that even in the midst of difficulties you may continue to
trust in God’s will,” he said.
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Editors: Here is the prayer in English that Pope Benedict
XVI released in 2008 on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Church
in China: https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/prayers/documents/hf_ben-xvi_20080515_prayer-sheshan.html
In Chinese: https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/zh_tw/prayers/documents/hf_ben-xvi_20080515_prayer-sheshan.html
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