The “most beautiful gift” the Catholic Church and its members can give the world is a reason to live with hope, Pope Francis said. “The Christian cannot be satisfied with having hope; he or she must also radiate hope, be a sower of hope,” the pope said at his weekly general audience on Dec. 11.

“The Holy Spirit is the ever-gushing source of Christian hope,” the pope said, pointing to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“If the church is a boat,” Pope Francis said, “the Holy Spirit is the sail that propels it and lets it advance on the sea of history, today as in the past!”

Read the full article