Interview for the Radio of the Archdiocese of Rio

After lunch on Saturday 27 July 2013, Pope Francis visited the studios of Rio de Janeiro’s “Cathedral Radio”, where he spoke the following words:

Hello and good afternoon to all the listeners. Thank you for listening, and thank you to the staff of the radio station for their kindness in inviting me to speak on air. I thank them and I am looking around at this radio station, and I see that means of communication today are very important. I would say that a radio station, a Catholic radio station today is the most immediate pulpit we have. Here, through the radio, we can proclaim human values, religious values, and especially we can proclaim Jesus Christ, the Lord; we can graciously make room for the Lord among our affairs. So I greet you and I thank you for all the effort this archdiocese is making to have and maintain a radio station, with such a large network. I ask all the listeners to pray for me, to pray for this radio station, to pray for the bishop, to pray for the archdiocese, so that all of us can join in prayer and can work, as the priest said a moment ago, for a more humane culture, richer in values, excluding no one. Let us all work for that word which is unpopular today: solidarity. It is a word that people always try to put aside, because it is irksome, and yet it is a word that reflects the human and Christian values that are required of us today, as the priest said a moment ago, so as to counter the throwaway culture, according to which everything is disposable. A culture that always leaves people out of the equation: it leaves children out, it leaves young people out, it leaves the elderly out, it leaves out all who are of no use, who do not produce, and this must not be! On the contrary, solidarity includes everyone. You must continue to work for this culture of solidarity and for the Gospel.

Question on the importance of the family:

Not only would I say that the family is important for the evangelization of the new world. The family is important, and it is necessary for the survival of humanity. Without the family, the cultural survival of the human race would be at risk. The family, whether we like it or not, is the foundation.

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana