His Holiness Pope Francis recently met with seminarians from Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, and after hearing their questions offered them solutions and reflections. One young man asked His Holiness Pope Francis how he and his fellow seminarians can continue on their path when facing the “cross of doubt”, a term which he used to refer to the difficulties faced when following Jesus in contemporary society. “Doubt is a richness” replied the Pontiff, because “it puts me in difficulty and makes me think: does this thought come from God, or does it not come from God? Is this positive or is it not positive?”
As reported by Vatican news, “Contemporary society” is brought up again in the next question, which asks “how to educate about love towards the Church” when facing “an increasingly secularized world”. His Holiness Pope Francis answered with two questions: “which world was more secularized, ours or Jesus’? Whose was more corrupt, ours or Jesus’?” He said that both are equally secularized. “The corruption was the same”, said the Pope. Therefore, he said, our actions must be concrete, as Jesus’ were. “And what did Jesus do?”, the Pope asked, “closeness: encounter”, which, he explained “is a gift of God”.
