POPE ASKS THAT DIGNITY AND SAFETY OF WORKERS ALWAYS BE DEFENDED

Vatican City, 28 April 2013 (VIS) – At the end of the Mass celebrating the Rite of Confirmation, the Holy Father prayed the Regina Coeli with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

“Before concluding this celebration,” he said, “I want to entrust all those who have been confirmed and all of you to Our Lady. The Virgin Mary teaches us what it means to live in the Holy Spirit and what it means to welcome the newness of God in our lives. She conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and every Christian, each one of us, is called to welcome the Word of God, to welcome Jesus within ourselves and then to bring him to all. Mary called upon the Spirit with the Apostles in the Cenacle. We as well, each time we gather in prayer, are sustained by the spiritual presence of Jesus' Mother to receive the gift of the Spirit and to have the strength to witness to the Risen Jesus.”

After affectionately greeting the pilgrims from all six inhabited continents, the Pope recalled the many victims of factory that collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh this past Wednesday, 24 April. “I would like to offer up a prayer for [them]. I express my solidarity and deepest sympathy to the families mourning their loved ones and from the depths of my heart I make a strong appeal that the dignity and safety of the worker may may always be protected.”