POPE FRANCIS RECEIVES THE “PAPAL FOUNDATION”

Vatican City, 2 May 2014 (VIS) – Today at midday, in the Vatican's Sala Clementina, the Pope received two hundred members of the “Papal Foundation” during its annual visit to Rome. The “Papal Foundation” is an American Catholic association founded in Philadelphia, U.S.A. in 1990 by the late Cardinal John Krol, which provides funds to meet the needs of the Church throughout the world.

The Bishop of Rome thanked the Foundation for the help it offers the Church in developing countries by supporting educational, charitable and apostolic projects, and also for the scholarships it makes available to laity, priests and religious for study in Rome. “In this way, you help to ensure the training of a new generation of leaders whose minds and hearts are shaped by the truth of the Gospel, the wisdom of Catholic social teaching and a profound sense of communion with the universal Church in her service to the entire human family”.

He concluded by mentioning the momentousness of these days marked by the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II, and assured the members of the Papal Foundation of his prayers that they may “be confirmed in the grace of your Baptism and in your commitment to be missionary disciples filled with the joy born of a personal encounter with the Risen Jesus”.