Pope Francis: Jesus Frees Us from the "paralysis" of Laziness and Selfishness

“You too are called to put your skills to good use and to put your intelligence at the service of others, in order to organize charity with wide-ranging projects."

The pope met with the participants of a missionary youth conference organized by the Italian bishops’ conference taking place April 22-25.

The group’s meeting with the pope was originally scheduled for Friday, but was postponed to Saturday after an announcement from the Vatican that the pope’s schedule needed to be cleared on April 22 for medical checkups.

Despite the cancelations the day prior, the pope had a full schedule of audiences on April 23 meeting with three groups and multiple bishops.

“Every Christian, baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, is called to live as if immersed in an everlasting Easter and therefore to live as one who has been raised up to new life. Don't live as if you were dead, live as if you have risen,” Pope Francis told the missionary youth conference.

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“When someone conveys the Gospel with his or her life, it breaks through even the hardest of hearts,” he added.

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.