Pope Francis: The World Needs Catholics Who Go Out, Proclaim Jesus

The Gospel describes them as having attitudes of movement and amazement, he said.

According to the pope, “in this way the four protagonists of the Gospel passage show us that Christian life requires dynamism and requires willingness to walk, letting oneself be guided by the Holy Spirit.”

“Paralysis does not suit Christian witness and the mission of the Church.”

He advised parishes and other communities in the Church “to encourage the commitment of young people, families and the elderly, so that everyone can have a Christian experience, living the life and mission of the Church as protagonists.”

In his address, Pope Francis also spoke about amazement. He said, “the ability to be amazed at the things around us promotes religious experience and makes encounter with the Lord fruitful.”

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The inability to be amazed, on the other hand, can make people indifferent, he added.

“May the Virgin Mary help us to contemplate the gift of God for us every day in Jesus, and to let ourselves be involved by him in the movement of the gift, with joyful amazement, so that our whole life may become a praise to God in the service of our brothers,” he prayed.

After the Angelus, the pope noted the Church in Italy’s celebration of the Day for Life, with the theme, “open the doors to life.”

Francis said he joins the Italian bishops in hoping the day will be an opportunity to remember “to guard and protect human life from the beginning until its natural end.”

He also added that it is “necessary to combat any form of violation of dignity, even when technology or the economy is at stake, opening the doors to new forms of responsible fraternity.”

Speaking about the celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life, also celebrated Feb. 2, the pope led those in St. Peter’s Square in praying a Hail Mary for consecrated men and women, who, he said, “do a lot of work and many times in secret.”

This day “recalls the great treasure in the Church of those who follow the Lord closely by professing the evangelical counsels,” he stated.

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.