Pope Francis prays for the Order at the tomb of St Dominic in Bologna

Published : 7 October 2017

Visiting our Basilica in Bologna, Pope Francis prayed before the tomb of our founder St Dominic. After praying, he left us a message.

Before the tomb of Saint Domenic, I prayed for the Order of Preachers. I asked for its members the grace of fidelity to the heritage received. I thanked the Saint for all the good that his children do in the Church and I asked as a gift of a considerable increase of vocations.
Dear Dominicans: May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin take care of you. And please, do not forget to pray for me.
Fraternally
Francis
1 – X –2017

By praying for us Dominicans, the pontiff has inscribed in his words a distinctive teaching:
- The Order is an edifice of Grace and, like all things created from Grace, they don’t get built by the physical act of construction but by prayer.
- Therefore, the attitude of the preacher is not that of one who must invent something new, but that of fidelity. Christianity and even the Order, could be defined as that which is new from the past. A past that is always present. It is the world that is old because it went ahead. Preaching therefore means bringing man back to that novelty.
- Finally, what characterizes the Order is the unity of the end, which is, the salvation of souls. The example of this unity in the Catholic Church is aptly expressed in the Primacy of Peter: the unity of faith with begins with praying for the Pope, even together with other denominations.

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(04 October 2017)