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By Francesca Merlo

Pope Francis greeted some 50,000 members of Italian Catholic Action in St Peter's Square on Thursday 25 April as they gathered for their meeting between parents, grandparents, and children. 

Speaking of the theme of the meeting, "With Open Arms", the Pope noted that "embrace is one of the most spontaneous expressions of human experience" and that it is through an embrace that life begins. 

For this reason, the Pope introduces three points of reflection: three types of embrace: the missing embrace, the saving embrace, and the life-changing embrace.

The missing embrace

Speaking first of the missing embrace, Pope Francis noted that sometimes, "the enthusiasm that you express so joyfully today is not welcomed in our world". At times, he continued, "it encounters closures and resistances, becoming not vehicles of brotherhood, but of rejection and confrontation, often violent."

Often, Pope Francis noted, "wars originate from missing embraces" and this leads to prejudices and misunderstandings that lead you to see someone else as the enemy. We see this all over the world, said the Pope, but "with your presence and your work, you can testify to everyone that the path of the embrace is the path of life".

The saving embrace

Speaking then of the saving embrace, Pope Francis noted that "humanly embracing means expressing positive and fundamental values ​​such as affection, esteem, trust, encouragement, and reconciliation" but that this becomes "even more vital when experienced in the dimension of faith".

Pope Francis noted that at the centre of our existence is the merciful embrace of God that saves, "the embrace of the good Father revealed in Christ Jesus, whose face is reflected in every one of His gestures".

The reason this is shown to us, the Pope continued, is "so that we also learn to do the same".  Let us allow ourselves to be embraced by the Lord, said the Pope, as, "in the embrace of the Lord, we learn to embrace others".

The life-changing embrace

Going on to speak of the third embrace, the life-changing embrace, Pope Francis turned to the saints, many of whose lives have been "decisively marked by an embrace". "If this was valid for them, it is also for us", said the Pope.

Pope Francis went on to tell all those gathered that they will themselves be the presence of Christ "the more you know how to embrace and support every needy brother with merciful and compassionate arms". In this way, he continued, you will be capable of making concrete signs of change.

Synod

Although Pope Francis had finished speaking of his three previous points, he chose to dwell on one final topic: the Synod. "Seeing all of you here together reminds me of the Synod," he said. To advance in synodality "there is a need for people shaped by the Spirit," and for this reason "I invite you to be athletes and standard bearers of synodality, in the dioceses and parishes to which you belong, for a full implementation of the path up to now".

Finally, Pope Francis thanked each person for what they "are" and for what they "do" before invoking the Madonna to accompany them, always.