A Mexican entrepreneur gives Pope Francis a gift (Vatican Media)
By Devin Watkins
Feb 18 2023
Pope Francis greets a delegation of businessmen and women from Mexico, and urges them to help support the formation of good and holy priests as well as people in need.
A group of around 60 Mexican entrepreneurs met with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Friday, accompanied by a representative of the Archdiocese of Mexico City.
In his address, the Pope welcomed the businesswomen and men with a Spanish-language expression often heard in Mexico: “mi casa es su casa” (my home is your home).
The Vatican, he added, is like a home for all Catholics and a place where “the children of the Church can meet and praise God as a family.”
Importance of the family
Picking up the theme of the family, Pope Francis lamented the loss of the sense of family in many societies around the world, including from the destructive power of war.
He said individualism and isolationism have infected our cultures, as our consciences become sedated by creature comforts that blind us to those who suffer.
Caring for those in need
The Pope went on to recall the importance of our relationship with God, no matter our economic status or form of employment.
Jesus, he said, can help us open our eyes to the many people around us who are in need, as well as the importance of caring for Creation.
“We become able to put the common good above everything else, to put the ‘we’ of the family above the worldly logic of the ‘I’, of success, power, and money,” he said.
Supporting formation of good priests
Pope Francis noted that every person can help make society more peaceful to become a place of encounter.
He also urged the Mexican entrepreneurs to assist the Church’s mission to form good priests.
Priests need our prayers in the midst of their daily duties and trials, said the Pope. We should therefore thank God for the charisms with which He enriches the Church.
“I invite you to be near to them and help them, so that they may focus their energy and creativity on their pastoral activity,” he said.
Under protection of Blessed Virgin Mary
In conclusion, Pope Francis entrusted the Mexican businessmen and women to the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas.
“May the Morenita del Tepeyac watch over you and your families,” he concluded, “and may she encourage and accompany you in your good projects.” – Vatican News
