Pope speaking to bishops as a father to a mother

Clear vision of present Church and her purpose from Pope to Bishops.  Very revealing. Some of my favorite thoughts he shared were:

• God appears at the crossroads. 
• I would like all of us to ask ourselves today: are we still a Church capable of warming hearts? A Church capable of leading people back to Jerusalem? Of bringing them home? Jerusalem is where our roots are: Scripture, catechesis, sacraments, community, friendship with the Lord, Mary and the apostles… Are we still able to speak of these roots in a way that will revive a sense of wonder at their beauty? 
• Concerning pastoral conversion, I would like to recall that “pastoral care” is nothing other than the exercise of the Church’s motherhood. She gives birth, suckles, gives growth, corrects, nourishes and leads by the hand … So we need a Church capable of rediscovering the maternal womb of mercy. Without mercy we have little chance nowadays of becoming part of a world of “wounded” persons in need of understanding, forgiveness, love.
• The Church is never uniformity, but diversities harmonized in unity, and this is true for every ecclesial reality.

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