Love for the Pope

As children of God, our greatest love, our highest esteem, our deepest veneration, our fullest obedience, and our greatest affection must be for the Vice-God on earth, the Pope. Always remember that, in the hierarchy of love and authority, after God and our Mother the Most Holy Virgin comes the Pope. That is why I often say, “I thank you, my God, for the love of the Pope which you have put in my heart.”

Let us then have full and complete confidence in the Church and in Peter. I have not lost this confidence, even though some people – or rather, the devil through them – have sought to sow distrust and shadows, trying (unsuccessfully) to lessen my confidence and my love.

An anecdote

My children, I am going to tell you a little anecdote, and it will give me great joy if some of you, when you can, were to imitate it. For years I have prayed, and I continue to pray, a part of the Rosary every day in the street for the august person and intentions of the Roman Pontiff. In my imagination, I place myself beside the Holy Father when he celebrates Mass, even though I didn’t know and still do not know what the Pope’s chapel looks like. As I finish my Rosary, I make a spiritual communion, wishing to receive Jesus sacramentally from the Pope’s hands.

It shouldn’t surprise you that I have a holy envy for those who are fortunate enough to be physically close to the Holy Father, because they can open their hearts to him and can show him their esteem and affection.