The Pope declares a special Sunday every year dedicated to the word of God

To help the church grow in love and faithful witness of God, Pope Francis declared the third Sunday of ordinary time dedicated to the word of God.

Salvation, faith, unity and mercy all depend on the knowledge of Christ and Sacred Scripture, he said in a new document.

Dedicating a special day "to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God" will help the church "to experience again how the risen Lord opens the treasure of his word to us and allows us to proclaim his unfathomable riches before the world, "Said the Pope.

The declaration of having a "Sunday of the Word of God" was made in a new document, given "motu proprio", on the initiative of the pope. Its title, "Aperuit Illis", is based on a verse from the Gospel of St. Luke, "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures."

"The relationship between the Risen One, the community of believers and Sacred Scripture is essential for our identity as Christians," said the pope in the apostolic letter, published by the Vatican on 30 September, the feast of St. Jerome, patron of biblical scholars.

“The Bible cannot be just the legacy of some, much less a collection of books for the benefit of the privileged few. It belongs above all to those who are called to hear his message and to recognize himself in his words, "wrote the pope.

"The Bible is the book of the Lord's people, who, listening to it, moves from dispersion and division towards unity" as well as understanding the love of God and being inspired to share it with others, he added.

Without the Lord who opens people's minds to his word, it is impossible to fully understand the scriptures, but "without the scriptures, the events of the mission of Jesus and his church in this world would remain incomprehensible," he wrote.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, told the Vatican News on September 30 that more emphasis is needed on the importance of the word of God because "the vast majority" of Catholics are not familiar with the Holy Scriptures. For many, the only time they hear the word of God is when they attend Mass, he added.

"The Bible is the most widely distributed book, but perhaps it is also the most dust-covered book because it is not held in our hands," said the archbishop.

With this apostolic letter, the pope "invites us to keep the word of God in our hands as much as possible every day so that it becomes our prayer" and a greater part of a person's lived experience, he said.

Francis said in the letter: “A day dedicated to the Bible should not be seen as an annual event but rather an event throughout the year, since we must urgently grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord, who continues to pronounce the his word and to break bread in the community of believers “.

“We must develop a closer relationship with Sacred Scripture; otherwise, our hearts will remain cold and our eyes closed, affected as we are by so many forms of blindness, "he wrote.

Sacred Scripture and the sacraments are inseparable, he wrote. Jesus speaks to everyone with his word in Sacred Scripture and if people "listen to his voice and open the doors of our minds and hearts, then they will enter our lives and always remain with us," he said.

Francis urged priests to pay more attention to creating a homily throughout the year that "speaks from the heart" and really helps people understand Scripture "through simple and suitable language".

The homily “is a pastoral opportunity that should not be wasted. For many of our faithful, in fact, this is the only opportunity that must grasp the beauty of the word of God and see it applied to their daily lives, "he wrote.

Francis also encouraged people to read the dogmatic constitution of Vatican II, "Dei Verbum" and the apostolic exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI, "Verbum Domini", whose teaching remains "fundamental for our communities".

The third Sunday of ordinary time falls on that part of the year when the church is encouraged to strengthen its ties to the Jewish people and pray for Christian unity. This means that the celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God "has an ecumenical value, since the Scriptures indicate, for those who listen, the path to authentic and firm unity".

A quote from Pope Francis:

One thing is that a person has this tendency, this option; and even those who change sex. Another thing is to teach along this line in schools, to change the mentality. This I would call "ideological colonization". Last year I received a letter from a Spanish man who told me his story as a child and youngster. She was a girl and suffered a lot, because she felt she was a boy but physically she was a girl. … He underwent the operation. … The bishop accompanied him a lot. … Then he got married, changed his identity and wrote me the letter to say that it would be a consolation for him to come with his wife. ... And so I received them, and they were very happy. ... Life is life and things must be taken as they come. Sin is sin. Hormonal tendencies or imbalances cause many problems and this does not mean saying "Oh well,

- Return flight from the apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Georgia and Azerbaijan, 3 October 2016