Pope Francis prays for those who take care of disabled patients during Coronavirus

Pope Francis prayed for those who take care of people with disabilities during the coronavirus crisis during his morning mass on Saturday.

Speaking from the chapel of his Vatican residence, Casa Santa Marta, on April 18, claimed to have received a letter from a religious sister who worked as a sign language interpreter for the deaf. He talked to him about the difficulties facing healthcare professionals, nurses and doctors dealing with disabled patients with COVID-19.

"So let's pray for those who are always at the service of these people with various disabilities," he said.

The pope made comments at the beginning of the mass, which was streamed live because of the pandemic.

In his homily, he reflected on the first reading of the day (Acts 4: 13-21), in which the religious authorities ordered Peter and John not to teach in the name of Jesus.

The apostles refused to obey, the pope said, responding with "courage and frankness" that it was impossible for them to remain silent about what they had seen and heard.

Since then, he explained, courage and frankness have been the hallmarks of Christian preaching.

The pope recalled a passage in the Letter to the Hebrews (10: 32-35), in which lukewarm Christians are invited to remember their first struggles and to regain confidence and candor.

"You can't be a Christian without this frankness: if he doesn't come, you're not a good Christian," he said. "If you don't have the courage, if to explain your position you slide into ideologies or casuistic explanations, you lack that frankness, you lack that Christian style, the freedom to speak, to say everything".

The frankness of Peter and John has confused leaders, elders and scribes, he said.

"Really, they were cornered by frankness: they didn't know how to get out of it," he said. "But it didn't occur to them to say," Could it be true? "The heart was already closed, it was hard; the heart was corrupt. "

The pope noted that Peter was not born brave, but had received the gift of parrhesia - a Greek word sometimes translated as "audacity" - by the Holy Spirit.

"He was a coward, Jesus denied," he said. “But what has happened now? They [Peter and John] replied: 'If it is right in the eyes of God for us to obey you rather than God, you are the judges. It is impossible for us not to talk about what we have seen and heard. "

“But where does this courage come from, this coward who denied the Lord? What happened to this man's heart? The gift of the Holy Spirit: frankness, courage, parrhesia is a gift, a grace that the Holy Spirit gives on the day of Pentecost ".

“Immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit they went to preach: a little brave, something new for them. This is coherence, the sign of the Christian, of the true Christian: he is courageous, he tells the whole truth because it is coherent. "

Turning to the Gospel reading of the day (Mark 16: 9-15), in which the risen Christ reproaches the disciples for not believing the accounts of his resurrection, the pope observed that Jesus gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit that allows them to fulfill their mission of "Going all over the world and proclaiming the Gospel to every creature".

"The mission comes from here, from this gift that makes us brave, straightforward in proclaiming the word," he said.

After mass, the pope presided over the adoration and blessing of the Blessed Sacrament, before guiding those who look online in a prayer of spiritual communion.

The Pope recalled that tomorrow he would offer mass at Santo Spirito in Sassia, a church near the Basilica of San Pietro, at 11 am local time.

Finally, those present sang the Easter Marian antiphon "Regina caeli".

In his homily, the pope made it clear that Christians should be both courageous and prudent.

“May the Lord always help us to be like this: courageous. This does not mean imprudent: no, no. Courageous. Christian courage is always prudent, but it is courage, "he said.