Pope Francis prays for the 'witness of charity', a Catholic priest killed in Italy

Pope Francis on Wednesday led a moment of silent prayer for Fr. Roberto Malgesini, a 51-year-old priest who was stabbed to death in Como, Italy on September 15.

"I join the pain and prayers of his family members and the Como community and, as his bishop said, I praise God for the witness, that is, for martyrdom, of this testimony of charity towards the poorest", said Pope Francis at the general audience on September 16.

Malgesini was known for his care for the homeless and migrants in the diocese of northern Italy. He was killed on Tuesday near his parish, the church of San Rocco, by one of the migrants he helped.

Speaking to pilgrims in the Vatican's San Damaso Courtyard, the pope recalled that Malgesini was killed "by a person in need whom he himself helped, a person with a mental illness".

Stopping for a moment of silent prayer, he asked those present to pray for Fr. Roberto and for "all the priests, nuns, lay people who work with people in need and rejected by society".

In his catechesis of the general audience, Pope Francis stated that the exploitation of God's creation in nature and the exploitation of people went hand in hand.

“There is one thing that we must not forget: those who cannot contemplate nature and creation cannot contemplate people in their richness,” he said. “Anyone who lives to exploit nature ends up exploiting people and treating them as slaves”.

Pope Francis intervened during his third general audience to include the presence of pilgrims since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

He continued his catechesis on the theme of healing the world after the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting on Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God then took man and established him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it."

Francesco underlined the difference between working the land to live and develop it and exploitation.

“Taking advantage of creation: this is a sin,” he said.

According to the pope, one way to cultivate the right attitude and approach to nature is to "recover the contemplative dimension".

“When we contemplate, we discover in others and in nature something much greater than their usefulness,” he explained. "We discover the intrinsic value of things bestowed on them by God."

"This is a universal law: if you don't know how to contemplate nature, it will be very difficult for you to know how to contemplate people, the beauty of people, your brother, your sister," he said.

He noted that many spiritual teachers have taught how the contemplation of heaven, earth, sea and creatures has the ability to "bring us back to the Creator and communion with creation."

Pope Francis also referred to St. Ignatius of Loyola, who, at the end of his spiritual exercises, invites people to do "contemplation to reach love".

This is, the pope explained, “considering how God looks at his creatures and rejoicing with them; discover the presence of God in his creatures and, with freedom and grace, love them and take care of them ".

Contemplation and care are two attitudes that help "correct and rebalance our relationship as human beings with creation," he added.

He described this relationship as "fraternal" in a figurative sense.

This relationship with creation helps us to become "guardians of the common home, guardians of life and guardians of hope," he said. "We will guard the heritage that God has entrusted to us so that future generations can enjoy it."