Pope: Exercise of Authority Must be Service to Justice and Charity. Elizabeth of Hungary was a woman driven by her deep faith and a desire to experience daily the will of God. The saint of the Middle …More
Pope: Exercise of Authority Must be Service to Justice and Charity.
Elizabeth of Hungary was a woman driven by her deep faith and a desire to experience daily the will of God. The saint of the Middle Ages was the subject of the Pope's catechesis this morning at his weekly general audience. Born in 1207, he said she was an extraordinary woman who practiced diligently works of mercy. She married Ludwig of Thuringia for political reasons but had a happy marriage, animated by a sincere belief. A true saint of charity, the Pope said Elizabeth is still an example today for those in positions of leadership, because "the exercise of authority at every level must be lived as a service of justice and charity, in the pursuit of the common good." Elizabeth was widowed early and spent the rest of her life helping the poor and the sick. She died in 1231, and was proclaimed a saint just four years later, becoming a patron of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis and of the Secular Franciscans. "The figure of this great saint of charity," the Pope concluded, "also inspires us towards a deep love for God and neighbor, especially the poor and the sick, to all those who need material and spiritual help: in essence, we are called to see the face of Christ crucified, a poor and humble."
Elizabeth of Hungary was a woman driven by her deep faith and a desire to experience daily the will of God. The saint of the Middle Ages was the subject of the Pope's catechesis this morning at his weekly general audience. Born in 1207, he said she was an extraordinary woman who practiced diligently works of mercy. She married Ludwig of Thuringia for political reasons but had a happy marriage, animated by a sincere belief. A true saint of charity, the Pope said Elizabeth is still an example today for those in positions of leadership, because "the exercise of authority at every level must be lived as a service of justice and charity, in the pursuit of the common good." Elizabeth was widowed early and spent the rest of her life helping the poor and the sick. She died in 1231, and was proclaimed a saint just four years later, becoming a patron of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis and of the Secular Franciscans. "The figure of this great saint of charity," the Pope concluded, "also inspires us towards a deep love for God and neighbor, especially the poor and the sick, to all those who need material and spiritual help: in essence, we are called to see the face of Christ crucified, a poor and humble."