"I offer my heartfelt thanks to each of you for your gracious welcome, and,   
   like Saint John Paul II in April 1993, I invoke upon Albania the protection of   
   Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, entrusting to her the hopes of the entire   
   Albanian people. May God abundantly pour out his grace and blessing upon   
   Albania".   
    Following his address the Pope continued to Mother Teresa Square where he   
   celebrated Holy Mass.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The living Church in the Land of the Eagles: thank you for your fidelity   
    Vatican City, 21 September 2014 (VIS) - Thousands of faithful participated in   
   the Holy Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Latin and Albanian at 11 a.m. in   
   Mother Teresa Square. The liturgical readings reflected aspects of Albania's   
   history. The first, from the Book of Exodus, told how "I bore you on eagle's   
   wings", whereas the epistle was St. Paul's letter to the Romans in which the   
   apostle tells how he preached in Illyria, which at that time included the   
   current territory of Albania.   
    However, in his homily the Holy Father commented on the passage from the   
   Gospel of St. Luke, which includes the phrase "Peace be to this house" and   
   which narrates how Jesus, after naming the twelve apostles, convokes another   
   seventy-two disciples and sends them to proclaim the Kingdom of God to peoples   
   and cities.   
    "He comes to bring the love of God to the world and he wishes to share it by   
   means of communion and fraternity", said Pope Francis. "To this end he   
   immediately forms a community of disciples, a missionary community, and he   
   trains them how to 'go out' on mission. The method is both clear and simple:   
   the disciples visit homes and their preaching begins with a greeting which is   
   charged with meaning: 'Peace be to this house!'. It is not only a greeting,   
   but also a gift: the gift of peace. Being here with you today, dear brothers   
   and sisters of Albania, in this square dedicated to a humble and great   
   daughter of this land, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, I wish to repeat to   
   you this greeting: May peace be in your homes. May peace reign in your hearts.   
   Peace in your country. Peace".   
    "In the mission of the seventy-two disciples we see a reflection of the   
   Christian community's missionary experience in every age: the risen and living   
   Lord sends not only the Twelve, but the entire Church; he sends each of the   
   baptised to announce the Gospel to all peoples. Through the ages, the message   
   of peace brought by Jesus' messengers has not always been accepted; at times,   
   the doors have been closed to them. In the recent past, the doors of your   
   country were also closed, locked by the chains of prohibitions and   
   prescriptions of a system which denied God and impeded religious freedom.   
   Those who were afraid of the truth did everything they could to banish God   
   from the hearts of men and women and to exclude Christ and the Church from the   
   history of your country, even though it was one of the first to receive the   
   light of the Gospel".   
    Pope Francis went on to recall the "decades of atrocious suffering and harsh   
   persecutions against Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims", affirming that "Albania   
   was a land of martyrs: many bishops, priests, men and women religious, lay   
   faithful, and ministers of worship of other religions paid for their fidelity   
   with their lives. Demonstrations of great courage and constancy in the   
   profession of the faith are not lacking. How many Christians did not succumb   
   when threatened, but persevered without wavering on the path they had   
   undertaken! I stand spiritually at that wall of the cemetery of Scutari, a   
   symbolic place of the martyrdom of Catholics before the firing squads, and   
   with profound emotion I place the flower of my prayer and of my grateful and   
   undying remembrance. The Lord was close to you, dear brothers and sisters, to   
   sustain you; he led you and consoled you and in the end he has raised you up   
   on eagle's wings as he did for the ancient people of Israel. The eagle,   
   depicted on your nation's flag, calls to mind hope, and the need to always   
   place your trust in God, who does not lead us astray and who is ever at our   
   side, especially in moments of difficulty.   
    "The doors of Albania have now been reopened and a season of new missionary   
   vitality is growing for all of the members of the people of God: each baptised   
   person has his or her role to fulfil in the Church and in society. Each one   
   must experience the call to dedicate themselves generously to the announcing   
   of the Gospel and to the witness of charity; called to strengthen the bonds of   
   solidarity so as to create more just and fraternal living conditions for all".   
    Today, the Pontiff exclaimed, "I have come to give thanks to you for your   
   witness and to encourage you to cultivate hope among yourselves and within   
   your hearts. Do not forget the eagle. The eagle does not forget the nest, but   
   flies high. It flies high! I have come to encourage you to involve the young   
   generations; to nourish yourselves assiduously on the Word of God, opening   
   your hearts to Christ: to the Gospel, to the encounter with God and the   
   encounter among you, which is already taking place. Through this encounter of   
   yours, you offer an example to all Europe".   
    "To the living Church in this land of Albania, I say 'thank you' for your   
   example of fidelity", he concluded. "Do not forget the nest, your distant   
   history; do not forget the wounds inflicted, but do not seek to avenge them.   
   Go ahead, working with hope for a great future. So many of your sons and   
   daughters have suffered for Christ, even to the point of sacrificing their   
   lives. May their witness sustain your steps today and tomorrow as you journey   
   along the path of love, the path of freedom, and above all, the path of   
   justice and of peace".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the young: yes to acceptance and solidarity   
    Vatican City, 21 September 2014 (VIS) - Before the end of this Sunday's   
   liturgy, Francis greeted those present from Albania and other neighbouring   
   countries to thank them for their presence and for their witness of faith, and   
   addressed the young in particular. "They say that Albania is the youngest   
   country in Europe", he commented, smiling, and invited them to "confirm   
   [their] existence in Jesus Christ".   
    "He who builds on Christ builds on rock, because He is always faithful, even   
   if we sometimes lack faith", continued the Holy Father. "Jesus knows us better   
   than anyone else; when we sin, He does not condemn us but rather says to us,   
   'Go and sin no more'. Dear young people, you are the new generation of   
   Albania, the future of your homeland. With the power of the Gospel and the   
   example of your antecedents and the martyrs, know how to say 'No' to the   
   idolatry of money, 'No' to the false freedom of individualism, 'No' to   
   addiction and to violence; say 'Yes' to a culture of encounter and of   
   solidarity, 'Yes' to the beauty that is inseparable from the good and the   
   true; 'Yes' to a life lived with great enthusiasm and at the same time   
   faithful in little things. In this way, you will build a better Albania and a   
   better world".   
    Before the Angelus prayer, the Pope invoked the Virgin Mary, venerated in   
   Albania above all as "Our Lady of Good Counsel". "I stand before her,   
   spiritually, at her Shrine in Scutari, so dear to you, and to her I entrust   
   the entire Church in Albania and all the people of this country, especially   
   families, children and the elderly, who are the living memory of the people.   
   May Our Lady guide you to walk together with God towards the hope that never   
   disappoints".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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