"Pope Urges Former Students To Read Bible"

it is the word that frees, that gives strength and purifies....


Adapted from: Inside The Vatican magazine, October 2009.

"Christians become missionaries only if they know God and if his will causes them joy, says Benedict XVI.

"The Pope said this [on] Sunday, August 31, [2009], at Castel Gandolfo during a Mass to close a three -day meeting with his former students from the time when he was a professor of theology at the University of Regensburg.

"The Holy Father encouraged his students to read the Bible, to listen to Jesus' message.

"If we wish to hear the full message of Jesus, the way God guides us, if we want to know how God approaches us, we must read the Old and New Testaments, he said.

"Benedict XVI said joy must be the mark that distinguishes a Christian who knows the will of God, because this law is also an expression of God's friendship; it is the word that frees, that gives strength and purifies..."