For the Pope

“Let us pray for the Pope, so that in the exercise of his mission, he may continue to accompany in the faith the flock entrusted to him by Jesus, always with the help of the Holy Spirit”. This is Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of November.

In the video, produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Network, the Holy Father stresses the importance of people’s prayers for him. “Your prayer”, he says, “gives me strength and helps me to discern and to accompany the Church, listening to the Holy Spirit. The fact that someone is Pope doesn’t mean they lose their humanity. On the contrary”, he explains, “my humanity grows each day with God’s holy and faithful people”.

The video shows a variety of clips from Francis’ pontificate, from his election, to the recent General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. “Being Pope is also a process”, the Holy Father says. “The person becomes aware of what it means to be a pastor. And in this process, he learns how to be more charitable, more merciful, and, above all, more patient, like God our Father, who is so patient”.

He also acknowledges the challenges all Popes have faced and will continue to face, including a “feeling of trepidation, apprehension, knowing that he will be judged harshly. For the Lord will ask us Bishops to give a serious account. Please”, he says to the faithful, “I ask you to judge benevolently. And that you pray that the Pope, whoever he might be, today it is my turn, may receive the help of the Holy Spirit, that he may be docile to that help”.

Commenting on this month’s prayer intention, Fr Frédéric Fornos, sj , International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, notes that throughout the 10 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has never stopped asking people to pray for him. Even right after his election as the Successor of Peter, he asked the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for a moment of silence so that they could ask God to bless him.

Available online at www.thepopevideo.org and translated into more than 23 languages, the video for the prayer intention for November was created and produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, and distributed by La Machi Agency, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication.