Uncomfortably...

...a good many conversations among Catholics in these days converge on the subject of  a coming loss of religious freedom, of our rights as Catholics in Britain to speak clearly and openly about Christ, and about the truth and beauty of his message. In ways that I could never have imagined when younger, we talk about religious persecution, not as something belonging to far away or long ago but as something that relates to Britain, to a possible and imaginable future...

The Holy Father spoke. movingly and beautifully,  today to students at the English College in Rome, where our young men study for the priesthood.  This is a College which has a noble tradition of martyrs, a tradition which each succeeding generation of students holds in high honour. The Holy Father spoke of this throughout his speech, and ended thus:

"When I visited the United Kingdom, I saw for myself that there is a great spiritual hunger among the people. Bring them the true nourishment that comes from knowing, loving and serving Christ. Speak the truth of the Gospel to them with love. Offer them the living water of the Christian faith and point them towards the bread of life, so that their hunger and thirst may be satisfied. Above all, however, let the light of Christ shine through you by living lives of holiness, following in the footsteps of the many great saints of England and Wales, the holy men and women who bore witness to God’s love, even at the cost of their lives. The College to which you belong, the neighbourhood in which you live and study, the tradition of faith and Christian witness that has formed you: all these are hallowed by the presence of many saints. Make it your aspiration to be counted among their number.

Please be assured of an affectionate remembrance in my prayers for yourselves and for all the alumni of the Venerable English College. I make my own the greeting so often heard on the lips of a great friend and neighbour of the College, Saint Philip Neri, Salvete, flores martyrum...