VATICAN CITY (CNS) ─ The best medicine to heal the pain of a wounded family is forgiveness, Pope Francis said.
"Forgiveness always renews the family, making it look forward with hope," the pope said in a video message to present his prayer intention for the month of March: "For families in crisis."
The video, which was recorded weeks before his hospitalization Feb. 14 and released March 4, did not include the usual footage of Pope Francis at his desk reading the message but only used his voice for the narration.
It did not seem "respectful" or appropriate to be publishing a previously recorded video of him while he was recovering at the hospital, an official at the prayer network told Catholic News Service March 4. No images of the pope taken after he was hospitalized have been released.
The final frame of the video says, "The video was recorded a few weeks ago. Let us join in prayer with Pope Francis at clicktopray.org."
In the message, Pope Francis said, "We all dream about a beautiful, perfect family. But there's no such thing as a perfect family. Every family has its own problems, as well as its tremendous joys."
"Every member of the family is important because each member is different than the others, each person is unique. But these differences can also cause conflict and painful wounds," he said.
The best medicine to help heal the pain of those wounds, he said, is forgiveness. "Forgiveness means giving another chance. God does this with us all the time. God's patience is infinite. He forgives us, lifts us up, gives us a new start."
Even if there is no possibility of there being a fairytale ending of "happily ever after," he said, "God's grace gives us the strength to forgive, and it brings peace, because it frees us from sadness, and, above all, from resentment."
"Let us pray that broken families might discover the cure for their wounds through forgiveness, rediscovering each other's gifts, even in their differences," he said.
