“Your prayers give me strength”: Pope

In “The Pope Video” for November, Pope Francis asks the faithful to “Pray to the Lord that He will bless me,” saying, “Your prayer gives me strength and helps me to discern and to accompany the Church, listening to the Holy Spirit.” 

Each month, the Pope offers a specific prayer intention, inviting men and women of goodwill to pray with him for a particular cause. Recent intentions have included prayers for the Synod, for people living on the margins, and for World Youth Day.

Pope Francis reminds the faithful in this month’s video that “The fact that someone is Pope doesn’t mean they lose their humanity. On the contrary, my humanity grows each day with God’s holy and faithful people.”

He adds, “Being Pope is also a process. 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.”

Knowing that popes are often “judged harshly” and will have to render “a serious account” of their ministry to God, Pope Francis asks his listeners “to judge benevolently” and “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.”

Specifically, he asks for prayers 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”.