Pope Francis
answers children's questions
Children must see the faith lived
at home
In his first children’s book, "Dear Pope Francis: The Pope Answers Letters From Children Around the World," published in 2016, Pope Francis touches on both lighthearted and sensitive topics, from war and the world’s conflicts to Sunday school, miracles and his preference for tango.
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Ana Maria, 10, from Brazil asked the Pope why children need to go to catechism classes. In response, Francis said simply: “Go to catechism to know Jesus better!” Catechism, he said, “helps you … know your friend Jesus better and to know his big family, which is the Church.”
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He told 6-year-old Prajla from Albania that as a teenager he liked to dance tango and that, for him, to dance “is to experience joy and happiness.” “When someone is sad, [he] can’t dance. Generally, kids have a big asset: being happy. And because of this, when they are young, they dance and express the joy in their hearts,” he said, noting that “the people who can’t experience joy in their hearts are always serious."
Vatican City, Jan 13, 2019 - At Mass in the Sistine Chapel Sunday, Pope Francis baptized 27 babies, reminding their parents that the first space in which children learn and witness the faith is at home.
“Yes, when they go to catechism class, they will study the faith well, they will learn catechesis,” he said Jan. 13. “But before being studied, faith must be transmitted, and this is a job that is up to you.”
Preparing to baptize the 27 babies – 15 girls and 12 boys – Francis urged their parents “to transmit the faith by example, by words, by teaching [them] to make the sign of the Cross. This is important.”
“The important thing is to transmit the faith with your life of faith: that they see the love of the spouses, that they see the peace of the house, that they see that Jesus is there,” he said.
-Catholic News Agency