LA SANTITÀ É IL VOLTO PIÙ BELLO DELLA CHIESA

This text is born out of gratitude for the gift of the papal magisterium and the desire to share a fruitful spiritual experience lived by the ecclesial community in Rome. From the very first page of the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, our bishop Pope Francis makes it clear that it is not "a treatise on holiness, with so many definitions and distinctions that could enrich this important topic," but that its "humble goal is to make the call to holiness resound once again, seeking to incarnate it in the present context, with its risks, challenges and opportunities" (Gaudete et exsultate, 2). Starting from the simple beauty and experiential depth of the meditations offered by the Holy Father, we wanted to dedicate an itinerary of catechesis questioning ourselves on our call to holiness today, given that "the Lord has chosen each of us 'to be holy and blameless before Him in love' (Eph 1:4)" (Gaudete et exsultate, 2). During the pastoral year 2018-2019, we have gathered once a month in our cathedral of St. John Lateran, at the foot of the chair of Peter, to reflect and pray starting from listening to some passages of the magisterium of our bishop, taken from Gaudete et exsultate and the account of the testimony of some saints who have been able to respond to their call to holiness.