In the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis met with members of the Pontifical Nepomuceno College. The Pope highlighted the college's martyrs during the period after World War II, who chose to give their lives rather than renounce their faith.
POPE FRANCIS
I pay tribute with you to the memory of so many priests and bishops, consecrated men and women, also so many lay people, who, with God's grace, had the courage to say 'no' to the regime in order to remain faithful to their vocation and mission. This multitude of hidden martyrs we do not know.
Pope Francis referenced these martyrs' lives as an example of how to avoid spiritual worldliness, which he said is the worst thing that could happen to the Church or to any consecrated man or woman.
POPE FRANCIS
The Lord wants us all to be servants, brothers and sisters, not primadonnas or leading actors, not protagonists, and sometimes protagonists of sad and mediocre stories. No. The Lord wants us to be fighters.
The Pontifical Nepomuceno College was founded in 1884 as the College for Czechs and Bohemians in Rome. The college was later renamed the Nepomucenum in honor of St. John of Nepomuk.
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