In the Sunday Angelus, on the day that the Church dedicates to the Holy Family and in preparation for the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family, Pope Francis addressed a special Prayer of supplication to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Concurrently, that prayer was also recited in the Sanctuaries of the Family in Nazareth, Loreto and Barcelona. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, was present at that moment in the grandiose sanctuary of Antonio Gaudi’s Holy Family Church.
 
PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY
 
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
in you we contemplate
the splendor of true love,
to you we turn with confidence.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
make also our families
into places of communion and cenacles of prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
more than ever, within families,
people are experiencing
violence, exclusion and division:
may those who have been hurt or offended
soon experience consolation and healing.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may the next Synod of Bishops
awaken in all the consciousness
of the family’s sacred and inviolable character,
its beauty in God’s plan.
 
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Listen and answered our prayer.