Holy Father Pope Francis visited the headquarters of Sant Egidio Community in Rome that is celebrating its 50t anniversary and encouraged them to continue courageously in their mission to build bridges, keep the dialogue open, stay close to the poor and the discarded and pray for peace. His Holiness Pope Francis thanked its members for their wish to continue to look to the future with a sense of responsibility and reminded them about the three main P’s on which the community rests- Prayer, Poverty and Peace.

Holy Father Pope Francis called on the Sant’Egidio Community to continue to help foster a ‘globalization of solidarity and of the spirit’ by building bridges, keeping the dialogue open and favoring encounter.

His Holiness Pope Francis exhorted the community to courageously push forward with their programmes for children in the peripheries, with their ‘Schools of Peace’, staying close to the elderly who are so often discarded and continuing to open ‘humanitarian corridors’ for those fleeing war and hunger.