That place, he said, recalls “the prophetic gesture by which [St. Francis] stripped to the point of nakedness to say that Jesus was his only love, and for him, he made himself poor with the poor, to build a world under the sign of love.”

Sorrentino recalled that 10 years ago, in October 2013, Pope Francis stood in the room of the renunciation and said “the Church must strip herself of spiritual worldliness in order to be clothed with Christ and his Gospel.”

“It was a way to translate in our times what, eight centuries earlier, the crucifix of San Damiano asked of the saint of Assisi: ‘Francis, go, repair my house,’” the archbishop said.

“Today, too, most surely, there are things that must be repaired, renewed, and improved. You are called to reflect on this,” he said. “Yet, I am certain that you also agree on the fact that the greatest urgency, the truest reform is that of making Jesus our passion, our love, our everything.”

“The world, without knowing it, is awaiting a Church that proclaims and announces his holy name with new vigor.”

Sorrentino extended an invitation to synod attendees to explore Assisi while they were in Rome and offered the following prayer:

Religion News