"Christians must not lose heart but strive to help those in need". It was said by the Pope, who, in today’s catechesis focussed once again on the figure of Saint Augustine , seemed with these words to indirectly refer to the latest events, which resulted in the cancellation of his planned visit to the "La Sapienza" University in Rome. "Whilst the world gets old, Christ is perpetually young", said the Holy Father, in going over the last years of the life of Saint Augustine. When, under the pressure of the barbarian invasions, the bishop of Tiades, Honoratus, asked the Bishop of Hippo "whether a bishop or a priest or any man of the Church could flee to save his life", Augustine replied: "When the danger is the same for everyone, that is, for bishops clergymen and laymen, those who need others should not be forsaken by those they need". In this case, Augustine’s suggestion, "let all of them move to safe places; but, if some of them need to stay, let them not be forsaken by those who have a duty to assist them with the holy ministry, so that either they save themselves together or bear the calamities that the family man wants them to suffer". "This is the supreme proof of love", commented the Pope, who sees in these words "the heroic message that many priests over the centuries have taken on and made their own".
