VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI said that those seeking “true liberty” should follow the example of a 16th-century French saint who urged the faithful to give themselves up completely to God’s love.
At his weekly general audience at the Vatican March 2, the Pope said St. Francis de Sales believed and wrote that “divine love is the reason for all things” and that his views, which were influential during his lifetime between the 16th and 17th centuries, were still relevant today.
“In an era like the one we are living, that seeks liberty even with violence and trouble, we can’t help but see the relevance of the words of this great master of spirituality and peace,” the Pope said.
St. Francis taught his disciples “the spirit of liberty, true liberty, with his fascinating and complete teachings on the reality of love,” the Pope said.
The Pope explained that St. Francis, who lived from 1567 to 1622, had grown up in a cultured family in France and had received an education in both civil and canonical law.
He felt he had a vocation but suffered a deep spiritual crisis before taking his vows and committing himself completely to God, the Pope said.
Pope Benedict quoted the saint’s writings, in which he said: “Whatever you have decided for me, Lord, I will always love you as my hope and my salvation.”
St. Francis was made a bishop in 1602 and assigned to the archdiocese of Geneva. Because the area at the time was a “fortress” of Calvinism, St. Francis served “in exile” in Annecy, France, the Pope said.
In his many duties as “preacher, writer, man of action and prayer,” he was also involved in the “controversy and dialogue” with Protestants and became known as a diplomat who knew how to mediate and reconcile, the Pope said.
Pope Benedict said St. Francis’ total love for God inspired him to write important works, including the Introduction to the Devout Life and Treatise on the Love of God, in which he stresses the “universal call to holiness.”
The saint urged “complete abandon not only to the love of God, but also to his will,” the Pope said.
His teachings, however, were given “in a familiar way, with parables that seemed like poetry,” the Pope said, adding that much of contemporary Catholic education is based on what he wrote and taught. St. Francis de Sales is known as the patron saint of journalists.
St. Francis de Sales, who died at 55, lived “with great intensity ... with a rare fullness, shown by his intellectual research, but also by the richness of his relationships and sweetness of his teaching which had a great influence on the Christian conscience.”