Complete catechesis of Pope Francis on humility

Below is Pope Francis’ complete catechesis on the virtue of humility in the General Audience this Wednesday, May 22:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

We conclude this cycle of catechesis by stopping at a virtue that is not part of the sevenfold list of cardinal or theological virtues, but that is at the root of the Christian life: this virtue is modesty.

She is the great antagonist of the most deadly of vices, that is, pride. While pride and arrogance swell the human heart, making us seem more than we are, humility returns everything to its proper dimension: we are wonderful but limited creatures, with virtues and defects. The Bible reminds us from the beginning that we are dust and to dust we will return (cf. Gn 3,19), “humble” in fact comes from humus, land. However, delusions of omnipotence often arise in the human heart, so dangerous! And this does us a lot of harm.

To free ourselves from pride, very little would be enough, it would be enough to contemplate a starry sky to rediscover the right measure, as the Psalm says: “When I contemplate the sky, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have created. What is man that you remember him?” or “What is the son of God that you remember him? (8,4-5). And modern science allows us to broaden our horizon much more and feel even more the mystery that surrounds and inhabits us.

Blessed are the people who keep this perception of their own smallness in their hearts: these people are preserved from an ugly vice, arrogance. In his Beatitudes, Jesus starts precisely from them: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5.3). It is the first Beatitude because it is the basis of those that follow: in fact, meekness, mercy, purity of heart arise from that inner feeling of smallness. Humility is the gateway to all virtues.

In the first pages of the Gospels, humility and poverty of spirit seem to be the source of everything. The angel’s announcement does not take place at the gates of Jerusalem, but in a remote village in Galilee, so insignificant that people said: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn 1.46). But it is from there that the world is reborn. The chosen heroine is not a little queen raised in cotton, but an unknown girl: María. She herself is the first to be amazed when the angel brings her God’s announcement.

And in his song of praise, the Magnificathighlights precisely this amazement: “My soul sings the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit trembles with joy in God, my Savior, because He He looked kindly at the smallness of your servant” (Lc 1, 46-48). God – so to speak – is attracted to Mary’s smallness, which is above all an interior smallness. He is also attracted to our littleness, when we accept this littleness. From here on, María will be careful not to step on the stage. Her first decision after her angel’s announcement is to head to the mountains of Judah to visit her cousin. Humble people, from their own hiding place, never want to come out.

Jesus always answers: “Blessed are the humble.” Not even the most sacred truth of his life becomes a cause for boasting. We can imagine that she also knew difficult times, days when her faith advanced in the darkness. But this never made her humility waver, which in Mary was a granite virtue, and I want to emphasize that: humility is a granite virtue. The smallness that humility gives us, we also think of Mary, is her invincible strength: it is she who remains at the foot of the cross, while the illusion of a triumphant Messiah is shattered.

Brothers and sisters, humility is everything. It is what saves us from the Evil One and from the danger of becoming his accomplice. It is the source of peace in the world and in the Church. Where there is no humility there is war, there is discord, there is division. God has given us an example of it in Jesus and Mary, for our salvation and happiness. Humility is the way and the path to salvation. Thank you.