Pope Francis explains why he asks for prayers for him and not against

“Do not forget to pray for me”: this is perhaps one of the most representative phrases of Pope Francis since he was elected Successor of Peter.

In his first appearance on March 13, 2013, from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Latin American Pontiff asked all Catholics in the world—in a gesture of humility—to pray to help him in his new mission as Vicar. of Christ on earth.

Since then, the Holy Father repeats this phrase in each of his public appearances, normally at the end of the private audiences he holds each day in the Vatican, as well as in general audiences, after praying the Angelus or even during any spontaneous meeting.

However, in recent months, Pope Francis has also jokingly asked people to pray for him “for and not against.”

This is due to a funny anecdote that he explained on May 10, during his speech at the event “General Birth States”, about the demographic crisis in Italy.

On that occasion, Pope Francis said that “once I was finishing an audience and twenty meters away, where the fence was, there was a lady, a little old lady, with beautiful eyes. She tells me ‘come, come’, nice,” she recalled.

“I approached: ‘Madam, what is your name?’, he told me his name, ‘and how old are you?’, -87- ‘and what do you do, what do you eat to be so strong?’ -like ravioli, I make them-, and he gave me a ravioli recipe,” said the Holy Father.

“And I said, ‘But lady, please pray for me.’ ‘I do it every day,’ she replied. “And to joke I told him ‘but pray for it, not against it’.”

“And the old woman, smiling, told me: ‘Be careful, Father, they are praying against you in there,’ she said, pointing towards the Vatican.

“Ready, eh!” exclaimed the Holy Father. “A little anti-clerical,” he pointed out before once again asking for prayers for him from those participating in the event on the demographic crisis that took place in Rome.