The Pope appeals for disinterested solidarity and for a return to person-centred ethics in the world of finance and economics.

The vocation of being a 'protector' [. . .] means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us [. . .] In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.

Those called to the service of governance in the church need to have a strong sense of justice, so that any form of injustice becomes unacceptable.

Confession is the sacrament of the tenderness of God, his way of embracing us.

A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian.

Since many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers, from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one of you is a child of God.