[caption id="attachment_13957" align="alignright" width="250"] Pope Francis meets with U.S. bishops in the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington Sept. 23. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-US-BISHOPS Sept. 23, 2015.[/caption]
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Acknowledging the real challenges and burdens the U.S. bishops face in their ministry, Pope Francis shared with them his own experience as a pastor and urged them to keep their eyes focused on Jesus and their hearts open to others.
"Woe to us," he said, "if we make of the cross a banner of worldly struggles and fail to realize that the price of lasting victory is allowing ourselves to be wounded and consumed."
The 78-year-old pope met the U.S. bishops Sept. 23 in Washington's Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for midday prayer. His speech to them, delivered in Italian, was expected to be among the longest of those he would give in the United States.
"I did not come to judge you or to lecture," the pope said, but he wanted to address the bishops "as a brother among brothers, " one who served as archbishop of a large, diverse archdiocese and now, "in old age," is called to encourage Catholics around the world.
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