Pope Francis news: Pontiff urges faithful to be witnesses of the Gospel every day

Pope Francis delivered a mindful message to the faithful during the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven on Sunday, May 8, instructing everyone to be witnesses of the Gospel every day and not only on Sundays, and in all aspects of life.

"We must carry this witness every week: Christ is with us; Christ has gone up into Heaven, and is with us; Christ is alive!" said the Pope while addressing the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, as reported by Catholic News Agency.

He clarified that witnessing the Gospel of Christ should not be observed on Sundays or in church alone but for all days of the week, extending in their "homes, offices, schools, in places of entertainment, in hospitals, in prisons, in homes for the elderly, in places crowded with immigrants, in the city's peripheries."

The Pope reminded the crowds that even the apostles served as witnesses to Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension and then returned to Jerusalem to testify about the risen Christ. He also described Christ's ascension into Heaven as the people's anchor and source of hope.

"Jesus, God, is true man; with his human body he is in Heaven! And this is our hope, our anchor, and we are firm in this hope if we look to heaven," he declared.

The pontiff also talked about the role of the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Jesus. He explained that the Holy Spirit is what Jesus has promised to his disciples and pointed to it as the real architect of the various testimonies that the Church and every believer make around the world. Thus, he called on the faithful to praise God in prayer and "invoke the gift of the Spirit."

The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven is in commemoration of the day Jesus ascended into Heaven. The Bible recorded this incident to be the 40th day after Jesus resurrected from the dead.