Pope Francis – December 2022

The world needs volunteers and organizations committed to seeking the common good.
Yes, this is a word that many today would like to erase: “commitment.”
And the world needs volunteers who commit to the common good.
Being a volunteer who helps others is a choice that makes us free; it opens us to other people’s needs —to the demands of justice, to the defense of the poor, to the care of creation.
It means being artisans of mercy: with our hands, with our eyes, with an attentive ear, with our closeness.
And being a volunteer means working with the people you serve. Not just for the people, but with the people. Working with the people.
The work of volunteer not-for-profit organizations is much more effective when they collaborate with each other and with governments.
By working together, however few resources they have, they do their best and make the miracle of the multiplication of hope a reality.
We have a great need to multiply hope!
Let us pray that volunteer non-profit and human development organizations may find people willing to commit themselves to the common good and ceaselessly seek out new paths of international cooperation.