VATICAN CITY – Persecution has led to people spreading – not forgetting – the Gospel to the many places they go, Pope Francis said.
“I think of so many Christians who, in our time, are forced to flee their land. Men and women who, like the first believers, flee, taking with them the Word they have received,” Pope Francis said Feb. 16 during a meeting with a delegation representing the United Bible Societies.
“They treasure their faith as the treasure that gives meaning to the difficult, sometimes terrible circumstances they must face; embracing the cross of Christ, they venerate the Word of God that endures forever,” he said.
The Acts of the Apostles describes the first Christians spreading the word of God, he said, and how, with the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles explain “the meaning of the Scriptures in light of the Mystery of Jesus Christ, and warn against those who use it with bad inclinations or for petty interests.”
The ups and downs experienced by the early Church are similar to what is happening today, Pope Francis said. “The word is proclaimed, heard and lived out in favorable and unfavorable circumstances, in different ways and with different expressions, facing severe difficulties and persecution in a world often deaf to the voice of God.”
The Acts of the Apostles shows that the fledgling Church “lives by the word, proclaims it and, persecuted, flees with it as her one piece of luggage,” he said. “Therefore, persecutions become opportunities to spread the word, never to forget it.”
The world-wide network of Bible societies works in over 240 countries and territories and has served 4 billion people with Bible translations, according to its website. In addition to translating and distributing Bibles, they run literacy programs for those who cannot read and develop materials for those who are visually impaired and for those who are deaf.
The United Bible Societies has translated the entire Bible into the languages of more than half of the world’s population and it aims to complete another 1,200 translation projects over the next 20 years.