Vatican City, 17 April 2016 – After celebrating Mass in the Vatican Basilica, during which he ordained eleven new priests, the Pope appeared at the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Francis commented on the day's Gospel reading, in which Jesus presents Himself as the Good Shepherd and says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no-one will snatch them out of my hand". "The image of the shepherd and his sheep shows the close relationship that Jesus wanted to establish with each one of us", he said. "He is our guide, our master, our friend, our model, but above all our Saviour". The words He pronounces communicate to us "a sense of absolute security and immense tenderness. Our life is completely safe in the hands of Jesus and the Father, that are one: a sole love, a sole mercy, revealed for ever in the sacrifice of the Cross. To save the lost sheep that we all are, the Shepherd made Himself in to a lamb and allowed Himself to be immolated, to take upon Himself and remove the sin of the world. … This mystery is renewed, in) an ever-surprising humility, in the Eucharist. It is there that the sheep gather to be nourished; it is there that they become one, between themselves and with the Good Shepherd".

"Therefore, we must no longer be afraid: our life is by now saved from perdition. Nothing and no-one can snatch us from the hands of Jesus, because nothing and no-one can vanquish His love. Jesus' love is invincible! The evil one, the great enemy of God and His creatures, tries in many ways to snatch eternal life from us. But the evil one can do nothing if we do not open the doors to our soul to him, following his deceitful flattery".

"May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome with joy Jesus' invitation to become His disciples, and always to live in the certainty of being in God's fatherly hands".