This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the organizers and artists of the Concert with the Poor, to whom he addressed the following greeting:

Greeting of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I am pleased to meet you again this year at the Concert with the Poor, to be held this evening in the Paul VI Hall: a beautiful moment to share with so many of our brothers and sisters the beauty of music that unites hearts and lifts spirits. Even children make music when they cry!

I greet Msgr. Marco Frisina, who has once again managed to bring together international artists, together with the Choir of the Diocese of Rome - which is celebrating forty years of activity this year - and the Nova Opera Orchestra, which is also organizing this event. Thank you.

I thank all the artists, especially, for their special participation: Maestro Hans Zimmer, as well as the cellist Tina Guo, the composer Dario Vero - you are a good composer, you did this as well! - and actress Serena Autieri. I would also like to thank all the partners who contributed to the realization of the event.

A concert is a beautiful parable, a parable of harmony, of the synodal harmony that the Church is striving to live more fully. Indeed, each musical score combines different instruments and voices, each with its own part, its timbre, its sonority. Each one in the orchestra plays its own score but must harmonize with the others, thus generating the beauty of music.

And in a composition, the silences, the intervals, the dissonances are as important as the notes themselves. God does not create waste. God does not create waste. Everyone is called upon to express themselves, to perform their part together with everyone else.

To realize this parable of harmony, it is necessary to choose to be there. It is not taken for granted. All of you have chosen to be there, to participate in this event with people who are in need, who struggle every day to get by. And this choice of yours generates a sign of hope. This is what the next Jubilee also proposes: to generate signs of hope, starting from the source of love which is the Heart of Jesus.

Without the collaboration of everyone, a true symphony cannot be realized. Only from a concert of different people does the harmony that edifies and comforts everyone spring forth. Similarly, the Church, called to be in the world a sign and instrument of harmony, communion and fraternity, must realize in the heart of humanity a marvellous and conscious song of love to God and to brothers and sisters.

This Concert with the Poor that you will perform today is a beautiful sign of synodal harmony, especially because it will take place in communion with our most fragile brothers and sisters, invited to take part in this wondrous symphony of love that is the Gospel. These friends of ours, this evening, will be able to attend the concert in the best of ways, as protagonists: because beauty is a gift from God for all human beings, who have in common the same dignity and are called to fraternity.

I entrust you to the Holy Family of Nazareth, which knew precariousness and exile without ever losing heart. May the Lord always keep the flame of hope burning in you! I pray for you, for the successful realization of this project. And I ask you, please, to pray for me - pray for, not against! -. Thank you!