Pope Francis, known for speeches preaching mutual respect between family members, made a defense of the figure of mothersinlaw during a weekly audience in St.
The Pope urged the faithful to remove stigmas around them, but he sent a message: “To you, mothersinlaw, I say: be careful of your tongue, for the tongue is one of the most terrible sins in the world motherinlaw”.
Francis spoke about prejudice surrounding old age when addressing the family ties between daughtersinlaw or sonsinlaw and mothersinlaw. “We always think of the motherinlaw as an evil figure, but the motherinlaw is the mother of her husband, her wife,” the Pope continued at the general audience.
He urged people to ditch the notion that the farther away mothersinlaw are, the better, saying that one of the best things about grandmothers’ lives is seeing their grandchildren grow up up close. “At the very least, it is necessary to make them happy so that they can progress happily in old age,” he added.
“May the Lord help us to grow in harmony in families, that constructive harmony that goes from the old to the young, that positive bridge that we must keep and keep.”
Out there
This isn’t the first time the Pope has spoken out about his mothersinlaw, and his comments sometimes ironic on the stigma surrounding the subject are not unknown. Speaking while touring the United States two years after taking office, he said, “Families fight and sometimes dishes can fly. Children cause headaches. I won’t talk about mothersinlaw.”
A year earlier, the Times of Israel recalled, Francis had made a similar comment in Rome: “We all know that the perfect family does not exist. There is no such thing as a perfect husband, and there is no such thing as a perfect wife, nor are we talking about perfect mothersinlaw. “.
The pope remained seated throughout Wednesday’s audience and apologized for it. He explained that he has knee pain that has forced him to cancel appointments in recent days. “This knee is taking a while to get better and I can’t stand for long.”
The Pope canceled appointments this Tuesday (26) because of pain, last Friday (22) he underwent examinations. He had also canceled events in February and March, but had even traveled to Malta for two days.
Francisco told Argentina’s La Nación newspaper that he had torn a ligament and was treating the pain with ice and painkillers. He said he had been told the problem was improving over time but that the process would be slow at his age the pope is 85.