Pope Francis: We must control our words, we must avoid putting people down

June 13, 2013. (Romereports.com) This morning, at the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Spanish. It's the first time he has done so, as Pontiff. The Mass was attended by employees of Argentinian embassies and consulates in Italy. In his homily, the Pope talked about not putting people down.

He said it's often easy or creative to use nicknames for people. But the Pope said that even if this is common and well-meant, especially in Latin cultures, it can sometimes be insulting.

POPE FRANCIS
“I would like to ask the Lord to give us all the grace to guard our words, to watch what we say about others. It is a small penance, but it bears a lot of fruit. Sometimes, we think:‘I would like to taste that fruit and take the chance of criticizing  another person.' But if we don't give into that hunger, it bears fruit and in the long run it's good for us. That's why we must ask the Lord for this grace, where we can  adapt our lives to this new law, which is the law of patience, the law of love, the law of peace. We can at least try and hold our tongues a little, hold the comments we make of others. The outbursts that lead us to anger or insults. May the Lord grant us all this grace.”

Then the Pope joked with his fellow countrymen. He said he was glad to celebrate the Mass in Spanish, something he had not done since February 26th, when he was last in Argentina.