The Bible ‘is my most prized treasure’

In a moving and personal preface to the new edition of YOUCAT, the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Pope describes how he lives through his Bible and appeals to the young to read it daily, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

Francis says he loves his worn Bible beyond price. “I love my old Bible which has accompanied me for over half my life. It has seen my triumphs and been wet with my tears. It is my most prized treasure. I live through it and wouldn’t give it away for anything. You could give me one worth $1,000, but I wouldn’t want it.”

He then warns how dangerous it can be to even own a Bible. “In certain countries, one is treated as if one were hoarding hand grenades in one’s cupboard,” Francis says and recalls what Gandhi said about the Bible: “You Christians have a document in your care with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilisation to pieces.” Francis admits he occasionally falls asleep reading the Bible. “But that doesn’t matter. I am then like a son with his father and that’s important.”