
Pope Francis' special bond with newly canonized, St. Charles de Foucauld
FREE Catholic Classes
Pope Francis canonized 10 new saints on May 15, 2022, and of those 10 saints, Charles de Foucauld was one of them.

Highlights
5/18/2022 (1 month ago)
Published in Living Faith
Keywords: St Charles de Foucauld, Pope Francis, martyr, saint
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - St. Charles de Foucauld holds a special place in Pope Francis' heart, as the pontiff revealed the saint's own spirituality helped him during a "period of crisis" as a theology student.
"Charles de Foucauld helped me so much to overcome crises and to find a way of Christian life that was simpler, less Pelagian, closer to the Lord," the pope said during a meeting with members of the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld on May 18, 2022. "I thank the saint and bear witness to this, because he did me so much good."
Although the pope did not offer further detail on the crisis he experienced as a student, he did call Charles de Foucauld "a prophet of our time, who was able to bring to light the essentiality and universality of faith."
According to Catholic News Agency, Pope Francis studied theology as a seminarian from 1967 to 1969. In 1986, he began his doctoral dissertation on on Romano Guardini, an Italian-born German priest, but his studies were cut short when the Jesuits called him back to Argentina.
During his meeting for St. Charles de Foucauld, the French explorer who became a hermit and missionary in Algeria before being killed in 1916, the Holy Father explained he learned of the saint from an Italian priest named Father Arturo Paoli and in books by Rene Voillaume.
Quoting a 1915 letter from the martyred saint to his cousin, Francis shared, "While in the silence of the hermit life [that] we are inclined to put first works, whose effects are visible and tangible, God gives first place to love and then to sacrifice inspired by love and obedience resulting from love."
"As a Church, we need to return to the essentials," the pope expressed, "not to get lost in so many secondary things, at the risk of losing sight of the simple purity of the Gospel."
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
-
Mysteries of the Rosary
-
Saint of the Day for Monday, June 27th, 2022
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
-
The Apostles' Creed
-
Prayer of the Day for Monday, June 27
-
Bible
-
Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony
-
St. Cyril of Alexandria
-
St. Irenaeus
-
Saint Feast Days in June
Daily Catholic
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 28, 2022
St. Irenaeus: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Blessing of Food: Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, June 28, 2022
- Daily Readings for Monday, June 27, 2022
- St. Cyril of Alexandria: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 27, 2022
- Prayer for Personal Forgiveness: Prayer of the Day for Monday, June 27, 2022
To all our readers,
Please don't scroll past this. We interrupt your reading to humbly ask you to defend Catholic Online School's independence. 98% of our readers don't give; they look the other way. If you are an exceptional reader who has already donated, we sincerely thank you. If you donate just $10.00, or whatever you can, Catholic Online School could keep thriving for years. Most people donate because Catholic Online School is useful. If Catholic Online School has given you $10.00 worth of knowledge this year, take a minute to donate. Show the world that access to Catholic education matters to you. Thank you.Help Now >
To all our readers,
Please don't scroll past this. We interrupt your reading to humbly ask you to defend Catholic Online School's independence. 98% of our readers don't give; they look the other way. If you are an exceptional reader who has already donated, we sincerely thank you. If you donate just $10.00, or whatever you can, Catholic Online School could keep thriving for years. Most people donate because Catholic Online School is useful. If Catholic Online School has given you $10.00 worth of knowledge this year, take a minute to donate. Show the world that access to Catholic education matters to you. Thank you.Help Now >
Copyright 2021 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2021 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.