Among the teachings of Pope Francis during these weeks, the three general audiences stand out.

Peter passes among the sick

On August 28, the Pope showed the nascent Church (cf. Acts, ch. 5) as a "field hospital" especially for the sick: "The sick are privileged for the Church, for the priestly heart, for all the faithful. They are not to be discarded; on the contrary, they are to be cured, to be cared for: they are the object of Christian concern".

In this "hospital" the figure of Peter stands out, and perhaps Pope Francis wanted to reflect himself - as the fruit of his prayer and in his attitudes - in the description of Peter's passage among the sick of body or soul, while noting that "Peter's healing action arouses the hatred and envy of the Sadducees". Thus he contemplates it:

"Peter passes by and, without his doing anything, his shadow becomes a healing "caress", a communication of health, an outpouring of the tenderness of the Risen One who bends over the sick and restores life, salvation and dignity to them. Thus God manifests his proximity and makes the wounds of his children "the theological place of his tenderness"(Homily in Santa Marta, December 14, 2017). In the wounds of the sick, in the ailments that are an impediment to progress in life, there is always the presence of Jesus, the wound of Jesus. It is Jesus who calls each one of us to care for them, to support them, to heal them".

Gamaliel's discernment

In the audience of September 18, the pope focuses on the discernment exercised by Gamaliel. "In the midst of the Sanhedrin, the discordant voice of a Pharisee rises up and decides to stop the reaction of his own", the reaction of violence and persecution against Christians. "Gamaliel takes the floor and sample to his brothers how to exercise the art of discernment in situations that exceed the usual schemes".

Gamaliel demonstrates, citing some characters who had pretended to be the Messiah, "that every human project can first gain approval and then be shipwrecked, while everything that comes from above and bears the "signature" of God is destined to last". On the other hand, "human plans always fail; they have a time, just as we do".

Making the case more concrete, Francis continues: "Gamaliel concludes that, if the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth believed in an impostor, they are destined to disappear into nothingness; if, instead, they follow one who comes from God, it is better to give up fighting them; and he warns: 'Lest you find yourselves fighting against God' (Acts 5:39)". And so Gamaliel teaches us some criteria for discernment along the lines of the duration and results of human actions and works.

Gamaliel's words, in the Pope's opinion, "are serene and far-sighted words that allow us to see the Christian event in a new light and offer criteria that 'taste like the Gospel' because they invite us to recognize the tree by its fruit (cf. Mt 7:16). This is how "they touch hearts and obtain the expected effect: the other members of the Sanhedrin follow their opinion and renounce their intention to kill the Apostles".

Francis therefore advises us to adopt these criteria, along with others, for our discernment: the unity of salvation history and the signs of God in the times and in people: "Let us ask the Holy Spirit to act in us so that, both staff and in community, we may acquire the habit of discernment. Let us ask him to always know how to see the unity of salvation history through the signs of God's passing in our time and in the faces of those we meet, so that we may learn that time and human faces are messengers of the living God".

Christ, a living criterion for our discernment

In the midst of the two audiences mentioned above, on September 11, Francis took stock of his apostolic journey to Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius, where he went as a "pilgrim of peace and hope" and from where he had returned the day before.

At the center of his trip, he said Wednesday, he wanted to place Christ: "The hope of the world is Christ, and his Gospel is the most powerful leaven of fraternity, freedom, justice and peace for all peoples".

In Mozambique - which is recovering from a long armed conflict and has been hit by two devastating cyclones - he spread "seeds of hope, peace and reconciliation". Especially to the authorities and young people the Pope encouraged them to build the country, together believers of different religions, "overcoming resignation and anxiety, spreading social friendship and treasuring the traditions of the elderly". Before the educators and leaders of Christian communities he prayed aloud: "I ask the Holy Spirit to give you always the lucidity to call reality by its name, the courage to ask for forgiveness and the ability to learn to listen to what He wants to tell us".

Francis saw this generosity, as the fruit of a "gratefulreport " to the gifts of God, in the hospital of Zimpeto. There he stressed that "among the most abandoned and abused poor is our oppressed and devastated earth, which 'groans and travails in birth' (Rom 8:22; Encyclical Laudato Si', 2)".

In the Maputo stadium he celebrated Mass for the progress of the people, under a welcome rain as a symbol of divine love: "The songs, the religious dances..., so much happiness. The rain did not matter". The Pope recalls and emphasizes: "There resounded the call of the Lord Jesus: 'Love your enemies' (Lk 6:27), the seed of the true revolution, that of love, which extinguishes violence and generates fraternity". "The decision for Christ - he then proposed - will keep us on the path of love, on the path of mercy, in the option for the poorest, in the preservation of nature".

Already in Antananaribo, capital of Madagascar - a country rich in beauty and natural resources but at the same time one of the five poorest in the world - Francis completed his message with an appeal to solidarity, respect for the environment and social justice. Solidarity," he told the young people, "is the best weapon for transforming history". The icon here was "the City of Friendship", Akamasoa, as a sign animated by the Gospel. "Without faith and prayer, a city worthy of man cannot be built," he proclaimed before the contemplative nuns. The workshop was centered, "under the sign of praise to God", in the Sunday Eucharist.

Later, in Mauritius - a crossroads of cultures, races and religions, known goal for tourism and with one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa - the Pope presented the Beatitudes as "ID card of identity of the disciples of Christ", as "antidote against the temptation of a selfish and discriminatory welfare" and as "leaven of true happiness, impregnated with mercy, justice and peace". He was impressed by the evangelization of the poor and the effort to "harmonize differences in a common project ". And he encouraged them to foster the capacity to welcome and the development of democratic life.

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In this way, the passage of Peter among the sick and in the rain-sometimes even in the midst of storms and walking on the water-, the discernment of one's own actions-taking into account the times and the results, the overall vision and the centrality of persons-, the entire Christian life with its joys and difficulties-ordinary and extraordinary-, the effort to sow peace and work in solidarity with hope-valuing the precious elements of wisdom that God has sown in cultures and religions (cf. LG 16-17, AG 11 and 15), are in fact a "theological place" when they are seen with the eyes of Christ, lived with his presence and collaborate with his action in our world.