Pope Francis deviates from prepared English speech

MANILA, Philippines – Speaking comfortably in Spanish and with lively hand gestures, Pope Francis spoke of the importance of dreams for a family when he departed from his prepared English statement during the Meeting with Families Friday evening.

“I like this idea of dreaming in a family,” the Pope said through an interpreter. “Every mother and father dreams of their son or daughter in nine months, is it true or not?”

The packed crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena replied with a resounding “yes!”

“To dream how will your daughter or son be. It is not possible to have a family without such dreams,” Francis remarked softly.

“When you lose this capacity to dream then you lose the capacity to love and this energy to love is lost,” he said.

The Holy Father urged the parents in attendance at the event to “examine your conscience” and to ask themselves if they have dreamt about the members of their family.

“I recommend that at night when you examine your consciences, ask yourself, today did I dream about my sons and daughters, did I dream of the love of my husband or my wife, did I dream about my parents, my family?

“It is so important to dream, and to dream in a family. Please don’t lose this ability to dream in this way,” the Pope said. “And how many solutions are found to family problems if we take time to reflect?”

The Pope’s informal remarks in Spanish were a contrast to his slow and broken English. Before he deviated from the prepared statement, he admitted: “My English is so poor,” which drew laughter from the audience.

Francis asked the audience in his impromptu remarks: “If we [dream] of our husband or wife, are we dreaming about the good qualities that they have?”

Before he returned to his prepared English statement, he gave a simple advice to couples.

“Don’t ever lose the illusion of when you were boyfriend or girlfriend,” the Pope said.

Read more about Pope Francis in INQUIRER.net’s special coverage here.