A quote from Pope Francis:
“The ability to smile and to cry is another gift that children bring, one which we grown-ups often block out. Many times our smile becomes a cardboard one, something lifeless and cold or even an artificial, clown’s smile. Children smile and cry spontaneously. It always comes from the heart, and often our hearts are closed and we lose this ability to smile and to cry. Children, then, can teach us how to smile and how to cry again. This is why Jesus invites his disciples to ‘become like children’ because ‘the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’
Children bring life, joy, hope, even troubles. But life is like that. They certainly also bring worries and, at times, many problems. But a society with these worries and problems is a better one than a society that is sad and gray because it is childless! And when we see a society with a birthrate of just 1 percent, we can say that that is a sad and gray society because it is without children.”
-- General audience, March 18, 2015
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