Saints are precious pearls, still alive says pope

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 6 - Saints are precious pearls and are always alive and timely, Pope Francis told a Vatican symposium on "Holiness Today" Thursday, according to Vatican News.
    Francis insisted that "the saints are precious pearls; they are always alive and timely," and "never lose their importance. " The Pope expressed his hope that "their example enlighten the minds of the women and men of our time, reviving faith, enlivening hope and kindling charity, so that everyone may feel drawn to the beauty of the Gospel, and no one may wander amid the gloom of meaninglessness and despair." He concluded his address with the "prayerful hope that the insights and proposals of your Symposium will assist the Church, and society as a whole, to perceive the signs of holiness that the Lord never ceases to raise up, at times even in the most unthinkable of ways." The symposium, promoted by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, is focusing on the topic of "Holiness Today," and "represents a strategy" chosen by the Dicastery "to deepen the pathways for the actualization and updating of holiness today." Specifically, the three-day conference is intended to identify "who and how" to canonize those faithful who have a certain reputation for holiness in the People of God. (ANSA).