The first official visit of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle in Rome, after his appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, was the visit to the children hospitalized in Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, on Friday, February 14, reported Fides News Agency.

The occasion arose from the presentation of the book “Children are Hope” (Salani publisher), a collection of drawings that children from all over the world gave to Pope Francis.

“It is a book that takes me back to my family roots when in the evening we would always flip through the same images in simplicity and with such serenity,” said the Cardinal to the children who he repeatedly invited to be happy and confident towards the future. “The Church has a future because there are children,” stressed the Cardinal Prefect during the presentation of the book. “In Manila, the girls of the house for street children ‘Bridge of life towards hope’, which Pope Francis during his visit wanted to visit unexpectedly when they learned of my departure for Rome, they organized a simple feast to greet me with songs dances, prayers, and even many tears. They asked me to tell Pope Francis not to forget this house, to tell him that he remains in this house in the memory of the children. The girls promised that they will pray every day for me and I believe that the prayer of children without speculation, without too many words, with smiles and tears, is the prayer that pleases the Lord.”

Cardinal Tagle, who before the meeting with journalists, visited the young patients hospitalized in the pediatric hospital accompanied by President Mariella Enoc, stayed with them and their family members and greeted the children and invited them to keep a ‘permanent smile on their faces’.

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