Do you want to have a perfect parish, one that truly follows Jesus and testifies to the Gospel message of love to the world around us? Then stop gossiping, says Pope Francis.

Zenit is reporting on the Pope’s parish visit to Setteville of Guidonia in Rome last weekend where he prayed for a special grace for the community – to never talk about one another.

Francis spoke about how all of the disciples were sinners, not just Judas, but they all had one thing going in their favor – they never spoke harshly about each other which gave a great example to the world about the loving legacy of Jesus Christ.

Yes, they were full of faults, the Pope continued. We know that they were envious of one another and lobbied to occupy the “first place.” They were even traitors, abandoning Jesus when he was seized. “They were afraid, they hid,” the pope reminded.

Peter tried to be more faithful and follow Jesus more closely after His arrest, but when confronted by a servant who recognized him as a follower of the Nazorean, he denied Christ not once, but three times.

“The first Pope betrayed Jesus,” the pope said.

But the first disciples “let themselves be saved” and thus became “witnesses of salvation” granted to them by Jesus. They committed numerous sins, including the betrayal of their Lord, but they were great in one aspect: “They weren’t gossipers, they did not talk badly of one another” which is so unlike too many parish communities today where people are “skinning one another.”

“A community where there are gossipers doesn’t give witness. If you have something to say, say it to the face or, at most, say it to the parish priest," the pope advised.

He then asked parishioners “to make the resolution not to gossip.” Even in the face of temptation, “bite your tongue!” he extolled.

“A parish without gossip is a perfect parish,” he said, because it is made up of people about whom witnesses can say, “How they love one another!”

He ended his talk with a prayer to God for the parishioners to be given the grace “never to talk about one another.”

Lord, may you bless us all with this grace so that our parish communities may witness to the life-saving love of Jesus Christ to a deeply troubled world.

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