Pope Francis urges Catholics to reach out to the ``lost sheep’’

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged Catholics to go beyond a ``tired and routine way’’ of living their religion and to reach out to those who are furthest away from the Church.

Francis spoke at Saint Peter's Square, before a packed audience of members of the Catholics church. His address

came in the run up to Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, considered the most important

Christian holiday.


``We should not simply remain in our own secure world, that of the ninety-nine sheep who never strayed from the fold,

but we should go out, with Christ, in search of the one lost sheep, however far it may have wandered.


``Often we settle for a few prayers, a distracted and inconsistent presence at Sunday Mass, a random act of charity,

but we lack this courage to step outside to bring Christ’’, to others, the pontiff said.


Francis was elected to revive a Church whose image has been tarnished by child abuse and graft scandals and whose appeal and influence has been dwindling in the Western world.

He said it was ``a pity’’ to see that ``so many parishes are closed’’.


On Thursday, the pope is set to lead rituals leading up to Easter Sunday.

He will celebrate mass in the morning in Saint Peter's Basilica and preside over another mass in the evening in a

juvenile prison.


During the service with the inmates, he will perform the traditional foot-washing ceremony which commemorates the

same gesture carried out by Jesus Christ before his Last Supper.


On Friday, Francis is scheduled to preside over the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession in Rome's Colosseum on Friday, while he will lead an Easter vigil at the Vatican on Saturday.


On Easter Sunday, he is due to celebrate mass in Saint Peter's before delivering his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to

the world) message and blessing.