• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis greets the crowd during his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 5, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

True discernment requires knowing oneself, pope says

October 5, 2022
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To know oneself is a gift and a grace that allows Christians to properly discern between feelings and convictions, Pope Francis said.

During his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 5, the pope said that knowing oneself requires “patient soul-searching” and the awareness of one’s “way of acting, of the feelings that dwell within us.”

“It also requires that we distinguish between emotions and spiritual faculties,” he said. “‘I feel’ is not the same as ‘I am convinced.’ ‘I feel like’ is not the same as ‘I want.’ Thus, we come to recognize that the view we have of ourselves and of reality is at times somewhat distorted. To realize this is a grace!”

Continuing his series of talks about discernment, the pope reflected on the element of self-knowledge that is crucial in discovering what one truly wants or needs in his or her life.

The pope explained that at times it is difficult to discern the path for one’s life “because we do not know ourselves well enough.”

“You have heard many times: ‘But that person, why doesn’t he or she sort out their life?'” he said departing from his prepared remarks. It “happens to us too that when we do not know clearly what we want, we do not know ourselves well.”

Spiritual doubts and vocational crises, he added, are often caused by “an insufficient dialogue between our religious life and our human, cognitive and affective dimension.”

Furthermore, “forgetting God’s presence” in one’s life goes “hand-in-hand with ignorance of ourselves,” he said.

Pope Francis said that much like computer programs requiring a password to access important and personal information, the spiritual life also “has its passwords,” words that touch one’s heart in a particularly powerful way.

However, he warned, the devil also “knows these passwords well.”

“Temptation does not necessarily suggest bad things, but often haphazard things, presented with excessive importance,” the pope explained. “In this way, it hypnotizes us with the attraction that these things stir in us, things that are beautiful but illusory, that cannot deliver what they promise and therefore leave us in the end with a sense of emptiness and sadness.”

That sadness, he said, is an indication that “we have embarked on a path that was not right.”

Pope Francis said Christians need to “know the passwords of our heart” to protect themselves from external manipulations and distinguish what is truly important from “current fads or flashy, superficial slogans.”

He also encouraged Christians to make “a general examination of conscience” each day in prayer to reflect on “what happened in my heart in this day” and “learn to note in our evaluations and choices what we give most importance to, what we are looking for and why, and what we eventually find.”

“Prayer and self-knowledge enable us to grow in freedom,” the pope said. “This is (what it means) to grow in freedom! They are basic elements of Christian existence, precious elements for finding one’s place in life.”

– – –

Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju

Read More Vatican News

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

Russia Ukraine Vatican peace

Pope: Vatican still ready to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine

Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass

Castel Gandolfo

After 12 years, locals welcome pope back to his summer home

Synod office provides guidelines to help local churches, bishops implement synodality

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Junno Arocho Esteves

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause
  • Pope: Vatican still ready to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine
  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en