Your prayers ‘are very important to God’

After meeting with the clergy and consecrated religious on Friday, 13 September, on his third and final day in Singapore, the final leg of his Apostolic Journey in Asia and Oceania, Pope Francis visited the staff and residents of Saint Theresa’s Home for the elderly.

“I ask you to pray for the Church and for humanity. Your prayers are very important to God”. This was the comforting reminder Pope Francis offered the elderly and sick people he visited in Singapore’s Saint Theresa’s Home on Friday morning, 13 September, as he told them, “God is happy to hear your prayers”.

After a warm welcome and greeting those before him, the Holy Father reassured them of his prayers, and asked them likewise to pray for him.

Saint Theresa’s Home, founded 90 years ago by the Little Sisters of the Poor, today cares for 200 elderly residents and is managed by Catholic Welfare Services (cws), a non-profit, social service agency.

In the chapel, Pope Francis blessed around 60 wheelchair-bound seniors from the three nursing homes run by cws: Saint Theresa’s, Saint Joseph’s Home, and Villa Francis Home