Suffering can be an encounter with God, Pope tells Biblical Commission (Vatican Press Office)

In an April 20 address to members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, who are in Rome for their plenary meeting, Pope Francis spoke about the treatment of suffering in the Scriptures, which is neither “banal and utopian” nor “fatalistic.”

The Bible, the Pope said, offers an understanding of suffering as “an opportunity for growth and discernment of what really matters in life, to the point of an encounter with God.”