In a Lenten address, the Holy Father affirmed the need for conversion:
Benedict XVI then recalled that this year, the beginning of Lent “providentially coincides with the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Lourdes”. “The message that the Virgin Mary continues to spread in Lourdes recalls the words that Jesus pronounced at the beginning of his public mission, and which we hear again several times in these days of Lent: ‘Convert and believe in the Gospel’, pray and do penance. Let us welcome the invitation of Mary, which echoes that of Christ, and ask her to obtain the favour of ‘entering’ with faith into Lent, to live this time of grace with interior joy and generous effort. Let us also entrust to the Virgin the sick and those who take loving care of them. Tomorrow, in fact, on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, we celebrate the World Day of the Sick. I greet with all my heart”, he continued, “the pilgrims who will gather in the basilica of Saint Peter”. It is an encounter at which, he explained, he will not be present. Beginning today, in fact, the pope begins his Lenten retreat, which will last the entire week. In this days, as usual, all of the encounters with the pope are suspended, including the Wednesday general audience.
In that same address, the Supreme Pontiff said that entering into Lent,
…means beginning a period of special effort in the spiritual warfare that pits us against the evil present in the world, within each one of us and around us. It means looking evil in the face and preparing ourselves to fight against its effects, above all against its causes, all the way to its ultimate cause, which is Satan… .
Excerpted from “Pope: Lent, fighting together with Christ the evil that is in us” on the Asia News site.
