Today, the feast of St George, is Pope Francis's nameday, and so is a public holiday in the Vatican City State. St George the martyr, around whom all sorts of legends have grown up, died for the faith in Nicomedia, modern Turkey, around the year 303 during the persecution of Diocletian. He was a soldier who refused to worship the Roman gods.
While we can discount the story of St George and the dragon - it is pure myth, we can see it as a symbolic representation of the faithful Christian who overcomes the power of evil by recourse to Christ.
We pray St George may watch over and bless our Holy Father as he carries out his Petrine Ministry. And let me wish all our Fraternity members in England of which St George is patron, a very happy feast day.
