Pope’s "Great Contentment" for Ban on Cluster Bombs
(August 02, 2010) The entry into law on Sunday of the Convention on the prohibition
of cluster bombs has been welcomed with "great satisfaction" by the Pope, who urged
all States to subscribe to the Agreement and expressed the hope for “increasingly
vigorous” progress “on this road, defending the dignity and human life, for the promotion
of integral human development, the establishment of a peaceful international order
and the achievement of the common good of all people and of all nations". Pope Benedict
XVI expressed his satisfaction for an act in which he said the "international community
has shown wisdom, foresight and ability to pursue a significant achievement in the
field of disarmament and international humanitarian law" after the midday Angelus
prayer in the courtyard of Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo. Before the Marian
prayer, speaking to three thousand people present, the Pope mentioned some of the
saints whose feast days occur around this time. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Jesuit founder,
St. Alphonsus Maria de 'Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, Saint Eusebius, the
first Bishop of Piedmont and St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, whose example guided
the recently concluded Year for Priests, and to whose intercession he commended all
the pastors of the Church. These men, said the Holy Father, gained 'wisdom of heart',
gathering to themselves all that does not corrupt and discarding all that changes
over time: power, wealth and ephemeral pleasures. Choosing God they possessed all
that is necessary, a foretaste of eternity right here on earth. Reflecting on the
parable of day’s Gospel, the pope said that the one who trusts in God is not afraid
of hardships of life and will gain wisdom of heart, just like the Saints. "