2011-03-30 14:12:23

At Wednesday's general audience, Pope appeals for peace in Ivory Coast


(March 30, 2011) Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing him speak in several languages. The general audience of March 30th was held in the open, in St. Peter’s Square. A scripture passage was read in several languages. An aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English-speaking pilgrims, and presented the various groups to him. Pope Benedict then delivered a discourse in English.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our catechesis today deals with Saint Alphonsus Liguori, an outstanding eighteenth-century preacher, scholar and Doctor of the Church. Alphonsus left a brilliant career as a lawyer to become a priest, and greatly contributed to the renewal of the Church in his native Naples. He began as a missionary among the urban poor, gathering small groups for prayer and instruction in the faith. Broadening his pastoral outreach, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – the Redemptorists – as a group of itinerant missionaries. Alphonsus’ pastoral zeal also found expression in his moral teaching, which emphasized divine mercy and the relationship between God’s law and our deepest human needs and aspirations. His many spiritual writings, marked by a deep Christological and Marian piety, stressed the practice of prayer, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. May this great Doctor of the Church, venerated also as the patron of moral theologians, help us to respond ever more fully to God’s call to grow in holiness, and inspire in priests, religious and laity a firm commitment to the new evangelization.
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience, especially those from England, Norway, Japan, the Philippines and the United States. To the choirs I express my gratitude for their praise of God in song. Upon all of you I cordially invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.

Earlier, speaking in French, Pope Benedict made a heartfelt appeal for peace in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, where people are “traumatized by painful internal strife and serious social and political tensions.” A violent dispute over last November's presidential election that U.N.-certified results showed Alasan Uatara (Alassane Ouattara) won, but which incumbent Loran Gbagbo (Laurent Gbagbo) refuses to concede, has reignited the civil war it was meant to end. The Holy Father said he was sending Ghanian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to Ivory Coast to express his and the universal Church’s solidarity with the suffering people and to promote reconciliation and peace. The Pope called for an urgent restoration of respect and peaceful coexistence through constructive dialogue for the common good.
Wednesday’s general audience concluded with the Pope’s blessing.
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