Pope urges all to continue praying for peace, condemns arms proliferation
September 09, 2013 - Pope Francis on Sunday urged all to continue praying for peace
in the Middle East and the world, saying the search for peace is a long one that requires
patience and perseverance. Speaking during the weekly midday “Angelus” prayer in
Rome’s St. Peter’s Square, the Pope also condemned the proliferation of wars and conflicts
and questioned whether they were wars about real problems or commercial wars to sell
arms on the black market. His remarks came just hours after an estimated 100 thousand
people joined him for 5 hours of prayer and adoration of the Holy Sacrament in the
same square Saturday evening as part of the events for a special day of prayer and
fasting for peace in Syria and the world called by him. Hundreds of thousands across
the globe adhered to his call in different ways. “The war against evil means saying
no a fratricidal hatred and the lies which feed it, saying no to violence in all its
forms, saying no to the proliferation of arms and the illegal trade in arms," the
Pope said, insisting there should be no other interests than those of peace and the
common good. "The violence and devastation in Syria should stop immediately and
we should work with renewed commitment for a just solution to this fratricidal conflict,"
Pope Francis urged, calling for peace in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon as well. The appeals
for peace come as the United States and France consider military action to punish
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad over a chemical weapons attack near Damascus that killed
hundreds of people. Western countries blame Assad for the attack although the Syrian
government denies responsibility.
Below is a translation of Pope Francis'
‘Angelus’ address: Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! In
the Gospel for today, Jesus reiterates the conditions for being his disciples: not
putting anything before your love for Him, carrying your cross, and following Him.
Many people came up to Jesus, wanted to be one of His followers; and this would happen
especially in the wake of some prodigious dream, that indicated Him as the Messiah,
the King of Israel. But Jesus doesn’t want to create illusions for anyone. He knows
full well what awaits Him in Jerusalem, the road that the Father is asking Him to
take: it’s the road of the cross, of sacrificing Himself for the redemption of our
sins. Following Jesus doesn’t mean taking part in a triumphal parade! It means sharing
in His merciful love, becoming part of His great mission of mercy towards each and
every man. The mission of Jesus is precisely a mission of mercy, of forgiveness, of
love! Jesus is so merciful! And this universal forgiveness, this mercy, comes through
the cross. Jesus doesn’t want to carry out this mission alone: He wants
to involve us too, in the mission that the Father entrusted to Him. After the resurrection,
He will say to His disciples. “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you… If you
forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven” (John 20, 21.22). A disciple of Jesus gives
up all his or her goods, because he or she has found in Him the greatest Good, within
which every other good receives its true worth and meaning: family relations, other
relationships, work, cultural and economic wealth, and so forth… A Christian detaches
from everything, and then finds everything in the logic of the Gospel, the logic of
love and service. To explain this requirement, Jesus uses two parables:
the one of the tower to be built, and the one of the king who goes to war. The second
parable goes like this: “What king, marching to war against another king, would not
first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the
other, who was advancing against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the
other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace” (Luke
14, 31-32). Here Jesus doesn’t want to discuss war, it’s only a parable. But at this
moment in time, when we’re strongly praying for peace, this Word of the Lord affects
us closely, and fundamentally it says: there’s a deeper war we must fight, all of
us! It’s the strong and brave decision to renounce evil and its seductions, and to
choose good, fully prepared to pay personally: that’s following Christ, that’s taking
up our cross! This deep war against evil! What’s the point of fighting wars,
many wars, if you’re not capable of fighting this deep war against evil? There’s no
point! It’s no good… This means, among other things, this war against evil means saying
no to fratricidal hatred, and to the lies that it uses; saying no to violence in all
its forms; saying no to the proliferation of arms and their sale on the black market.
There are so many of them! There are so many of them! And the doubt always remains:
this war over there, this other war over there – because there are wars everywhere
– is it really a war over problems, or is it a commercial war, to sell these arms
on the black market? These are the enemies we must fight, united and coherent, following
no other interests but those of peace and of the common good. Dear brothers,
today we also remember the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, a celebration particularly
beloved by the Oriental Churches. And all of us, now, can send our warm greetings
to all the brothers, sisters, bishops, monks, nuns of the Oriental Churches, Orthodox
and Catholic: our warm greetings! Jesus is the sun, Mary is the first light that announces
its dawning. Yesterday evening we kept vigil, calling on Her intercession in our prayer
for peace in the world, especially in Syria and in the whole of the Middle East. We
invoke Her now as Queen of Peace. Queen of Peace, pray for us! Queen of Peace, pray
for us!
Below is a translation of Pope Francis’ appeal after the
‘Angelus’ prayer: I would like to thank everyone who, in various ways,
joined in the Vigil of Prayer and Fasting yesterday evening. I thank the many people
who united the offering of their sufferings. I express my gratitude to the civil authorities,
as well as to the members of other Christian communities and of other religions, and
to men and women of good will who have undertaken, on this occasion, periods of prayer,
fasting and reflection. But the task remains: we move forward with prayer
and works of peace. I invite you to continue to pray so that the violence and devastation
in Syria may cease immediately and that a renewed effort be undertaken to achieve
a just solution to this fratricidal conflict. Let us pray also for other countries
in the Middle East, in particular for Lebanon, that it may find its hoped-for stability
and continue to be a model of peaceful co-existence; for Iraq, that sectarian violence
may give way to reconciliation; and that the peace process between the Israelis and
Palestinians may proceed with determination and courage. Finally, let us pray for
Egypt, that all Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, may commit themselves to build
up together a society dedicated to the good of the whole population. The
search for peace is long and demands patience and perseverance! Let us keep praying
for this!