Pope calls for humanitarian corridors in Mariupol, warning is peace really being sought?
At the Regina Caeli Francis invites people to pray the rosary for peace every day. "Terrible news arrives of children expelled and deported". Marking May 1, he denounces deaths at the workplace and pays homage to journalists who pay in person to serve the right to freedom of information.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - On the first day of the month of May Pope Francis' thoughts go once again to Mariupol, the city of Mary "barbarously destroyed" by the war in Ukraine.
"I invite everyone to pray the Rosary every day for peace," he said at the end of the Marian prayer of Regina Caeli recited before thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter's Square.
The call to prayer was accompanied by a new heartfelt appeal by Francis: "I renew my request that safe humanitarian corridors be set up for the people trapped in the steelworks in that city. I suffer and weep, thinking of the suffering of the Ukrainian population and in particular of the weakest, the elderly and children. There are even terrible reports of children being expelled and deported. And while we are witnessing a macabre regression of humanity, I wonder, together with so many anguished people, if we are really seeking peace; if there is the will to avoid a continuous military and verbal escalation; if we are doing everything possible to silence the weapons"
"Please - he added - do not give in to the path of violence, to the perverse spiral of weapons. Let us take the path of dialogue".
This latest appeal for peace in Ukraine followed the Pope's marking May 1, or Workers' Day, with an invitation to "renew the commitment so that work may be dignified everywhere and for everyone. And that from the world of work comes the will to make an economy of peace grow". He referred in particular to the tragedy of deaths at work, "a widespread tragedy, perhaps too widespread".
He also referred to the World Press Freedom Day on 3 May: "I pay homage to the journalists who pay in person to serve this right," he said. In the past year, 47 have been killed and more than 350 imprisoned. I address a special thanks to those who inform us about the wounds of humanity".
Before the Angelus, Pope Francis had commented on the passage from John's Gospel proposed by today's liturgy, with the third apparition of the Risen Jesus to the apostles on the Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:1-19). Peter with the apostles, disheartened after the death of Jesus, had returned to fish. It can also happen to us," said the Pope, "out of tiredness, disappointment, perhaps out of laziness, to forget the Lord and to neglect the great choices we have made, in order to be content with something else. For example, we don't take the time to talk to each other in the family, preferring personal pastimes; we forget about prayer, letting ourselves be taken by our own needs; we neglect charity, with the excuse of daily urgencies. But, in doing so," he added, "we find ourselves disappointed, with empty nets".
Jesus does not reproach them, but calls the disciples with tenderness: he invites them "to cast their nets again, with courage. And once again the nets are filled to overflowing". And like Peter who, after recognising Jesus, dives into the water to reach him - commented Francis - we too need a "shake-up".
"We are invited to a new impetus, (...) to dive into the good without fear of losing something, without calculating too much, without waiting for others to start. Because in order to go towards Jesus, we need to unburden ourselves. Let us ask ourselves: am I capable of some burst of generosity, or do I restrain the impulse of my heart and close myself off in habit, in fear?".At the end of the story he asks Peter three times: do you love me?
Pope Francis concluded: "The Risen Lord asks us today too: do you love me? Because at Easter Jesus wants our hearts to rise too; because faith is not a question of knowing, but of love. Do you love me?" asks Jesus to you, who have empty nets and are afraid to begin again; to you, who do not have the courage to dive in and have lost momentum".
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