Pope demands respect for UN peacekeeping forces during Angelus

From St. Peter's concern for the Middle East: ‘Immediate ceasefire on all fronts,’ the Pontiff said. ‘Diplomacy and dialogue to achieve peace’. On the European front: ‘Stop killing innocents’. Gang massacre in Haiti recalled: work for ‘dignity and rights of all’.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - While relations between Israel and the international community are becoming increasingly complicated - with Netanyahu declaring to Guterres that 'the time has come to withdraw Unifil (UN Lebanon Interim Force, ed.) from Hezbollah's strongholds and combat areas’ - this morning from the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis did not mince his words: ‘The UN peacekeeping forces must be respected’.

In recent days, attacks by the IDF have wounded four blue helmets of Sinhalese and Indonesian nationality: the Unifil post of Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, was targeted.

‘I continue to follow with concern what is happening in the Middle East,’ the Pontiff said today , after the recitation of the Angelus, ’and I call once again for an immediate ceasefire on all fronts. Let the paths of diplomacy and dialogue be pursued to achieve peace’.

The Holy Father also reiterated his closeness to ‘all the populations involved: Palestine, Israel, Lebanon’, the first victims of the violence. ‘I pray for all the victims, for the displaced, for the hostages whom I hope will be released immediately,’ he continued. He then dwelt on the senselessness of the war, the persistence of which will only cause more pain, moving ever further away from achieving peace.

‘I hope that this great and useless suffering generated by hatred and revenge will soon come to an end,’ were Bergoglio's words. ‘Brothers and sisters, war is an illusion, it is a defeat. It will never bring peace. It will never bring security. It is a defeat for everyone. Especially for those who believe themselves invincible. Stop, please,’ is the Pope's decisive appeal.

‘To Our Lady's intercession we entrust the tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, the other populations that suffer from war and all forms of violence and misery,’ he said at the end of the speech that followed the recitation of the Marian prayer. And speaking of the European front, the appeal shared with the numerous faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square under a clear sky was ‘that the Ukrainians not be left to freeze to death. Let the air attacks against the civilian population, which is always the most affected, cease'. He added: ‘Stop killing innocents’.

A thought was also dedicated to Haiti, where a terrible massacre, 115 victims, at the hands of armed gangs, took place in Pont-Sondé on the night between 3 and 4 October.

‘Violence continues against the population, forced to flee their homes in search of safety elsewhere, inside and outside the country,’ said the Bishop of Rome. The invitation is not to forget ‘our sister brothers’ in the Caribbean country. ‘I ask everyone to pray that all forms of violence cease and with the commitment of the international community we continue to work to build peace and reconciliation in the country, always defending the dignity and rights of all,’ Pope Francis added.

Before the Angelus, commenting on the Word of the Day (Mk 10:17-30), the Pontiff dwelt on the two movements that characterise in the passage the rich man who asks Jesus: ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ (v. 17). That of running towards him and that of walking away. On the first one, Bergoglio said that ‘it was as if something in his heart urged him on’.

For although he possessed much wealth, the man was dissatisfied.  ‘He carries within him a restlessness, he is searching for a fuller life’. He needs ‘healing’. ‘Jesus looks at him with love; then, he proposes a therapy: sell everything he has, give it to the poor and follow him,’ Francis explained.

At that point, there comes an ‘unexpected’ action: ‘that man becomes sad in the face and goes away! So great and impetuous was the desire to meet Jesus, how cold and swift the dismissal from Him’.

‘We, too, carry in our hearts an irrepressible need for happiness and a life full of meaning; however, we can fall into the illusion of thinking that the answer is to be found in the possession of material things and earthly securities,’ he added. The wealth that really counts is in truth another: ‘to be looked upon with love by the Lord’.

‘This is a great wealth, as Jesus does with that man, looking at him with love, and loving one another by making of our lives a gift for others’. So what does it mean to ‘sell to give to the poor’? Risking love. ‘It means stripping ourselves of ourselves and our false securities, making ourselves attentive to those in need and sharing our goods, not just things but what we are: our talents, our friendship, our time, and so on,’ Bergoglio said.