Pope wishes ‘peace, serenity and health’ for Lunar New Year

At the general audience in the Paul VI Hall the appeal for the region of North Kivu, the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo occupied by the M23 rebels supported by Rwanda: ‘Let the violence to people and their property cease’. In the catechesis the example of St Joseph: ‘Let us ask with him the grace to dream God's dreams and responsibly welcome Christ’.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ‘In East Asia and in various parts of the world millions of families are celebrating the Lunar New Year today, an occasion to experience family and friendship relationships with greater intensity. With my best wishes for the New Year, may my blessing come to you all, as I invoke for each one from the Lord peace, serenity and health’. With these words - pronounced immediately after the synthesis in Chinese of his catechesis - Pope Francis this morning, during the general audience held in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, wished the many peoples of Asia who today celebrate the Lunar New Year.

The meeting with the pilgrims was also the occasion for an appeal by the Pontiff on the serious events taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the African country where the M23 militias - supported by the Rwandan army - have occupied the city of Goma and the North-Kivu province, rich in mineral resources, in recent hours. It was precisely from this martyred land - which has counted millions of deaths since 1996 - that two years ago during his apostolic journey the pontiff had denounced the intertwining between this violence and the economic and political interests that feed it, calling on powerful nations and large global corporations to ‘keep their hands off Africa’.

‘I urge all parties to the conflict,’ he said today, ’to commit themselves to the cessation of hostilities and to safeguarding the civilian population of Goma and other areas affected by military operations. I also follow with apprehension what is happening in the capital, Kinshasa, hoping that all forms of violence against people and their property will cease as soon as possible. While I pray for the prompt re-establishment of peace and security, I invite the local authorities and the international community to make every effort to resolve the conflict situation by peaceful means'.

Today Pope Francis again urged people to pray for peace in Palestine, Israel, Myanmar ‘and so many countries that are at war’. Greeting the Polish pilgrims, he then also recalled their compatriots who died in the Nazi concentration camps: ‘Be custodians of the truth and of the memory of this tragedy and its victims, among whom were many Christian martyrs. It is a warning for the constant commitment to peace and to the defence of the dignity of human life in every nation and in every religion’.

Earlier in his catechesis, Pope Francis had continued the Jubilee cycle of reflections on Jesus Christ our hope, dwelling on the Gospel passage of the proclamation to Joseph (Mt 1:21) with a text he read only in part. The Pontiff emphasised the thoughtful action of this man whom the evangelist Matthew defines as ‘righteous’: ‘He does not let himself be overcome by instinctive feelings and by fear of taking Mary with him, but prefers to be guided by divine wisdom. In this he is similar to the other Joseph of the Bible, the son of Jacob, nicknamed ‘lord of dreams’.

‘What does Joseph of Nazareth dream? - the pope asked himself -. He dreams of the miracle that God performs in Mary's life, and also the miracle that he performs in his own life: to assume a fatherhood capable of guarding, protecting and transmitting a material and spiritual inheritance'. Joseph,' the Pontiff commented, ’asks for no further proof, he trusts God, he accepts God's dream about his life and that of his betrothed. Thus he enters into the grace of those who know how to live the divine promise with faith, hope and love'.

‘Let us also ask the Lord,’ he concluded, “for the grace to listen more than we speak, the grace to dream God's dreams and to accept with responsibility the Christ who, from the moment of our baptism, lives and grows in our lives”.