Pope: 'one minute' for peace in the Holy Land, next Saturday
At the general audience Francis proposes the initiative for the fifth anniversary of the meeting, at the Vatican meeting of the Presidents of Israel and Palestine, the Pope and Patriarch Bartholomew. The trip to Romania underlined "the value and the need to walk together both among Christians, on the level of faith and charity and between citizens, on the level of civil commitment".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis is calling for "a minute for peace" next Saturday, the fifth anniversary of the Vatican meeting of the Presidents of Israel and Palestine, the Pope and Patriarch Bartholomew . "At 1 pm - the Pope said at the end of today's general audience - we are invited to dedicate "one minute for peace "- of prayer, for believers; of reflection, for those who do not believe -: all together for a more fraternal world. Thanks to International Catholic Action which is promoting this initiative ".
Previously, in the catechesis for today's audience, Francis had underlined the clearly ecumenical character of the journey made last weekend to Romania, where "the union among all Christians, although incomplete, is based on the one and only Baptism, it is sealed by the blood and suffering suffered together in the dark times of persecution, particularly in the last century under the atheistic regime ".
Speaking to the 30,000 people present in St Peter's Square, he again said that "it was summarized in the motto of the trip, I urged us to "walk together ". And it is my joy to be able to do it not from afar, or from above, but myself walking among the Romanian people, as a pilgrim in their land. The various meetings highlighted the value and the need to walk together both among Christians, on the level of faith and charity, and between citizens, on the level of civil commitment ”.
"As Christians, we have the grace to live a season of fraternal relations between the different Churches. In Romania most of the faithful belong to the Orthodox Church, currently led by Patriarch Daniel, to whom my fraternal and grateful thoughts go. The Catholic community, both "Greek" and "Latin", is alive and active".
"We had a very cordial meeting with the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in which I reiterated the Catholic Church's desire to walk together in reconciled memory and towards fuller unity, which the Romanian people invoked prophetically during the visit of St. John Paul II. This important ecumenical dimension of the journey culminated in the solemn prayer of the Our Father, inside the new, imposing Orthodox cathedral of Bucharest. This was a moment of strong symbolic value, because the Our Father is the Christian prayer par excellence, the common heritage of all the baptized. No one can say my Father or your Father, no, it is a common heritage. We have shown that unity does not take away legitimate diversity. May the Holy Spirit lead us to live ever more as children of God and brothers among us ".
"As a Catholic Community we celebrated three Eucharistic liturgies. The first in the Cathedral of Bucharest, May 31, the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, an icon of the Church on a journey of faith and charity. The second in the sanctuary of Uleumuleu Ciuc, the destination of many pilgrims. There, the Holy Mother of God gathers the faithful people in the variety of languages, cultures and traditions. And the third celebration was the Divine Liturgy in Blaj, center of the Greek-Catholic Church in Romania, with the beatification of seven Greek-Catholic martyr bishops, witnesses of the freedom and mercy that come from the Gospel. One of these new blesseds, Msgr. Iuliu Hossu, during his imprisonment wrote: "God sent us into this darkness of suffering to forgive and pray for the conversion of all". Thinking of the terrible tortures to which they were subjected, these words are a testimony of mercy ”.
"The meeting with young people and families was particularly intense and festive, held in Iaşi, an ancient city and an important cultural center, a crossroads between the West and the East. A place that invites you to open roads on which to walk together, in the richness of diversity, in a freedom that does not cut the roots but draws you in a creative way. This meeting also had a Marian character and ended with the entrusting of young people and families to the Holy Mother of God ".
“Last stop on the journey was a visit to the Roma community of Blaj. In that city the Roma are very numerous, and I wanted to greet them and renew my appeal against all discrimination and for the respect of people of all ethnicities, languages and religions".
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29/05/2019 16:48
31/05/2019 19:32
