‘War solves nothing’ says Pope at audience

Pope Francis again expresses sorrow over conflicts: ‘So many dead children, so many dead innocents’. Thoughts for Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Myanmar. The catechesis on the Holy Spirit and the Church - for the first time translated into Chinese - dedicated to preaching: ‘Beyond 8 minutes no-one understands anything. Preach Jesus, not yourself’.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ‘So many dead children, so many innocent people dead. Let us pray for the Lord to bring us peace’. It is still to the suffering of countries at war that Pope Francis dedicates words full of sorrow, to remember how vulnerable people are in the world the first victims of violence.

‘Let us not forget the tormented Ukraine, let us not forget Palestine, Israel, Myanmar,’ he said this morning at the Wednesday general audience during the final greetings dedicated to the Italian-speaking faithful, in front of a St Peter's Square packed with pilgrims.

‘Please, let us continue to pray for peace’, is the pontiff's invitation. To not stop shedding light on the need for harmony and the future of so many peoples and people. ‘War does not solve problems, war is bad, war destroys,’ he added, condemning confrontation as a dispute resolution practice.

‘We pray for countries at war.’ In a global scenario where in addition to the places known for months for the suffering inflicted and endured, new fronts seem to be igniting. As denoted by the tragic condition of Syria, never dormant but which has been rekindled in recent days with the advance of rebel militias and the instability of South Korea, where martial law was announced and then lifted in the last few hours, while calls for impeachment are being made.

Opening today's general audience, Pope Francis continued the cycle of catechesis dedicated to the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church. Today's meditation had as its theme the proclamation of the Gospel ‘in the Holy Spirit’, and evangelisation.

After reading the passage of scripture from St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 2:1, 4-5) - read in Chinese for the first time since last week's announcement - Pope Francis dedicated the reflection to Christian preaching, starting from its two ‘constituent elements’: Gospel and Spirit. Starting from the words of Peter who describes the apostles as ‘those who proclaimed the Gospel through the Holy Spirit’.

The Gospel takes on two main meanings in History. Firstly, it refers to the canonical texts of the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, meaning ‘the good news proclaimed by Jesus during his life’.

In fact, after Easter, it becomes ‘the paschal mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection’. ‘The preaching of Jesus, and later that of the Apostles, also contains all the moral duties that flow from the Gospel,’ Bergoglio said.

This is why the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013) uses the word ‘kerygma’, or proclamation. ‘It is necessary to start again and again from the proclamation of what Christ has done for us’. His proclamation is the ‘first’: ‘That which one must always return to hear in different ways and which one must always return to proclaim during catechesis,’ Francis added.

The Gospel is therefore the ‘content’ of Christian preaching. Instead, the Holy Spirit is the ‘medium’. ‘Preaching with the anointing of the Holy Spirit means transmitting, together with ideas and doctrine, the life and conviction of our faith,’ he said. An action that is very difficult to achieve, but possible through prayer and ‘not wanting to preach ourselves, but to preach Jesus the Lord’.

Returning to the theme of non ego-centric preaching, the pontiff said that if it exceeds eight minutes, ‘it vanishes, one does not understand’. The listening faithful spontaneously applauded at these words, which were pronounced at arm's length.

And turning to the preachers he said: ‘They must preach an idea, an affection and an invitation to do’. And not putting oneself at the centre ‘also implies not always giving priority to pastoral initiatives promoted by us and linked to one's own name, but willingly collaborating, if requested, in community initiatives, or entrusted to us by obedience’.