“Stop, stop… violence will never bring peace!”. And the ceasefire is “urgent” because “with war no one will be victorious”. The Pope’s words to the participants in the plenary of the Roaco (Oriental Churches Aid Works Meeting), gathered in Rome for the 97th annual assembly with a focus on places torn apart by violence.
Places whose names Francis, as in every Angelus or general audience, pronounces one by one: Ukraine with the drama of prisoners of war and children to be repatriated, Syria, Lebanon, the Karabakh region and the Caucasus, Tigray and, naturally, the Holy Land, which, he says off the cuff, “is becoming depopulated of Christians”.
Yes, just as the flesh of the Lord was pierced by the nails and the spear, so many Eastern communities are wounded and bleeding due to the conflicts and violence they suffer
Don’t remain indifferent
Precisely in these territories, where “a good part of Eastern Catholics” live, where unique spiritual and wisdom traditions are preserved which “enrich the Catholic communion with the greatness of their history and their peculiarities”, “the barbarity of war” rages “in brutal way”, underlines Francis, defining these Eastern Churches as “martyrdom Churches”. Faced with this scenario, he urges, “we cannot remain indifferent”.
The Holy Land which is becoming depopulated of Christians
The Pope’s gaze falls in particular on the dramatic situation in the Holy Land: “There, where it all began…” the faithful of the whole world today are called “to encourage Christians, there and throughout the Middle East, to be stronger than the temptation to abandon their lands, torn apart by conflict”.
I think of a bad situation, that that land is being depopulated of Christians…
Meet and talk
“How much pain war causes, even more strident and absurd in the places where the Gospel of peace was promulgated!”, laments Jorge Mario Bergoglio. “Stop! Stop, because violence will never bring peace,” he repeats to those who hold roles of responsibility and carry out conflicts. “It is urgent to cease fire, meet and dialogue to allow different peoples to coexist, the only possible way to a stable future”.
With war, however, a senseless and inconclusive adventure, no one will be victorious: everyone will be defeated, because war, right from the beginning, is already a defeat. Always
Victims, the needy, young people, ordinary people, entire populations: we must listen to them, urges the Pope, because “they are tired of the bellicose rhetoric, of the sterile refrains that always blame others, dividing the world into good and bad, of leaders who they struggle to get around a table to find mediation and encourage solutions.”
The dramas in Ukraine and Karabakh
Our thoughts turn to “tortured Ukraine”, for which the Bishop of Rome says he constantly prays so that “glimpses of peace may open up for that dear population, prisoners of war may be freed and children repatriated”. “Promoting peace and freeing those imprisoned are distinctive signs of the Christian faith, which cannot be reduced to an instrument of power,” Francis comments. And again, he reminds the world of the humanitarian situation of the displaced in Karabakh: “Thank you for everything that has been done and will be done to help those who suffer”, he says, thanking Gevork Saroyan, of the Armenian Apostolic Church, for his presence in the plenary , asking him to convey his “brotherly greetings” to His Holiness Karekin II and the “dear people” of Armenia.
Pastoral care for Eastern Christians living in diaspora
In Pope Francis’ speech at Roaco, there is no lack of a nod to the Eastern Christians who live in diaspora: today more numerous than ever, because they are fleeing conflicts or looking for work and a better life. He therefore urges pastoral care of Easterners outside their territory, because often this same care “is scarce” due to the lack of priests, structures and adequate knowledge. “And so – observes the Pope -, those who have already had to leave their homeland risk finding themselves impoverished even of their religious identity; and with the passing of generations the oriental spiritual heritage is lost, an unmissable wealth for the Catholic Church”. In this sense, Francis thanks the Latin dioceses that welcome Eastern faithful and respect their traditions.
Source: vaticannews.it
