The destiny of humankind is peace, not
war said Pope Francis during his customary act of veneration to
the statue of Our Lady in Rome's Piazza di Spagna on the
Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Friday.
"We need you, Mother" because "your person, the very fact that
you exist reminds us that evil has neither the first nor the
last word; that our destiny is not death but life, not hatred
but fraternity, not conflict but harmony, not war but peace,"
said the pope, wo had been greeted in the iconic square by
Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis an Rome Mayor Roberto
Gualtieri.
Francis then called on Our Lady for "mercy on all peoples
oppressed by injustice and poverty, tried by war".
"Look at the tormented Ukrainian people, the Palestinian people
and the Israeli people, plunged back into the spiral of
violence," continued Francis.
"Show us again, O Mother, the way of conversion, because there
is no peace without forgiveness and there is no forgiveness
without repentance. The world changes if hearts change; and each
one must say: starting from mine".
The pope also prayed for women victims of violence and for
mothers who are grieving.
"Today, Mary, we need to entrust to you as a woman all the women
who have suffered violence and those who are still victims, in
this city, in Italy and in every part of the world," said
Francis.
"Help us to make a journey of education and purification,
recognising and opposing the violence that lurks in our hearts
and minds, and asking God to free us from it," he continued.
"Today, Holy Mother, we bring here, under your gaze, the many
mothers who, like you, are grieving. The mothers who mourn their
children killed by war and terrorism. The mothers who see them
leave on journeys of desperate hope. And also those who try to
untie them from the bonds of addiction, and those who watch over
them in a long and hard illness," said the pope.
Earlier Francis paid a visit to the Papal Basilica of St Mary
Major, where he prayed before the Byzantine icon 'Salus Populi
Romani' representing the Madonna and Child.
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