Pope Francis: “Let us pray for Gaza, pray for peace”
“Let us not forget war-torn Ukraine, let us not forget Palestine, Israel, Myanmar”, was Pope Francis’ plea at the end of the weekly General Audience. “Let us pray for peace,” he said in his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims: “War is always defeat.” “Yesterday – as I do every day – I called the parish in Gaza,” he continued, “they were happy, there are 600 people there, in the parish and in the college. They told me: today we had a meal of lentils and chicken, something that they were no longer accustomed to in these times.” “Let us pray for Gaza, for peace and in so many other parts of the world.” Francis concluded his appeal: “War is a defeat. And who benefits from war? The arms manufacturers.” “My heart is with the people of Los Angeles who are suffering so much as a result of the fires that have devastated entire neighbourhoods and communities, and which are not over yet” he said, offering his prayers: “May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for all its inhabitants, so that they may be witnesses of hope through the power of diversity and creativity for which they are known throughout the world.” In Paul VI Hall, the Pope resumed his new cycle of catechesis, which will continue throughout the Jubilee Year, on “Jesus Christ, our hope”.
“The presence of the Lord always gives us this grace of not fearing”,
the Pope said, commenting on the Annunciation narrated at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel. “He says to Mary, and He says to us too: ‘Do not be afraid, keep going; do not be afraid!’, he continued: “’Father, I am afraid of this’; ‘And what do you…?’. ‘I will tell you the truth: I go to the fortune teller, I have my palm read…’ Please, do not be afraid! This is good. ‘I am your travelling companion’: and He says this to Mary.” “In the place of the classic greeting, ‘Peace be with you’, Gabriel addresses the Virgin with the invitation ‘Hail!’, ‘rejoice!’, an appeal dear to sacred history, because the prophets use it when they announce the coming of the Messiah”, Francis remarked: “It is the invitation to the joy that the Lord addresses to His people when the exile ends and the Lord makes His living and active presence felt.” In addition, God calls Mary with a loving name unknown in biblical history: kecharitoméne, which means “filled with divine grace”.
“Mary is full of divine grace”,
Francis said. “This name says that God’s love has already for some time inhabited, and continues to dwell in Mary’s heart – he remarked -. He says how ‘gracious’ she is, and above all how God’s grace has accomplished in her an inner engraving, making her His masterpiece: full of grace. This loving moniker, which God gives only to Mary, is immediately accompanied by reassurance: “Do not be afraid!”. Greeting various-language pilgrim groups, the Pope recalled the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “This Unity – he said- is not the fruit of our own efforts, but a gift we must ask the Father for, so that the world may believe in his only Son, Christ the Savior.” Addressing the Polish faithful who marked the Feast of Grandmothers and Grandfathers these past days, the Pope sent out a special greeting: “In your prayers, remember also the elderly of Ukraine who are suffering the tragedy of war.”
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