"Peace in Syria and Nicaragua, pray for my pilgrimage to Bari"

A Double Call for Peace for Nicaragua and Syria exhausted by years of conflict. An Encouragement to Dialogue found between the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea after twenty years of war and a thought to the twelve boys trapped in a cave in Thailand . Finally, a request to spiritually accompany the historian meeting July 7 in Bari with the leaders and patriarchs of the Eastern Churches to pray for the dramatic situation in the Middle East. Pope Francis examines all the situations of suffering and instability in today's world and, in 1945, Angelus asks the 20,000 faithful present to support him in this invocation of world peace. .

First of all, the Pope renews his prayer "for the beloved people of Nicaragua", reaffirming the desire to " join the efforts of the country's bishops and many people of good will in their role mediation and testimony of the process of national dialogue underway on the path of democracy. "

Then focuses on Syria where the situation" remains serious ", especially in the Daraa province "where the military actions of those days hit schools and hospitals and provoked thousands of new refugees." The Pope's appeal is that "people who have already been hardened for years will be spared by other suffering. "

Amidst so much conflict, a" glimmer of hope "illuminates: the announcement of A future summit between Ethiopia and Eritrea aimed at to end definitively in a conflict (probably the longest in Africa) more than twenty years. These days, the two governments "have come back to talk about peace," is "an initiative that can be defined as historic and we can also say that it is good news," Francesco says. It is above all a "light of hope for these two countries of the Horn of Africa and for the whole African continent".

The Pope does not fail to turn a thought to the twelve boys of a football team who, with their coach, disappeared into a network of underground caves six miles long in Tham Luang, Thailand, last June 23rd. A race against time that of the rescuers has already arrived on the seventh day of the search. Bergoglio asks for prayers for them.

He also asks him for his next trip to Bari on July 7, where "with many church leaders and Christian communities in the Middle East, we will live a day of prayer and reflection on the situation dramatic. from this region, where so many of our brothers and sisters in the faith continue to suffer, and we will implore one voice: "Peace be upon you!" . I ask everyone – says the Pontiff – to accompany with prayer this pilgrimage of peace and unity. "

In his catechesis in front of the Angelus, Francis returned, on the contrary, to reaffirm the mercy of God pointing out that "on the Lord's way are all admitted: no one should feel intruder, abusive or untitled."

The replica of the bishop of Rome is the Today's Gospel which presents two wonders worked by Jesus, described – he observes – "almost as a sort of triumphal march to life." The first is the story of Jairus, the One of the synagogue leaders who begs Jesus to go home because his 12-year-old daughter is dead. "We can imagine Dad's reaction," comments Bergoglio. "Jesus comforts the man: "Do not be afraid, only have faith!" Then, entering the girls' room with her parents and three disciples, she says: "Girl, I say to you: get up!" And "immediately the girl gets up, as if she woke up from a deep sleep".

In the story of this miracle, Mark then inserts the healing of a woman who has bled and who has been healed as soon as she touches the mantle of Jesus. "Here – the Pope emphasizes – it is striking that this woman's faith attracts … for me, he comes to say" steals "… the divine power of salvation that is in Christ, who, feeling that a force "came out of him", trying to figure out who he was, and when the woman with so much shame goes ahead and confesses everything, he tells her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you".

In these "two intertwined stories," there is "one center": faith, says Francis, "they show Jesus as the source of life, as one who gives life to those who fully trust. The two protagonists, that is, the father of the daughter and the sick woman, are not disciples of Jesus and yet they are filled for their faith. "

From this we understand that "to have access to one's heart, there is only one requirement: to feel the need to heal and confide in him ", emphasizes the pontiff, and he adds: "I asks you: do each of you feel the need to heal? Of this thing, this sin, this problem?

"Jesus – says the Pope resuming his catechesis – will discover these people in the crowd and remove them from anonymity, freeing them from the fear of living and daring. He does it with a look and with a word that puts them on the road after so much suffering and humiliation. We too, then, "are called to learn and imitate those liberating words and those looks that make those who are without the desire to live".

Jesus "came to offer to all" the "new life", said the Pope, he "is the Lord" and for him "physical death is like a sleep: there is no reason for despair. "Rather is" another death to be feared: that of the heart hardened by evil! "When we feel that our heart is hardened, the heart hardens and I allow myself the word : the mummified heart We must be afraid of this, "says Pope Francis." But also sin, the mummified heart … for Jesus, is never the last word, because He brought us the infinite mercy of the Father. And even though we have fallen, his sweet and strong voice comes to us: "I say to you: get up!" . It's nice to hear this word of Jesus addressed to each of us: I tell you, get up, go, courage, get up.

After the Marian Prayer, Francis welcomed the pilgrims from Portugal and the priests of the Sacerdos Institute of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, the Franciscan Sisters of Penance and Christian Charity of Poland, as well as the Family. Spiritual of the Very Precious Blood of Christ. , "To which the month of July is specially dedicated", already received yesterday morning in the hall Paul VI.

Finally he takes leave with the now familiar formula: "I wish everyone a good Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Good lunch and goodbye! "

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