Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “I wish to make a pressing appeal that peace and security may be speedily restored in southern Kyrgyzstan, after the serious clashes in recent days" said the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his address on Sunday 20 June, after leading the recitation of the Angelus with visitors gathered in St Peter's Square. “To the families of the victims and to all who suffer because of this tragedy– the Pontiff continued - I express sincere closeness assuring them of my prayers. I call on the different ethnic communities in Kyrgyzstan to avoid any action of provocation or violence and I ask the international community to see that humanitarian aid reaches the affected people quickly”.
The Pontiff then mentioned the annual World Day for Refugees with these words: “Today the United Nations Organisation marks World Day for Refugees to call attention to the difficulties of people who have been forced to flee their own land and their own customs, and find themselves in places which are often profoundly different. Refugees want to be welcomed and respected in their dignity and fundamental rights; at the same time, they want to make their own contribution to the society in which they are accepted. Let us pray, that in a spirit of just reciprocity, these expectations may be adequately met and refugees in turn may show respect for the identity of the receiving communities”.
Before the recitation of the Angelus, Benedict XVI mentioned that earlier in St Peter's Basilica he had conferred Priestly Ordination on 14 deacons, now priests for the Pope's own diocese of Rome. Quoting the Sunday Gospel in which the Lord asks his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (Lk 9,20), the Pope said “Jesus calls us too every day to follow Him and reminds us that to be his disciples we must embrace the power of his Cross, the summit of our goods and the crown of our hope … To take up the cross means to strive to defeat sin which is an obstacle on our path to God, to daily accept the Lord's will, to be strong in faith especially when faced with trials, difficulties, suffering”. Recalling that the Carmelite Saint Edith Stein bore witness to this reality in times of persecution, the Pope said “even in the present day there are many Christians in the world who, filled with love of God, take up the cross every day, the cross of daily trials and the cross caused by human barbarity, which at times demands the courage of the extreme sacrifice”. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 21/06/2010)
