Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
by Samuele Massimi and Fabio Beretta
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Making peace "requires courage". And it also takes courage to "say yes to encounter and no to confrontation; yes to respect for pacts and no to provocation; yes to sincerity and no to ambiguity". Pope Francis unites in his voice that of the whole Church and, at the feet of the Crucifix of Saint Damian, placed for the occasion at the centre of the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica, invokes the gift of peace together with the Synod members who are holding the XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from tomorrow until October 27.
The celebration was preceded by two days of reflection, while the world, especially the Middle East, continues to be shaken by violence and conflict in these hours.
This third world war in pieces, which the Pope has repeatedly denounced, calling to silence the guns once and for all in all parts of the world, is now growing louder in Lebanon, which has been devastated in recent hours by an endless rain of bombs and rockets that are destroying not only "buildings and streets" but also "the most intimate bonds that connect us to our memories, our roots and our relationships," as Sister Deema reports.
The nun belongs to the "Monastic Community of al-Khalil" (Friend of God), which was founded in 1991 in the Syro-Catholic Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian by Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio. Among the ancient marbles of the Vatican Basilica, Sister Deema reports, sometimes with a broken voice, how the war in Syria has led to an increasing dehumanization of others, even to the point of justifying their killing: "A Christian friend of mine once told me: You know, I am not afraid of death in itself, but I am afraid of being killed by a Muslim friend of mine." Sentences that evoke similar images to those of the last few weeks that have reached us from Lebanon and beyond.
"Faced with evil and the suffering of innocents, we ask: Where are you, Lord?", said Pope Francis in his short homily during the penitential rite in St. Peter's Basilica. "But the question must also be addressed to us, and we must ask ourselves about our responsibility if we do not succeed in stopping evil with good."
"We cannot expect to resolve conflicts by fueling violence that is becoming more and more brutal," the Pope concluded. "That we will advance by causing pain. That we will save ourselves through the death of others. How can we aspire to happiness that is paid for with the unhappiness of our brothers and sisters? And this applies to everyone, lay people, religious, priests, everyone". (Agenzia Fides, 1/10/2024)
