Pope Francis meeting his diplomatic representatives in the Vatican, Sept. 9, 2022. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Sep 8, 2022 / 11:00 am (CNA).
The role of the Church in a world shaken by war and other global issues was the subject Pope Francis raised with his diplomatic representatives around the globe on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, Europe and the entire world are shaken by a particularly serious war, due to the violation of international law, the risks of nuclear escalation, and the grave economic and social consequences,” the pope told almost 100 apostolic nuncios and permanent observers of the Holy See.
The diplomats are gathered in Rome for their triennial meeting from Sept. 7–10.
In his official address, Francis thanked the diplomats for bringing the pope’s closeness “to peoples and Churches,” saying his representatives had been “points of reference in moments of greatest disorientation and turbulence.”
The pope recalled that “the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic” had forced everyone “to make various restrictions in our daily lives and in our pastoral activity.”
“Now the worst seems to be over, and thank God we can meet again,” Francis added.
Pope Francis meeting his diplomatic representatives in the Vatican, Sept. 8, 2022. Vatican Media
The pope said that the nuncios had also participated actively in the consultation stages of the Synod on Synodality.
But, unfortunately, he said, not only Europe but also the entire world is shaken by a “war of particular gravity.”
“It is a ‘piecemeal’ third world war, to which you bear witness in the places where you carry out your mission,” the pope told his representatives.
Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken of World War III during his pontificate.
Pope Francis meeting his diplomatic representatives in the Vatican, Sept. 8, 2022. Vatican Media
In April, he wrote in an introduction to an Italian book that the world was moving toward World War III as if it were unavoidable, but that the war was not inevitable.
“When we allow ourselves to be devoured by this monster represented by war, when we allow this monster to raise its head and guide our actions, everyone loses, we destroy God’s creatures, we commit sacrilege and prepare a future of death for our children and grandchildren,” he wrote.
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Pope Francis addresses pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, Sunday, July 28, 2024. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday noted three gestures from the Bible account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes which he argued are mirrored by Jesus at the Last Supper and by the faithful in each Mass.
The pope pointed out “offering, giving thanks, and sharing” as highlights of the miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, offering his reflection on the Sunday Gospel before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered under the scorching sun in St. Peter’s Square.
The temperature for the noonday prayer was already at 95 degrees as many in the crowds sheltered from the heat under colorful umbrellas.
The faithful gather in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus on Sunday, July 28, 2024. Vatican Media
“The Gospel tells us about a boy who has five loaves and two fish,” the pope noted, saying that the boy’s gesture of offering, as well as our own, is an acknowledgment that “we have something good to give, and we say our ‘yes,’ even if what we have is too little compared to what is needed.”
The pope left his text to insist that Catholics are invited to offer what we have and are, even if the offering seems too insignificant and poor.
This offering is lived out in each Mass, as the priest offers the bread and wine, “and each person offers himself, his own life,” he said. This offering becomes the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
“It is a gesture that may seem small, when we think of the immense needs of humanity,” the pope acknowledged, “…but God makes it the material for the greatest miracle there is: that in which He Himself — Himself! — makes Himself present among us, for the salvation of the world.”
Pilgrims display a sign for Pope Francis at the Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, July 28, 2024. Vatican Media
“We can ask ourselves,” the pope suggested: “Do I truly believe that, by the grace of God, I have something unique to give to my brothers and sisters?”
Our offering is intimately linked to the next gesture, that of gratitude, the pope argued.
The pope suggested words we can pray to the Father: “All that I have is your gift, Lord, and to give thanks I can only give you back what you first gave me, together with your Son Jesus Christ, adding to it what I can.”
“Each of us can add a little something,” he insisted, inviting the faithful to reflect: “What can I give to the Lord? What can the little one give? Our poor love. Saying, ‘Lord, I love you.’ We poor people: Our love is so small! But we can give it to the Lord, the Lord welcomes it.”
Fruit of everyone’s gift
These gifts then lead to sharing, the pope explained.
“In the Mass is Communion, when together we approach the altar to receive the Body and Blood of Christ: the fruit of everyone’s gift transformed by the Lord into food for all. It is a beautiful moment, that of Communion, which teaches us to live every gesture of love as a gift of grace, both for the giver and the receiver,” he said.
The pope invited the faithful to receive Our Lady’s help to live each Mass with this attitude of faith, “to recognize and savor every day the ‘miracles’ of God’s grace.”
After praying the Angelus and giving his apostolic blessing, the pope assured his closeness to those who have suffered from landslides in Ethiopia.
Landslides hit the remote mountainous zone of Gofa in southern Ethiopia Sunday night into Monday morning, triggered by heavy rains in the region. Well over 200 people are already confirmed dead, with the United Nations projecting that the death toll could end up closer to 500.
The pope then spoke of the continuing problem of world hunger, calling the international community to take a stand against the “scandal” of “wasting resources to fuel wars large and small.”
“While there are so many people in the world suffering from disasters and hunger, we continue to build and sell weapons,” he lamented. He said this “contradicts the spirit of brotherhood of the Olympic Games that have just begun. Let us not forget, brothers and sisters: War is defeat!”
“I will not forsake you”
The pope also noted that today is the 4th World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, a celebration he initiated in 2020. This year’s theme is drawn from Psalm 71: “Do not cast me off in my old age.”
“Today’s day calls us to listen to the voice of the elderly who say, ‘Do not forsake me!’ and to respond, ‘I will not forsake you!’” the pope said.
“Let us say ‘no’ to the loneliness of the elderly! Our future depends greatly on how grandparents and grandchildren learn to live together. Let’s not forget the elderly!” he said, inviting the faithful to a round of applause for all the grandparents.
The pope concluded his weekly meeting with the faithful with his traditional good wishes for a nice lunch, and the request: “Please don’t forget to pray for me.”
Pope Francis is virtually a lone voice addressing the real danger of world nuclear war in a Ukraine War that already has drawn the major powers either actively or by proxy.
It seems great wars arrive at a period of mutual reserve until an unexpected event draws all into a death struggle. As when Austria Hungary and Serbia remained at a hostile distance until Sarajevo. Or after a brokered Munich peace between Germany and Britain and France until Danzig.
If many of us have serious reservations regarding papal policy Francis’ warning has substance, his policy interpreted as ambivalent is more realpolitik taking into account legitimate grievances of both sides in the Ukraine Russia conflict. Negotiation is perceived as capitulation by most Western nations when negotiation is the only realistic resolution short of expanded and possible nuclear conflict.
We are indebted to pray for a just if imperfect peace.
“When we allow ourselves to be devoured by this monster represented by war, when we allow this monster to raise its head and guide our actions, everyone loses, we destroy God’s creatures, we commit sacrilege and prepare a future of death for our children and grandchildren,” he wrote.”
In the Second Secret of Fatima, God tells us that it is God, not man, who grants peace to the world. The ‘monster’ which threatens the world is mankind’s massive, unrepentant, sinfulness. So if Pope Francis is terrified about Jesus’, Matthew 24:21 “for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.”, it is Pope Francis, our world’s religious leader, not our secular world tyrants, who has to get the world to repent of their massive sinfulness, so that God can grant us peace on earth, instead of God punishing us with a ‘WWIII’.
The Second Secret of Fatima
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
Quoted From: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html
Wisdom 14:22
Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war resulting from ignorance, they call such evils peace. For while they practice either child sacrifices or occult mysteries, or frenzied carousing in exotic rites, They no longer respect either lives or purity of marriage; but they either waylay and kill each other, or aggrieve each other by adultery.
Exodus 15:3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
How might one contextualize the above verses with the fact that Jesus is the Prince of peace? It is an imposition, I realize, yet your perspective would be welcome.
Pope Francis is virtually a lone voice addressing the real danger of world nuclear war in a Ukraine War that already has drawn the major powers either actively or by proxy.
It seems great wars arrive at a period of mutual reserve until an unexpected event draws all into a death struggle. As when Austria Hungary and Serbia remained at a hostile distance until Sarajevo. Or after a brokered Munich peace between Germany and Britain and France until Danzig.
If many of us have serious reservations regarding papal policy Francis’ warning has substance, his policy interpreted as ambivalent is more realpolitik taking into account legitimate grievances of both sides in the Ukraine Russia conflict. Negotiation is perceived as capitulation by most Western nations when negotiation is the only realistic resolution short of expanded and possible nuclear conflict.
We are indebted to pray for a just if imperfect peace.
“When we allow ourselves to be devoured by this monster represented by war, when we allow this monster to raise its head and guide our actions, everyone loses, we destroy God’s creatures, we commit sacrilege and prepare a future of death for our children and grandchildren,” he wrote.”
In the Second Secret of Fatima, God tells us that it is God, not man, who grants peace to the world. The ‘monster’ which threatens the world is mankind’s massive, unrepentant, sinfulness. So if Pope Francis is terrified about Jesus’, Matthew 24:21 “for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.”, it is Pope Francis, our world’s religious leader, not our secular world tyrants, who has to get the world to repent of their massive sinfulness, so that God can grant us peace on earth, instead of God punishing us with a ‘WWIII’.
The Second Secret of Fatima
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
Quoted From: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html
Wisdom 14:22
Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war resulting from ignorance, they call such evils peace. For while they practice either child sacrifices or occult mysteries, or frenzied carousing in exotic rites, They no longer respect either lives or purity of marriage; but they either waylay and kill each other, or aggrieve each other by adultery.
Planet Earth and humankind are thirsting for peace.
Dear Dr Coelho:
May I ask how you read the following verses?
Exodus 15:3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
How might one contextualize the above verses with the fact that Jesus is the Prince of peace? It is an imposition, I realize, yet your perspective would be welcome.
In the bond that is Jesus Christ,
Brian Young