Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin arrives prior to a Mass for the consecration of the church at the site of Jesus’ baptism on Jan. 10, 2025, in Al-Maghtas, Jordan. Pope Francis appointed Parolin as papal legate to consecrate the Church of the Baptism of Jesus at Al-Maghtas, also known as “Bethany Beyond the Jordan.” Parolin met with 14 Middle East pontifical representatives in Jordan on Jan. 13, 2025, to discuss challenges in the region including ongoing hostilities there. / Credit: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Jan 14, 2025 / 09:35 am (CNA).
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with 14 Middle East pontifical representatives in Jordan on Monday to discuss challenges in the region including ongoing hostilities there.
Parolin met with the papal representatives of Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen.
According to a Jan. 13 statement from the Holy See, Parolin met with the religious leaders to discuss the current crises affecting the region, including the need for Christians to address the serious political and humanitarian situations affecting the countries’ populations.
“Hope was expressed that there would soon be a cessation of hostilities on all fronts and that the Middle East could be a land of peace,” the statement read.
“Christians remain an essential element of fraternal coexistence among the various religions and of the progress of the respective nations,” the statement continued.
Parolin’s meeting with the Middle East representatives comes days after his participation in the Jan. 10 consecration of the Church of the Baptism of Jesus at Al-Maghtas — the historic baptismal site of Our Lord also known as “Bethany Beyond the Jordan.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Jan. 10, 2025, consecrates the altar during the inauguration of a vast church on the very spot where Christ was baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Credit: Father John D’Orazio
During the Jan. 10 Mass celebration, Parolin reiterated Pope Francis’ desire for the whole Church to be closely united with Christian communities of the Middle East.
Vatican News reported the pope’s secretary of state also had a phone call with Lebanon’s new President-elect Joseph Aoun.
“His Eminence [Parolin] congratulated him on his election to the presidency of the republic and extended his best wishes, assuring him of his prayers,” Vatican News reported, quoting a Holy See Press Office statement.
Aoun, a Maronite Catholic, is the only Christian national leader in the Middle East region. Prior to his Jan. 9 election Lebanon had been without a president since October 2022.
In 2024, Pope Francis used his Dec. 1 Angelus address to invite Catholics to pray especially for peace for peoples in Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, and Syria, which have been impacted by political turmoil, violence, displacement, and inadequate access to humanitarian assistance.
During the Dec. 1 address, the pontiff also included an urgent plea for Lebanese authorities to elect a president “immediately” and promote the country’s role in the region to be an “example of peaceful coexistence between different religions” in the region.
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Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Feb 2, 2023 / 05:45 am (CNA).
To bring about peace, “prayer is the most powerful weapon there is,” Pope Francis told thousands of young adults and catechism teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
The meeting in Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC, took place on Feb. 2, the third day of the pope’s visit to the central African country. On Feb. 3, Francis will fly to Juba, South Sudan, for the second leg of his peace pilgrimage.
Pope Francis on Thursday interacted with an enthusiastic crowd of about 65,000 young people and adults, some of whom traveled days to be present for the papal visit.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Yes, prayer conquers fear and enables us to take our future into our hands. Do you believe this?” the pope said. “Do you want to make prayer your secret, as refreshing water for the soul, as the one weapon you carry, as a traveling companion on each day’s journey?”
During the second half of his speech, the pope was repeatedly drowned out by the energetic audience, which broke out in cheering, singing, and dancing despite the hot weather.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
In his talk, Francis used the imagery of the hand to speak about the future of the DRC.
“God has placed the gift of life, the future of society and the future of this great country in those hands of yours,” he said.
“Dear brother, dear sister, do your hands not seem small and frail, empty and unsuited to so great a task? It’s true,” he said. “Let me tell you something: your hands all look alike, they all look alike, but none of them is exactly the same. No one has hands just like yours, and that is a sign that you are a unique treasure, an unrepeatable and incomparable treasure.”
He invited those present in the stadium to open and close their hands while meditating on whether they wanted to choose peace or violence.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Notice how you can squeeze your hand, closing it to make a fist. Or you can open it, to offer it to God and to others,” he said.
“You who dream of a different future: from your hands, tomorrow can be born, tomorrow can be born from your hands, from your hands peace so lacking in this country can at last come about.”
Bishop Donatien Bafuidinsoni Maloko-Mana from the Diocese of Inongo, in western DRC, was at the meeting.
He told EWTN News that people from his diocese traveled in boats on the Congo River for two to four days to arrive in Kinshasa.
Bafuidinsoni said the Congolese people were disappointed last year when the pope’s visit was canceled, but “now that the pope is here it’s a big joy for us all.”
Even those who are following the trip from home “are really happy,” he added. “It’s a message of joy, of peace, and of hope for all.”
Sister Asterie Neema, 29, is from Rutshuru in eastern DRC, where her brother was brutally killed last year. Elias Turk/CNA
Sister Asterie Neema, 29, is from Rutshuru in eastern Congo, where, she told EWTN News, they are under the control of an armed group called M23.
Neema said her older brother was killed in 2022 by unidentified rebels in front of his 12- and 7-year-old children.
In her 29 years of life, she said, her region of the DRC has never seen peace. Neema added that she has forgiven her brother’s killers, but she hopes for peace in her country.
Not everyone in the audience was Catholic. Two young Muslim men also attended the youth gathering with Pope Francis.
Yassine Mumbere, from Butembo in eastern DRC, told EWTN News that he came to the event because all young people were invited. He also studied at a Catholic school.
Muslim Yassine Mumbere, 35, from Butembo in eastern Congo, (R) with his friend (L) at the youth gathering with Pope Francis in Kinshasa, DRC on Feb. 2, 2023. Elias Turk/CNA
The 35-year-old Muslim Scout leader said he hopes the pope’s trip will help bring peace to the DRC’s eastern region.
In his speech, Pope Francis encouraged those present to be careful of the temptation to point fingers at people, or to exclude others because of “regionalism, tribalism, or anything that makes you feel secure in your own group, but at the same time is unconcerned with the life of the community.”
“You know what happens: first, you believe in prejudices about others, then you justify hatred, then violence, and in the end, you find yourself in the middle of a war,” he said.
To create a concrete sign of community, Francis invited the crowd to hold hands with those beside them and to sing a song together: “Imagine yourselves as one Church, a single people, holding hands.”
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Yes, brother and sister, you are indispensable and you are responsible for your Church and for your country,” he said after the song. “You are part of a greater history, one that calls you to take an active role as a builder of communion, a champion of fraternity, an indomitable dreamer of a more united world.”
After Pope Francis spoke against corruption — inviting everyone to shout together, “Go away, corruption!” — the stadium broke out in loud singing and cheering.
The event’s emcee had to invite the crowd to quiet down before the pope could continue speaking.
Francis also drew attention to two Congolese martyrs and their examples of faith: Blessed Isidore Bakanja and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite.
Statues of Blessed Isidore Bakanja and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite, young Congolese martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul II, in Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, DRC, on Feb. 2, 2023. Elias Turk/CNA
Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family, was killed during the civil war in 1964 at the age of 24. Anuarite was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his visit to the DRC, then known as the Republic of Zaire, in 1985.
Blessed Isidore Bakanja was a Catholic convert at the age of 18. He became a catechist and was devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He died in 1909, around the age of 21 or 22, after succumbing to an infection caused by a beating and other torture he received at the hands of a European manager for refusing to remove his brown scapular at work. Bakanja was beatified in 1994 by Pope John Paul II.
Statues of the two blesseds were present at the youth meeting, where people in the crowd shouted and held signs asking the pope to make them “santi subito!”
The pope pointed to another example of virtue from the DRC, Floribert Bwana Chui, who was killed in 2007 in Goma.
The 26-year-old man, who worked as a customs manager, was killed for refusing to cooperate with corruption; specifically, he did not allow the passage of expired food products.
A spectator at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, DRC, on Feb. 2, 2023, holds a sign with the phrase “santi subito” in reference to two Congolese blesseds. Elias Turk/CNA
“He could easily have turned a blind eye; nobody would have found out, and he might even have gotten ahead as a result,” Francis said. “But, since he was a Christian, he prayed. He thought of others and he chose to be honest, saying no to the filth of corruption.”
“Now I want to tell you something important,” he added. “Listen closely: If someone offers you a bribe, or promises you favors and lots of money, do not fall into the trap. Do not be deceived; do not be sucked into the swamp of evil. Do not be overcome by evil!”
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1 Comment
Lebanon, a consistent beacon in recent times…
Somewhere along the line, probably in his “Apostolic Exhortation: New Hope for Lebanon” (May 10, 1997, only in French and Italian), St. John Paul II remarked that “Lebanon is not just a nation, but a message.” The exhortation is referenced in https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_10051997_lebanon-arrival.html
Even earlier, in 1989, JP II addressed the Maronite Patriarch and bishops on their ad limina visit:
“[….] I know that the Lebanese people do not view the war that has plagued them now for so many years as a conflict of religious characters. The plurality of religious membership which is a feature of the region has long been characterized by great harmony. It is unthinkable that in the name of faith in God one could cause so much suffering, and endanger the very existence of a country [….] It is together that you will be able to renew your appeal to the whole Lebanese society to regain the fraternal harmony which was once admired far beyond your borders” (“Rebuilding Lebanon.” in “The Pope Speaks,” Our Sunday Visitor, vol. 34, No. 4, 1989).
Lebanon, a consistent beacon in recent times…
Somewhere along the line, probably in his “Apostolic Exhortation: New Hope for Lebanon” (May 10, 1997, only in French and Italian), St. John Paul II remarked that “Lebanon is not just a nation, but a message.” The exhortation is referenced in https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_10051997_lebanon-arrival.html
Even earlier, in 1989, JP II addressed the Maronite Patriarch and bishops on their ad limina visit:
“[….] I know that the Lebanese people do not view the war that has plagued them now for so many years as a conflict of religious characters. The plurality of religious membership which is a feature of the region has long been characterized by great harmony. It is unthinkable that in the name of faith in God one could cause so much suffering, and endanger the very existence of a country [….] It is together that you will be able to renew your appeal to the whole Lebanese society to regain the fraternal harmony which was once admired far beyond your borders” (“Rebuilding Lebanon.” in “The Pope Speaks,” Our Sunday Visitor, vol. 34, No. 4, 1989).