Pope Francis concludes World Day of Prayer for Peace
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
presided over the closing ceremony of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in
Assisi on Tuesday afternoon. The ceremony followed an early afternoon of prayer
– not in common, but separately, according to religious tradition.
Thirst for peace: religions and
cultures in dialogue was the theme of this 30th anniversary celebration of the
World Day, which Pope St. John Paul II first convoked in the city of St.
Francis in 1986.
“We have come to Assisi as
pilgrims in search of peace,” said Pope Francis to the gathering of more than
400 leaders from dozens of different traditions of faith and religion. “We
carry within us and place before God the hopes and sorrows of many persons and
peoples: we thirst for peace; we desire to witness to peace.”
“[A]bove all,” said Pope
Francis, “we need to pray for peace, because peace is God’s gift, and it lies
with us to plead for it, embrace it, and build it every day with God’s help.”
Before the closing ceremony,
the Holy Father delivered a meditation on peace to a gathering of leaders from
various Christian Churches and ecclesial communities in the Lower Basilica of
St. Francis.
“Before Christ Crucified,
‘the power and wisdom of God’ (1 Cor 1:24), we Christians are called to
contemplate the mystery of Love not loved and to pour out mercy upon the
world,” Pope Francis told the ecumenical gathering of Christian leaders come
together to hear his meditation in the lower basilica of St. Francis in Assisi,
ahead of the closing ceremony.
“On the Cross, the tree of
life,” continued Pope Francis, “evil was transformed into good; we too, as
disciples of the Crucified One, are called to be ‘trees of life’ that absorb
the contamination of indifference and restore the pure air of love to the
world. From the side of Christ on the Cross water flowed, that symbol of
the Spirit who gives life (cf. Jn 19:34); so that from us, his faithful,
compassion may flow forth for all who thirst today.”
Much has changed in the three
decades that have passed since Pope St. John Paul II held the first event: the
Cold War has ended, while the shadow of international terrorism has grown and
spread, and our failure to exercise good stewardship over creation has created
new challenges to peace.
The “spirit of Assisi”
however, remains unchanged, and each of us has a part to play in realizing the
hope for peace that animates this event.
“Here, thirty years ago,”
recalled Pope Francis in concluding his remarks, “Pope John Paul II said:
‘Peace is a workshop, open to all and not just to specialists, savants and
strategists. Peace is a universal responsibility.’ Let us assume this
responsibility, reaffirming today our ‘yes’ to being, together, builders of the
peace that God wishes for us and for which humanity thirsts.”
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