Pope Francis tells children to
nurture Hope, Love and Peace
 |
| Pope Francis receives the families of those who serve and who are assisted at the Santa Marta Dispensary (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis offers Christmas wishes and thanks to staff and
volunteers of the Santa Marta Dispensary and to many of the families it
assists.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis on Sunday was treated to a musical show with
songs and dances performed by the children of the staff and volunteers of the
Santa Marta Dispensary. The audience took place in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall
in the presence of some 800 people, including volunteers, doctors, nurses and
families assisted by the Dispensary.
For over ninety years the Santa Marta Dispensary has
provided medical assistance to children and families in need and is based just a
stone’s throw away from the Pope’s residence inside the Vatican.
After the performance, the children presented the Pope with
a large cake, a belated gift marking Francis’ 83rd birthday
last Tuesday, 17 December.
The Pope thanked those present and praised the children’s
parents whom, he noted, clearly know how to play and give joy to their
offspring: “Children are the promise of good things to come,” he said.
He then engaged in conversation with the children
highlighting three boxes the Magi in the performance had brought to the baby
Jesus, and that contained “Hope, Love and Peace.”
It is Peace we must strive for, the Pope told the kids, not
war: “War destroys and kills, it kills the young and the old, it kills
everything. And to defeat war we need Love.”
“How can we live without war?” he asked the children. “With
Love” they answered in chorus.
And then there is Hope, the Pope continued, “we must always
look to the future, to the horizon, with the Hope that comes from the Lord, and
also from the work we do to make the world a better place.”
The Santa Marta Dispensary was established in 1922 by Pope
Pius XI, and was visited by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2005.
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