Pope Francis warned in Bahrain today that East and West are increasingly two opposing blocs, stressing that if they continue to “play with missiles and bombs”, the world will fill with “ash and hatred”.
“After two terrible world wars, after a cold war that has left the world in suspense for decades, in the midst of so many catastrophic conflicts in all parts of the world, between voices of impeachment, threat and condemnation, we still find ourselves teetering on the edge of a fragile balance,” he said.
At the conclusion of his closing speech at the “Western and Eastern Forum for Human Coexistence” in Bahrain, where he arrived on Thursday for a four-day visit, Francis also called for “serious negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine.
“And before I stop, I want to make a strong appeal to end the war in Ukraine and start serious peace negotiations,” he stressed.
The Pope stressed that “while the majority of the world’s population is united by the same difficulties, beset by severe food, environmental and pandemic crises, as well as an increasingly scandalous planetary injustice, some powerful people are focused on a struggle decided by private interests, unearthing obsolete languages, redefining zones of influence and opposing blocks”.
Previously, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, assured that Francis was “extremely concerned” about the war in Ukraine and that he “called every Wednesday during the audience for the end of the war and the beginning of peace negotiations”.
In his speech, which followed that of the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the Imam of Al Azhar University in Egypt, Ahmed al Tayeb, the Pope warned that “East and West are again like two opposing seas” . “.
“After two terrible world wars, after a cold war that has left the world in suspense for decades, in the midst of so many catastrophic conflicts in all parts of the world, between voices of impeachment, threat and condemnation, we still find ourselves teetering on the edge of a fragile balance,” he said.
The pope also said he wanted the disputes to be resolved “in the interest of all”.
Source: DN
