Pope Francis appealed this Sunday for the “silence of arms” in Ukraine, which is facing a “senseless war”, during the traditional Christmas message in the Vatican, in which he spoke again of a “third world war”. .
“May our gaze be filled with the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are living this Christmas in the dark, in the cold or far from home, due to the destruction caused by ten months of war,” the Argentine Pope said before thousands of worshipers gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, some of them waving Ukrainian flags.
“May the Lord prepare us for concrete gestures of solidarity to help those who suffer, and enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the guns and put an immediate end to this senseless war,” added the pontiff, who has has ceaselessly appealed for peace since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Francis also lamented that people prefer “to listen to other arguments dictated by the logic of the world” and noted “with sadness that the winds of war continue to blow cold on humanity.”
Before pronouncing the blessing Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world), the Pope made his usual assessment of the conflicts in the world, naming ten countries affected by violence or tension, which he described as “theatres of this third world war”.
Among them are Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, but also Lebanon, which is facing an unprecedented economic and social crisis, and Haiti, where more than 1,400 people have been violently killed this year, according to the UNITED NATIONS.
For the first time, the Pope mentioned Iran, which has been the subject of an unprecedented wave of protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Sparked by demands for women’s rights, the protests have already led to the arrest of some 14,000 people since mid-September, according to the UN, and the deaths of 469 protesters, according to the Iran-based Organization for Human Rights. in Oslo. .
The leader of the Catholic Church also protested against the use of food “as a weapon”, in reference to the conflicts in the Horn of Africa.
“Each war causes hunger and uses food itself as a weapon, preventing its distribution to populations that are already suffering,” lamented the Argentine Jesuit, calling for a commitment “so that food is only an instrument of peace.”
Source: TSF
