At the Angelus, he remembered the young people who died during the stampede that occurred last night in the Korean capital, as well as the victims of terrorist violence in Mogadishu. Among the 153 dead registered so far in Seoul are citizens of other countries, such as China, Iran, Russia and the United States. Before the prayer, Francis commented on the passage of the meeting between Jesus and Zacchaeus and said: “It is only lawful to look at a person from above downwards to help him get up.”
Vatican City () – “And let us also pray to the Risen Lord for all those who died last night in Seoul – most of them young – due to the tragic consequences of a sudden stampede of the crowd”. With these words, Pope Francis wanted to immediately express in today’s Angelus his closeness to South Korea, which is in a state of shock at the tragedy that occurred last night during the Halloween celebrations in the Itaweon neighborhood, the most frequented by young people. At the end of the Angelus, which he prayed as usual together with the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, Francis related these deaths to the victims of terrorist violence in Mogadishu, in an attack that left more than a hundred dead. including many children. “May God convert the hearts of the violent,” he prayed.
Meanwhile, in Seoul the number of victims rose to 153 confirmed dead, but among the dozens of injured there are 19 in serious condition. The vast majority of them are young people between 20 and 30 years old who had concentrated in the clubs in this area of the Korean capital. The victims also include foreign nationals, according to Korean police reports from China, Iran, Russia, the United States, France, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Austria.
Before the central prayer, Pope Francis had commented on the passage of the meeting of Jesus with Zacchaeus that the liturgy proposes today. “The gaze of God – observed Pope Francis, referring to the ‘inner baseness’ of a person who collected taxes on behalf of the Romans – never stops at our past full of errors, but sees with infinite confidence what we can to become. And if sometimes we feel like people of small stature, who are not up to the challenges of life and, even less, those of the Gospel, bogged down in problems and sins, Jesus always looks at us with love: as with Zacchaeus, he comes to meet us, he calls us by name and, if we welcome him, he comes to our house”.
That is why he invited us to ask: “How do we see ourselves? Do we feel inadequate and resign ourselves, or precisely when we feel discouraged do we seek Jesus? And then, how do we look at those who have made a mistake and have difficulty getting up from the dust of their errors? Is it a look from above that judges, despises, that excludes?
“Let us remember – the Pope concluded – that it is only lawful to look at a person from above downwards to help him get up; nothing more. We Christians must have the gaze of Christ, who embraces from below, who looks for the lost, with compassion. This is, and must always be, the gaze of the Church: which is the gaze of Christ”.
