From St. Peter’s Square he expressed pain for the conflicts in the world and their death statistics, such as the “terrifying figure” of investments in weapons. Regarding John Paul II, whose memory was celebrated yesterday, he said that “he was the Pope of families.” Today the spouses were at the center of the catechesis on the Holy Spirit: “The human couple as the realization of the communion of love that is the Trinity.”
Vatican City () – A “figure that should scare us.” With these words Pope Francis concluded the general audience in St. Peter’s this morning, and invited us to look at the most profitable and historically sound investments “in weapons factories” as evident proof of today’s world – with all the wars and sufferings that plague without rest -”, which allow “earning money with death”. In its latest report, Stockholm’s Sipri calculates that in 2023 this mountain of money will be 2,443 million dollars globally, a figure that has never been reached before in the world and represents an increase of 6.8% compared to the previous year. previous year. “War does not forgive; war is a defeat from the beginning. Let us pray to the Lord for peace, so that he may give peace to all of us, to all of us,” the pontiff concluded when he addressed the Italian-speaking faithful.
“Brothers and sisters, let us pray for peace! “Today, first thing in the morning, I received the figures of the dead in Ukraine: it is terrible!” said Bergoglio, who did not cite the figure, but last month the Wall Street Journal estimated that the number of dead and wounded It was more than a million, two and a half years after the beginning of the Russian invasion. “And let us not forget Myanmar – added the pontiff -. Let us not forget Palestine, which suffers inhuman attacks; Let us not forget Israel and let us not forget all the nations that are at war”, for which peace is longed for.
Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis that was read at the beginning of the audience to the action of the Holy Spirit in the family. Continuing the cycle of reflections on the Holy Spirit in the Church, based on the reference reading (1 John 4:7-8), Bergoglio shared some “crumbs of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit developed in the Latin tradition.” And the first architect of it was Saint Augustine, who “starts from the revelation that “God is love” (1 Jn 4, 8). “Love presupposes someone who loves, someone who is loved, and love itself that unites,” he added. “The God of Christians is, therefore, a “unique” God, but not solitary; his is a unity of communion, of love. From these premises, catechesis focused on the family, particularly on the sacrament of Christian marriage, because “the human couple is, therefore, the first and most basic realization of the communion of love that is the Trinity,” called to “form a first person plural, a “we””, just like the Holy Spirit, commonly associated with the “third person.”
“To stand before each other as an “I” and a “you,” and to stand before the rest of the world, including children, as a “we””: this should be the expression of family unity. “How much children need this unity – “mom and dad together” -, the unity of parents, and how much they suffer when it is missing! “How much the children of parents who separate suffer, how much they suffer!” added the bishop of Rome. It is a “vocation” that can be incarnated “with the support of Him who is the Gift, or, rather, the one who gives himself par excellence. Wherever the Holy Spirit enters, the ability to surrender is reborn.” “No one says that that unity is easy to build, and even less so in today’s world.” However, with the Holy Spirit it is possible to renew the miracle that Jesus performed in Cana: “changing the water of custom into a new joy of being together.” “An Italian proverb says: “Do not put your finger between wife and husband.” But there is a “finger” that must be placed between husband and wife, and it is precisely the “finger of God”: which is the Holy Spirit!” concluded the Holy Father.
Finally, addressing the Polish-speaking faithful and pilgrims, Pope Francis remembered Saint John Paul II, whose memory was celebrated yesterday. “He was, as I said on the occasion of his canonization, the Pope of families,” he commented. “I constantly reminded you Poles that the strength of the family must come from God. Let us ask for the strength of the Holy Spirit for all families, so that the ability to give of themselves and the joy of being together may revive in them.” To the numerous newlyweds who were in St. Peter’s Square he said: “Know how to be missionaries of the Gospel everywhere, offering the spiritual support of prayer and concrete help to those who struggle to bring it to those who still do not know it.” “.
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