thinking about nuclear weapons is crazy

New warning from Francis during the general audience in the face of the news coming from Russia and Ukraine. “Cardinal Krajewski spoke to me yesterday on the phone about the monstrosity of the tortured corpses they are finding. Let us join the martyred Ukrainian people.” He recalled the stages and meetings of the trip to Kazakhstan. Prayer and request for help for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.

Vatican City () – “The ongoing war leads some to think of nuclear weapons. A madness.” While the news from Russia and Ukraine dramatically again evokes the shadow of an atomic conflict, Pope Francis once again denounced the madness of this possibility during the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter’s Square. also to his apostolic trip last week to Kazakhstan and gave this country as an example of a land that “has been able to say no to nuclear weapons” and undertake “good energy and environmental policies”.

With regard to the “terrible situation in Ukraine” the pontiff invited the faithful to always keep this martyred people in mind. “Cardinal Krajewski (the papal beggar) went there for the fourth time. He called me yesterday by phone from the Odessa area, he told me about the pain of this town, about the monstrosities of the tortured corpses they are finding. Let us join this martyred people ”.

Returning to the trip to Kazakhstan, the pontiff referred to the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which has been promoted by the local government for thirty years and was the main reason for the apostolic visit to Nur-Sultan. Francis praised the decision to put “religions at the center of the commitment to build a world in which we listen to each other and respect each other in diversity.”

The final declaration of this meeting, which was signed by the Pope together with religious leaders from 50 countries, “is in continuity with the one signed in Abu Dhabi in February 2019 on human fraternity. I like to interpret this step forward – Francis added – as the fruit of a path that starts from afar: naturally I think of the historic Interreligious Meeting for Peace convened by Saint John Paul II in Assisi in 1986, so criticized by people who had no vision Of future; I think of the clairvoyant gaze of Saint John XXIII and Saint Paul VI; and also in that of great souls of other religions. I limit myself to remembering Mahatma Gandhi. But how can we not also remember so many martyrs, men and women of all ages, languages ​​and nations, who have paid with their lives for fidelity to the God of peace and brotherhood?

“We know – he continued – that the solemn moments are important, but then there is the daily commitment, which is the concrete testimony that builds a better world for all”.

The Pope then recalled that the trip to Kazakhstan was an opportunity to meet with the small local Catholic community. “It has made me very happy – Francisco commented – to find a community of happy, joyful, enthusiastic people. Catholics are few in that vast country. But this condition, if lived with faith, can bear evangelical fruits: above all the beatitude of littleness, of being leaven, salt and light, counting only on the Lord and not in some form of human relevance. In addition, the numerical scarcity invites us to develop relationships with Christians of other confessions and also fraternity with everyone. Therefore, small flock, yes, but open, not closed, not defensive, open and trusting in the action of the Holy Spirit, who blows freely where and how he wants”.

In the greetings at the end of the audience, Pope Francis referred to the World Day to Fight Alzheimer’s, “a disease that affects many people, who, due to this pathology, are often marginalized by society. Let us pray for Alzheimer’s patients, for their families and for those who lovingly care for them, so that they receive more and more support and help. Finally, recalling today’s liturgical feast of Saint Matthew the Evangelist, he exhorted everyone “to follow the school of the Gospel; they will find in the words of Christ the light and the support to travel the path».

Photo: VaticanNews