Tens of thousands today at Mass in St. Peter’s Square. “The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life,” was the phrase that the Holy Father had the children present repeat. The prayer of the Hail Mary and the invitation to pray “especially for peace” followed. Yesterday, from the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the call: start a “movement of children who want to build a world of peace.”
Vatican City () – The homily of Pope Francis, recited remotely this morning from the parvis of Saint Peter during the 10.30 mass on the occasion of the first “World Children’s Day” (WYD 2024) – with the theme “Behold, I make all things new” – was a dialogue with the children present. At the center of the exchange, which took place under a blue sky – as the Italian actor Roberto Benigni recalled in his speech at the end of the celebration – was the theme of the trinity, centered on the Holy Spirit “who gives life”, the unlimited forgiveness of Jesus and the invitation to pray “especially for peace.”
«Don’t forget this: Jesus forgives everything. And He always forgives, and we must have the humility to ask for forgiveness. Forgive me Lord, I have made a mistake, I am weak, life has put me in difficulties,” said the Holy Father. Jesus also forgives a person ‘with many sins’, as ‘the ugliest of sinners.'” A reflection followed. about who the Holy Spirit is, since it is not easy to say: “It is God, it is within us. We receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism, we receive it in the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit is what accompanies us in life.” This last phrase was repeated several times by the children sitting in St. Peter’s Square – more than 50 thousand faithful attended the celebration this morning -, invited by the Pontiff himself. “The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life,” they said. children out loud. “The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us strength, comforts us in difficulties,” added Pope Francis.
Speaking of faith, Bergoglio said that “it makes us happy.” “We are all happy because we believe,” he said. Remembering again that faith is believing in God that he is “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Christians also have a “mother,” he then explained to the little ones. «What is the name of our mother who is in heaven?» After the answer from the square, another question: “Do you know how to pray to the Virgin?” At that time, the Hail Mary prayer was prayed. «We are here to pray. To pray together. Pray to God”: with these words the homily began. To conclude, the Holy Father asked the children to pray for the adults. “Pray for us, so that we can move forward, all of us. Pray for the parents, pray for the grandparents.” But also for the “sick children,” also present at today’s meeting. But, above all, the invitation to pray “for peace.” “So that there are no wars.”
And Pope Francis also spoke about peace at the meeting held yesterday at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, again in the context of GMB 2024, before tens of thousands of children. During the greetings, the Holy Father said that the reason for the meeting is to launch “a movement of children who want to build a world of peace, where we are all brothers, a world that has a future, because we want to take care of the environment that surrounds us.” ». Words that were followed by a series of questions. “Do wars make you sad?” “Yes!” responded those present. «Today I received children who had fled from Ukraine (from the Lviv hospital, ed) who were suffering a lot from the wars. Some of them were wounded,” explained the Holy Father, who in the morning had also received a group of boys and girls from Palestine, Belarus, Indonesia, mainly from war zones. “Is war something beautiful?” “No!” they replied. “I like to listen to you children. You are sad because many of your classmates can’t go to school. There are girls and boys who can’t go to school.” note on the theme of GMB 2024, “Behold, I make all things new”: “Think: God wants this, everything that is not new passes away, God is always new.”
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