2023-08-04 20:34:25
by Gian Guido Vecchi
Francis spoke to the young people present at the Parque Eduardo VII in Lisbon for the Via Crucis. In the short off-the-cuff speech he recalled that “we must take the risk of loving, Jesus always accompanies us”
“Each of you ask yourself: do I cry sometimes? Are there things in life that make me cry? Eight hundred thousand young people have arrived at Edward VII Park, in the center of Lisbon, for the Via Crucis with the Pope. World Youth Day is a celebration, the choirs rise but Francis signals to stop, takes a look at the written text and then speak off the cuff. «Everyone in life has cried and still cries, and Jesus accompanies us in the darkness. How ugly closed hearts are. Everyone tell Jesus why he weeps in life ».
On Saturday morning the Pope will go to Fatima, a prayer for the pains of the world and the too many conflicts of what he called the “third world war fought piecemeal”, last year he consecrated Russia and Ukraine to Mary with dramatic words: “Deliver us from war, preserve the world from the nuclear threat”. Francis continues his commitment to peace, confirming to the Spanish Catholic magazine “Vida Nueva” that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, his envoy, will go to Beijing after the stop in Washington “because both also hold the key to lowering the tension of the conflict, all these initiatives are what I call “an offensive for peace”».
The Pope is thinking of “appointing a permanent representative to act as a bridge between the Russian and Ukrainian authorities”; Zuppi has already gone to Kiev, «where the idea of victory is maintained without opting for mediation», and to Moscow, «where he found an attitude that we could define as diplomatic on the part of Russia»; for now, says Francis, “the most significant progress” concerns the return of Ukrainian children from Russia, “we are doing everything in our power to ensure that every member of the family who asks for the return of their children can do so”.
In November, before the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, a peace meeting is being organized with religious leaders in Abu Dhabi: «Cardinal Parolin is coordinating this initiative, which wants to take place outside the Vatican, in a neutral territory invite everyone to the meeting». But in the meantime, for the pontiff, the most powerful weapon of the “peace offensive” remains prayer. “Loving is risky, it’s true, but it’s worth it,” he says. The texts written by the boys for the Via Crucis are marked by daily and profound pain, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, bullying, loneliness, the social “tyranny” of “the right body and the perfect smile”, but in the Via Crucis they are also evoked child abuse, lack of money and work, fear for climate change and the future of the planet, conflicts and attacks, the tragedy of those who “flee war, hunger, lack of water, political persecution », the many exclusions and intolerances. “In the Church there is room for everyone”, the Pope said to the youngsters during the welcoming ceremony on Thursday; before leaving he had also said it to a young transgender, among the responses to the boys recorded by the Vatican media: “God loves us as we are”. He also repeated this to Vida Nueva, recalling the meetings he had already had over the years in the Vatican, most recently with a group of six transgenders in June: «They left crying, saying that I had given them my hand, a kiss.. Like I’ve done something great for them. But they are daughters of God!».
August 4, 2023 (change August 4, 2023 | 8:34 pm)
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