In his speech to the diplomatic corps, he laments the “load of tensions and forms of violence that exacerbate social conflicts” in Latin America.
Pope Francis is concerned about the situation in Brazil, where thousands of followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed this Sunday in the capital, Brasilia, the buildings of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court. In this way, they intended to overthrow the new government of the leftist Lula da Silva, demanding an intervention by the Army. In the usual speech at the beginning of the year that he dedicated to the ambassadors and representatives of the 183 countries with which the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations, Francis cited on Monday the situation that is being experienced “in the last hours in Brazil” when speaking of the “numerous political crises” suffered by various countries of the American continent.
Lamenting the “load of tensions and forms of violence that exacerbate social conflicts” in Latin America, the Argentine Pontiff took into account the assault on the seats of power in Brasilia, which has so far resulted in more than 400 detainees. He also remembered Peru, in anguish after the then president, Pedro Castillo, was ousted last December after dissolving Congress, and the “worrying situation” in Haiti, where “some steps are finally being taken to face the crisis policy that has existed for a long time. In all these nations, he considered it necessary to overcome “biased logic” while making efforts “for the construction of the common good.”
In this speech at the beginning of the year before the ambassadors, in which the Pope habitually outlines the Vatican’s priorities in international politics, he denounced the “third world war in pieces” that in his opinion is being waged, calling for an end to hostilities in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen and other nations. The conflict in the eastern European country is leaving a “trail of death and destruction,” with attacks on civilian infrastructure “leading to people losing their lives not only from bombs and violence, but also from starvation.” and the cold”. “Let us not forget, furthermore, that war particularly hits the most fragile people and indelibly hurts families,” Francis stressed, calling for an “immediate end to this senseless conflict.”
After recalling that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical ‘Pacem in terris’, written by John XXIII under the impact of the ‘missile crisis’ in Cuba the previous year, Jorge Mario Bergoglio lamented that the threat nuclear still present today. For this reason, he reiterated that the possession of atomic weapons is “immoral” because under the threat of these devices “we all lose.” In this sense, he highlighted his demand that the international community undertake “the path of comprehensive disarmament”, since “no peace is possible where instruments of death proliferate.”
The condemnation of the use of the death penalty in Iran and the exclusion of women in the educational system in Afghanistan were also present in the Pope’s speech. “The right to life is also threatened where the death penalty continues to be practiced, as is happening these days in Iran, after the recent demonstrations calling for greater respect for the dignity of women,” Francis said, condemning that capital punishment is used as a “presumed state justice”. Instead, in his opinion, it is an “inadmissible” practice that must be “abolished by the laws of all countries in the world.”
Speaking of the importance of education as a tool to build peace, he considered “unacceptable” that, as is happening in Afghanistan, “a part of the population can be excluded from education.” This is one more victim of the serious crisis that the Central Asian country is suffering, aggravated by “the devastating consequences of the pandemic and the worrying geopolitical scenario.”
Francis receives the secretary of Benedict XVI in the midst of controversy
Nine days after the death of Benedict XVI, Francis held an audience on Monday with the historic personal secretary of the Pope emeritus, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who did not even wait for the German Pontiff to be buried last Thursday to launch harsh criticism of his successor. . He accused him in an interview of causing Benedict XVI “pain in the heart” by limiting the masses in Latin, thus marking a “rupture” between the two pontificates. In his memoir, ‘Nient’altro che la verità’ (Nothing but the truth), which hits Italian bookstores this Thursday, Ganswein also recounted that he was “shocked and speechless” when Francis gave him in January 2020 an indefinite work permit from his position as prefect of the Papal Household, thus removing him from the responsibility of organizing audiences and other papal events. The man closest to the pope emeritus in recent decades also embarrassed Jorge Mario Bergoglio in his book that he should not listen to his predecessor on a subject as thorny as “gender philosophy.” Although the content of the conversation this Monday between Francisco and Ganswein has not been made public, in Vatican circles there is a commitment to a replacement of the latter as prefect of the Papal Household.