Dear brothers and sisters of #SouthSudan, I return to Rome with you even closer to my heart. You are in my heart; you are in the hearts of Christians worldwide! Never lose hope. And lose no opportunity to build #Peace in your country!
We entrust to Our Lady of Africa the cause of #Peace in #SouthSudan and in the entire African continent. To Our Lady we also entrust peace in our world, especially in the many countries at war, like Ukraine, which suffers so greatly. #PrayTogether
I came to #SouthSudan with my brothers Justin and Iain, whom I sincerely thank. We will continue to accompany your steps and do all we can to make them steps of #Peace, steps to peace. #EcumenicalPilgrimage
I pray that you will be salt that spreads, dissolves and seasons #SouthSudan with the fraternal taste of the Gospel. May your Christian communities shine radiantly, so they show that it is beautiful and possible to live with generosity and to build together a reconciled future.
Let us set out each day praying for one another, working together as witnesses of the peace of Jesus, by persevering in the same journey by our practical acts of charity and unity. In all things, let us love one another from the heart. #EcumenicalPilgrimage
I plead with everyone from the heart: let us help #SouthSudan; let us not abandon its population that continues to suffer greatly! Together with urgently needed aid, it is very important to accompany the population on the path of development and independent growth.
We all bear in our heart the desire to live as brothers and sisters, in mutual assistance and harmony. The fact that this often does not occur – and, unfortunately, we have dramatic signs of this – should further stimulate the search for #HumanFraternity.
In the name of God, in whom so many people of #SouthSudan believe, it is time to say enough. No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and mutual recriminations. No more destruction; it is time to build! Leave the time of war behind, and let a time of #Peace dawn!
I come to #SouthSudan as a pilgrim of peace, with two brothers: the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. We stretch out our hands to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
As a Church we need to breathe the pure air of the Gospel, to dispel the tainted air of worldliness, to safeguard the young heart of faith. That is how I imagine the African Church and that is how I see this Congolese Church.
It has been a joy for me to spend these days in your country which, with its large forest, represents the “green heart” of Africa, a lung for the whole world. #ApostolicJourney#DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo
When we remain docile in God’s hands, He shapes us to become a people of reconciliation, capable of openness and dialogue, acceptance and forgiveness, who make rivers of peace flow through the arid plains of violence. #ApostolicJourney#DRCongo
The #PresentationOfTheLord, which in the Christian East is called the “feast of the encounter”, reminds us of the priority for our life: our encounter with the Lord, especially in personal prayer, because our relationship with Him is the basis of everything we do.
God has placed the gift of life in your hands. From your hands tomorrow is born. From your hands peace so lacking in this country can come about. I would like to suggest some “ingredients for the future”: five of them, each corresponding to a finger on your hand #ApostolicJourney
Poverty and rejection are an offence against the human person, disfiguring his or her dignity. They are like ashes that extinguish the fire carried within as persons created in the image of God. Only by restoring dignity do we restore humanity! #ApostolicJourney
The Lord is to be sought and loved in the poor. As Christians, we must take care not to distance them from us. There is something wrong when a believer keeps Christ’s loved ones at a distance. #ApostolicJourney
With pain in my heart, I ask God to forgive the violence of man against man. Father, have mercy on us! Console the victims and those who suffer. Convert the hearts of those who carry out brutal atrocities that bring shame upon all humanity! #ApostolicJourney
I ask all who orchestrate war in the #DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo to listen to the voice of God who calls you to conversion. Put an end to war. Stop getting rich at the cost of the poor. Stop getting rich from resources and money stained with blood!
There is no Christianity without community,just as there is no peace without fraternity. Let us believe in community and,with God’s help,build a Church free of the worldly spirit and full of the Holy Spirit, ree from the personal hoarding of riches and filled with brotherly love!
Christ wants to anoint us with his forgiveness, to give us peace and the courage to forgive others in turn, the courage to grant others a great amnesty of the heart. May today be a time of grace for you to accept and experience Jesus’ forgiveness!
How can we safeguard and cultivate the peace of Jesus? He himself points to three wellsprings of peace, three sources from which we can draw as we continue to nurture peace. They are forgiveness, community and mission. #ApostolicJourney
We cannot grow accustomed to the bloodshed that has marked the #DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo for decades, causing millions of deaths. The current #peace processes, which I greatly encourage, need to be sustained by concrete deeds, and commitments should be maintained.
The #DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo and #Africa deserve to be respected and listened to. They deserve to find space and receive attention. Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny!
Let us #PrayTogether that parishes, placing communion – communion among individuals and ecclesial communion – at the center, might increasingly become communities of faith, of fraternity and of welcoming the most in need. #PrayerIntention#ClickToPray
Tomorrow I will depart on an Apostolic Journey to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to the Republic of South Sudan. I greet with affection those beloved peoples who await me. I ask everyone, please, to accompany this Journey with their prayers.
The “poor in spirit” are those who know they cannot rely on themselves, that they are not self-sufficient. They feel their need for God and recognize every good that comes from Him as a gift, as a grace. #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 5:1-12) #Beatitudes
The memory of the extermination of millions of Jewish people and people of other faiths must neither be forgotten nor denied. There can be no fraternity without first dispelling the roots of hatred and violence that fueled the horror of the Holocaust. #HolocaustRemembranceDay
On the hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of Saint #FrancisdeSales as patron of journalists, let us #PrayTogether that journalists might be inspired by this saint toward tenderness, toward the search and narration of truth with courage and freedom.
What is the shortest way to encounter Jesus? Make yourself needy. Recognize your need for grace, your need for forgiveness, your need for joy. And Jesus will draw near to you. #GeneralAudience
В эти месяцы украинский народ всегда присутствует в моих молитвах. Я молюсь вместе с вами и о вас, дорогие украинские братья, о завтрашнем дне мира, в котором экономические и политические интересы, порождающие войну, наконец уступят место общему благу народов. #Украина#мир
Протягом цих місяців народ #України постійно присутній у моїх молитвах. Молюся з вами і за вас, дорогі брати й сестри українці, за завтрашній день #миру, в якому економічні та політичні інтереси, що породжують війну, нарешті поступляться місцем спільному благу народів.