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October 26, 2023On Sunday, October 22, Pope Francis renewed his appeals for peace and restraint in the war in the Holy Land.
“I am very concerned, grieved," he said at the Angelus prayer. "I pray and I am close to all those who are suffering, the hostages, the wounded, the victims and their families.”
He lamented the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and blasts at the Anglican hospital and Greek Orthodox parish there.
“I renew my appeal for spaces to be opened, for humanitarian aid to continue to arrive and for hostages to be freed.”
He also recalled Russia's ongoing war in "martyred Ukraine".
"War, any war that there is in the world - I also think of martyred Ukraine ," the Pope continued, "is a defeat. War always is a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!"
A PRAYER FOR PEACE
BY POPE FRANCIS
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years
to resolve our conflicts by our own powers
and by the force of our arms.
How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced;
how much blood has been shed;
how many lives have been shattered;
how many hopes have been buried…
But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid!
Grant us peace, teach us peace;
guide our steps in the way of peace.
Open our eyes and our hearts,
and give us the courage to say:
"Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost".
Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love,
you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace;
enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.
Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens
who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace,
our trepidation into confident trust,
and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope,
so that with patience and perseverance
we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.
In this way may peace triumph at last,
and may the words "division", "hatred" and "war"
be banished from the heart of every man and woman.
Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands.
Renew our hearts and minds,
so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother",
and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.
