The Pope’s grief over the assassination in Honduras of Juan Antonio Lopez, “delegate for the Word of God, coordinator of the social pastoral care of the Diocese of Trujillo and founding member of the pastoral care of integral ecology in Honduras. I join in the mourning of that Church,” says Francis, “and in the condemnation of every form of violence. I am close to those who see their basic rights trampled upon and to those who are committed to the common good in response to the cry of the poor and of the earth.strongly committed to pastoral care and defender of the least and of the environment”. And then the request for greater commitment to defend the dignity of those who have ended up in prison and to listen to the request for peace that comes from the people. Francis continues to pray for Ukraine, for Palestine and Israel, for Myanmar and for all the countries where there is still war. Previously, he had explained the Gospel of the day to underline that “we must make ourselves small to be great. In the passage from Mark, the silence of the disciples, when Jesus asks them what they are talking about, indicates their shame. They are ashamed because “they were arguing about who was the greatest”. And so, Francis comments, “while Jesus confided to them the meaning of his life, they spoke of power. And so now shame closes their mouths, just as before pride had closed their hearts”. Yet Jesus “responds openly to the speeches whispered along the road: ‘If anyone wants to be first, let him be last'”. Do you want to be great?, insists the Pope, “Make yourself small, put yourself at the service of all. And with a word as simple as it is decisive, Jesus renews our way of life. He teaches us that true power does not lie in the domination of the strongest, but in caring for the weakest. True power is taking care of the weakest. This makes you great. This is why the Master calls a child, places him among the disciples and embraces him, saying: “Whoever welcomes even one such child in my name welcomes me”. A child “has no power, the child is in need. When we take care of man, we recognize that man always needs life. We, all of us, are alive because we have been welcomed, but power makes us forget this truth. You are alive because you have been welcomed. Then we become masters, not servants, and the first to suffer are precisely the last: the little ones, the weak and the poor”.
The Pontiff addresses everyone to say: “Brothers and sisters, how many people, how many suffer and die because of power struggles! They are lives that the world rejects, as it rejected Jesus, who do not enter there and die. When he was handed over into the hands of men, he did not find an embrace, but a cross. The Gospel remains, however, a living word full of hope: He who was rejected, is risen, is the Lord! Now on this beautiful Sunday we can ask ourselves: do I know how to recognize the face of Jesus in the littlest ones? Do I take care of my neighbor, serving with generosity? And do I thank those who take care of me? Let us pray together to Mary, to be like her free from vainglory and ready to serve.”