Ukraine, Lebanon, Romania, but also Brazil. Paul VI’s classroom is a winter of flags. The pilgrims of the Oriental Churches meet Pope Leo in what is the first jubilee hearing of the new Pontiff. Pope Prevost also recalls the commitment to peace. Indeed, especially to them that, perhaps more than others, they endure persecutions and misunderstandings, makes the voice of the Church which is on their side. “Who more of you, “he says,” can sing words of hope in the abyss of violence? Who more than you, who know the horrors of the war closely, so much so that Pope Francis called your “martyal” churches? It is true: From the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Lebanon to Syria, from the Middle East to Tigray and Caucasus, how much violence! And on all this horror, on the massacres of many young lives, Which should cause disdain, because, in the name of military conquest, people die, an appeal stands out: not so much that of the Pope, but of Christ, who repeats: “Peace to you!”.
He encourages them, taking up the concern of Leo XIII who did not miss the richness of the Eastern Church, not to lose his identity. “His concern of that time is very current,” he underlines, “because in our day Many oriental brothers and sisters, including several of you, forced to escape from their territories of origin because of war and persecutions, of instability and poverty, risk, arriving in the West, to lose, in addition to the homeland, also its religious identity. And so, with the passage of generations, the priceless heritage of the eastern churches is lost ».
The Christian East must instead be promoted, because “the Church needs you. How big is the contribution that the Christian East can give us today! How much need we have to recover the sense of mystery, so alive in your liturgies, which involve the human person in its entirety, sing the beauty of salvation and arouse the amazement for the divine greatness that embraces human littleness! AND How important it is to rediscover, also in the Christian West, the sense of the primacy of God, the value of mixing, of incessant intercession, penance, fasting, crying for its own sins And of the whole humanity (Penhos), so typical of oriental spirituality! Therefore it is essential to keep your traditions without wating them, perhaps out of practicality and comfort, so that they are not corrupted by a consumer and utilitarian spirit ».
These are spirituality, “ancient and always new” that “are medicines. In them the dramatic sense of human misery merges with the amazement for divine mercy, so that our lowness do not cause despair, but invite to welcome the grace of being restored creatures, divinized and elevated to celestial heights “.
It insists on peace, on the resurrection, on the “knowing how to see the certainty of Easter in every labor of life and not to lose heart remembering”, as Sant’Isacco di Ninive wrote, “the greatest sin is not to believe in the energies of the resurrection”.
And again, he explains that The peace of Christ “is not the tombstone after the conflict, it is not the result of the abuse, but it is a gift that looks to people and reactivate life. We pray for this peace, which is reconciliation, forgiveness, courage to turn the page and start again. Because this peace spreads, I will use every effort. The Holy See is available for enemies to meet and look into the eyes, so that peoples are returned hope And the dignity they deserve is chosen, the dignity of peace ».
The peoples, I repeat heartfelt, “want peace and I, with the heart in hand, I say to the managers of the peoples: let’s meet, dialogue, we negotiate! War is never inevitable, weapons can and must be silent, because they do not solve the problems but increase them; Because those who sow peace will go down to history, not those who will combine victims; Because others are not first of all enemies, but humans: not bad to hate, but people to talk to. We shy away the sleeve visions typical of violent narratives, which divide the world into vouchers and bad ».
The Church, insists, “will not tire of repeating: Tacciano the weapons. And I would like to thank God for those in silence, prayer, in the offer they sew peace plots; and Christians – Oriental and Latin – who, especially in the Middle East, persevere and resist in their lands, stronger than the temptation to abandon them. Christians must be given the opportunity, not only in words, to remain in their lands with all the rights necessary for a safe existence. Please, you commit yourself for this! And thanks to you, dear brothers and sisters of the East, from which Jesus arose, the sun of justice, to be “lights of the world” ».
And then encourages The oriental churches to “shine by faith, hope and charity, and for nothing else. Your churches are example, and shepherds promote communion with righteousness, especially in the synods of the bishopsso that they are places of authentic collegiality and co -responsibility. The transparency in the management of assets, testify to the humble and total dedication to the Holy People of God, be careful, Without attachments to the honors, to the powers of the world and their image ».
