Shortly after 8:00am this morning, the Holy Father, Pope Francis departed from Ciampino Airport and flew to the Redipuglia Memorial, located in the province of Gorizia, to celebrate a Mass marking 100 years since the beginning of the First World War.
At his arrival at the airport in Ronchi del Legionari, the Pope was welcomed by His Excellency, Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, Archbishop of Gorizia; by the Honorable Roberta Pinotti, Minister of Defence for the Italian Government, and by other civil authorities.
First, the Pope travelled by car to the Austro-Hungarian cemetery at Fogliano di Redipuglia, where he paused in prayer for the almost 15,000 persons who died during the First World War. He also laid a wreath on one of the graves.
His Holiness then visited the Redipuglia Military Memorial which holds the earthly remains of 100,187 Italians who perished during the First World War. There, he was met by His Excellency, Santo Marcianò, Military Ordinary for Italy.
At 10:00am, the Pope presided at a Mass which was attended by Cardinals Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and Josip Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb, as well as many other bishops from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, and from the Dioceses of the regions of Friuli, Venezia and Giulia, in addition to Military Ordinaries and chaplains.
Following the distribution of communion, a prayer was recited for the fallen and for the victims of the two World Wars. At the conclusion of the celebration, the Military Ordinary for Italy, His Excellency, Santo Marcianò addressed the Holy Father, thanking him for his presence and his pastoral care.
Finally, Pope Francis presented each Military Ordinary and all the bishops present with a lantern - referred to as Saint Francis' Light - which will be present in their respective dioceses during future celebrations commemorating the First World War. The lanterns, presented by the Holy Father also to the Heads of State and Commanding Generals who were present for this celebration, are gifts of the Franciscan Convent at Assisi and the oil which accompanied the lamps is a gift of the Father Luigi Ciotti Association.
The Holy Father then left the Redipuglia Memorial and travelled by car to the airport at Ronchi dei Legionari, where he bid farewell to the civil and ecclesial authorities who were waiting to greet him, before departing around mid-day for the return flight to Ciampino.
After experiencing the beauty of travelling throughout this region, where men and women work and raise their families, where children play and the elderly dream … I now find myself here, in this place, able to say only one thing: War is madness.
Whereas God carries forward the work of creation, and we men and women are called to participate in his work, war destroys. It also ruins the most beautiful work of his hands: human beings. War ruins everything, even the bonds between brothers. War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying.
Greed, intolerance, the lust for power ... These motives underlie the decision to go to war, and they are too often justified by an ideology; but first there is a distorted passion or impulse. Ideology is presented as a justification and when there is no ideology, there is the response of Cain: What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper? (cf. Gen 4:9). War does not look directly at anyone, be they elderly, children, mothers, fathers…. What does it matter to me?
Above the entrance to this cemetery, there hangs in the air those ironic words of war, What does it matter to me? Each one of the dead buried here had their own plans, their own dreams … but their lives were cut short. Humanity said, What does it matter to me?
Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction …
In all honesty, the front page of newspapers ought to carry the headline, What does it matter to me?Cain would say, Am I my brother’s keeper?
This attitude is the exact opposite of what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel. We have heard: he is in the least of his brothers; he, the King, the Judge of the world, he is the one who hungers, who thirsts, he is the stranger, the one who is sick, the prisoner … The one who cares for his brother or sister enters into the joy of the Lord; the one who does not do so, however, who by his omissions says, What does it matter to me?, remains excluded.
Here lie many victims. Today, we remember them. There are tears, there is sadness. From this place we remember all the victims of every war.
Today, too, the victims are many … How is this possible? It is so because in today’s world, behind the scenes, there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power, and there is the manufacture and sale of arms, which seem to be so important!
And these plotters of terrorism, these schemers of conflicts, just like arms dealers, have engraved in their hearts, What does it matter to me?
It is the task of the wise to recognize errors, to feel pain, to repent, to beg for pardon and to cry.
With this What does it matter to me? in their hearts, the merchants of war perhaps have made a great deal of money, but their corrupted hearts have lost the capacity to cry. Cain did not cry. The shadow of Cain hangs over us today in this cemetery. It is seen here. It is seen from 1914 right up to our own time. It is seen even in the present.
With the heart of a son, a brother, a father, I ask each of you, indeed for all of us, to have a conversion of heart: to move on from What does it matter to me?, to tears: for each one of the fallen of this senseless massacre, for all the victims of the mindless wars, in every age. Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep.
At his arrival at the airport in Ronchi del Legionari, the Pope was welcomed by His Excellency, Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, Archbishop of Gorizia; by the Honorable Roberta Pinotti, Minister of Defence for the Italian Government, and by other civil authorities.
First, the Pope travelled by car to the Austro-Hungarian cemetery at Fogliano di Redipuglia, where he paused in prayer for the almost 15,000 persons who died during the First World War. He also laid a wreath on one of the graves.
His Holiness then visited the Redipuglia Military Memorial which holds the earthly remains of 100,187 Italians who perished during the First World War. There, he was met by His Excellency, Santo Marcianò, Military Ordinary for Italy.
At 10:00am, the Pope presided at a Mass which was attended by Cardinals Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and Josip Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb, as well as many other bishops from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, and from the Dioceses of the regions of Friuli, Venezia and Giulia, in addition to Military Ordinaries and chaplains.
Following the distribution of communion, a prayer was recited for the fallen and for the victims of the two World Wars. At the conclusion of the celebration, the Military Ordinary for Italy, His Excellency, Santo Marcianò addressed the Holy Father, thanking him for his presence and his pastoral care.
Finally, Pope Francis presented each Military Ordinary and all the bishops present with a lantern - referred to as Saint Francis' Light - which will be present in their respective dioceses during future celebrations commemorating the First World War. The lanterns, presented by the Holy Father also to the Heads of State and Commanding Generals who were present for this celebration, are gifts of the Franciscan Convent at Assisi and the oil which accompanied the lamps is a gift of the Father Luigi Ciotti Association.
The Holy Father then left the Redipuglia Memorial and travelled by car to the airport at Ronchi dei Legionari, where he bid farewell to the civil and ecclesial authorities who were waiting to greet him, before departing around mid-day for the return flight to Ciampino.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Mass celebrated for the fallen
at the War Memorial of Redipuglia
After experiencing the beauty of travelling throughout this region, where men and women work and raise their families, where children play and the elderly dream … I now find myself here, in this place, able to say only one thing: War is madness.
Whereas God carries forward the work of creation, and we men and women are called to participate in his work, war destroys. It also ruins the most beautiful work of his hands: human beings. War ruins everything, even the bonds between brothers. War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying.
Greed, intolerance, the lust for power ... These motives underlie the decision to go to war, and they are too often justified by an ideology; but first there is a distorted passion or impulse. Ideology is presented as a justification and when there is no ideology, there is the response of Cain: What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper? (cf. Gen 4:9). War does not look directly at anyone, be they elderly, children, mothers, fathers…. What does it matter to me?
Above the entrance to this cemetery, there hangs in the air those ironic words of war, What does it matter to me? Each one of the dead buried here had their own plans, their own dreams … but their lives were cut short. Humanity said, What does it matter to me?
Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction …
In all honesty, the front page of newspapers ought to carry the headline, What does it matter to me?Cain would say, Am I my brother’s keeper?
This attitude is the exact opposite of what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel. We have heard: he is in the least of his brothers; he, the King, the Judge of the world, he is the one who hungers, who thirsts, he is the stranger, the one who is sick, the prisoner … The one who cares for his brother or sister enters into the joy of the Lord; the one who does not do so, however, who by his omissions says, What does it matter to me?, remains excluded.
Here lie many victims. Today, we remember them. There are tears, there is sadness. From this place we remember all the victims of every war.
Today, too, the victims are many … How is this possible? It is so because in today’s world, behind the scenes, there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power, and there is the manufacture and sale of arms, which seem to be so important!
And these plotters of terrorism, these schemers of conflicts, just like arms dealers, have engraved in their hearts, What does it matter to me?
It is the task of the wise to recognize errors, to feel pain, to repent, to beg for pardon and to cry.
With this What does it matter to me? in their hearts, the merchants of war perhaps have made a great deal of money, but their corrupted hearts have lost the capacity to cry. Cain did not cry. The shadow of Cain hangs over us today in this cemetery. It is seen here. It is seen from 1914 right up to our own time. It is seen even in the present.
With the heart of a son, a brother, a father, I ask each of you, indeed for all of us, to have a conversion of heart: to move on from What does it matter to me?, to tears: for each one of the fallen of this senseless massacre, for all the victims of the mindless wars, in every age. Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep.
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