There was a coordination meeting held yesterday between all the Catholic charitable agencies currently working in the context of the Syrian crisis. The meeting was sponsored by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. Knowing of this meeting, the Holy Father sent a message which was published yesterday.
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for your presence at this meeting, promoted by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. I thank you above all for the daily contribution that you, as Catholic charitable organizations, are giving to Syria and to other neighbouring countries, in order to help those who are affected by the terrible conflict. I greet Cardinal Robert Sarah and I wish you all a very warm welcome, especially those who have travelled from the Middle East in order to be here today - I too am keeping an eye on the situation in the Middle East. It's people are close to my heart, especially after my pilgrimage to the Holy Land just a few days ago.
One year ago, we met to reaffirm the Church's commitment to this crisis and to jointly launch a call for peace in Syria. Now we have gathered once again, in order to assess the work that has been done so far and to renew our commitment to continue on this path, with evermore fervent collaboration. However, we must admit with great sorrow that the Syrian crisis has not yet been solved, but we must continue our efforts, and there is always the risk that we might get used to such a situation: that we might forget the daily victims, the indescribable sufferings, the millions of refugees, among whom are the elderly and children who suffer and sometimes even die from hunger and from diseases caused by war. This indifference hurts! Once again we must repeat the name of this malady that causes so much pain in our world today: the globalization of indifference.
Actions aimed at peace and the work of humanitarian assistance which the Catholic charitable organizations develop in that context are a faithful expression of the love of God for his children who find themselves faced with oppression and anxiety. God listens to their cry,knows their sufferings and wants to help them; it is to Him that you lend your hands and your abilities. It is important that you work in communion with the pastors and the local communities; and this meeting provides an ideal opportunity to identify appropriate forms of stable collaboration, through dialogue between the different parties, with the aim of better organizing your assets and strengths in order to sustain the local Churches and all the victims of war, without ethnic, religious or social prejudice.
We are also here today to renew our call to the consciences of the protagonists of the conflict, to world institutions and to the public. We are all aware that the future of humanity is built through peace and not through war: war destroys, kills, impoverishes people and countries. I ask all parties, considering the common good, to allow the work of humanitarian assistance as soon as possible and to silence weapons while committing themselves to negotiating, keeping before them of prime importance, the good of Syria, of all her inhabitants and all those who unfortunately have had to take refuge elsewhere and who have the right to return to their homeland as soon as possible. I think in particular of the dear Christian community, the face of a Church that suffers and hopes. Their survival throughout the Middle East is a profound preoccupation for the universal Church: Christianity must be permitted to continue living where it originated.
Dear brothers and sisters, your charitable activity and assistance is an important sign of the closeness of the entire Church, and particularly of the Holy See to the Syrian people and to the other peoples of the Middle East. I renew once again my gratitude for all that you do and I invoke the blessing of the Lord upon you and upon your work. May the Madonna protect you. I am praying for you; please pray for me!
Message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to the participants at the meeting of
Catholic charitable agencies
providing aid in Syria
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for your presence at this meeting, promoted by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. I thank you above all for the daily contribution that you, as Catholic charitable organizations, are giving to Syria and to other neighbouring countries, in order to help those who are affected by the terrible conflict. I greet Cardinal Robert Sarah and I wish you all a very warm welcome, especially those who have travelled from the Middle East in order to be here today - I too am keeping an eye on the situation in the Middle East. It's people are close to my heart, especially after my pilgrimage to the Holy Land just a few days ago.
One year ago, we met to reaffirm the Church's commitment to this crisis and to jointly launch a call for peace in Syria. Now we have gathered once again, in order to assess the work that has been done so far and to renew our commitment to continue on this path, with evermore fervent collaboration. However, we must admit with great sorrow that the Syrian crisis has not yet been solved, but we must continue our efforts, and there is always the risk that we might get used to such a situation: that we might forget the daily victims, the indescribable sufferings, the millions of refugees, among whom are the elderly and children who suffer and sometimes even die from hunger and from diseases caused by war. This indifference hurts! Once again we must repeat the name of this malady that causes so much pain in our world today: the globalization of indifference.
Actions aimed at peace and the work of humanitarian assistance which the Catholic charitable organizations develop in that context are a faithful expression of the love of God for his children who find themselves faced with oppression and anxiety. God listens to their cry,knows their sufferings and wants to help them; it is to Him that you lend your hands and your abilities. It is important that you work in communion with the pastors and the local communities; and this meeting provides an ideal opportunity to identify appropriate forms of stable collaboration, through dialogue between the different parties, with the aim of better organizing your assets and strengths in order to sustain the local Churches and all the victims of war, without ethnic, religious or social prejudice.
We are also here today to renew our call to the consciences of the protagonists of the conflict, to world institutions and to the public. We are all aware that the future of humanity is built through peace and not through war: war destroys, kills, impoverishes people and countries. I ask all parties, considering the common good, to allow the work of humanitarian assistance as soon as possible and to silence weapons while committing themselves to negotiating, keeping before them of prime importance, the good of Syria, of all her inhabitants and all those who unfortunately have had to take refuge elsewhere and who have the right to return to their homeland as soon as possible. I think in particular of the dear Christian community, the face of a Church that suffers and hopes. Their survival throughout the Middle East is a profound preoccupation for the universal Church: Christianity must be permitted to continue living where it originated.
Dear brothers and sisters, your charitable activity and assistance is an important sign of the closeness of the entire Church, and particularly of the Holy See to the Syrian people and to the other peoples of the Middle East. I renew once again my gratitude for all that you do and I invoke the blessing of the Lord upon you and upon your work. May the Madonna protect you. I am praying for you; please pray for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment