The message, addressed to Cardinal Gerardo Majella Angelo, president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference, and published today by the Vatican press office, encourages this four-decade-old initiative.
The Pope said that the campaign is “a significant opportunity for ecumenical collaboration,” as for the second consecutive year it has included the other Christian confessions, represented in Brazil’s National Council of Christian Churches.
“In the world in which we live, often scourged by violence and characterized by indifference,” the Holy Father said, “Christians who share the commitment to promote peace and solidarity become effective instruments of evangelization and an example for all, with the objective to construct a more fraternal society attentive to the needs of the poor and the indigent.”
[A related interview appears in today’s dispatch.]
