(ZENIT News / Rome, 11.22.2023).- Francis has asked the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network to organize a campaign of special prayer for peace in the world and in the Holy Land. “Let us pray – he says in a video made in Spanish and available with subtitles also in English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew – that the difficultiesresolve themselves in dialogue and negotiation and not with a mountain of dead on each side.”
In his request, Francis recalls, “We all feel the pain of the wars,” and that “there are two very near that force us to react: Ukraine and the Holy Land.” What is going on in the Holy Land, he adds, “is very painful.” In addition, he remarks, “the Palestinian people, the people of Israel” are “two fraternal peoples” and “have the right to peace, have the right to live in peace.”
This is not the first time that the Pope has made a call for peace. Not a week passes that he does not ask for prayers insistently for peace in war-torn Ukraine, or for so many other countries, as most recently for Sudan. And how many times has he denounced war and the conflicts that are born in the hearts of men and women and in fear? “Understand that terrorism and war never lead to a solution. War is a defeat. Every war is a defeat!” How often, on the contrary, in the midst of a divided and fragmented world, has Francis asked for the promotion of the values of peace, living together and the common good?
Today he invites us again to pray with ever more insistence for peace in the world and in the Holy Land. Francis asks us to pray for the grave situation in Palestine and in Israel, where very many persons have lost their lives. How often, with pain, has he asked that spaces be opened to guarantee humanitarian assistance and that the hostages be released?
On 17 October, he invited all believers to unite with the Church in the Holy Land and to dedicate the day to prayer and fasting, since “prayer is the meek and holy force to oppose the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism and war.” As we now approach Advent, the hope of the birth of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, he again invites us to pray.
Where can the Novena for Peace be downloaded?
Novena for Peace on Click To Pray: https://clicktopray.org/campaigns/902
Novena for Peace Booklet: EN: https://issuu.com/popesprayernet/docs/novena_-_blessed_are_the_peacemakers_en
