Francis today reiterated his call to prayer and fasting this Saturday, affirming the appeal he made Sunday during his weekly Angelus address.
At the end of today’s general audience — the first general audience after the summer break — the Holy Father invited everyone to participate in Saturday evening’s vigil, with fasting and prayer, «for peace in Syria, in the Middle East, and in the whole world.»
«Also for peace in our hearts, because peace begins in the heart,» he said.
He asked the whole Church to live the day «intensely.» And he expressed his gratitude for other Christians, to those of other religions, and all those of good will «who wish to join us, in the places and ways proper to them.»
Francis called on his own flock, the faithful and pilgrims of Rome, to come to St. Peter’s Square at 7 pm, «to invoke from the Lord the great gift of peace.»
He concluded, «May the cry for peace be raised strongly throughout the earth!»
