Pope Francis says "Every day I pray that this war will finally end...and, therefore, I ask for a ceasefire" at Vatican "Invocation for Peace" with Israeli and Palestinian Ambassadors
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MOMENT OF PRAYER ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE “INVOCATION FOR PEACE IN THE HOLY LAND”
SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
At the 10th anniversary commemoration of the "Invocation for Peace" in the Vatican Gardens with the then-leaders of Israel and Palestine, Pope Francis reveals that he prays each day that the Holy Land war will end and reiterates his firm belief that it is a deception to think that war can resolve problems."Every day I pray that this war will finally end..." Pope Francis said during the event.
Vatican Gardens - Friday, June 7, 2024
________________________________________
Eminences, Excellencies, dear brothers and sisters!
I thank you for being here to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the invocation for peace in the Holy Land. Thank you!
The then President of the State of Israel, the late Shimon Peres, and the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, accepted my invitation to come here to implore God for the gift of peace.
A few weeks earlier I had been a pilgrim in the Holy Land and there I had expressed my great desire for the two to meet, to make a significant and historic gesture of dialogue and peace. I carry in my heart so much gratitude to the Lord for that day, while I preserve the memory of that emotional embrace that the two Presidents exchanged, also in the presence of His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch, and the representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities from from Jerusalem.
Today, remembering that event is important, especially in light of what is unfortunately happening in Israel and Palestine. For months now we have been witnessing a growing trail of hostility and we have seen many innocent people dying before our eyes. All this suffering, the brutality of war, the violence it unleashes and the hatred it sows in future generations should convince us that «every war leaves the world worse than it found it. War is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful surrender, a defeat in the face of the forces of evil" (Encyclical letter Fratelli tutti, 261).
For this reason, instead of deluding ourselves that war can solve problems and lead to peace, we must be critical and vigilant towards an ideology that is unfortunately dominant today, according to which «conflict, violence and fractures are part of the normal functioning of a society" (ibid., 236). At stake are always power struggles between different social groups, partisan economic interests, and international political balancing acts that aim for apparent peace, escaping from real problems.
Instead, in a time marked by tragic conflicts, there is a need for a renewed commitment to building a peaceful world. To everyone, believers and people of good will, I would like to say: let's not stop dreaming of peace and building peaceful relationships!
Every day I pray that this war will finally come to an end. I think of all those who suffer in Israel and Palestine: Christians, Jews and Muslims. I think about how urgent it is that the decision to stop the weapons finally arises from the rubble of Gaza and, therefore, I ask for a ceasefire; I think of the family members and the Israeli hostages and ask that they be freed as soon as possible; I think of the Palestinian population and ask that they be protected and receive all the necessary humanitarian aid; I think of the many people displaced by the fighting, and I ask that their homes be rebuilt soon so that they can return in peace. I also think of those Palestinians and Israelis of good will who, amidst tears and suffering, do not stop waiting in hope for the arrival of a new day and strive to anticipate the dawn of a peaceful world in which all peoples « they will break their swords and make them into ploughshares, and they will make sickles out of their spears; nation will no longer lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn the art of war" (Is 2:4).
We must all work and commit ourselves to achieve a lasting peace, where the State of Palestine and the State of Israel can live side by side, breaking down the walls of enmity and hatred; we must all have Jerusalem at heart, so that it becomes the city of fraternal encounters between Christians, Jews and Muslims, protected by a special statute guaranteed at an international level.
Brothers and sisters, today we are here to invoke peace. We ask it of God as a gift of his mercy. Peace, in fact, is not made only on paper agreements or on the tables of human and political compromises. It is born from transformed hearts, it arises when each of us is reached and touched by the love of God, which dissolves our selfishness, shatters our prejudices and gives us the taste and joy of friendship, brotherhood and mutual solidarity. There can be no peace if we do not first let God himself disarm our heart, to make it hospitable, compassionate and merciful.
And so this evening we want to renew our prayer, we still want to raise our plea for peace to God, like ten years ago. We want to ask the Lord to make the olive tree that we planted that day grow again: it has already become strong and lush, because it was sheltered from the winds and was watered with care. In the same way, we must ask God that peace can germinate in the heart of every man, in every people and nation, in every strip of land, sheltered from the winds of war and watered by those who commit themselves every day to living in brotherhood. .
Let us not stop dreaming of peace, which gives us the unexpected joy of feeling part of a single human family. I saw this joy a few days ago in Verona, on the faces of those two fathers, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who embraced each other in front of everyone. This is what Israel and Palestine need: an embrace of peace!
Let us then ask the Lord that the Heads of Nations and the parties in conflict can find the path to harmony and unity. May everyone recognize each other as brothers. We ask the Lord and, through the intercession of Mary, the girl of Nazareth, the Queen of Peace, we repeat that prayer from ten years ago:
Prayer for Peace
from 8 June 2014
“Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years
to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms.
How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced;
how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered;
how many hopes have been buried…But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace.
Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”;
“With war, everything is lost”.
Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love,
you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace;
enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.
Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens
who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace,
our trepidation into confident trust,
and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope,
so that with patience and perseverance
we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.
In this way may peace triumph at last,
and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war”
be banished from the heart of every man and woman.
Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands.
Renew our hearts and minds,
so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”,
and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.”
Eminences, Excellencies, dear brothers and sisters!
I thank you for being here to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the invocation for peace in the Holy Land. Thank you!
The then President of the State of Israel, the late Shimon Peres, and the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, accepted my invitation to come here to implore God for the gift of peace.
A few weeks earlier I had been a pilgrim in the Holy Land and there I had expressed my great desire for the two to meet, to make a significant and historic gesture of dialogue and peace. I carry in my heart so much gratitude to the Lord for that day, while I preserve the memory of that emotional embrace that the two Presidents exchanged, also in the presence of His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch, and the representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities from from Jerusalem.
Today, remembering that event is important, especially in light of what is unfortunately happening in Israel and Palestine. For months now we have been witnessing a growing trail of hostility and we have seen many innocent people dying before our eyes. All this suffering, the brutality of war, the violence it unleashes and the hatred it sows in future generations should convince us that «every war leaves the world worse than it found it. War is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful surrender, a defeat in the face of the forces of evil" (Encyclical letter Fratelli tutti, 261).
For this reason, instead of deluding ourselves that war can solve problems and lead to peace, we must be critical and vigilant towards an ideology that is unfortunately dominant today, according to which «conflict, violence and fractures are part of the normal functioning of a society" (ibid., 236). At stake are always power struggles between different social groups, partisan economic interests, and international political balancing acts that aim for apparent peace, escaping from real problems.
Instead, in a time marked by tragic conflicts, there is a need for a renewed commitment to building a peaceful world. To everyone, believers and people of good will, I would like to say: let's not stop dreaming of peace and building peaceful relationships!
Every day I pray that this war will finally come to an end. I think of all those who suffer in Israel and Palestine: Christians, Jews and Muslims. I think about how urgent it is that the decision to stop the weapons finally arises from the rubble of Gaza and, therefore, I ask for a ceasefire; I think of the family members and the Israeli hostages and ask that they be freed as soon as possible; I think of the Palestinian population and ask that they be protected and receive all the necessary humanitarian aid; I think of the many people displaced by the fighting, and I ask that their homes be rebuilt soon so that they can return in peace. I also think of those Palestinians and Israelis of good will who, amidst tears and suffering, do not stop waiting in hope for the arrival of a new day and strive to anticipate the dawn of a peaceful world in which all peoples « they will break their swords and make them into ploughshares, and they will make sickles out of their spears; nation will no longer lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn the art of war" (Is 2:4).
We must all work and commit ourselves to achieve a lasting peace, where the State of Palestine and the State of Israel can live side by side, breaking down the walls of enmity and hatred; we must all have Jerusalem at heart, so that it becomes the city of fraternal encounters between Christians, Jews and Muslims, protected by a special statute guaranteed at an international level.
Brothers and sisters, today we are here to invoke peace. We ask it of God as a gift of his mercy. Peace, in fact, is not made only on paper agreements or on the tables of human and political compromises. It is born from transformed hearts, it arises when each of us is reached and touched by the love of God, which dissolves our selfishness, shatters our prejudices and gives us the taste and joy of friendship, brotherhood and mutual solidarity. There can be no peace if we do not first let God himself disarm our heart, to make it hospitable, compassionate and merciful.
And so this evening we want to renew our prayer, we still want to raise our plea for peace to God, like ten years ago. We want to ask the Lord to make the olive tree that we planted that day grow again: it has already become strong and lush, because it was sheltered from the winds and was watered with care. In the same way, we must ask God that peace can germinate in the heart of every man, in every people and nation, in every strip of land, sheltered from the winds of war and watered by those who commit themselves every day to living in brotherhood. .
Let us not stop dreaming of peace, which gives us the unexpected joy of feeling part of a single human family. I saw this joy a few days ago in Verona, on the faces of those two fathers, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who embraced each other in front of everyone. This is what Israel and Palestine need: an embrace of peace!
Let us then ask the Lord that the Heads of Nations and the parties in conflict can find the path to harmony and unity. May everyone recognize each other as brothers. We ask the Lord and, through the intercession of Mary, the girl of Nazareth, the Queen of Peace, we repeat that prayer from ten years ago:
Prayer for Peace
from 8 June 2014
“Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years
to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms.
How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced;
how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered;
how many hopes have been buried…But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace.
Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”;
“With war, everything is lost”.
Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love,
you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace;
enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.
Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens
who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace,
our trepidation into confident trust,
and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope,
so that with patience and perseverance
we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.
In this way may peace triumph at last,
and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war”
be banished from the heart of every man and woman.
Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands.
Renew our hearts and minds,
so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”,
and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.”
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