"Let attacks and weapons stop in Israel and Palestine!", Pope praysThe Pope has reported in the Audience this morning, which he received today "a two delegationsOne from Israelis who have relatives held hostage in the Gaza Strip, and the other from Palestinians with relatives imprisoned in Israel. I have heard how both sides suffer. Wars do this. We have gone beyond wars, this is not war making, this is terrorism."
And immediately, he prayed: "Please, let us strive for peace, let us pray a lot for peace. May the Lord help us to solve the problems. Let us pray for the Palestinian people, let us pray for the Israeli people, so that peace may reign".
The Pope has encouraged all of God's people to pray. "Let us not forget to persevere in prayer for those who suffer because of the wars in so many parts of the world, especially for the beloved peoples of Ukraine, Israel and Palestine".
Just this morning, the announcement of a new ceasefireThe agreement is a four-day humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas, which will come into force in the next 24 hours and may be extended in the future. According to the latest information, the agreement provides for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The Pontiff's appeal was preceded by the reminder that "next Sunday, the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, we will celebrate the Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe. I exhort you to put Jesus at the center of our lives, and from him you will receive light and courage in every daily choice".
"For all, excluding no one."
In the usual Audience catechesis, the Holy Father's central message was that the proclamation of the Gospel is "for everyone, universal". If last week the Pope focused on joy, today the theme was universality, with two Gospel texts.
The first is the command of Jesus as recorded in St. Matthew: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And see that I am with you always, even to the end of the age".
"When we truly encounter the Lord Jesus, the amazement of this encounter permeates our life and asks to be carried beyond us. This is what he desires, that his Gospel be for everyone. In Him, in fact, there is a "humanizing power", a fullness of life that is destined for every man and every woman, because Christ was born, died and rose for everyone," he said. It is necessary to "go out of ourselves, to be open, expansive, extroverted", like Jesus.
"With the Canaanite, universal impulse".
At that moment, the Pontiff commented on the "surprising encounter" of the Lord with the Canaanite woman, a foreigner, who had a sick daughter. Jesus was impressed by what the Canaanite woman said: "Even the dogs eat the crumbs of the children under the table".
"We are chosen by Him to reach out to others," the Pope stressed. "The call is not a privilege but a service, love is universal, the call is for everyone. The Lord has chosen me to transmit his message. Vocation is a gift to assume a service".
"Let us remember: when God chooses someone, it is to love everyone. We need the generous audacity of this universal impulse," the Holy Father added. "Also to prevent the temptation to identify Christianity with a culture, with an ethnic group, with a system. In this way, however, it loses its truly Catholic nature, that is to say, its specific universal trait, and becomes introverted, ends up bending to the schemes of the world and lends itself to becoming an element of division, of enmity, contradicting the Gospel it proclaims. Let us not forget: God chooses someone to love everyone."
Later, in his catechesis in the various languages, the Pope incorporated some ideas around the same message. For example, he told Arab Christians that "every baptized person is an active subject of evangelization, but not alone, individually, but as a community.
