The Vatican

Pope prays for peace before Israelis and Arabs with daughters killed in war

During the Audience of this Holy Wednesday, the Pope invited us to contemplate Christ crucified in order to assimilate his infinite patient love, and presented the testimony of Arab and Israeli parents who have lost their daughters in the war, and are friends. He also asked to pray for the innocent victims of the war in the Holy Land, and greeted in a special way the participants in the UNIV 2024 congress.  

Francisco Otamendi-March 27, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes
General Audience Pope Holy Wednesday 2024

Paul VI Hall at the General Audience of Pope Francis on Holy Wednesday 2024 @OSV

The Holy Father celebrated the General Audience The Pope thanked the pilgrims for their patience, because the rain in Rome prevented it from taking place in St. Peter's Square. The Pope thanked the pilgrims for their patience, because the Hall was full of faithful who accompany him in the celebrations of Holy Week.

The virtue addressed by the Pontiff today was. patienceThe first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, when the apostle writes that love is patient, helpful, unruffled, forgives all things and endures all things.

The Pope's central message referred to peace and to the contemplation of Christ crucified in order to learn to be patient. May "we live these days in prayer; I invite you to open yourselves to the grace of Christ the Redeemer, source of joy and mercy. Let us pray for peace, for the martyred Ukraine, which is suffering so much, also in Israel, Palestine, may there be peace in the Holy Land, may the Lord give peace to us all, as a gift through his Easter. To all my blessing".

In his catechesis on the virtue of patience, the Pope mentioned on several occasions the crucified Jesus who forgives, the patient Christ, capable of responding to evil with good. We are impatient, we become impatient, and we respond to evil with evil. Patience is a call of Christ.

Greetings to UNIV 2024, Lebanese and faithful from many countries.

In his greetings to the pilgrims of various languages, he referred "in a special way to the participants in the UNIV 2024 meeting. I invite you to live these holy days contemplating Christ crucified, who by his example teaches us to love and to be patient in the glorious expectation of the resurrection. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin watch over you".

As in previous years, some 3,000 students from many countries are gathering in Rome for UNIV 2024, an international meeting of university students who are spending Holy Week and Easter in Rome with the Pope, and this year are reflecting on the theme "The Human Factor" in Artificial Intelligence. The Pontiff also addressed pilgrims in a special way. LebaneseEnglish-speaking, and other places, 

Work of mercy: suffering with patience the faults of others

Today we reflect on the virtue of patience, the Pope began his catechesis. In the story of the Passion, as we heard last Sunday, "the image of the patient Christ challenges us. This virtue manifests itself as fortitude and meekness in suffering, both. It is one of the characteristics of love, as St. Paul affirms in the hymn of charity". 

An example of patience can also be seen in the parable of the merciful Father, who never tires of waiting and is always ready to forgive, he added.

It is not easy to live this virtue, but let us keep in mind that it is a call to configure ourselves with Christ, a concrete way to cultivate it".

And how is it cultivated? By practicing in our lives the work of spiritual mercy that invites us to suffer with patience the defects of our neighbor. It is not easy, but it can be done. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us, the Holy Father prayed.

The Pope made no mention of the fact that today marks the fourth anniversary of that extraordinary moment of prayerThe event was held alone in St. Peter's Square on March 27, 2020, in which he invoked the healing of the world besieged by the coronavirus.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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