All over the world, millions of innocent people are facing persecution, imprisonment, and even death because of their religious beliefs.
In 2013, the world witnessed the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory, according to the State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. And the trend in 2014 is only getting worse.
“Today we are in a world at war, everywhere! Someone told me: you know, Father, that we are witnessing the Third World War - but waged in chunks, in different chapters”. Francis’ words on war, and on the bombs that kill both guilty and innocent alike, hitting women and children, describe the grim reality of today, rather than display a fear for a new imminent world war.
The plight of religious minorities who are forced to leave Iraq, ISIS’ violence, the US bombings. The Gaza war straight after the prayer for peace. The Holy See’s relations with China, Francis’ upcoming visits, his new encyclical and the holidays the Pope spent at home. This is what Francis talked about on the flight back from Seoul to Rome, answering 15 questions put to him by the journalists travelling with him.
He already sent a message on his way to Korea but Francis didn’t want to miss out on another chance to show his willingness for dialogue with the People’s Republic of China. On the return flight back to Rome, the Pope composed another telegram to the country's president, Xi Jinping: “Returning to Rome after my visit to Korea, I wish to renew to your Excellency and your fellow citizens the assurance of my best wishes, as I invoke divine blessings upon your land,” the Pope wrote, as he flew through Chinese airspace.
On the final day of his visit to Korea Francis prayed for an ever greater recognition of Koreans as members of one family. As the mass he celebrated in Seoul’s Myeong-dong cathedral, Francis said there are not two Koreas, but one family of brothers and sisters that “speak the same language”. “My visit now culminates in this celebration of Mass, in which we implore from God the grace of peace and reconciliation. This prayer has a particular resonance on the Korean peninsula,” marked by “division and conflict which has lasted for well over sixty years.”
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the ancient Castle of Haemi was used a jail for Christians who were locked up and tortured here, hung to trees by their hair and killed in the most gruesome of manners. Today all that tormented the droves of young people that came from all over Asia to meet Pope Francis, were some clouds and the rain that wouldn’t stop pouring down on the fortress, a key location in Korean martyrology.
“I earnestly hope that those countries of your continent with whom the Holy See does not yet enjoy a full relationship, may not hesitate to further a dialogue for the benefit of all. And here I do not just mean political dialogue but fraternal dialogue as well.”
“Korea’s first apostles were lay people!” Hundred of thousands of faithful (800,000 according to Fr. Lombardi’s estimates, a million according to the organisers) gathered today in the muggy heat to hear to Francis speak at the mass for the beatification of 124 Korean martyrs. They listened in silence, in the great Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. The Pope took the opportunity on the third day of his Korean visit to stress the important role the laity plays in the Church’s mission. During the long wait before the Pope’s arrival, faithful recited the Rosary and sang.
“There are not two Koreas, there is one - divided Korea - and just like a family that suffers separation, we must pray for our brothers: "Lord help us achieve unity. That there may be no victory and no defeat, only one family”.”
Qaraqosh, Tel Kepe, and Karamlesh are just three of the Iraqi towns on the Nineveh plains captured in early August by the Islamic State (IS), but they represent the last major concentration of Aramaic speakers in the world. Pushing northeast of Mosul towards Kurdistan, the jihadist army now occupies the ancient heart of Christian Iraq. According to U.N. officials, roughly 200,000 Christians fled their homes on the Nineveh plains on the night of Aug. 6, justifiably fearful that IS fighters would expel them, kill them, or force them to convert.
