At the opening of the Synod session, on Friday October 9, Pope Francis called on the international community to resolve conflicts using weapons of diplomacy and respecting the law.
Pope has sent out an appeal for peace in Syria, Iraq and Jerusalem, in his address to Fathers and other participants at the opening of the morning session of the Synod assembly on the family, at the start of the second round of meetings in General Congregation in the Vatican. Francis invited the Synod Fathers to pray for reconciliation and peace in the Middle East, emphasising that war” leads to destruction and multiplies the sufferings of peoples”. The Pope together will all the Synod’s participants, appealed to the international community to resolve conflicts with weapons of diplomacy, showing respect for international law.
“Dear Synod Fathers, dear brothers and sisters, In resuming this morning the work of the General Congregation,” Francis wrote, “I invite you to dedicate the prayer of the Third Hour to the intention of reconciliation and peace in the Middle East. We are painfully struck and we follow with great concern what is happening in Syria, in Iraq, in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where we see an escalation of violence that involves innocent civilians and continues to fuel a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. War brings destruction and multiplies the sufferings of peoples. Hope and progress come only from choices for peace. Let us unite, therefore, in an intense and confident prayer to the Lord, a prayer that intends to be an expression of solidarity at once with [our] brother Patriarchs and Bishops from those regions, who are present here [at the Synod Assembly], as well as with their priests and faithful, and to everyone who lives there. At the same time,” Francis added, “together with the [whole] Synod, I send a heartfelt appeal to the international community, that the nations of the world might find a way effectively to help the parties concerned to broaden their horizons beyond the immediate interests and to use the instruments of international law [and] diplomacy, to resolve the conflicts underway at present. Finally, I wish to extend our prayer also to those areas of the African continent, which are experiencing analogous situations of conflict. May Mary, Queen of Peace and loving Mother of her children intercede for all.”
The opening homily for this morning’s Synod session, was pronounced by His Beatitude Raphael I Louis Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans: “Faith, like love, is a commitment which grows day by day along life’s path: from faith to faith. Like reconciling love and justice. If love does not exceed justice, then the Gospel becomes empty. We need to feel the experience of Iraqi Christians who in one night left everything behind in order to remain faithful to their faith.”
