“It would do us good to ask for the grace of tears for this world that does not recognize the path of peace”, the pope said.
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Meanwhile, another group of 30 PMC children from Kiambu Parish has been selected to lead all liturgical dances during the Holy Mass at the University of Nairobi grounds to be presided over by the Pope next Thursday. “They were devoted to money and they venerated this saint”. “The temple is an icon of the church”.
When the church does succumb to this temptation and enters into “this process of decay”, he said the end result “is very ugly”. “If the door of God’s mercy is always open, even so must be the doors of our churches, the love of our communities, our parishes, our institutions, our dioceses, for when they are, we can all go out to bring this mercy of God” to those who most need it, the pontiff said. At least 147 people, majority Christian students, died in the raid.
“Choosing war, he said, is like saying, “‘Let’s make weapons, that way we can balance the budget a bit and move our own interests forward.’ The Lord has strong words for those people: “‘Be cursed!’ He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Those who decide for war, who make wars, are cursed; they are criminals”.
“The power of Jesus was in his word, his witness, his love”. “Where there is Jesus there is no room for worldliness, there is no room for corruption!” he said.
“Specifically, I think the pope is telling us that alongside the issues of abortion and euthanasia – which are central aspects of our commitment to transform this world – poverty and the degradation of the Earth are also central”, McElroy said. “This means that you can not be a priest believing that you were created in a laboratory. (It’s) either God or wealth; either God or power”. A war can be justified – so to speak – with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piecemeal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere – there is no justification – and God weeps.
From the dusty southern reaches of the Sahara to the lush uplands of central Angola, the Roman Catholic church is on the move in Africa, a continent that may be home to as many as half a billion Catholics by the middle of the century.
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“Such barbarity leaves us dismayed, and we ask ourselves how the human heart can plan and carry out such frightful events”, the pope said after reciting the “Angelus” prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.
