Pope Francis, prayer meeting at the Colosseum: in the name of Peace, the greatest good

Held at the Colosseum this afternoon, the prayer meeting The Cry for Peace. Religions and Cultures in Dialogue promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio, and held in the presence of Pope Francis, who in front of the participants, starting at 4:30 p.m., presided over the prayer of Christians together with representatives of other religions. At the end of the prayer, the pontiff went to the stage together with the various representatives where the International Meeting took place and the beginning of the ceremony at the end of which thePeace Appeal was read. Today’s meeting also represented the first official engagement of the new minister of culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, who welcomed the Holy Father to the Colosseum, which is one of the autonomous institutes of the Ministry of Culture.

The director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, conveyed through her statements her excitement for the meeting with Pope Francis: “We are excited and honored to have hosted inside the Colosseum such a solemn moment of prayer and reflection that saw religious leaders from all over the world gathered, in the presence of the Holy Father, together with authoritative representatives of international institutions,” she said. “A message of hope in the name of the greatest good, Peace, which starts right here - a meeting place of cultures and a crossroads of peoples - to spread to the whole of humanity in the name of universal dialogue and brotherhood. This is also a historic moment for Rome, which for the first time sees two symbols of the city united in a solemn communion between the highest sacredness and the oldest history.”

“This year,” Pope Francis said during his address at the Colosseum, “our prayer has become a ’cry,’ because today peace is gravely violated, wounded, trampled: and this in Europe, that is, on the continent that in the last century experienced the tragedies of the two world wars - and we are in the third. Sadly, since then, wars have never stopped bloodying and impoverishing the earth, but the moment we are living is particularly dramatic. That is why we have raised our prayer to God, who always hears the anguished cry of his children. [...] Peace is at the heart of Religions, in their Scriptures and in their message. In the silence of prayer this evening, we have heard the cry of peace: peace stifled in so many regions of the world, humiliated by too much violence, denied even to children and the elderly, who are not spared the terrible harshness of war. The cry for peace is often silenced not only by war rhetoric but also by indifference. It is silenced by the hatred that grows while fighting each other. But the invocation of peace cannot be suppressed: it rises from the hearts of mothers, it is written on the faces of refugees, fleeing families, the wounded or the dying. And this silent cry goes up to Heaven. It knows no magic formulas to get out of conflicts, but it has the sacrosanct right to ask for peace on behalf of the suffering suffered, and it deserves to be heard. It deserves everyone, starting with the rulers, to bend down to listen with seriousness and respect. The cry for peace expresses the pain and horror of war, the mother of all poverty.”

“Let us defuse conflicts with the weapon of dialogue,” is Pope Francis’ appeal, recalling the words of John XXIII in October 1962: “We implore all rulers not to remain deaf to this cry of humanity. Let them do everything in their power to save peace. They will thus prevent the world from the horrors of a war, the terrible consequences of which cannot be foreseen. [...] Promoting, fostering, accepting dialogues, at all levels and in all times, is a rule of wisdom and prudence that attracts the blessing of heaven and earth.” Sixty years later, Pope Francis concluded, “Sixty years later, these words sound strikingly relevant. I make them my own. [...] Let us not resign ourselves to war, let us cultivate seeds of reconciliation; and today let us raise to Heaven the cry for peace, again in the words of St. John XXIII: ’Let all the peoples of the earth be brought into brotherhood and may the most desired peace flourish in them and always reign.’” May it be so, with God’s grace and the good will of the men and women He loves.

Pope Francis, prayer meeting at the Colosseum: in the name of Peace, the greatest good

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