In a message to the US National Catholic Congress on Hispanic Ministry – taking place in Washington, DC – Pope Francis invites participants to reflect on the need to be Christians who can create bridges in all sectors of society.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis has again seized the opportunity to call on humanity to change its mindset and to plan for peace.
Addressing participants in a Catholic National Congress on Hispanic Ministry, he notes that we are living an “absurd time in which, without having yet come out of a pandemic that has afflicted all humanity with great suffering and sorrow, we find ourselves in the midst of the suffering and tragedy of a war.”
“Every war is born of injustice, every war, including those that at times we wage in our families and communities, which are fought in silence; they too are born of injustice.”
The Congress, entitled Raíces y Alas 2022 [Roots and Wings 2022], has been convened from 26 to 30 April on the theme “Prophetic Voices: Being bridges for a new era”.
“You have chosen a good theme,” the Pope says, inviting participants to be actors in transforming mindsets of war into “mindsets and plans of peace.”
“We all think with mindsets of war. It is existential Cainism. Brotherhood is for all, and it is made manifest in mindsets that change the life of families, communities, peoples, nations, and the world,” he says.
Building bridges
The Pope goes on to invite believers to reflect on the need to be “Christians who transform the structure and who can create bridges in all sectors of society, illuminating thought, so that it may lead to actions that can bring peace and unity at all levels, starting from our families and communities.”
“I need peace, you need peace, the world needs peace, breathing peace is healthy. We need tangible signs of peace. Christians must set the example.”
“I ask you to be bridges,” Pope Francis concludes before imparting his apostolic blessing, “to create bridges, to pray and work for peace, and not to forget to pray for me.”
