war

Pope at Mass: ‘Cost of war weighs on the weak’

Pope at Mass: ‘Cost of war weighs on the weak’ In his homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday, Pope Francis reflects on the cost of war, calling it a ‘modern-day flood’ whose price is paid by the poorest among us. Pope Francis compared the Biblical flood of Noah’s time to the many [...]

Pope Francis warns warmongers: the only fruit of war is death

Pope Francis celebrated the Feast of All Souls Day on Thursday commemorating all those who have died in war, reminding humanity not to forget past lessons and warning that the only fruit yielded by conflict is death. His words of warning and his powerful condemnation of warmongers came during his homily at the Sicily-Rome American War Cemetery some 50 kilometers south [...]

Conferences won't achieve peace if the heart is at war

Resuming the daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta after the summer break, Pope Francis, in his homily, spoke about the importance of working for peace in small, daily actions – because, he said, it is in small daily gestures that peace on a global scale is born. It is not so much great international meetings [...]

Francis and Hilarion United Against War

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of World War I’s beginning, Pope Francis issued a cry against war. It’s time to stop war, fighting and conflicts, which do nothing but kill and maim, leaving children unexploded ordnance for toys and lives without happiness, Pope Francis said at the end of July in a [...]

A New Tone of Urgency

“It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences.” —Pope Francis, June 16, address to a conference in Rome sponsored by Catholic Relief Services, the University of Notre [...]

Prayer Vigil for Peace: Pope Francis Calls Selfishness the Cause of War

Leading a crowd in prayer for peace in Syria on September 7 in Rome, Pope Francis said that war is ultimately caused by selfishness and can be overcome only though expressions of fraternity and never with violence. “Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer [...]

Benedict Cries Out Against War

On Christmas Eve in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI preached a powerful homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, saying that Christmas shows God’s will to save people from sin and violence. The next day, Pope Benedict XVI repeated the message in his “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) Christmas message. “The child whom we contemplate [...]