Pope Francis: Never get accustomed to wars

 

Pope Francis in prayer   (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto)

POPE

• POPE
• POPE FRANCIS

Pope: Do not get accustomed to wars and other horrors against humanity

Pope Francis renews his appeal against the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, describing them as a "destruction of human fraternity". This comes days before the publication of "You are not alone", the Italian edition of the book-interview with journalists Ambrogetti and Rubìn in which the Pontiff denounces the war as "the fruit of a series of madnesses".

Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican City

Horrors, "very serious horrors", against God and man. This is what wars are for Pope Francis. He, once again, reiterated his condemnation of the conflicts taking place in the world, on Monday 23 October, the day after his Angelus in St. Peter's Square, during which he had already defined them a "defeat". He reiterated this on X (formerly Twitter), via his account @Pontifex in nine languages, where he says: 

"We must not get used to war, to any war. We must not allow our hearts and minds to become anaesthetised before the repetition of these very serious horrors against God and man'.  

A new umpteenth appeal, therefore, this one from the Pope that is added to the denunciations expressed since the beginning of his pontificate and reiterated with greater vigour in the months of Russian aggression in Ukraine and, now, with the tensions in the Middle East and the resurgence of attacks and violence. A nagging that of the Pontiff also shared in the telephone call he made yesterday to US President Joe Biden, recently on a visit to Israel, in which the "need to identify paths of peace" was reiterated.  

And in light of the turmoil the world is witnessing, the Pope's words against war in the book Non sei solo (you are not alone). Challenges, answers and hopes: the book-interview signed by journalists Francesca Ambrogetti, former head of Ansa in Argentina, and Sergio Rubin, of the daily El Clarin. The book had already been published in February in Argentina under the title El Pastor (The Shepherd); tomorrow the Italian edition will be in bookshops with Salani publishers. 

"At the beginning of my pontificate I affirmed that we were living through a Third World War in small pieces, then I claimed that these pieces had gradually grown larger and now I think it is all one big piece," the Pope said in a passage of the interview, reported by Ansa. "I still believe that it is an enormous tragedy to have lost the memory of the Second World War. Once, observing the rulers of the countries that participated in the conflict during a commemoration of the Normandy landings, I thought they should cry. Almost 30,000 people died there alone. War is the result of a series of madnesses'.