Pope Francis: “Prayer is at the root of peace”

At today’s Angelus prayer Francis urged the world to stamp out the embers of conflict.

“Let us cast our minds back to that banner, ‘prayer is at the root of peace”; peace is a gift that must be welcomed and beseeched,” let us build “in all the different kinds of situations we find ourselves,” the Pope said speaking off the cuff at the Angelus. He was quoting the message that appeared on one of the banners held up high in St. Peter’s Square on the World Day of Peace on 1 January. These words shone brightly through the dark times the world is facing. “Men talk a lot about light, but they often prefer the deceiving quiet of darkness,” said Pope Francis in this morning’s Angelus, for “light highlights their [evil] deeds.” Yet, “Small deeds are of great value: they can be seeds that give hope” for there is no future without “paths and prospects for peace”, Francis said.

“Peace,” Francis said, “is not only the absence of war, but is a general condition in which the human person is in harmony with himself, with nature and with others. This is peace. However, silencing weapons and putting out the flashpoints of war remain the inevitable condition to start a path that leads to peace in its different aspects.. We need to convince ourselves that, despite all appearances to the contrary, harmony is always possible, at every level and in every situation. There is no future without aiming and planning for peace!” This is despite the “bloodshed in too many regions of the planet, tensions in families and communities – In how many families, in how many communities, even in parishes, is there war! – as well as heated disagreements in our cities and countries between groups of different cultural, ethnic and religious background.” At home, at work, in the family, we must make peace,” Pope Francis said, speaking off the cuff about the small steps that pave the path towrd peace.

As we find ourselves at the start of a new year, Francis reminded faithful that “small deeds are of great value: they can be seeds that give hope; they can open paths and prospects for peace,” reconciliation and fraternity. “Everyone, said the pope, “must engage in acts of brotherhood towards others, especially towards those who are afflicted by family tensions or disagreements of various kinds.” “We need to convince ourselves,” Francis said before the tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, “that, despite all appearances to the contrary, harmony is always possible, at every level and in every situation. There is no future without peace.”

During the Angelus Francis sent out a surprise invitation: “Today is a perfect day to go and visit some museums.” Today everyone is allowed free entry to all state museums, galleries, archaeological excavation sites, parks and gardens. Following a reform introduced by Italy’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, on the first Sunday of each month, everyone can visit Italy’s over 430 State-owned museums, monuments and archaeological sites free of charge.

Vatican Insider