Vatican City (AsiaNews) – A sunny day, with a clear sky, welcomed the many faithful who gathered today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, in St Peter's Square for the Angelus prayer.
At the end of his address, Pope Francis dedicated a long comment to the difficult situation in Haiti, a country overwhelmed by the violence caused by an alliance of criminal gangs that led to the resignation of its prime minister, Ariel Henry.
Pope Francis expressed relief at the release of “a teacher and four of the six brothers religious of the Frères du Sacré-Cœur Institute,” kidnapped in Port-au-Prince on 23 February.
Sadly, abductions continue, and many people are still being held. “I ask for the release as soon as possible of the other two brothers and all those people still being held hostage in that beloved country, so fraught with violence," the Holy Father said.
Last Sunday, from the window of the Apostolic Palace, he called on the faithful to pray “that every sort of violence may cease” in the Caribbean country.
In today’s appeal, the pope urged “all the political and social actors to abandon any personal interest and to engage in a spirit of solidarity in the pursuit of the common good”.
He called on Haitians, with the help of the international community, to build “solid institutions” in order to overcome the current state of emergency and restore “order and tranquility among its citizens”.
The pontiff also turned to the "populations tormented by war", calling on the faithful to pray for them, especially those in “Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel, and in South Sudan”, above all Syria, who, the pontiff said, should not be forgotten.
Syria, he stressed, “has suffered greatly for a long time because of war”, not knowing peace for 13 years after fighting broke out in March 2011. Since then, more than 16 million people have been displaced, a human-made tragedy compounded by the earthquake of 6 February 2023.
In his commentary on the Gospel of the day (Jn 12:20-33) that preceded the recitation of the Marian prayer, Pope Francis dwelt on the message Jesus transmitted, to be welcomed on the path towards Holy Week “[O]n the Cross we will see His glory and that of the Father," he said.
The passage, which tells of the desire of "some Greeks" to meet Jesus, and who, for this reason approached Philip, continues with the following words by the Messiah: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (v. 23).
The pope delved into the meaning of these words by noting that "glory, for God, does not correspond to human success, fame, popularity", the “worldly glory” that “fades, and does not leave joy in the heart”.
Instead, it means “to love to the point of giving one’s life. Glorification, for Him, means giving Himself, making Himself accessible, offering His love”.
The place where “this reached its culmination” is “the Cross” the “cathedra of God”. Here, "Jesus outspread God’s love to the maximum, fully revealing the face of mercy”.
From this, we learn that the "true glory” – which has no end and brings happiness – involves giving and forgiving, "the essence of the glory of God."
Far too often, people are not used to these notions for they think of "glory as something to receive rather than to give”.
Hence, “we can ask ourselves: What is the glory I desire for myself, for my life, that I dream of for my future?” The answer is “remember that when we give and forgive, God’s glory shines in us."
Lastly, for the season of Lent, the Bishop of Rome called on the Virgin Mary, who "followed Jesus faithfully at the hour of His Passion," to “help us be living reflections of the love of Jesus.”
