Forty years after Chernobyl, may atomic energy ‘be placed at the service of life and peace’, pope says
During the Regina Caeli, Leo XIV spoke about the 1986 nuclear disaster, which “left a lasting mark on the conscience of humanity,” and serves “as a warning regarding the inherent risks of using increasingly powerful technologies.” In his comment on the Gospel, he noted that "thieves" are those who pillage “the earth’s resources” and wage " blood-thirsty wars”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – On 26 April 1986, exactly 40 years ago, the Chernobyl disaster occurred in what is now Ukraine: the worst accident in the history of nuclear energy.
The event “left a lasting mark on the conscience of humanity,” said Leo XIV this morning after the recitation of the Regina Caeli, speaking from the window of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. “It serves as a warning regarding the inherent risks of using increasingly powerful technologies,” he added.
The pontiff spoke on the 40th anniversary of the catastrophe, when a nuclear reactor exploded and released a radioactive cloud that spread across Europe, causing tragic consequences for people's health.
Leo expressed the hope “that discernment and responsibility will always prevail at every level of decision-making so that all use of atomic energy may be placed at the service of life and peace.”
He then greeted St Peter's Square and the groups and countries present.
Before the Regina Caeli, his first after his apostolic journey to Africa (Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea), the pope read his commentary on today’s Gospel (Jn 10:1-10), in which Jesus compares himself to a shepherd and then to the gate of the sheepfold.
Unlike the thief who has to climb over a fence, “the shepherd has a special bond with his sheep and can therefore enter by the gate of the sheepfold,” the pope said.
“Jesus is telling us that he is bound to us by a relationship of friendship, for he knows us, calls us by name, guides us, and — just as the shepherd does with his sheep — searches for us when we are lost and binds up our wounds when we are sick,” he added.
“Jesus does not come as a thief to take away our life and our freedom, but to lead us along the paths of righteousness. He does not come to ensnare or deceive our conscience, but to illuminate it with the light of his wisdom.”
Leo XIV said to “be vigilant” over the gate of our own heart and our own life, “because whoever enters may either increase our joy, or steal it from us like a thief.”
He drew attention to the “many forms” thieves can take, for they do not respect freedom but instead trample on people’s dignity.
The pontiff also warned this morning against “those ‘thieves’ who, by pillaging the earth’s resources, waging blood-thirsty wars, or fueling evil in any form, do nothing but rob each of us of the possibility of a future marked by peace and serenity.”
What is more, “We must ask ourselves: Who do we want to guide us in life? Which ‘thieves’ have tried to break into our fold? Have they succeeded, or have we managed to ward them off?
“Today, the Gospel invites us to trust in the Lord. He does not come to take anything from us. On the contrary, he is the Good Shepherd who increases life and offers it to us in abundance.”
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