Pope calls for end to violence against Christians and Helsinki style talks to prevent conflict

At the general audience, Leo XIV condemned the terrorist attack that killed 40 people in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday. The 50th anniversary of the agreements that reopened cooperation between East and West, relaunching the issue of human rights, a lesson to be ‘cherished today’. In his catechesis dedicated to the Gospel passage on the healing of the deaf and mute, he looked at incommunicability and withdrawal into oneself as a reaction to ‘social media bulimia’.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pain and closeness to Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where last Sunday more than forty Christians were killed in a terrorist attack on a church during a prayer vigil.

But also the memory of an important and enlightening anniversary for the times we are living in: the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, which on 1 August 1975 saw 35 countries ‘inaugurate a new political season, promoting a rapprochement between East and West’.

These are the two faces of the world that Pope Francis wanted to recall this morning at the end of his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square. It was the first weekly meeting with pilgrims after the break the Pope spent in Castel Gandolfo.

The square was already filled with numerous groups from all over the world who had come to Rome for the Youth Jubilee, which began last night with a surprise greeting from the Pope himself, who came down to the square at the end of the celebration.

Today, therefore, entrusting the victims of the new massacre in Congo to God's mercy and expressing his closeness to the wounded, Leo XIV returned to pray ‘for Christians who continue to suffer violence and persecution throughout the world.’ He urged ‘those with responsibility at the local and international levels to work together to prevent such tragedies.’

On the anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, he recalled how that event also marked ‘a renewed interest in human rights, with particular attention to religious freedom, considered one of the foundations of the then nascent architecture of cooperation from Vancouver to Vladivostok’.

The active participation of the Holy See, represented by the then Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, contributed to this. ‘Today, more than ever,’ the Pope continued, ‘it is essential to preserve the spirit of Helsinki: to persevere in dialogue, strengthen cooperation and make diplomacy the privileged means of preventing and resolving conflicts.’

In the catechesis that preceded these words, Leo XIV, continuing the cycle of jubilee reflections on ‘Jesus Christ, our hope,’ concluded the part dedicated to the public life of Jesus by dwelling on the Gospel episode of the healing of the deaf and mute (Mk 7:31-37).

‘The time we are living in also needs healing,’ the Pope observed. Our world is marked by a climate of violence and hatred that mortifies human dignity. We live in a society that is becoming ill due to a “bulimia” of social media connections: we are hyperconnected, bombarded by images, sometimes even false or distorted. We are overwhelmed by multiple messages that stir up a storm of contradictory emotions within us."

‘In this scenario,’ he continued, ‘it is possible that the desire to turn everything off arises in us. We may even prefer not to hear anything anymore. Even our words risk being misunderstood, and we may be tempted to shut ourselves up in silence, in an incommunicability where, however close we may be, we are no longer able to say the simplest and most profound things to each other.’

This is also what the Gospel story of the healing of the deaf-mute is about. ‘Jesus' behaviour,’ observed Prevost, "may seem strange at first, because he takes this person aside. He seems to be accentuating his isolation, but on closer inspection, he helps us understand what lies behind this man's silence and withdrawal, as if he had understood his need for intimacy and closeness.‘

And it is this ’silent closeness‘ that is the premise for the invitation expressed in the Aramaic word effatà, meaning ’Be opened." ‘It is as if Jesus were saying to him: “Open yourself to this world that frightens you! Open yourself to the relationships that have disappointed you! Open yourself to the life you have given up on”. Closing oneself off, in fact, is never a solution’.

The Gospel says that after this encounter, the man not only speaks again, but he does so ‘correctly’. ‘Perhaps this man had stopped speaking because he felt he was saying things wrong, perhaps he did not feel adequate. We all experience being misunderstood and not feeling understood. We all need to ask the Lord to heal our way of communicating, not only to be more effective, but also to avoid hurting others with our words.’

‘Dear brothers and sisters,’ concluded the pontiff, ‘let us ask the Lord to help us learn to communicate honestly and prudently. Let us pray for all those who have been hurt by the words of others. Let us pray for the Church, that she may never fail in her task of bringing people to Jesus, so that they may hear his Word, be healed by it, and in turn become bearers of his message of salvation.’