Papal appeal for peace in Holy Land

July 14, 2014

Following his July 13 Angelus address, Pope Francis invited the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square to join him in silent prayer for peace.

After recalling his June 8 meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents and calling political leaders to pray and work for peace, the Pope prayed:

Lord, help us! Give us your peace, teach us peace, guide us towards peace. Open our eyes and our hearts and give us the courage to say: “never again war!”: with war all is destroyed! Give us the courage to perform concrete gestures to build peace. Make us available to listen to the cries of our fellow citizens who ask us to transform our arms into instruments of peace, our fears into trust, our tension into forgiveness. Amen.

After praying for peace, Pope Francis noted that July 13 was “Sea Sunday” and paid tribute to the work of the Apostleship of the Sea. He also recalled that July 14 is the 400th anniversary of the death of St. Camillus de Lellis and encouraged Camillians, in their apostolate to the sick, to follow in the footsteps of Christ the Good Samaritan.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Le parole del Papa alla recita dell’Angelus (Holy See Press Office)
• Video (Vatican YouTube)
• Pope Francis appeals for peace in the Holy Land (Vatican Radio)