The Vatican Radio reports that Pope Francis presided over the closing ceremony of the event with the theme: ‘Thirst for peace: religions and cultures in dialogue’.
The Pope reportedly said: “We have come to Assisi as pilgrims in search of peace.
“We carry within us and place before God the hopes and sorrows of many persons and peoples: we thirst for peace; we desire to witness to peace.
“Above all, we need to pray for peace, because peace is God’s gift, and it lies with us to plead for it, embrace it, and build it every day with God’s help.”
The report said while earlier meeting with leaders from various Christian Churches and ecclesial communities in the Lower Basilica of St Francis, the Pope said: “Before Christ Crucified, ‘the power and wisdom of God’ (1 Cor 1:24), we Christians are called to contemplate the mystery of Love not loved and to pour out mercy upon the world.
“From the side of Christ on the Cross water flowed, that symbol of the Spirit who gives life (cf. Jn 19:34); so that from us, his faithful, compassion may flow forth for all who thirst today.”
“Here, thirty years ago, Pope John Paul II said: ‘Peace is a workshop, open to all and not just to specialists, savants and strategists. Peace is a universal responsibility’. “Let us assume this responsibility, reaffirming today our ‘yes’ to being, together, builders of the peace that God wishes for us and for which humanity thirsts.”
Source: Naij
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