After the Angelus, the Pope remembers the tragic 1945 bombing of the two Japanese cities, and then asks for prayers for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, and Myanmar: “Let us continue to commend to the Lord the victims of those events and all wars.”
By: Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican News
Published Date:
Yesterday’s remembrance of the approximately 220,000 deaths, victims of one of humanity’s greatest tragedies, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the pain of the hundreds of thousands of deaths today scattered in the pieces of this “third world war” being fought in different latitudes. The words of Francesco during this Sunday’s Angelus, August 11, are brief but filled with pain.
The Anniversary of a Tragedy
Standing at the window of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope, after the catechesis and the Marian prayer, first recalls the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945), the two Japanese cities he had the opportunity to visit in November 2019 during his apostolic trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. A stop on that visit was precisely at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial with a greeting to some survivors; a moment that left a “deep impression” on the Pope, as he himself publicly stated. The anniversary of the tragedy nearly eighty years ago today gives the Bishop of Rome the opportunity to lift up a prayer to God for the victims of every war. In every place and at all times.
“As we continue to commend to the Lord the victims of those events and all wars, let us renew our intense prayers for peace, especially for the tormented regions of Ukraine, the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, and Myanmar.”
Prayers for Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, Myanmar
As is customary during the Angelus or general audiences, today Pope Francis lists the territories where brutal violence is taking place: Ukraine, where the death toll continues due to Russian drone attacks, and where the war is taking on new dimensions with the Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk; the Middle East, from which yesterday came photos and news of one of the most dramatic attacks in these ten months of war: the one at the Al-Tabai’een school in the Al-Sahaba sector of Gaza City, with at least 100 victims and dozens of wounded, including children, as reported by Palestinian authorities. Then Sudan, plagued by a rampant conflict that has forced residents and all missionaries to flee, and Myanmar, a crisis often forgotten by the public opinion, a land of suffering where tragedies such as yesterday’s drone attack against Rohingya fleeing to nearby Bangladesh killed tens of people. Among them, families with children.
The Pope asks for prayers for all these people. Just as he also asks for prayers for the victims of the plane crash in Brazil on August 9.
Greetings to Pilgrims and the Faithful
Finally, looking at the pilgrims in the crowded Square, considering the time being mid-August, the Pope recalls today’s feast of Santa Chiara. He then sends affectionate thoughts to all the Clarisses, especially those of Vallegloria, to whom he says, “I have a beautiful friendship.” This refers to the monastery in Spello, Umbria, which the Pope visited unexpectedly in 2019 and 2021, as part of his visits to Assisi.
Greetings also go to the students of the Minor Seminary of Bergamo, who have arrived on foot in Rome from Assisi after a pilgrimage of several days on foot. “Are you tired?” the Pontiff asks. “No,” the boys chorus. “No? You’re good,” Francis replies. He then wishes everyone a “good Sunday” and makes the usual request for prayers for himself.
