The Pope’s Message of Peace and Hope
After the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis expressed his concern for the devastating fires in the American county, where the death toll has risen to eleven. The Pontiff continues to call for peace in conflict areas and remembers the apostolic commitment, especially for reconciliation, of the newly beatified Don Giovanni Merlini. He also joyfully extends his thoughts to the newborns baptized in the Sistine Chapel, urging all young couples to embrace the gift of children.
Antonella Palermo – Vatican City
Attentive to international news, in his appeals after the Marian prayer, the Pope begins by addressing the residents of the western United States who are facing the tragedy of fleeing from devastating fires:
“I am close to the residents of Los Angeles County, California, where devastating fires broke out in recent days. I pray for all of you.”
According to the coroner’s office, eleven bodies have been found so far in the fire-ravaged area of Eaton near the city of Altadena, and five people have died in the Palisades fire in the luxury neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. Aid from Mexican firefighters has also arrived to help combat the deadly fires.
READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE ANGELUS
Embracing Life
Pope Francis recited the Angelus from the Apostolic Palace after presiding over the Baptism ceremony for 21 children of Vatican employees and the Swiss Guard in the Sistine Chapel. He recalls the celebration with joy and invites prayers for them and their families. He also shares a request to the Father:
“For all young couples, may they have the joy of welcoming the gift of children and bringing them to Baptism.”
Invocation of Peace through the Intercession of Blessed Merlini
War scenarios continue to claim lives and destruction. In Ukraine, the Russian army has claimed responsibility for the conquest of two locations on the eastern front line in the Donetsk region. In Gaza, Hamas updated the total number of Palestinian deaths in the Strip from October 7, 2023, to 46,565, after adding 28 victims in the last 24 hours. Saddened and constantly concerned, Francis connects the peace work carried out in the 1800s by the priest Giovanni Merlini, beatified today at the Lateran Basilica, with the hope for peace, even through the new blessed. “Let us not forget – he reiterates – that war is always a defeat.”
Dedicated to missions to the people, he was a wise counselor to many souls and a messenger of peace. Let us also invoke his intercession as we pray for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the entire world. A round of applause for the new Blessed!
Beatification at the Lateran Basilica
Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the rite at the papal basilica of St. John Lateran. Merlini was a missionary who, alongside St. Gaspare Del Bufalo, worked tirelessly for the Reform of peoples and the culture of the clergy, promoting missionary preaching in over two hundred villages and towns. “Despite having connections with the great, he always preferred the small,” recalls the postulator of the cause, Sister Nicla Spezzati, highlighting his qualities of faith intelligence, gentleness, and fairness. He reached out to the men of the mountains, the bandits, who, since the early 1800s, had been bloodshedding the Papal lands. He invited them “with honesty and delicacy to convert their lives, and by entering into the heart of the severe social rift,” he acted as a mediator, even in extreme situations, with solutions of reconciliation.
