Spanish
Vatican City.- The Pope appealed to love as an antidote to the evils afflicting the world, from the selfishness that prevents "establishing bonds", to the wars that arise from "the logic of exclusion," without forgetting the painful "femicides", during the Pentecost Sunday mass.
Before about 80,000 faithful, according to the Vatican, gathered in a crowded Saint Peter's square, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Movements, Associations and New Communities, the Pope spoke in his homily of the action of the Holy Spirit, whose revelation is celebrated on Pentecost, and wanted to remember his predecessors Benedict XVI and Francis.
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"The Spirit opens borders" and "our life to love," said the American and Peruvian pontiff, quoting the words used by Benedict XVI 20 years ago, also on Pentecost, when he assured that the Church "must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between classes and races," without "forgotten or despised." And that opening, underscored Leo XIV, must begin "above all, within us," so that "our life becomes a hospitable space." "It is sad to observe how in a world where opportunities to socialize multiply, we run the risk of paradoxically being more alone, always connected and yet unable to 'establish bonds', always immersed in the crowd, but remaining disoriented and solitary travelers", but love "dissolves our hardness, closures, selfishness, the fears that paralyze us". Love "also crosses borders in our relationships" and allows us to "open ourselves to our brothers, overcome our rigidities, overcome the fear of those who are different, educate the passions that rise up within us" and even "transforms those more hidden dangers that contaminate our relationships, such as misunderstandings, prejudices, instrumentalizations.""I also think - with much pain - of the cases in which a relationship is poisoned by the will to dominate the other, an attitude that frequently leads to violence, as unfortunately demonstrated by the numerous and recent cases of femicide," the Pope said.
Love "instead, makes us mature the fruits that help us live authentic and healthy relationships," he added, at a time when several murders of women have shocked Italian society. "And this is a decisive criterion also for the Church" and there should be "neither borders nor divisions among us, if in the Church we know how to dialogue and welcome each other, integrating our differences."The pontiff wanted to emphasize, finally, that "the Spirit opens the borders also between peoples" because "differences, when the divine Breath unites our hearts and makes us see in the other the face of a brother, are not an occasion for division and conflict"
"Where there is love, there is no space for prejudice, for the safety distances that distance us from our neighbor, for the logic of exclusion that we unfortunately see emerging also in political nationalisms," he assured, before recalling that Francis already warned of a world "anesthetized by indifference and oppressed by loneliness." "And of all this, the wars that shake our planet are a tragic sign," he asserted, appealing to love so that it "opens borders, breaks down walls, dissolves hatred" and "supports our efforts for the construction of a world where peace reigns."Before the Eucharist, the pontiff toured the square on his popemobile, blessing dozens of children who were brought to his convertible vehicle by his collaborators and greeting them with shouts of 'Lion, Lion'.
The Mass gathered, according to the Vatican Press Office, about 80,000 people, many members of Catholic groups and movements from more than 100 countries, including Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia who arrived for the Jubilee dedicated to them, which filled the Vatican square in a festive atmosphere, with flags, chants and posters.
