In his address to the diplomatic corps, he deplores the “load of tensions and forms of violence that exacerbate social conflicts” in Latin America.
Pope Francis is concerned about the situation in Brazil, where thousands of followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the capital Brasilia, the buildings of the presidency, the congress and the Supreme Court this Sunday. In this way they wanted to overthrow the new government of the leftist Lula da Silva and demand an intervention of the army. In his usual speech at the beginning of the year that he dedicated to the ambassadors and representatives of the 183 countries with which the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations, Francis on Monday referred to the situation experienced “in the last hours in Brazil” when speaking of the “numerous political crises” experienced by various countries of the American continent.
The Argentine pope deplored the “load of tensions and forms of violence that aggravate social conflicts” in Latin America and took into account the attack on the seats of power in Brasilia, which has led to more than 400 arrests so far. He also recalled Peru, in fear after then-president, Pedro Castillo, was impeached last December following the dissolution of Congress, and the “worrying situation” in Haiti, where “some steps are finally being taken to address crisis policies that’s been around for a while.” long time. In all of these countries, he considered it necessary to overcome “biased logic” while making efforts “for the construction of the common good”.
In this speech to the ambassadors at the beginning of the year, in which the pope usually outlines the Vatican’s priorities in international politics, he denounced the “third world war in pieces” that he believes is being waged, and called for an end to the hostilities in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen and other countries. The conflict in the eastern European country has left a “trail of death and destruction”, with attacks on civilian infrastructure “causing people to lose their lives not only from bombs and violence, but also from starvation” and the cold. “Moreover, let us not forget that war mainly affects the most vulnerable people and indelibly hurts families,” Francis stressed, calling for an “immediate end to this senseless conflict.”
After recalling that this year is the 60th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical ‘Pacem in terris’, written by John XXIII in response to last year’s ‘missile crisis’ in Cuba, Jorge Mario Bergoglio complained that the threat of nuclear energy was still still present today. For this reason, he reiterated that the possession of nuclear weapons is “immoral”, because under the threat of these devices “we all lose”. In this sense, he emphasized his demand that the international community take “the path of comprehensive disarmament”, since “no peace is possible where instruments of death proliferate”.
The condemnation of the use of the death penalty in Iran and the exclusion of women in Afghanistan’s education system were also present in the Pope’s speech. “The right to life is also under threat where the death penalty is still applied, as is happening today in Iran, following the recent demonstrations calling for greater respect for the dignity of women,” said Francis, who condemned the use of the death penalty as a “presumptive state justice”. Instead, he says, it is an “impermissible” practice that should be “abolished by the laws of every country in the world.”
Speaking of the importance of education as a means of building peace, he found it “unacceptable” that, as is happening in Afghanistan, “part of the population can be excluded from education”. This is another victim of the severe crisis the Central Asian country is experiencing, exacerbated by “the devastating impact of the pandemic and the worrying geopolitical scenario”.
Nine days after Benedict XVI’s death, Francis held an audience on Monday with the Pope Emeritus’ historic personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who didn’t even wait for the German pope to be buried last Thursday to launch harsh criticisms of his successor. . In an interview with Benedict XVI, he accused him of causing “pain in the heart” for limiting masses in Latin, marking a “rift” between the two pontificates. In his memoir, ‘Nient’altro che la verità’ (Nothing but the truth), which appears in Italian bookstores this Thursday, Ganswein also said he was “shocked and speechless” when Francis issued him a permanent work permit in January 2020 of his position as Prefect of the Papal Household, removing his responsibility for organizing audiences and other papal events. The closest man to the emeritus pope in recent decades, Jorge Mario Bergoglio also made ugly in his book that he shouldn’t listen to his predecessor on a thorny subject like “gender philosophy.” Although the content of this Monday’s conversation between Francisco and Ganswein has not been made public, there is a commitment in Vatican circles to replace the latter as prefect of the papal household.
Source: La Verdad
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