1st January: World Peace Day
Pope Francis goes on to stress that this is not the post-Covid era we had hoped for or expected. “At the very moment when we dared to hope that the darkest hours of the Covid-19 pandemic were over, a terrible new disaster befell humanity,” he said, noting that the world witnessed the onslaught of another scourge: another war, “driven by culpable human decisions.”
Pope Francis notes that the war in Ukraine is “reaping innocent victims and spreading insecurity, not only among those directly affected, but in a widespread and indiscriminate way for everyone, also for those who, even thousands of kilometres away, suffer its collateral effects – we need but think of grain shortages and fuel prices.”
“This war,” he says, “together with all the other conflicts around the globe, represents a setback for the whole of humanity and not merely for the parties directly involved. While a vaccine has been found for Covid-19, suitable solutions have not yet been found for the war.”
Source: Vatican News
Read Pope’s Message in full: