As he does every Sunday, Pope Francis concluded his prayer meeting with parishioners with a reminder of the suffering of nations at war. He also made an appeal regarding the murder of a church activist in Honduras.
“Let the voice of peoples who plead for peace be heard,” Pope Francis concluded his appeals, which he delivered at noon on September 22, 2024, with a persistent call not to stop praying for peace, according to Vatican News.
Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican to worshipers gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope turned to the issue of Honduras, where Juan Antonio López, responsible for social pastoral care in the Diocese of Trujillo and founder of the pastoral initiative in the field of integral ecology, was murdered. “I join the mourning of that Church and the condemnation of all forms of violence. I am close to those who see their basic rights being trampled on and those who are fighting for the common good, answering the cry of the poor and the earth,” he said.
Greeting various groups of pilgrims, the Pope drew attention to the participants of the procession, which was called to highlight the conditions in prisons. “We must work to ensure that prisoners are in decent conditions. Everyone can make mistakes. The purpose of serving the sentence is to return to an honest life after that,” Pope Francis emphasized, and in conclusion said:
“Brothers and sisters, let’s not stop praying for peace. Unfortunately, the tension on the war fronts remains very high. Let the voice of the nations, begging for peace, be heard. Let’s not forget about the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, about the numerous countries that are in a state of war. We pray for peace.”
It should be recalled that Pope Francis called for voting for the “lesser evil” in the U.S. elections.
