Status: 01/01/2023 12:47 p.m
During the midday prayer on World Peace Day, Pope Francis called on people to be more responsible, compassionate and caring. In the New Year’s Mass he paid tribute to the late Pope Benedict XVI and prayed for him.
Pope Francis called on people to care for the World Day of Peace. If the new year is to be really good, it can only be done with the language of love and care, said the Pope during midday prayers on St. Peter’s Square. It is the obligation of everyone to “take care of” one’s own life, one’s own time and soul, creation and the environment, “and, even more, to our neighbors”.
Thousands of people had gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer; many with placards against war and for peace in different countries and regions of the world.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI. declared New Year’s Day to be the World Day of Peace. The motto this year is:
Nobody can save himself alone. Starting afresh after Covid-19 to explore paths of peace together.
Call for solidarity and compassion
On this occasion, Pope Francis also recalled the war in Ukraine. He called for finding ways of peace together. The cry of “No to War, No to Arms” is rising throughout the world. The resources available would have to be used for development, work, health and education. The World Day of Peace makes people aware of the responsibility of everyone to build a future, according to the Church leader.
“In the face of the personal and social crises we are experiencing, in the face of the tragedy of war, we are called to face the challenges of our world with responsibility and compassion,” Pope Francis said. “And we can do that if we take care of each other and if we all take care of our common home together.”
Praying for the late Benedict XVI
Pope Francis had previously asked Our Lady for assistance to the late Benedict XVI at the New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. asked:
Let us commend to her the emeritus Pope Benedict in a special way, so that she may accompany him on his way to God.
The Pope Emeritus died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95 in the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, where he had lived in the years following his resignation in 2013. From Monday his body will be laid out in St. Peter’s Basilica.
As a good resolution for the New Year, Francis recommended not to look at world events lazily and indifferently, but to do good and “get your hands dirty”. One cannot sit still and comfortably wait for things to get better.