Greetings! I have a few days off for the Thanksgiving period so this page will be “Joan’s Rome” lite during that time, although I may well post my own personal prayer about Thanksgiving, giving thanks and gratitude. It is a special day for all Americans, wherever we live, and Rome is no exception. I’ll give you an insight into how we mark Thanksgiving here on my weekend radio show, “Vatican Insider.”
Obviously for important breaking news, I’ll be here. In addition, I might find some things to post or re-post on X/Twitter and Facebook.
In the meantime, I hope the Lord blesses all of you and your families in the most abundant manner during these days when “family” is indeed a focus of the holiday. And buon appetito!
POPE VIEWS FILM “FREEDOM ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM”
Posted on the Holy See Press Office’s Telegram account last evening:
This evening, Pope Francis arrived at the New Synod Hall at 6:30 during the screening of Evgeny Afineevsky’s documentary film, “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s fight for freedom.” This took place in the presence of several members of the diplomatic corps, among whom the ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, and Italian, and international guests.
The pope stayed until the end of the screening and, after a minute of silence and prayer for the victims of the conflict and some brief words from the film director, he briefly greeted participants and and gave thanks for the witness to so much pain. “Wars are always a defeat,” he recalled, “and we who have seen this cruelty, this people defending their own identity, we must be close to so much suffering and pray for this people, pray that piece comes.”
Before leaving, the pope greeted individually each guest, and then returned to the Santa Marta residence. (Vatican photo)
POPE FRANCIS: PRAY FOR IMMENSE SUFFERING OF PEOPLE IN THE HOLY LAND
“This is not war; this is terrorism.” With those words, Pope Francis described the Israel-Hamas war that is ravaging the Holy Land.
Addressing the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience, the Pope turned his thoughts to those suffering in Palestine and Israel.
In his appeal, he prayed for everyone suffering due to various wars, especially in Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine.
The Holy Father recalled his meeting earlier this morning, with two delegations: one of Israelis who have relatives held hostage in Gaza, and another of families of Palestinians who are suffering in Gaza.
The Pope met first with the 12 members of the Israeli delegation at his residence in the Casa Santa Marta at 7:30 AM. He then met with the Palestinian delegation at around 8:00 AM in a room in the Paul VI Hall. The Palestinian delegation was composed of 10 people with relatives in Gaza, and included Christians and Muslims. They were accompanied by Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, and a Greek Orthodox priest.
In both encounters, Pope Francis expressed his anguish and his closeness to their pain.
“They suffer so much. I heard how they both suffer,” said the Pope afterwards at the general audience, adding that, “wars do that.”
“But here we have gone beyond wars”, the Pope stressed. “This is not war; this is terrorism.”
Dialogue instead of passions
The Pope invited everyone to “pray for peace; pray always for peace.”
The Holy Father then prayed that the Lord may “help us to solve the problems and not be driven by the passions that end up killing everyone.”
“Let us pray for the Palestinian people; let us pray for the Israeli people, so that peace may come,” the Pope concluded.
The director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, had announced on Friday that Pope Francis would be meeting with the delegations, stressing that the meetings would be “of an exclusively humanitarian nature” aiming to demonstrate Pope Francis’ “spiritual closeness to the suffering of each individual.”
VIDEO OF PAPAL PEACE APPEAL: Pope Francis released a video message to appeal for peace in the Holy Land and Ukraine, praying that wars might be resolved through dialogue rather than a mountain of casualties.
He stated that the Palestinian people and the people of Israel “have the right to peace. …These two fraternal peoples have the right to live in peace.” Francis invited everyone to pray for peace in the Holy Land and for dialogue to prevail. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-11/pope-francis-video-message-war-holy-land-ukraine.html
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