In the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which has one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St John Paul II embedded in its crown, Pope Leo XIV called for the warring to lay down their weapons. Source: CNS.
“‘Lay down your sword’ is a message addressed to the powerful of this world, to those who guide the fate of peoples: have the courage to disarm!” the Pope said on Saturday as he led a prayer vigil and the recitation of the rosary for peace in St Peter’s Square.
On the night he was arrested, Jesus told St Peter, “Lay down your sword.” While Jesus says the same to warmongers today, the Pope said, it is also “an invitation to each one of us to recognise that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing.”
Before the evening prayer service, part of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, the statue brought from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal was on display in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina near the Vatican. Thousands of people lined up to see the statue and to pray in front of it.
As the statue was carried in procession into St Peter’s Square, people applauded and shouted, “Viva la Madonna” (“Long live Our Lady”).
Pope Leo placed a gold rose in a small vase at the foot of the statue and prayed silently before beginning the prayer vigil.
Each of the joyful mysteries of the Rosary was led in a different language – Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese – and each decade concluded with the prayer, “Queen of Peace, pray for us.”
As darkness fell, Pope Leo offered a meditation, urging everyone to “persevere tirelessly in praying for peace, a God-given gift that we must strive to receive and to which we must make a strong commitment”.
With Mary as a model, both as a human being and as the first disciple of Jesus, the Pope said, Christians should “ask for the gift of compassion toward every brother and sister who suffers and toward all creatures.”
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‘No idea, faith or policy justifies killing,’ Pope says at prayer vigil (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
