(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis renewed his calls for peace and goodwill throughout the Earth on Friday, New Year’s Day, the Solemnity of the Mother of God and the World Day of Peace. The Holy Father’s appeal came at the Angelus prayer with pilgrims and visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square after Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. “Today we celebrate the World Day of Peace, whose theme is: ‘Overcome Indifference and win Peace’,” said Pope Francis. “That peace, which God the Father wants to sow in the world, must be cultivated by us,” he continued. “Not only: it must also be ‘conquered’. This involves a real struggle, a spiritual battle that takes place in our hearts, for the enemy of peace is not only war, but also indifference, which makes us think only of ourselves and creates barriers, suspicions, fears and closures [of mind and heart].”
Pope Francis went on to say, “We have, thank God, much information; but sometimes we are so inundated with news that we are distracted from reality, from the brother and sister who needs us: let us begin to open our hearts, awakening attention to the next.”
“This,” said Pope Francis, “is the way to win the peace.”
After the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope Francis returned the New Year’s greetings he received the evening before from the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and offered thanks to all those involved in peace initiatives in Rome, throughout Italy and in all the world.
“I express gratitude for the many initiatives of prayer and action for peace organized all over the world on the occasion of today's World Day of Peace,” he said, making particular mention of the National March that took place New Year’s Eve in the city of Molfetta, under the joint sponsorship of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Caritas Internationalis, Pax Christi and Catholic Action. “It is good to know that many people, especially young people, have chosen this way of ringing in the New Year.”
The Angelus prayer followed shortly after the conclusion of Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the New Year’s Solemnity of the Mother of God, over which Pope Francis presided and at which he delivered the homily. “At the beginning of a new year,” said Pope Francis, “the Church invites us to contemplate Mary’s divine maternity as an icon of peace. In her, the ancient promise finds fulfilment.” The Holy Father went on to say, “She believed in the words of the angel, conceived her Son and thus became the Mother of the Lord. Through her, through her ‘yes’, the fullness of time came about.”
The Gospel reading of the day tells of how the Virgin Mary treasured all the words the Angel spoke to her, and contemplated them in her heart (Cf. Lk 2:19). “She appears to us,” continued Pope Francis, “as a vessel filled to the brim with the memory of Jesus, as the Seat of Wisdom to whom we can have recourse to understand his teaching aright.”
“In this day,” he said, “Mary makes it possible for us to grasp the meaning of events which affect us personally, events which also affect our families, our countries and the entire world.”
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