By Antonella Palermo
“Feel embraced this evening by the entire Church, which looks upon the freshness and spontaneity of your lives with joy, sympathy, and trust.”
Those were the words of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, this evening as he presided over the rite of profession of faith with 40,000 young Italians gathered in St Peter’s Square, as part of the Jubilee of Youth.
The evening was made up of music, Scripture readings, and faith testimonies, and marked by spiritual closeness to those suffering in conflict zones.
“Humanity must put an end to war, or war will put an end to humanity.” That’s how, during his homily, Cardinal Zuppi responded to a videomessage from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and to the reading from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Disarm Our Hearts!
The leader of Italy’s bishops turned his thoughts to the “mad crosses built by men who manufacture weapons to kill,” destroying everything that gives life, including hospitals. “The Church,” he lamented, “stands under the Cross, eyes full of tears and a heart wounded by such immense suffering.”
Today, Zuppi noted, there are countless pointless deaths, countless wars. He recalled the words of Pope Leo XIII shortly after his election, when he called for a peace that is both “unarmed and disarming”.
Building on this, Cardinal Zuppi issued a heartfelt appeal: “Let us disarm our hearts, so we can disarm the hearts and hands of a violent world—to heal its wounds and prevent new conflicts!”
Cardinal Zuppi expressed his concern over a world where it has become normal to think of others as enemies—or to imagine we can live without them entirely. He also decried our frightening, reckless indifference to the unimaginable power of nuclear weapons.
Pizzaballa: Choose “Us Together” Over “Me and No One Else”
In a videomessage from Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa highlighted the famine currently spreading throughout Gaza.
Precisely in the midst of such destruction and darkness—”a night that never ends”—faith is essential, he said. “The pain is real, and we can’t deny it,” said the Patriarch. But it is precisely in that pain that we are called to bring comfort and consolation, he suggested.
Pizzaballa pointed to the many people who are “bearers of light” in Gaza and Israel. In the Holy Land and beyond, many refuse to give in to despair, choosing instead the path of “us together” rather than “me and no one else.”
The Cardinal emphasized the many charities, religious, and volunteers—of all faiths—who are already working to rebuild hope. These people are signs of a Jubilee spirit that may seem distant in the Middle East, but, he said, they shine like beacons of light.
“We need to look to them,” he said, “to prepare for the moment when we must rebuild destroyed buildings and mend the torn social fabric.”
He reminded everyone that the Church must be present within these struggles, through dialogue, even by means of hard and sometimes tense discussions, just like the early Apostles. Like Peter, we are called to speak a word that builds, that opens up new horizons, that creates opportunities for trust. – Vatican News
