Vatican News
“In a special union of prayer with the Church spread throughout the world” for all the faithful who are ill and afflicted by sickness, disease, or pain, Pope Leo XIV prays that with the support of Mary’s maternal intercession, they may “kindly offer to the merciful God, through Mary, for the peace of this world, all the hardships of their lives.” He recalls that Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, rightly teaches that “the human soul is restless, and only in the ineffable charity of God, and in its application in daily and spiritual life, can it find true and lasting peace.”
The Pope’s words came in a letter addressed to Cardinal Michael Czerny, his special envoy to celebrations for the 34th World Day of the Sick at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace, in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, on Feb 11 of this year.
The consolation of the Gospel
In the message dated Jan 21 , the Pope asks his envoy, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, to bring to the faithful gathered for the occasion—on the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes—and in a special way to all the sick, “the comfort and encouragement of the consolation of the Gospel that comes from the ineffable communion with Christ, who promised to be with us in all circumstances, every day, until the end of the world.” The Pope exhorts the sick and those who care for them “to bear witness to the theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity—and to human and Christian closeness in times of need, bearing one another’s burdens and thus fulfilling the law of Christ from the depths of the heart.”
Remembering the “beloved land of Peru”
The letter also recalls memories “with all the affection of heart and mind” of the “beloved land of Peru” and of the Diocese of Chiclayo, where twelve years ago Fr Robert Francis Prevost was ordained a bishop in the Cathedral dedicated to Saint Mary, Mother of God.
In conclusion, the Pope emphasized that by divine providence Pope Francis wished that the 34th World Day of the Sick “be celebrated precisely in this land of Peru, to express with ever greater intensity the maternal solicitude of the Blessed Virgin Mary toward all those who are afflicted by various sufferings and illnesses.” This decision was confirmed by Leo XIV, who recalls that in the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo he had, in the past, “on several occasions invoked in prayer the help of God.” – Vatican News
