Pope calls for reconciliation, support for refugees

Pope Francis delivers a blessing at the end of a New Year mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY—Wishing for a year better than 2015, Pope Francis on Friday called for an end to the “arrogance of the powerful” that relegates the weak to the outskirts of society, and to the “false neutrality” toward conflicts, hunger and persecution that triggers exoduses of refugees.

“Today we celebrate the World Day of Peace, whose theme is ‘overcome indifference and win peace,’” the Pope told thousands of faithful gathered at St. Peter’s Square in an Angelus message.

In his New Year’s message, Francis emphasized the need to “let ourselves be reborn, to overcome the indifference that blocks solidarity and to leave behind the false neutrality that prevents sharing.”

“At the start of the year, it’s lovely to exchange wishes. Let’s renew, to one another, the desire that which awaits us is a little better than what last year brought,” Francis said. “It is, after all, a sign of the hope that animates us and invites us all to believe in life.”

Real hope

“We know, however, that with the new year, everything won’t change and that many of yesterday’s problems will also remain tomorrow,” the Pope said, adding that he was making a “wish sustained by a real hope.”

As he did in his homily earlier in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope issued a caution that “the enemy of peace isn’t only war, but also indifference,” and he decried “barriers, suspicions, fears and closures” toward others.

Since 1968, the Vatican has dedicated its New Year’s Day message to peace.

In the New Year’s homily in St. Peter’s, Francis had reflected on the “countless forms of injustice and violence that daily wound our human family.”

Arrogance of the powerful

“Sometimes we ask ourselves how it is possible that human injustice persists unabated, and that the arrogance of the powerful continues to demean the weak, relegating them to the most squalid outskirts of our world,” the Pope said.

He continued: “We ask how long human evil will continue to sow violence and hatred in our world, reaping innocent victims.”

Francis cited no country, continent or conflict, but he has urged national governments to support the refugees and migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East that have poured into Europe in recent years.

In his annual “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and to the world) message on Christmas, the Pope cited Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Refugees and migrants

In his New Year message, his words clearly evoked images of the refugees and migrants, more than 1 million of whom flooded into Europe from Africa, the Middle East and Asia in 2015, on dangerous sea or overland journeys.

He spoke of “witnessing hordes of men, women and children fleeing war, hunger and persecution, ready to risk their lives simply to encounter respect for their fundamental rights.”

The 79-year-old leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics looked and sounded well despite having made many public appearances over the Christmas and New Year season.

The Catholic Church dedicates New Year’s Day to the theme of peace, and Francis this year is stressing mercy as the path toward reconciliation.

Holy Year of Mercy

To highlight the benefits springing from forgiveness and reconciliation in the world, Francis declared a Holy Year of Mercy, which began last month and runs through November 2016.

Early Friday evening, he was to visit a Rome basilica, St. Mary Major, where he sometimes slips away to pray, to open a normally sealed Holy Door as a symbolic threshold to cross toward mercy for the Catholic faithful.

RELATED STORIES

Pope urges Christmas prayers for Syria, Libya peace

Communities ready to open their doors after pope’s refugee appeal