Pope: Cruelty and suffering but Jesus is near
(Vatican Radio) From the window of the Archbishop’s residence on Friday evening, Pope Francis recalled this day as one of pain. “Friday, he said, is the day when we remember the death of Jesus and with the young people we prayed the Way of the Cross: the suffering and death of Jesus for all of us.”
So many people, the Pope noted, “so many people are suffering: the sick; those who are at war; the homeless; the hungry; those who are doubtful in life, who do not feel happiness,”…
In the afternoon, he continued, “I went to the children’s hospital. There too, Jesus suffers in so many sick children: I always ask myself that question, “Why do children suffer?”. It’s a mystery. There are no answers to these questions …”
Recalling his morning at Auschwitz-Birkenau, he said, “how much pain, how much cruelty! Is it possible that we men, created in the likeness of God, we are able to do these things?
Then he added, “cruelty did not end in Auschwitz, Birkenau: even today. Today! Today we torture people; many prisoners are tortured immediately, to get them to talk … It ‘s terrible!” “Today there is this cruelty. We say, “Yes, there we saw the cruelty more than 70 years ago. How they died shot or hanged or with gas .. “. But today in many places of the world where there is war, it’s the same!
In this reality, the Holy Father said, “Jesus came to take us on his shoulders. He asks us to pray. We pray for all the Jesus’ who today are in the world: the hungry; the thirsty; the doubters; the sick, who are on their own; those who feel the weight of so many doubts and guilt. Who suffer so much … Let us pray for all the sick children, innocent, who carry the Cross for children. And we pray for so many men and women who today are tortured in many countries of the world; for prisoners who are all piled up there, as if they were animals.”
“Everyone here is a sinner”, the Pope concluded, “we all have the weight of our sins.” “But He loves us: He loves us!” Let’s all pray together for these people who are suffering in the world today so many bad things, many bad things. And when there are tears, the child seeks its mother. Even us sinners we are children, we look for our mother and pray to Our Lady all together, each in his own language.”