Pope Francis’s traditional New Year’s address in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday contained the calls to abandon the useless baggage and to be more kind-hearted people. The pontiff also urged the world leaders to be wiser and to help the refugees.
An annual Pope’s address is an old good tradition, this year, it gathered 40,000 visitors on St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, people from all over the world came to listen to the address, in which Francis said that he had chosen the plight of refugees as the central theme for this year’s World Day of Peace, a Roman Catholic day of celebration held every year on Jan. 1.
“For this peace, to which everyone has a right, many of them are willing to risk their lives in a journey which is often long and dangerous; they are willing to face strain and suffering,”
the pope said and asked not extinguish the hope in their hearts. Francis urged not suffocate people’s hopes for peace and better future for their kids.
The pontiff has often met with some of the hundreds of thousands of African refugees who have crossed the Mediterranean illegally into Europe. His the most recent travel to Bangladesh aimed at the meeting with the suffering Muslim Rohingya refugees who have been forced to flee their flee their homes in Myanmar.
Pope Francis talks about Donald Trump
The pontiff also used his New Year’s address to criticize the US President’s stated intention to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep out illegal immigrants. According to the pontiff, such a measure kill the dreams about the better life for many refugees. The head of all Catholics called on Christians to jettison what he called “empty chatter” and banal consumerism and focus instead on building a welcoming environment for the world’s refugees.
“At the beginning of the year, we too, as Christians on our pilgrim way, feel the need to set out anew from the center, to leave behind the burdens of the past and to start over from the things that really matter,”
the pontiff said.
Pope Francis also suggested setting aside a moment of silence each day for prayer. Doing so, Francis said, would “keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting.”
