Pope Francis invited the pilgrims and faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for mothers who have lost their Ukrainian and Russian soldier sons, he said after the Angelus prayer on Sunday, 8 January 2023, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
These were the Pope’s words after the Marian prayer, provided by the Holy See’s Press Office
The Pope’s words
Dear brothers and sisters!
This morning, according to custom, I baptized some newborns, children of employees of the Holy See and of Vatican City State, in the Sistine Chapel. Now, however, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, it is my pleasure to extend the greeting and the blessing to all the boys and girls who today, or in this period, have received or will receive Baptism. And at the same time, I reiterate to all of you – and first of all to myself – the invitation to celebrate the date on which we were baptized, that is, on which we became Christians. I ask you: do any of you know the date of your own Baptism? Some of you certainly do not know. Ask your parents, your relatives, your godparents: and then, every year, celebrate that date, because it is a new birthday, a birthday of faith. This is today’s task, for each one of you: to find out the date of your Baptism, in order to be able to celebrate it.
In particular, I greet the “Voice of the Angels” choir from Bethlehem. Dear friends, thank you from my heart, because, together with your hymns, you bring the “fragrance of Bethlehem”, and the witness of the Christian community of the Holy Land. Thank you! We will pray for you, and we are close to you!
And let us not forget our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. They suffer a great deal because of the war! This Christmas at war, without light, without heat, they are suffering a lot! Please, let us not forget them. And today, seeing Our Lady who is holding the infant in the Nativity scene, who nurses him, I think of the mothers of the victims of war, of the soldiers who have fallen in this war in Ukraine. Ukrainian mothers and Russian mothers, both have lost their children. This is the price of war. Let us pray for the mothers who have lost their soldier sons, both Ukrainian and Russian.
I wish you all a pleasant Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch, and arrivederci.
