Pope Francis on Sunday offered prayers for Vietnam, Haiti, Sicily, and COP26. His thought came after praying the noonday Angelus with the crowd of faithful gather in St. Peter’s Square.
His prayers first turned to people suffering from the results of horrible weather:
“In various parts of Vietnam, the strong, prolonged rains of these last weeks have caused vast flooding, with thousands of people evacuated,” the Holy Father said. “My prayer and my thought go to the many families who are suffering, along with my encouragement to all those leaders of the country and the local Church who are working to respond to the emergency. And I am near to the population of Sicily hit by bad weather.”
Pope Francis then turned his attention to Haiti. The island nation has been suffering both natural and political crises in recent months.
“I am also thinking of the population of Haiti who are living in extreme conditions. I ask the leaders of nations to help this country, not to leave it on its own, the Pope said. “And all of you, when you return home, look for news about Haiti and pray, pray a lot. I was watching the program A Sua Immagine, the testimony of that Camillian missionary from Haiti, Father Massimo Miraglio, the things that he was saying…of all the suffering, all the pain that there is in that land, and how much abandonment. Let’s not abandon them!
Finally, the Holy Father turned his attention to Glasgow, the site of the UN climate-change conference, COP26, which is beginning.
“Today, in Glasgow, in Scotland, the United Nations conference on climate change, COP26, begins,” Francis pointed out. “Let us pray so that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor might be heard; that this meeting might provide efficacious responses, offering concrete hope to future generations. In this context, the photographic exhibition Laudato si’ is being inaugurated today in St Peter’s Square, the work of a young photographer originally from Bangladesh.”
