After praying the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters!
Yesterday in Ellwangen, Germany, Johann Philipp Jeningen was beatified. A priest of the Society of Jesus, he lived in Germany in the second half of the seventeenth century and exercised his ministry among the rural populations of the Duchy of Württemberg. A tireless preacher of the Gospel, he reached people of every social class, inspired by a great apostolic spirit and a special Marian devotion. May the example of this priest help us to feel the joy of sharing the Gospel with our brothers. A round of applause for the new Blessed!
Once again, I express my closeness to the people of Sri Lanka. Dear brothers and sisters, I join you in prayer and I urge all parties to seek a peaceful solution to the present crisis, favouring, in particular, the poorest, respecting the rights of all. I join the religious leaders in imploring everyone to refrain from all forms of violence and to initiate a process of dialogue for the common good.
And I am also always close to the martyred Ukrainian population, struck every day by a hail of missiles. How can one fail to understand that war only creates destruction and death, driving peoples apart, killing truth and dialogue? I pray and hope that all the international actors will truly work to resume negotiations, not to fuel the senselessness of war.
Next Sunday, God willing, I will leave for Canada; therefore I would now like to address all the inhabitants of that country. Dear brothers and sisters of Canada, as you know, I will come among you especially in the name of Jesus to meet and embrace the indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious institutes, have contributed to the policies of cultural assimilation that, in the past, have severely harmed native communities in various ways. For this reason, I recently received some groups in the Vatican, representatives of indigenous peoples, to whom I expressed my sorrow and solidarity for the harm they have suffered. And now I am about to embark on a penitential pilgrimage, which I hope, with God’s grace, will contribute to the journey of healing and reconciliation already undertaken. I thank you in advance for all the work of preparation and for the welcome you will give me. Thank you all! And I ask you to please accompany me in prayer.
And now I greet you, dear Romans and pilgrims, especially the Sisters of the Resurrection and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who are holding their General Chapters in Rome. I greet the faithful of the Hermandad de la Virgen de las Nieves, of Los Palacios y Villafranca, Seville, and the young people following the formation course of the Regnum Christi movement. Young people make themselves heard!
I am pleased to reciprocate the greeting I received from the young people participating in the Giffoni Film Festival, which this year is dedicated to the “invisibles”, that is, the people who are cast aside and excluded from social life. Thank you and best wishes! And I also greet the young people of the Immacolata.
I wish you all a blessed Sunday and please do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch, and arrivederci!
