11/9/2014

Pope Angelus: We need bridges not walls

Pope Angelus: We need

bridges not walls
2014-11-09 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) Where there is a wall,
there is closure of the heart. We need
bridges, not walls! Those were the Popes
words on Sunday from the window of the
Papal studio above St Peters Square
where he recalled the Fall of the Berlin
Wall on November 9th 1989.
Following the recitation of the Angelus prayer and on the 25th anniversary of this
momentous event in history, Pope Francis described the wall as a symbol of the
ideological division of Europe and the world which for so long had cut the city of
Berlin in two.
Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report

2:30

The Holy Father went on to say that the fall happened suddenly, but it was made
possible by the long and arduous efforts of many people who had fought for this,
prayed and suffered, some even sacrificing their lives. These include, he added,
a leading role played by Saint Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis then prayed that, with God's help, all men and women of good will
would continue to spread a culture of encounter, with the aim of bringing down all
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Pope Angelus: We need bridges not walls

the walls that still divide the world. He also prayed that there would be no more
killing and persecution of the innocent and of those killed because of religious
beliefs.
Before the Angelus the Pope remembered the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica,
saying, it is the cathedral of Rome, the one that tradition calls "the mother of all
the churches of the city and the world."
Every time we celebrate the dedication of a church, the Pope stressed, we recall
the essential truth that this material temple made of bricks is a sign of a Church
that is alive and active, that of a "spiritual temple,"
He added, "this spiritual edifice, the church community of men sanctified by the
blood of Christ and by the Spirit of the Risen Lord asks each of us to be consistent
with the gift of faith and take a journey of Christian witness." This, the Pope said
is not easy.
Pope Francis concluded that this feast invites us to meditate on the communion of
all the Churches, and that this Christian community, by its similarity encourages
us to strive so that mankind can overcome barriers of hostility and indifference to
build bridges of understanding and dialogue, to make the world a whole family of
peoples reconciled with each other, and fraternal solidarity.

(from Vatican Radio)

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Pope Angelus: We need bridges not walls

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