{"id":936,"date":"2024-04-02T08:51:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T08:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/?p=936"},"modified":"2024-04-02T08:52:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T08:52:43","slug":"pope-prays-for-easter-peace-to-fill-places-torn-by-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/pope-prays-for-easter-peace-to-fill-places-torn-by-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope prays for Easter peace to fill places torn by war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Aftermath of a two-week Israeli operation at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Photo: Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

Pope Francis invites Christians to pray for the peace of Christ to renew nations torn by war and violence, as he prays the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By Devin Watkins<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Church celebrated Easter Monday, Pope Francis renewed his constant appeal for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He prayed that the gift of the Lord\u2019s peace \u201cmay reach places where it is most needed, especially peoples exhausted by war, hunger, and every form of oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope made the appeal after praying the Regina Coeli, the traditional Marian prayer at Eastertide, with pilgrims in St. Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis also thanked everyone who had sent him Easter greetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI renew my Easter greetings to everyone and thank, from the bottom of my heart, all those who have sent me messages of closness and prayer,\u201d he said. \u201cMay the gift of the Risen Lord\u2019s peace reach these people, their families, and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pope Francis prays the Regina Coeli. Photo: Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Easter appeals for peace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day earlier, in his Easter Urbi et Orbi<\/em> address, the Pope reflected at length on the many conflicts that riddle our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke first about the Israel-Hamas war causing death and destruction in the Holy Land, praying that humanitarian aid might be allowed into Gaza and that Hamas might release the 100-plus Israeli hostages taken on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis also recalled the ongoing horrors of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, calling for a general exchange of prisoners of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His thoughts also turned to the lost smiles of children who endure war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith their gaze, they ask us: \u2018Why? Why so much death? Why so much destruction?\u2019 he said. \u201cWar is always an absurdity. War is always a defeat!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vatican News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis invites Christians to pray for the peace of Christ to renew nations torn by war and violence, as he prays the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[85,83,84,86],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-easter","tag-peace","tag-pope-francis","tag-regina-coeli"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}