Vatican City, 13 September 2014 (VIS) –
Today, the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War (13
September 1914), Pope Francis chose to celebrate Mass at the Military
Monument of Redipuglia, in the Italian province of Gorizia.
The Holy Father left the Vatican by
air at 8 a.m. and landed shortly before 9 a.m. at the airport
of Ronchi dei Legionari, where he was received by the archbishop of
Gorizia, Carlo Alberto Maria Redaelli. He transferred by car to the
Austro-Hungarian cemetery of Fogliano di Redipuglia, the resting
place of 14,550 soldiers who fell in this area. At the entrance there
is the phrase “Im Leben und im Tode vereint” (“United in Life
and Death”). The Pope placed a floral wreath at the central
monument to 7000 unknown soldiers.
The Pope subsequently proceeded to the
Military Monument, a large cemetery dedicated to the memory of the
more than one hundred thousand Italian soldiers who lost their lives
in the Great War, in foothills of Mount Sei Busi, a contested
territory in the early phases of the conflict and where the tomb of
Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia Aosta, commander of the Third Army, is
located. The monument was designed by the architect Giovanni Greppi
and the sculptor Giannino Castiglioni, and building work commenced in
1933; it was inaugurated by the then head of government, Benito
Mussolini, in 1938, in the presence of more than 50,000 First World
War veterans.
The first reading narrated the story of
Cain and Abel, and in his homily the Holy Father commented on the
murder of Abel to condemn indifference in the face of war.
“After experiencing the beauty of
travelling throughout this region, where men and women work and raise
their families, where children play and the elderly dream, I now find
myself here, in this place, near this cemetery, able to say only one
thing: War is madness. Whereas God carries forward the work of
creation, and we men and women are called to participate in his work,
war destroys. It also ruins the most beautiful work of his hands:
human beings. War ruins everything, even the bonds between brothers.
War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to
grow by destroying.
“Greed, intolerance, the lust for
power … are the motives underlying the decision to go to war, and
they are too often justified by an ideology; but first there is a
distorted passion or impulse. Ideology is presented as a
justification and when there is no ideology, there is the response of
Cain: 'What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper?'. War
does not look directly at anyone, be they elderly, children, mothers,
fathers. 'What does it matter to me?'
“Above the entrance to this cemetery,
there hang in the air those ironic words of war, 'What does it matter
to me?' All of the dead who repose here had their own plans, they had
their own dreams, but their lives were cut short. Why? Because
humanity said, 'What does it matter to me?'. Even today, after the
second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third
war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction. In
all honesty, the front page of newspapers ought to carry the
headline, 'What does it matter to me?'. Cain would say, 'Am I my
brother’s keeper?'.
“This attitude is the exact opposite
of what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel. We have heard: He is in the
least of his brothers; He, the King, the Judge of the world, He is
the one who hungers, who thirsts, He is the stranger, the one who is
sick, the prisoner. Those who care for their brother or sister enter
into the joy of the Lord; those who do not do so, however, who by
their omission say, 'What does it matter to me?', remain excluded.
“Here, and in the other cemetery, lie
many victims. Today, we remember them. There are tears, there is
mourning, there is grief. From this place we remember all the victims
of every war. Today, too, there are many victims … How is this
possible? It is so because in today’s world, behind the scenes,
there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and
power, and there is the manufacture and sale of arms, which seem to
be so important! And these plotters of terrorism, these schemers of
conflicts, just like arms dealers, have engraved in their hearts,
'What does it matter to me?'
“It is the task of the wise to
recognise errors, to feel pain, to repent, to beg for pardon and to
cry. With this 'What does it matter to me?' in their hearts, the
merchants of war perhaps have made a great deal of money, but their
corrupted hearts have lost the capacity to weep. Cain did not weep.
He was not able to weep. The shadow of Cain hangs over us today in
this cemetery. It is seen here. It has been seen from 1914 right up
to our own time.
“With the heart of a son, a brother,
a father, I ask each of you, indeed for all of us, to have a
conversion of heart: to move on from 'What does it matter to me?', to
shed tears: for each one of the fallen of this 'senseless massacre',
for all the victims of the mindless wars, in every age. Brothers,
humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep”.
Following Mass and after greetings from
the military archbishop for Italy, Santo Marciano and the Chiefs of
Staff and General Commanders, the bishop of Rome presented to those
in attendance the “Light of St. Francis” Lamp, which will be lit
in the respective dioceses during the events commemorating the First
World War. The lamp was donated by the Holy Convent of Assisi and the
oil was given by the “Libera” Association of the priest Don Luigi
Ciotti.
The Pope subsequently bade farewell to
those present and transferred to Ronchi dei Legionari airport, where
he departed for the Vatican.
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