Vatican City, 20 May 2015 (VIS) –
Following today's catechesis, the Pope remarked that on 24 May
Catholics in China pray with devotion to Mary Most Holy, Help of
Christians, venerated in the Sheshan shrine in Shanghai. “In the
statue above the Shrine, Mary holds her Son aloft, presenting Him to
the world with His arms open in a gesture of love and mercy. We too
ask Mary to help Catholics in China always to be credible witnesses
of this merciful love among their people and to live spiritually
united with the rock of Peter upon which the Church is built”.
The Holy Father also mentioned the
initiative of the Italian Episcopal Conference, which has proposed
that the dioceses, on the occasion of the Eve of Pentecost, remember
the many brothers and sisters exiled or killed for the mere fact of
being Christians. “They are martyrs. I hope that this moment of
prayer may help spread the knowledge that religious freedom is an
inalienable human right and raise awareness of the tragedy of
Christians persecuted in our time, and bring an end to this
unacceptable crime”.
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