After six months of quarantine (189 days) the Pope Francisco, as usual without using the mask, resumed this Wednesday at the Vatican the general audiences dedicating his main speech to solidarity, with an audience of faithful crammed. The subject is included in the third encyclical on human brotherhood that Bergoglio finished writing less than two weeks ago.
There was strict controls those who entered the courtyard of San Dámaso two hours before, surrounded by the Apostolic Palace, which included Take the temperature to the 500 faithful who were admitted and who wore all the mandatory masks. In the patio, outdoors, chairs had been placed maintaining the safety distance of one and a half meters that the coronavirus pandemic imposes.
The pontiff sat in a red chair with the two steps covered in the same color. At the entrance of Francisco and when the audience concluded, moments in which he approached the people but keeping his distance, the Pope avoided all physical contact.
But the faithful huddled as far as they could to come to greet him, violating the rules. Three newly married couples, dressed in wedding dress, were also forced to wear their chinstraps.
The Pope was seen talking to a bishop for two minutes at thirty centimeters of mutual distance. Neither of them wore a chinstrap. The bishop of Roma use the gadget despite the fact that it always recommends the faithful to respect the safety regulations. Also the monsignors of his retinue they eluded the masks.
In his speech the Pope chose the theme of solidarity and human fraternity, on which he wrote the third encyclical of his pontificate. It was advanced by the Bishop of Rieti, Domenico Pompilo. It is scheduled to present it on October 4, a day dedicated to San Francisco.
The Pope was seen conversing with a bishop a foot apart. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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“After so many months we resumed our encounters face to face and not screen to screen,” he improvised with humor Jorge bergoglio. “This is cute!”
At the beginning of his speech, he said that “these six months because of the restrictive measures imposed by the pandemic in progress, our interdependence has been evidenced. We are all linked, one to the other, in good and in bad.”
Francisco pointed out that “to get better out of this crisis, we must do it together, all of us, in solidarity.” Together, not alone. Or we do it all together or it is not done”, He improvised, abandoning the written text.
In the patio, outdoors, chairs had been placed keeping distance Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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“We must do it together in solidarity. I would like to highlight this word. As a human family we have our common origin in God. But if we lose our interdependence, it becomes dependence on each other, inequality and marginalization increase, the social fabric is weakened and the environment deteriorates ”.
He said that in common they all have “the garden planet in which God has placed us. (…) The principle of solidarity is more necessary today than ever ”.
The Pope identified solidarity as the antidote “to individual, national and power group selfishness. We live in the same global village, which is a beautiful expression because everything is interconnected ”.
First General Audience open to the public then in the Patio de San Dámaso. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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“We do not always transform this interdependence into solidarity: individual, national and power group selfishness, ideological rigidities, on the contrary, feed structures of sin,” Bergoglio explained.
At the conclusion of the catechesis of the general audience, the Pope made a dramatic call “to the reconstruction and hope of the Lebanon”. The Lebanese Maronite priest Georges Breidy came to the throne, called by Bergoglio, with a flag of the country of cedars and with his mask on.
The Pope asked the Catholics of the world “not to abandon Lebanon,” which has a strong Christian presence. At the end of the call, the Pope hugged the priest and he kissed his hands, which caused surprise by the social distancing measures.
The Pope embraces the Lebanese priest Georges Breidi. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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Lebanese priest Georges Breidi kisses the hands of Pope Francis. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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The Pope delivered his appeal outside the program, which concluded with the announcement of a World Day of Prayer and universal fast for Lebanon by September 4, whom he will send as his representative to Beirut to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolín.
A month ago, a tremendous explosion in the port of Beirut. The Pope quoted in recalling the attack the words spoken thirty ago by Saint John Paul II at another crucial moment in the country’s history, during a trip to Beirut in which he was present “Clarion”.
“Faced with the repeated dramas that every inhabitant of this land knows knows, we become aware of the extreme danger that threatens the very existence of the country. Lebanon cannot be left alone, ”said the Polish Pope.
In his appeal on Wednesday, Francis observed how “for more than a hundred years, Lebanon has been a country of hope.” “The Lebanese have preserved their faith in God and demonstrated the ability to make their land a place of tolerance, of respect for coexistence, unique in the region”, Middle East.
The pope summoned the Lebanese priest Georges Breidi. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
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Aware of the dangers faced by the large community of Maronite Rite Catholics, the Argentine Pope stressed that “Lebanon represents more than a State, and an example of pluralism, both for the East and the West. For the good of the country, but also of the world, we cannot allow this heritage to be dispersed ”.
Francis invited the Lebanese people to “persevere in hope” and to find the energy to start over. ”Take up your courage, brothers. Faith and prayer be your strength. Do not abandon your homes and your inheritance, do not make the dream of those who have believed in the future of a beautiful and prosperous country fall.
The pontiff suspended at the beginning of the pandemic, at the end of February, all your tripss planned for the rest of the year. Also the hearings in the Vatican with the heads of state and government.
Vatican, correspondent
