VATICAN - The Pope at the Angelus: “ To the cry for blood shed coming from many parts of the earth, God replies with the blood of his Son who gave his life for us. Christ did not respond to evil with evil, but with good, with his infinite love. ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “To the cry for blood shed coming from many parts of the earth, God replies with the blood of his Son who gave his life for us. Christ did not respond to evil with evil, but with good, with his infinite love. The blood of Christ is a pledge of God's faithful love for humanity. Looking at the wounds of the Crucified One, every human person, even the person in a condition of extreme moral suffering, can say: God has not abandoned me, he loves me and gave his life for me; and so rediscover hope”. These words were pronounced by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday 5 July, before leading the recitation of the midday Angelus prayer.
The Pope took his inspiration from devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, which in the past characterised the first Sunday in July, to reflect on the theme of blood, which “in connection with the Paschal Lamb is of primary importance in Holy Scripture”. “Aspersion with the blood of sacrificed animals represented and established in the Old Testament, the covenant between God and his people, as we read in the Book of Exodus – the Pope recalled -. Jesus refers explicitly to this formula during the Last Supper… , from the moment of his scourging to the piercing of his side after his death on the cross, Christ shed all his blood, truly the Lamb immolated for universal redemption. The salvific value of his blood is explicitly mentioned in several passages of the New Testament”. Then returning to the Book of Genesis, where it is written “the blood of Abel, killed by his brother Cain, cries out to God from the ground (cfr 4,10)”, Benedict XVI underlined: “sad to say, today as in the past, this cry does not cease, since human blood continues to flow because of violence, injustice, hatred. When will men learn that life is sacred and belongs to God alone? When will they understand that we are all brothers?”.
After the Angelus, the Pope recalled two tragic events. First of all the tragedy at the railway station of Viareggio, in Italy, he said: “While I offer heartfelt prayers to God for all those affected by the tragedy, I hope that similar accidents will never happen again and that security at work and in daily life many be guaranteed ”. Then with regard to a bomb blast in the Philippines, Benedict XVI said: “I express profound grief for the attack carried out this morning in Cotabato in the Philippines, where a bomb exploded in front of the cathedral during the celebration of Sunday Mass, leaving some people dead and many injured, including women and children. While I offer prayers to God for the victims of this vile crime, I raise my voice to condemn once again recourse to violence, which is never a way to resolve existing problems ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/7/2009; righe 31, parole 459)