AMERICA/ARGENTINA - “Bring love and peace where there is rancor, hate, and envy,” Archbishop of Buenos Aires says during Archdiocesan Day for Children

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - “For the celebration to be complete and for all, we should make others participate in our joy. We should bring peace and love where there is rancor, hate, and envy.” These were the words of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, during the traditional Archdiocesan Mass for Children celebrated on October 24, at the Mary Teran de Weiss Stadium, in Parque Roca. According to organizers, the event was attended by over 10,000 children from four Vicariates of the Archdiocese, each with its own representative color: green (Devoto), red (Belgrano), yellow (Centro), and light blue (Flores).
During the celebration, there were also various testimonies from several children who live in situations of poverty, which were collected during the Archdiocesan mission. These children asked God “for something to eat,” “that everyone can have a heated house,” that “all can have attention and affection,” and that “there will be less sad children.” They also prayed that “the elderly will be helped” and “all the children of the world can have a family.”
Before concluding the Mass, the Archbishop renewed the consecration of the city of Buenos Aires and the hearts of the children to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. The initiative, organized by the Bishop's Department for Children, was celebrated at the close of a solidarity campaign to raise funds for children's soup kitchens in poor neighborhoods in the country (see Fides 21/10/2009). (GT) (Agenzia Fides 26/10/2009)