Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) – The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the tragedy of young refugees and the difficult path to peace in the Holy Land were the three main topics of the address delivered by Pope John Paul II from his window on Sunday 15 June before reciting the Angelus prayer with people gathered in St Peter’s Square. “The Unity and Trinity of God is the first mystery of the Catholic faith – the Pope said. We come to this mystery at the end of the entire journey of revelation fulfilled in Jesus: in his Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection. From the summit of the holy mountain, Christ himself, we contemplate the first and last horizon of the universe and of history: the Love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Then the Pope recalled annual World Day for Refugees on 20 June, which this year has the theme Young Refugees. “Almost half the refugees in the world are children and young people – the Pope said -. Many of them are unable to go to school, they lack essential necessities, they live in refugee camps or even in prison. The tragedy of refugees calls on the international community to work to treat not only the symptoms but first of all the causes of the problem: that is to prevent conflicts by promoting justice and solidarity in every environment of the human family”.
After the Angelus prayer the Pope made a new appeal of the Holy Land with these words: “Once again there have been days of blood and death for the people of the Holy land, who have entered an endless vortex of violence and revenge. To all I would repeat the call made often in the past:
