Pope prays for peace in hearts, families, nations

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis presided over a solemn prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, using his homily to stress life’s fleetingness.

The spiritual leader said, “How we like to be surrounded by so many fireworks, seemingly beautiful, but which in reality last only a few minutes.”

As humans, he said, there is a “time to be born and a time to die” and New Year’s also is a time to reflect on our mortality, “ the end of the path of life.”

Afterward, the 78-year-old pontiff, wearing a long white coat, a scarf and a thin skull cap, braved frigid air to admire the life-size Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. For 20 minutes, he walked around shaking hands of people lined up behind barriers to greet him.

At his first public mass yesterday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis also prayed for blessings for “the entire human family” and asked God “grant peace to our days — peace in hearts, peace in families, peace among nations.”

He also condemned on Wednesday administrators and criminals in Rome who allegedly pocketed public funds meant to help poor migrants, saying the eternal city needed a “spiritual and moral renewal.”

Francis, who has made defense of the poor a trademark of his papacy, forcefully defended their rights in his homily at a New Year’s Eve vespers service for thousands in St. Peter’s Basilica.

He denounced situations where the poor were made to feel like criminals and “forced to behave like mafiosi” to defend themselves.

Earlier this month, police arrested 37 persons suspected of being part of a “mafia-like” organization that guided public contracts to people close to the alleged boss of the organization, a right-wing extremist with long-time ties to Rome’s underworld.

The Italian media have dubbed the investigation, which is continuing, “Mafia Capital.”

Some contracts involved running migrant centers and camps on Rome’s poor outskirts. Investigators said funds were pocketed by corrupt city administrators and their criminal cohorts instead of being used to improve squalid conditions.

Francis is also the bishop of Rome, which is both the Italian capital and the center of Christianity. Calling it “our city,” Francis said: “We have to defend the poor, not defend ourselves from the poor. We have to serve the weak, not use the weak.”

In the current scandal, prosecution documents include transcripts of phone wiretaps that showed how those who won contracts often profited from serious social problems.

“Have you got any idea how much you can make out of immigrants?” one of those arrested says, referring to subsidies for providing services at temporary camps for migrants. “Drug trafficking brings in less.”

After the arrests, Rome’s mayor, Ignazio Marino, ordered a review of city contracts and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi proposed tougher national laws against corruption.

The best gift

In Manila, the best gift that Filipino Catholics would receive in 2015 is the visit of Pope Francis this month, according to an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs chairman Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said Filipino Catholics need not wait long to receive their best gift this year as Pope Francis is set to arrive in the country in two weeks’ time.

Pope Francis will make a five-day apostolic and state visit from Jan. 15 to 19. The theme of his visit is “Mercy and Compassion.” He would spend a day in Typhoon Yolanda-hit areas, particularly in Tacloban City and other parts of Leyte.

In an interview over the Church-run Radio Veritas, Bishop Pabillo said since the Philippines is considered as the largest Catholic nation in Asia, the pontiff’s apostolic presence would certainly bring hope and unity among the Filipinos.

His visit to the Philippines would give Filipinos the strength and confidence to rise above all the hardships they face like problems in corruption, peace and order and poverty.

The prelate is also hoping that the Filipino Catholics would remember the lessons and other important messages of the pope to help them overcome their daily struggles.

Furthermore, the bishop noted that the pope’s Philippine trip is doubly significant as it coincides with the celebration of the “Year of the Poor,” which comes third in the nine-year novena for the fifth centenary of the Christianization of the islands.

According to him, this liturgical year enjoins all the faithful to spend time reflecting on the reality of poverty, and how it affects many Filipinos.

Pabillo adds the Year of the Poor seeks to highlight how the underprivileged can contribute to the country’s development, listening to their plight, viewing them as partners in progress, rather than as mere beneficiaries of welfare aid. – AP, Evelyn Macairan