POPE FRANCIS
Please do not use wheat, a staple food, as a weapon of war.
This was Pope Francis's appeal at the end of Wednesday's General Audience in St. Peter's Square.
POPE FRANCIS
The blockade of grain exports from Ukraine, grain which millions of people's lives depend on, is of great concern. I implore that every effort be made to resolve this issue and guarantee the universal human right to food.
Earlier, during his public catechesis, the Pope discussed the theme of old age and how our elder's vulnerability gives rise to situations of abandonment, deceit and even abuse.
POPE FRANCIS
Even in families – this is serious, but it happens – these cruelties happen. The elderly is discarded, abandoned, in nursing homes without family members going to see them, or if they go, only a few times a year. The elderly put right in the corner of existence: and this happens today, in families. It happens all the time, we need to reflect on this.
The Pope invited society to ask itself about its inability to live with old age. He advised the elderly to trust in God and to invoke his help, using Psalm 71 as a reference.
POPE FRANCIS
In this sense, we all need to learn from old age: yes, there is a gift in being old, understood as surrendering ourselves to the care of others, starting with God himself. There is then a “magisterium of frailty,” not hiding frailties. They are real, weakness is a reality. There is a “magisterium of frailty” that old age is able to remind us of for the entire span of human life. Don't hide old age, don't hide the fragility of old age. This is a teaching for all of us.
Finally, the Italian musical band of Castellana Grotte wanted to pay tribute to Pope Francis by playing for him.
POPE FRANCIS
They are good these musicians, eh?
RG
TRANS: OG
