Categoría: Últimas Noticias

On March 5^th, Pope Francis travelled to Iraq, cradle of the civilization arisen between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, Abraham’s land of origin and significant place for the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II had planned to visit this country, but its authorities did not allow him and he had to suspend this trip; so Pope Francis has been the first Pontiff to travel to Iraq. He undertook his journey defining himself as a “pilgrim and penitent” aiming to bring to this people, who have suffered so much, the message of hope and brotherhood springing from the Gospel and to meet the martyred Church of this country.

The trip, prepared in every detail, took place in an environment that, humanly speaking, we would define as unfavorable, due to the health situation that imposed restrictions on the participation of the people, but God’s Providence allowed everything to happen without incident and the visit left an indelible mark, not only on Christians but on the entire Iraqi community.

In this country where several religions coexist and that has been the scene of various conflicts, one of the aspects the Pope insisted on a lot, is the need of reconciliation and peace. Comparing the mosaic of religious confessions that characterizes this country with a carpet whose beauty is reflected by the interlacing threads of different colors (carpets are a typical handicraft of this area of ​​the Middle East), the Holy Father reaffirmed that «the various components ethnic and religious can find the way of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence and collaboration” only if they have a strong willingness to dialogue.

In the Eucharistic celebration in the Chaldean rite that the Pope presided in the Cathedral of Baghdad, he commented the text of the Beatitudes and made clear that  Christians are called to work for peace together with believers of other religions, sowing seeds of reconciliation and fraternal coexistence in order to revive hope. And he entrusted this task above all, to the young people continually tested in their patience by all they have lived and live in their land so that, together with the elderly, they may cultivate the goodness and give hope to the Iraqi people; they should do it day after day because “the world changes with the witness of each moment” embodying Jesus’ wisdom.

Fixing our gaze on Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq, we cannot fail to value his ability to integrate his message  into the country’s cultural reality and to underline the aspects that unite rather than those that separate. The reference to the carpet craftsmanship and the wisdom cultivation that characterize the Iraqi people, as well as the celebration in the Chaldean rite that he presided, perhaps without understanding gestures and words but valuing them, are a warm embrace and a significant testimony to the world. The country’s authorities have already received the message and, as a first gesture, in memory of the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, one of the main Shiite religious leaders, they have declared March 6^th as the National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence.

The Iraqi land is a little bit the motherland of all our cultures… May our globalized world, where, too often, differences are at the origin of conflicts, learn from this historical event a great life lesson still valid for all.

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In the month of March 2020, just one year ago, all over the world people began to hear speaking about Coronavirus. Until then, the information about that had been that the virus was spreading in China and there were also some cases in Europe, but no one could imagine that Covid-19 was going to cause a pandemic that would condition and transform life worldwide.

Italy was one of the first countries very affected by the disease, because the number of infections and the aggressiveness of the virus, that every day was claiming a higher number of victims. The Italian Government immediately ordered drastic measures, imposing complete lockdown, creating online platforms for work and school classes, investing money in health care and research to combat the infection and its consequences and searching out how to contain the economic damage caused by some of these measures. However, the country lived all that like a «nightmare»; towns and villages were wrapped in a great silence, broken only by the sirens of the ambulances taking to the hospitals the most seriously ill persons and people remained locked in their homes, mourning their loved ones transported in complete solitude to the cemetery in Army trucks and disoriented by the often contradictory news that were circulating.

The experience was so strong and dramatic that Italian Government instituted, for March 18 of each year, the National Day in memory of the Coronavirus victims, in order to maintain and renew the memory of all the people who died because of this pandemic; this day will be held for the first time this year 2021.

We consider significant to report about this initiative through our page because, as we know, the Coronavirus infection continues spreading throughout the world and it is still strong the wave of pain and death that plagues humanity and has affected also our Religious family of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters. In the months of July and August 2020 and more recently in January 2021, still respecting the strict sanitary measures imposed in these cases, we gave the final greeting to the first sisters of the Congregation who died of Coronavirus in Colombia and in Spain. Moreover, since the beginning of the pandemic, several sisters have been infected in various countries like, in addition to those already mentioned, in El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Poland, Slovakia … We have also accompanied the sorrow of many sisters for the death of their parents, brothers, relatives. And the number of people affected somehow by the pandemic is still increasing if we think about many friends, benefactors, collaborators of our works, known people with whom we shared life … We like to sympathize with the grief of all those who read these lines, be they near or far, known or unknown by us. Suffering makes us more brothers.

In this month «anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic», we invite all of you to remember the people victims of the virus who left us and, in tune with the Lenten season, to rekindle our commitment to prayer begging from God the end of this pandemic and his help to live it as an experience of growth in faith and purification of everything that prevents us from understanding and living the true meaning of our life that, in the mysterious plan of God, is born again and acquires new strength when it crosses the valley of pain and darkness .