Leo XIV denounces the “idolatry of money” as the root of armed conflicts in the vigil for peace

Pope Leo XIV has denounced the “idolatry of money and self” as the root of armed conflicts at the peace vigil held in the Vatican this Saturday.

“Enough of the idolatry of oneself and of money. Enough of war. True strength is manifested in the service of life,” said the Pontiff before thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica and its surroundings, in the event that he himself called last Easter Sunday at the end of his ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing, in which he already denounced the “globalization of indifference” in the face of the death of thousands of people in conflicts. armed.

During the vigil, Leo XIV asked those responsible for the wars to stop. “It is time for peace, sit at dialogue and mediation tables, not at tables where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are deliberated,” he urged.

“We want to tell everyone that it is possible to build peace, a new peace, that it is possible to live together with all peoples, with all religions, of all races, that we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ united as brothers and sisters, all united in a world of peace,” the Pope expressed before beginning the vigil in his greeting to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, whom he thanked for their presence and for having “responded to this call, to this invitation to all unite with their voice, heart and life to pray for peace”.

“NEVER TO WAR AGAIN”

Likewise, the Pope has endorsed the appeals of Paul VI to the United Nations and of John Paul II – “Never again war!” – and has lamented that humanity has become “accustomed to violence” and has become “indifferent to death.”

“The balance in the human family is seriously destabilized,” the Pope said, while lamenting that “even the holy name of God, the God of life, is dragged into speeches of death” and concluding that “everything can be lost in war.”

The Pope closed his intervention with a prayer in which he asked that “the madness of war come to an end”, he said, while urging those present to “return home” with “the commitment to always pray”, convinced that “peace is not a utopia” and that humanity is “a single family that cries, hopes and rises”.