In his message on the theme ‘Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace’, Pope Francis invites us to look with a heart full of hope at the many challenges that severely endanger the survival of humanity and Creation.
Pope Francis cites the inhuman treatment inflicted on migrants, environmental degradation, “the confusion wilfully created by disinformation, the refusal to engage in any form of dialogue, and the immense resources spent on the industry of war” as systemic injustices and “interconnected” challenges.
“Each of us must feel in some way responsible for the devastation to which the earth, our common home, has been subjected, beginning with those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel the conflicts that presently plague our human family,” he writes. Pope Francis reminds us that everything we claim as our own is, in fact, a gift from God and that therefore the resources of the earth are intended for the benefit of all humanity, “not just a privileged few.”
He recommends three actions that can truly mark a path of peace: the forgiveness of the international debt; the abolition of the death penalty; the establishment of a World Fund that will definitively eliminate hunger.