Five continents at prayer

The Philippines cal, Burundi responds, Senegal takes action, as does Bulgaria, Albania and Spain. The message reaches Myanmar and China, reaching out to India and Pakistan. Besides Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. The appeal “One minute for peace”, marking one year since the meeting in Rome between Pope Francis and Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, is circulating throughout Europe and worldwide. Just over 12 months have passed since the ‘”Invocation for peace” rising from the Vatican gardens (it was June 8, 2014), which attracted the attention of the whole world, but today more than ever the same peace is wounded in many regions of the planet. The International Forum of Catholic Action (IFCA), active in some fifty European countries and throughout the world, relaunched the message by promoting for Monday June 8 at 13.00 a minute of break, silence, and a moment of prayer for the faithful. “We are in constant need of peace, fraternity, solidarity and prayer”, Emilio Inzaurraga, IFCA world coordinator from Argentina, told SIR. A daily commitment. “There are countless conflicts, too many weak and defenceless people suffer and die. As Pope Francis reminded us, ‘we are living through a third world war, a war in pieces’, and peace building is necessary. Inzaurraga quoted from Pope Bergoglio. He added: “In concrete terms, we propose to each Ac to invite all members and friends of the other associations and movements belonging to the different Christian denominations, the faithful of other religions and all people of good will to stop Monday, June 8, to 13, where they are, to bow their heads and pray at work, at school, at universities, in the neighbourhood, with family, with friends … “. IFCA also invites us to pray for peace with an intention of the faithful during the Masses of Sunday, June 7. Inzaurraga added: “Praying on Monday, when the week begins in many world countries, reminds us that every day we are called to be peacemakers, on a personal level, in the family, in the Christian community”. The help of social networks. Another international body is supporting IFCA: WUCWO, World Union of the Catholic Women’s Organizations. The tam-tam with the proposal travels via the traditional word of mouth; it multiplies on the web and, especially, on Facebook and Twitter. Already last year, two days before the historic meeting between Bergoglio, Peres and Abbas, IFCA had initiated the minute of prayer, with over 10 thousand likes in a few hours on the Facebook page. This time in particular vocabularies multiply: to the usual translation of the message in Italian, English, French, Polish, Spanish, German, are added many other languages; such as Ukrainian, Russian, Albanian in Europe, Kirundi and Wolof in Africa, Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, Burmese and tagalos in Asia. Maria Grazia Tibaldi, from the IFCA Secretariat, based in Rome, said: “In the countries where we are present, in all continents, the proposal is spreading from grassroots level. The laity, priests, religious, bishops are all taking action. A major contribution comes from parishes. And there are also social media. From this perspective Facebook is a great help”. From the Holy Land to Ukraine. The Holy Land, blemished by political and religious tensions, is in the front line. The bishop of Nazareth has assured the involvement of the local communities. Also the rest of Asia is showing great participation. “For Pakistan – IFCA made known – we contacted Paul Bhatti for the translation into Urdu and the Catholics’ involvement who see their brother Shabhaz as a witness, martyr of dialogue and of the non-violent struggle for the right to religious freedom as a path of peace”. In the meantime the adhesion arrived – with translation in tagalos, from the Philippines (Council for the apostolate of the laity). In China contacts are under way with a religious congregation active in Xian and nearby dioceses. In Latin America mobilization is mounting with commitments undertaken in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, while Pope Francis’ Argentina enjoys the official support of the Bishops’ Conference. IFCA groups in the African continent have equally adhered along with local communities in Senegal, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Kenya. The European experiences, starting with Ukraine, marked by the conflict in its Eastern regions, are equally interesting. There are also IFCA groups in Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Poland, Albania, joined by Bosnia-Herzegovina, looking forward to the arrival on June 6 of the Pope and his words of peace.