Rome Newsroom, Jun 6, 2024 / 10:00 am
Pope Francis this week prayed for men who want, start, or needlessly prolong wars, with the prayer coming ahead of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Allied landings in Normandy.
“People want peace!” the pope wrote in a June 5 message. “They want conditions of stability, security, and prosperity in which everyone can fulfill their duties and destinies with serenity. To ruin this noble order of things for ideological, nationalistic, or economic ambitions is a serious fault before mankind and before history, a sin before God.”
The pope’s prayers were conveyed in a written message to Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux and Lisieux in Normandy, France.
The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day with events promoting peace May 28–June 9, including a Franco-British ecumenical liturgy at the Bayeux Cathedral followed by a candlelight procession to the British cemetery for a prayer vigil on the evening of June 5.