After saying, "War appears even more absurd," Pope Francis called for people who report the news to "disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the earth."
Francis, who has been hospitalized for more than a month due to pneumonia in both his lungs, wrote a letter Friday and sent it to Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera Editor-in-Cchief Luciano Fontana, who had expressed support for the ailing Pope.
Francis asked Fontana to relaunch and amplify his appeal for peace and disarmament.
"I wish to thank you for the words of closeness with which you have expressed your presence in this moment of illness, in which, as I have already said, war appears even more absurd," Francis wrote, Vatican News reported.
"Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills. Perhaps for this reason, we so often tend to deny limits and avoid fragile and wounded people: they have the power to question the direction we have chosen, both as individuals and as a community."
Francis then appealed to "all those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing, through communication tools that now connect our world in real time, to feel the full importance of words."
"They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments," he said. "They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends. We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity."
In saying war "only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts," the people said "diplomacy and international organizations are in need of new vitality and credibility."
"Religions, moreover, can draw from the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace," he wrote before concluding: "All this requires commitment, work, silence, and words. Let us feel united in this effort, which heavenly Grace will continue to inspire and accompany."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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