The emeritus bishop of Portalegre-Castelo Branco, Augusto César, defended this Sunday, in Fatima, the need for “a lot of commitment to build peace” and prayed for those involved in the war in Ukraine.
“The social environment of our time needs the hand of fraternal service and a lot of commitment to build peace,” said the prelate, for whom prayer for the hopes and sufferings of the world, for peace, is very important.
In the homily of the mass of the annual pilgrimage of the Portalegre-Castelo Branco diocese to the Fatima Sanctuary, Augusto César also left a word to the belligerents in the Ukraine conflict.
“We pray for the Ukrainians who suffer so much and are treated like human waste and also for the opponents who treat them with such contempt so that they can convert,” he said, quoted by the website of the Shrine of Fatima.
The bishop emeritus then left a message to the thousands of pilgrims present at Fatima: “Being a member of the Church at the expense of a parish or a diocese is equivalent to being a brother to other brothers. In the context that we live with the pandemic and the war, we need to be attentive to those who are or are by our side and need our help.
“It is necessary to listen to those who are by our side and who are close to us,” the bishop stressed, before an assembly in which many foreigners were present, in particular members of organized groups of pilgrims from Spain, Ireland, Italy and Poland.
Source: Observadora
