Pope: Never grow accustomed to war and horrors against humanity

Pope Francis renews his appeal for an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, just days before the publication of "You are not alone", the Italian edition of a book-length interview, in which the Pope denounces the war as "the fruit of a series of madnesses".

By Salvatore Cernuzio

Horrors, "very serious horrors", against God and man. This is what wars are for Pope Francis.

He has once again reiterated his condemnation of the conflicts taking place in the world, on Monday, the day after his Angelus in St. Peter's Square, during which he defined them a "defeat".

He reiterated this on X (formerly Twitter), via his account @Pontifex in nine languages, where he says:

"We must not get used to war, to any war. We must not allow our hearts and minds to become anaesthetised before the repetition of these very serious horrors against God and man."

This appeal is the umpteenth coming from Pope Francis who has denounced war since the beginning of his pontificate, intensifying this appeal in the months of Russian aggression in Ukraine and, now, with the tensions in the Middle East and the resurgence of attacks and violence.

The thought was also shared by the Pope in a telephone call he made on Sunday to US President Joe Biden, who recently visited Israel.

In light of the turmoil the world is witnessing, the Pope's words stress this once more in the book Non sei solo ("You are not alone").

Challenges, answers and hopes: the book-interview signed by journalists Francesca Ambrogetti, former head of Ansa in Argentina, and Sergio Rubin, of the daily El Clarin.

The book had already been published in February in Argentina under the title El Pastor (The Shepherd); on Tuesday the Italian edition hit bookshops with Salani publishers.

"At the beginning of my pontificate I affirmed that we were living through a Third World War in small pieces, then I claimed that these pieces had gradually grown larger and now I think it is all one big piece," the Pope said in a passage of the interview, reported by Ansa. "I still believe that it is an enormous tragedy to have lost the memory of the Second World War. Once, observing the rulers of the countries that participated in the conflict during a commemoration of the Normandy landings, I thought they should cry. Almost 30,000 people died there alone. War is the result of a series of madnesses."

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