Pope Francis surprised many followers this past Sunday with another unexpected public appearance, mixing with the crowds and dishing out sweets to children in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City.
It’s been good to see the 88-year-old man convalescing well from pneumonia, getting stronger and stronger as Easter approached. Our troubled world right now needs the wisdom of leaders like him.
Of course, there are those in positions of power – those who just want to abuse it without democracy, the law or anyone getting in the way – who must be wishing the pope wasn’t well enough to speak truth to power this Easter weekend.
In his Easter message last year, the pontiff spoke about the “stones that block the hopes of humanity”, referring to all the wars, hunger and disasters around the world.
Sadly, things haven’t gotten better. Instead, while there are some promising talks about ceasefires and peace deals, the future of our world still looks very bleak.
This past Sunday the pope reminded us of a terrible war on our continent that we tend to ignore.
“The 15th of April will mark the second sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes,” he said in his Palm Sunday Angelus speech.
“The suffering of children, women, and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act.”
The old man urged us all to carry our crosses – our responsibilities as citizens – as well as carry those of others lacking to power or ability to carry them. In other word, he was saying do what you can to make this world a better place.
All the old, ailing man could manage on Sunday was to dish out sweets on a public square. And, for now, all this poor scribe writing here could do was to highlight the old man’s message in this short column – sorry no Easter eggs from me.
Let’s all do what we can for peace.