Departing from his prepared text for yesterday’s Angelus address, Pope Francis issued an impassioned plea to the leaders of the Middle East, Iraq and Ukraine to stop the wars that are enveloping those regions.

“Stop! I am asking you with all my heart. Stop!” the Pope pleaded yesterday.

“Brothers and sisters: never war. My thoughts go especially to the children, from whom we take away the hope for a decent life: dead children, injured children, maimed children, orphaned children, children who have war relics for toys, children who do not know how to smile.”

As AsiaNews reports, the Pope went on to say that he hoped to see a time when “the common good and respect for every person are put at the center of every decision, not special interests.”

He went on to note that July 28 is the anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, which he called “a day of mourning in memory of that tragedy.”

This War “caused millions of deaths and immense destruction. Such a conflict, which Pope Benedict XV called a ‘senseless slaughter’, resulted, after four long years, in a most fragile peace. . . . I hope the mistakes of the past will not be repeated, and the lessons of history will be taken into account, ensuring that the demands of peace prevail through patient and courageous dialogue.”

For this reason, the Pope is calling upon everyone to “continue to join me in prayer that the Lord may grant the peoples and authorities of those areas the wisdom and strength needed to push ahead on the path of peace, addressing every diatribe with the tenacity of dialogue and negotiation and the power of reconciliation.”

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