Prince of Peace Parish

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 10, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV explained that cries of pain, like those of Jesus in his final moments on the cross, instead of a sign of weakness, can express desire, surrender, and prayer.

A rainy morning in Rome prevented the Holy Father from spending much time greeting the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. Aboard the popemobile, he toured the square amid applause and cheers, stopping to give his blessing, especially to children.

The pope dedicated his catechesis at the weekly audience, which began just over five minutes late, to reflecting on the value of crying.

“At times, what we are unable to say in words, we express with the voice,” Leo said. “When the heart is full, it cries. And this is not always a sign of weakness; it can be a profound act of humanity.”

Although we are accustomed to thinking of crying as something disorderly to be repressed, the Gospel gives our cry a value, reminding us it can be “an invocation, a protest, a desire, a surrender,” the pope said.

“It can even be the extreme form of prayer, when there are no words left,” he continued.

“One cries not out of desperation, but out of desire. Jesus did not cry out against the Father, but to him. Even in silence, he was convinced that the Father was there,” the pontiff said. “And, in this way, he showed us that our hope can cry out, even when all seems lost.”

A cry that manifests the greatest love

Addressing pilgrims huddled under umbrellas in protection against sporadic rain showers, Pope Leo meditated on the “culmination of Jesus’ life in this world: his death on the cross.”

Specifically, he highlighted an important detail worthy of faithful contemplation: That “on the cross, Jesus does not die in silence.”

The pontiff explained that after fulfilling his mission on earth, from the cross, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” For the Holy Father, “that cry contains everything: pain, abandonment, faith, offering. It is not only the voice of a body giving way, but the final sign of a life being surrendered.” 

He also recalled that the cry was preceded by a question, “one of the most heartrending that could be uttered: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’”

Pope Leo XIV emphasized that, in that final moment, Jesus experiences silence, absence, and the abyss. However, according to the pontiff, “it is not a crisis of faith but the final stage of a love that is given up to the very end.”

“Jesus’ cry is not desperation, but sincerity, truth taken to the limit, trust that endures even when all is silent,” he emphasized.

He added that “it is there, in that broken man, that the greatest love manifests itself. It is there that we can recognize a God who does not remain distant but who traverses our pain to the very end.”

Jesus teaches us not to fear crying

The pope also explained that to cry can be a “spiritual gesture,” since it is often one’s first act after birth and a way to stay alive.

“One cries when one suffers, but also when one loves, one calls, one invokes. To cry out is saying who we are, that we do not want to fade away in silence, that we still have something to offer,” he added.

Leo invited those listening not to hold back their tears, because keeping everything inside “can slowly consume us.”

The pontiff insisted that “Jesus teaches us not to be afraid to cry out, as long as it is sincere, humble, addressed to the Father. A cry is never pointless if it is born of love.”

At the end of his message, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to learn from the Lord to give a “cry of hope when the hour of extreme trial comes.”

“Not to hurt, but to entrust ourselves. Not to shout at someone, but to open our hearts. If our cry is genuine, it can be the threshold of a new light, of a new birth,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

ACI Africa, Sep 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) are calling for methods that are “African, community-rooted, and just” in addressing climatic crises manifested in droughts, floods, and cyclones, among others, on the world’s second-largest continent.

In a statement read out during the Second Africa Climate Summit held at the Addis Ababa International Convention Centre in Ethiopia on Sept. 7–8, SECAM members said the climate crisis is both a moral and ecological emergency whose impact is greatly felt in Africa.

“Africa bears disproportionate impacts — droughts, cyclones, floods, desertification — despite contributing least to global emissions,” Africa’s Catholic bishops said in their statement for the event organized under the theme “Lighting the Way: Renewable Energy and the Dignity of Life.”

In the statement that Bishop Coffi Roger Anoumou of Benin’s Diocese of Lokossa read aloud, SECAM members said: “The Catholic Church in Africa calls for bold, fair, and urgent action to ensure that climate solutions are Africa-led, community-rooted, and just.”

On Africa-led climate solutions, the bishops said, “SECAM insists that Africa must not merely be a recipient of external agendas but a full architect of its ecological future.”

“Rural communities, rich in Indigenous wisdom, are laboratories of integral ecology and must shape pathways to sustainable development,” they said at the event they organized in collaboration with Laudato Si’ Movement in Africa and Caritas Africa.

To address the climate crisis, the bishops also called for the need to advance nature and technology-based approaches, saying: “The Church supports renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and appropriate technologies that protect biodiversity and respect cultural heritage.”

“True solutions must integrate social equity, human dignity, and creation care, not short-term profit or ‘false solutions’ such as harmful offsets or extractive projects,” the bishops said.

The Church in Africa must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but failing to bring about substantial change, the bishops said, and added: “We are still not facing the issues squarely, and the commitments made are weak and hardly fulfilled.”

“We cannot continue to make excuses; what is needed is courage and determination to move away decisively from fossil fuels, to embrace renewable sources of energy, and to make genuine lifestyle changes for the sake of our common home,” the bishops said.

In the three-page statement, the bishops in Africa further advocated for the scaling of renewable energy.

“SECAM urges investment in decentralized, community-driven renewable systems — especially solar — creating decent jobs, empowering women and youth, and reducing energy poverty while curbing carbon emissions,” they said.

“The future is this renewable energy, namely, solar panels. It is crucial to invest in clean energy and upgrade infrastructure to address Africa’s energy poverty,” the bishops said.

SECAM members also called for the mobilization of climate finance with justice, saying: “The Church calls on wealthy nations to repay their ecological debt through transparent, accessible, and non-indebted climate finance.”

“Loss and Damage and Adaptation Funds must be swiftly operationalized, reaching vulnerable communities directly and fostering resilience rather than dependency,” the bishops said in the statement.

As Catholic communities in Africa, SECAM members said, “we ask the leaders of nations and institutions to recognize their moral duty and commit to urgent and ambitious action to protect our common home and the most vulnerable.”

The bishops in Africa lamented that delay and half-measures in protecting the common home only deepen the suffering of the African people and jeopardize future generations.

“A deal must include finance for loss and damage, which is compensation for countries that are already suffering the devastating impacts of climate change but are not responsible for causing it,” they said, adding: “This is a matter of justice and solidarity with the poorest and most affected communities.”

The bishops also called for adaptation efforts to “safeguard food security, water systems, and livelihoods, prioritizing the poor and marginalized. Faith communities stand ready to collaborate in educating, mobilizing, and accompanying affected populations.”

“The Loss and Damage Fund must be urgently operationalized to respond to the devastating impacts of climate change that are already destroying lives and livelihoods,” the SECAM statement said.

“We must stop the expansion of fossil fuels and instead expand clean, renewable energy solutions that empower our communities, respect our cultures, and protect our common home,” the bishops said, adding: “The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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