01 august, 2023
Monsignor Antonio Tagle: Fatima Has a Role to Play in the Struggle for PeacePhilippine Cardinal recalls Our Lady's request at Fatima to pray for the conversion of hearts in order to achieve peace.Today, Cardinal Antonio Tagle of the Philippines stressed the importance of the Message that Our Lady left at Fatima, asking for prayers for the conversion of hearts in order to achieve peace. Interviewed in the press room at the Fatima sanctuary, Mgr. Antonio Tagle said that the Virgin Mary can do a great deal for peace, as her presence in the Gospels shows that she is always working in this direction. “On the cross, next to Jesus Christ, during the agony of Jesus Christ, at this moment when there was no peace for an innocent person, Mary was there. Mary is the guarantee of peace, and she will never cease to fight for peace,” he added. Pope Francis is coming to Fatima to pray for peace, because it was in Fatima that Our Lady left, in her Message, the request to pray for the conversion of hearts, the Cardinal said, adding: “There is no peace without conversion of hearts and conversion means uprooting the roots of the lack of peace”. “And that is why we need the grace of the Lord, because only the Holy Spirit can touch hearts directly,” he stressed. Young people, he said, must not lose the dream of peace, both in Ukraine and in the world, and “must influence future generations so that this dream is not lost”. He recalled Pope John XXIII who in his encyclical Pacem in Terris emphasised that peace is a fruit: “We will not have peace without justice, truth, love, respect for human dignity. Do we want peace? Let us first take these steps”. Mgr. Antonio Tagle, 66, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation since June 2022, is in Portugal to participate in World Youth Day Lisbon and today presided at the Eucharistic celebration at the altar of the Prayer Area of the Shrine of Fatima.
He already came to Fatima to preside over the International Anniversary Pilgrimage in May 2019. |
