01:32 PM
He Pope Francisco This Wednesday he urged the priests to make short homilies that “do not exceed eight minutes” so that the faithful do not “sleep.”
The homily or sermon is the speech with which a priest comments on a reading of the gospel. “The homily It must be short. An image, a thought, a feeling”, declared Jorge Bergoglio during his weekly general audience.
“The homily It should not exceed eight minutes because after that period of time, attention is lost. [de los fieles]people falls asleep, and they are right. This is how a homily should be and that is what I want to tell the priests who “They talk so much, so often, and you don’t understand what they’re talking about.”added the Argentine pope, with a casual tone.
It is not the first time that the Pope has spoken in this sense. In 2023 he stated that the homilies that are too long are a “disaster”.
Previously, Francis regretted “the hatred that sows in future generations” the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza and asked again for a ceasefire, release of hostages and humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
“All this suffering (…) the violence that is [guerra] triggers and hate that also sows in future generations should convince us that “Every war leaves the world worse than how it was found.” declared on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the invocation for peace in the Holy Land, celebrated at the time by the former Israeli president Shimon Peres and the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
“Every day I pray that this war will finally end. I think of all those who suffer, in Israel and Palestine, in Christians, Jews and Muslims,” added the Argentine pontiff.
“I think of the urgency for the decision to finally be made from the rubble of Gaza to stop the weapons and, therefore, I ask for a ceasefire. I think of the relatives and Israeli hostages and I ask that they be released as soon as possible. I think of the Palestinian population and I ask that it be protected and receive all the necessary humanitarian aid,” Francisco reiterated.
The 87-year-old pope asked that everyone world works and commits itself “so that lasting peace is achieved, where the State of Palestine and the State of Israel can live side by side, breaking down the walls of enmity and hatred.”
“All We must worry about Jerusalem, so that it becomes the city of fraternal encounter between Christians, Jews and Muslims, protected by a special status guaranteed at the international level,” concluded Francis, referring to that city that Israel proclaimed as its capital after the annexation of East Jerusalem.
