Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis celebrated the beginning of Advent last Sunday with a call to Christians to enter into a never ending journey of peace towards the destruction and re-purposing of the world’s weapons and armaments.

Earlier this week lawmakers in Argentina recommended that their compatriot, the Holy Father, be nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The resolution has been overwhelmingly approved in Argentina’s House of Representatives and will now go to the Senate for ratification.

Speaking during his weekly Sunday Angelus blessing with pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said the beginning of the Advent season is the beginning of a new stage of the ‘journey of the People of God’ with Jesus ‘towards the Kingdom of justice, towards the Kingdom of peace.’

The journey towards peace, said the Holy Father, ‘is never finished.’ Just as individuals are continually trying to understand the purpose of their lives, he said, ‘so the human family is always needing to renew the common horizon toward which we are journeying.’

That horizon, he said, is ‘the horizon of hope.’ That horizon, the Pope added, ‘is the horizon that makes for a good journey.’

Following the recitation of the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis also mentioned that Sunday was World AIDS Day and expressed particular concern for child victims of HIV/AIDS. He also praised the work of women religious and others who serve the needs of the disease’s victims. He asked pilgrims gathered to pray for those who are sick, as well as the doctors and researchers working on HIV/AIDS.

The Pope urged the faithful to pray so that ‘each sick person, nobody excluded, may access the therapy they need.’

According to the US Centres for Disease Control, an estimated 35 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

—This story ran in full in the December 6 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.