On June 6, Mass was celebrated on the beaches of each of the five landing sectors, and on June 8 the diocese will offer a Mass for peace in remembrance of its 138 priests, seminarians, and religious women who lost their lives in the Second World War.
Pope Francis in his message decried the loss of life in World War II, especially the death of the many young men who were killed during the D-Day operation, as well as the civilian victims of bombardments.
“We remember the colossal and impressive collective and military effort made to restore freedom,” he said. “And we also think of the cost of this effort: these immense cemeteries where thousands of graves line up of soldiers — most of them very young, and many of them from far away — who heroically gave their lives, enabling the end of the Second World War and the restoration of peace, a peace which — at least in Europe — will have lasted almost 80 years.”
The D-Day landings, the pope said, “evoke, more generally, the disaster represented by this appalling world conflict, in which so many men, women, and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, so much ruin was wrought.”
“It would be pointless and hypocritical to remember it without condemning and rejecting it definitively,” he underlined, recalling St. Paul VI’s appeal at the United Nations on Oct. 4, 1965: “Never again war!”
Credit: Source link
