HOPE FOR PEACE FROM USA National Catholic Reporter: "Conclave roundup: Rome is quiet on Sunday before the election of a new pope"

HOPE FOR PEACE FROM VATICAN 01.05.2025

Praying for the dead is an act of love, said Artime, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

"That is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the people of God, together with the pastors and especially this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women," he said.

Francis "was asking us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded, because in them is the Lord."

Some like Ukrainian Yona Tukuser have still been flocking to the square hoping that its next occupant will continue Francis' work.

Tukuser has been taking to the outskirts of St. Peter's Square to keep alive sentiments the late pontiff had expressed in his last testament.

"Hope for peace," Tukuser, an artist, had scribbled with her lipstick on a sheet of mustard colored paper that Italian restaurants use to serve fried food. She has been holding it up, facing St. Peter's.

It's a form of prayer, she said of the sign. As thousands have walked past, some have repeated the words when they see them, she said.

The pope said he had two wishes, she recalled: to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore and to offer the suffering at the end of his life for peace in the world. With him gone, she's afraid of what will happen when the only major world leader who constantly called for peace has died.

"I feel like we lost the strongest voice of peace," she said.

/RHINA GUIDOS/

SOURCE: https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/conclave-roundup-rome-quiet-sunday-election-new-pope