Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing the faithful gathered at Casa Santa Marta during his homily reflected on how the Devil is the cause of all forms of persecution: from cultural colonization to war, hunger, and slavery. His Holiness Pope Francis explained how such persecution is “part of Christian life” and pointed out that the devil is behind every persecution that human being faces.
As reported by Vatican radio, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “Persecution is rather like the ‘air’ that Christians breathe even today. Because even today there are many martyrs, many people who are persecuted for their love of Christ. There are many countries where Christians have no rights. If you wear a cross, you go to jail. And there are people in jail. There are people condemned to death today simply because they are Christians. The number of people killed is higher than the number of early martyrs. It’s higher! But this doesn’t make news. Television newscasts and newspapers don’t cover these things. Meanwhile Christians are being persecuted”. Further, the Pontiff emphasized that “The Devil is behind every persecution, both of Christians and all human beings. The Devil tries to destroy the presence of Christ in Christians, and the image of God in men and women. He tried doing this from the very beginning, as we read in the Book of Genesis: he tried to destroy that harmony that the Lord created between man and woman, the harmony that comes from being made in the image and likeness of God. And he succeeded. He managed to do it by using deception, seduction, the weapons he uses. He always does this. But there is a powerful ruthlessness against men and women today: otherwise how to explain this growing wave of destruction towards men and women, and all that is human”.
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded his homily by reminding hunger as an “injustice” that “destroys men and women because they have nothing to eat, even if there is a lot of food available in the world. The Pontiff even highlighted human exploitation and cultural colonization as the weapons used by Devil to destroy humankind. Holy Father remarked that “In the world today, all humans, and not only Christians are being persecuted because the Father of all persecutions cannot bare that they are the image and likeness of God. So he attacks and destroys that image. It isn’t easy to understand this. We have to pray a lot if we want to understand it”.
