The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out in unison with thousands of other church bells around the world as His Holiness Pope Francis commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War I. Around 17 million people, soldiers and civilians, were killed during the Great War. November 11, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice between Germany and the Allies in France, which ended World War I in 1918. At 1:30 p.m. in Rome, the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled in honor of this centenary in coordination with church bells all over Europe and around the world.
As reported by CNA, “While we pray for all the victims of that terrible tragedy, let us say forcefully: invest in peace, not on war!” His Holiness Pope Francis said at the end of his Angelus address Nov. 11. The memory of World War I should be a warning to “reject a ‘culture of war’ and seek every legitimate means to put an end to the conflicts that still bleed several regions of the world,” he said and added, “It seems that we do not learn.”
The Pontiff noted that the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours falls on Armistice Day, calling the soldier saint’s act of cutting his cloak in half to share with a poor man a “gesture of human solidarity” that points toward “the way to build peace.”
