Below is the Holy Father's letter to Luciano Fontana, editor of Corriere della Sera, in response to the message Fontana sent him while he was in hospital.
Mr Director,
I would like to thank you for the words of closeness with which you have wanted to be present at this time of illness when, as I have had occasion to say, war seems even more absurd. Human frailty has the power to make us more lucid about what lasts and what passes, about what gives life and what kills. Perhaps that's why we so often tend to deny our limits and shy away from people who are fragile and wounded: they have the power to call into question the direction we have chosen, as individuals and as a community.
I would like to encourage you and all those who devote their work and intelligence to providing information, through the communication tools that now unite our world in real time: feel the importance of words. They are never just words: they are acts that build human environments. They can connect or divide, serve truth or detract from it. We need to disarm words to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calm and a sense of complexity.
While war simply devastates communities and the environment, without offering any solutions to conflicts, diplomacy and international organisations need new blood and credibility. Religions can draw on the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, and the hope of peace.
All this requires commitment, work, silence and words. Let us feel united in this effort, which heavenly Grace will never cease to inspire and accompany.
François
Rome, Policlinico Gemelli, 14 March 2025
Source : Vatican News
