Athens, Greece
AP
Pope Francis ended his visit to Greece on Monday by encouraging its young people to follow their dreams and not be tempted by the consumerist “sirens” of today that promise easy pleasures.
Francis briefly struggled to keep his balance on the steps while boarding the plane bound for Rome when caught by a gust of wind, and was helped on board by an aide.
Students performs in a traditional dance for the Pope Francis at the Saint Dionysius School of the Ursuline Sisters in Athens, Greece, on Monday, 6th December. Francis’ five-day trip to Cyprus and Greece has been dominated by the migrant issue and Francis’ call for European countries to stop building walls, stoking fears and shutting out “those in greater need who knock at our door.” PICTURE: AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis/Pool.
Earlier, Francis met with students at a Catholic school in Athens in his final event of a five-day visit to Cyprus and Greece that has been dominated by his concern for the plight of migrants seeking entry to Europe.
He echoed a common theme he has raised with young people, encouraging them to stay fast in their faith, even amid doubts, and resist the temptation to pursue materialist goals. He cited Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” and the temptation posed by the sirens who “by their songs enchanted sailors and made them crash against the rocks.”
“Today’s sirens want to charm you with seductive and insistent messages that focus on easy gains, the false needs of consumerism, the cult of physical wellness, of entertainment at all costs,” he said. “All these are like fireworks: they flare up for a moment, but then turn to smoke in the air.”
Two immigrant students were among those who greeted the pope, including an 18-year-old Syrian refugee, Aboud Gabro, who told the Pope of his family’s escape from Aleppo in 2014 after a bomb exploded on their home. They finally arrived in Greece after a perilous boat crossing from Turkey.
“It was hard being on a rock without water or food, waiting for dawn and and a coast guard ship to come save us,” Gabro said.
Francis listened to his story, “a true modern-day odyssey,” and expressed gratitude that he and his family had made it safely after “so many refusals and a thousand difficulties, you landed in this country.” But he suggested it also showed a sense of adventure and people following their dreams.
“The meaning of life is not found by staying on the beach waiting for the wind to bring something new. Salvation lies in the open sea, in setting sail, in the quest, in the pursuit of dreams, real dreams, those we pursue with eyes open, those that involve effort, struggles, headwinds, sudden storms,” he said. “So don’t be paralyzed by fear: dream big! And dream together!”
Francis is returning to the Vatican with some important pre-Christmas events on his agenda: a scheduled meeting with the members of a French commission that investigated sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church, a scheduled meeting with Canadian Indigenous peoples seeking a papal apology for abuses at Catholic-run residential schools, and Francis’ own 85th birthday on 17th December.
Pope Francis greets the journalists onboard the papal plane on the occasion of his five-day pastoral visit to Cyprus and Greece, on Monday, 6th December. PICTURE: Alessandro Di Meo/Pool photo via AP.
Meanwhile, in comments made aboard the papal plane, the Pope said there were plans for a possible second meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, after their historic 2016 encounter in Cuba became a landmark in mending relations severed by the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity.
Francis said he planned to meet next week with the Russian church’s foreign envoy “to agree on a possible meeting” with Patriarch Kirill. The pontiff noted that Kirill is due to travel in the coming weeks, but Francis said he was also “ready to go to Moscow” even if diplomatic protocols weren’t yet in place.
“Because talking with a brother, there are no protocols,” Francis told reporters as he traveled home from Greece. “We are brothers. We say things to each other’s face like brothers.”
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The two churches split during the Great Schism of 1054 and have remained estranged over a host of issues, including the primacy of the pope and Russian Orthodox accusations that the Catholic Church is poaching converts in former Soviet lands.
Francis made the comments after meeting with two prominent figures in Christian Orthodoxy, the heads of the Orthodox Churches in Cyprus and Greece during his five-day trip to those two nations. Meeting this weekend with Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of Greece’s Orthodox Church, Francis issued a sweeping apology for all the mistakes Catholics had made against the Orthodox, echoing the apology offered by St John Paul II in Greece in 2001.
The Pope also told reporters that he had accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Paris because the monsignor could no longer govern effectively thanks to the “gossip” about his relationship with a woman a decade ago.
Francis was asked en route home from Greece about the surprise decision, which came only days after Archbishop Michel Aupetit put his fate in Francis’ hands following French media reports about what he said was an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman.
French media reports also cited governance problems as a possible reason underlying Francis’ decision.
Responding to a question from a French reporter, Francis said there had been some “lapses” with Aupetit involving sexual sins. But he said they weren’t even that serious and only involved “some caresses and massages”. He added, that regardless, everyone is a sinner, including the pope himself.
But Francis said the comments that had ensued made it impossible for Aupetit to continue governing effectively. “We’re all sinners. When the gossip grows and grows and removes someone’s good name, he cannot govern,” Francis said.
“This is an injustice,” Francis added. “That’s why I accepted resignation of Aupetit: not on altar of truth but on the altar of hypocrisy.”
– With DEREK GATAPOULOS.
