Our destiny is peace, not war says Pope in homage to Our Lady

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 8 - The destiny of humankind is peace, notwar said Pope Francis during his customary act of veneration tothe statue of Our Lady in Rome's Piazza di Spagna on theCatholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Friday.
   "We need you, Mother" because "your person, the very fact thatyou exist reminds us that evil has neither the first nor thelast word; that our destiny is not death but life, not hatredbut fraternity, not conflict but harmony, not war but peace,"said the pope, wo had been greeted in the iconic square byCardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis an Rome Mayor RobertoGualtieri.
   Francis then called on Our Lady for "mercy on all peoplesoppressed by injustice and poverty, tried by war".
   "Look at the tormented Ukrainian people, the Palestinian peopleand the Israeli people, plunged back into the spiral ofviolence," continued Francis.
   "Show us again, O Mother, the way of conversion, because thereis no peace without forgiveness and there is no forgivenesswithout repentance. The world changes if hearts change; and eachone must say: starting from mine".
   The pope also prayed for women victims of violence and formothers who are grieving.
   "Today, Mary, we need to entrust to you as a woman all the womenwho have suffered violence and those who are still victims, inthis city, in Italy and in every part of the world," saidFrancis.
   "Help us to make a journey of education and purification,recognising and opposing the violence that lurks in our heartsand minds, and asking God to free us from it," he continued.
   "Today, Holy Mother, we bring here, under your gaze, the manymothers who, like you, are grieving. The mothers who mourn theirchildren killed by war and terrorism. The mothers who see themleave on journeys of desperate hope. And also those who try tountie them from the bonds of addiction, and those who watch overthem in a long and hard illness," said the pope.
   Earlier Francis paid a visit to the Papal Basilica of St MaryMajor, where he prayed before the Byzantine icon 'Salus PopuliRomani' representing the Madonna and Child. (ANSA).