Vatican City, May 16, 2017 / 12:28 pm
Only God can give true peace amid tribulations, Pope Francis said in his May 16 homily at his Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.
"A peace without a cross is not the peace of Jesus," the Pope said. "The world teaches us the way to anesthetized peace: it anesthetizes us from seeing another reality of life: the Cross."
"This is why Paul says that one must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on the road with many tribulations," he added. "The peace that the world offers us is a peace without tribulations."
The world offers an artificial peace that is reduced to mere tranquility, he said. This kind of peace is "only concerned about one's affairs and one's security" – but it is ultimately ineffective, because "tribulations are there, whether pain, illness or death."