Vatican City, Feb 16, 2017 / 16:33 pm
Pope Francis warned in his homily Thursday that envy, greed, and hate in the heart will breed war, violence, and murder in the world.
"War begins in here and finishes out there. The news we see in the papers or on television… Today so many people die, and that seed of war, which breeds envy, jealousy, and greed in my heart, is the same – grown up, become a tree – as the bomb which falls on a hospital, on a school, and kills children," said the Pope in a reflection of the damage of war during morning Mass at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta Feb. 16.
Drawing from the story in Genesis of the dove returning to Noah after the flood, the Pope said God gave the rainbow and the dove to demonstrate his promise and desire for peace to reign in the world among every people. But he said the signs also represent how fragile peace can be.
He said the dove is "a sign of what God desired after the flood: peace, that is, that all would live in peace…The dove and the rainbow are fragile. The rainbow is beautiful after a storm, but then a cloud comes and it disappears."