Dear brothers and sisters,

Before concluding this long-awaited celebration, I would like to greet and thank all of you who have come in such large numbers to celebrate these two new Saints!  I cordially greet the bishops and priests.  I respectfully welcome the official Delegations and distinguished civil Authorities.

In this atmosphere, it is marvellous to recall that yesterday the Church was also enriched by two new Blesseds.  In Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, Jesuit Archbishop Edoardo Profittlich was beatified.  He was killed in 1942 during the Soviet regime’s persecution of the Church.  In Verszprém, Hungary, the young laywoman Maria Maddalena Bódi was beatified.  She was killed in 1945 for resisting soldiers who intended to assault her.  Let us praise the Lord for these two martyrs, courageous witnesses to the beauty of the Gospel!

To the intercession of the Saints and the Virgin Mary, we entrust our unceasing prayer for peace, especially in the Holy Land and Ukraine, and in every other land blood-stained by war.  To those in power, I repeat: listen to the voice of conscience!  The apparent victories achieved with weapons, which sow death and destruction, are in reality defeats and never bring peace or security!  God does not want war, he wants peace, and he strengthens those who are committed to leaving behind the spiral of hatred and taking the path of dialogue.

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