Rumbek, 20 August, 2023 / 9:25 pm (ACI Africa).
Fear is an enemy of peace, and it makes people weak and fragile, Pietro Cardinal Parolin has said in his message to the people of God in South Sudan on the last day of his four-day visit to the East Central African country.
In his homily at Holy Family Cathedral of Rumbek on August 17, Cardinal Parolin said that fear, which he said could also be a consequence of sin, can only be driven out by “perfect love.”
“When people live in sin, they live in fear. Sin makes people weak and fragile, unable to sympathize with others in their suffering, unable to strive for justice, peace, and communion, unable to build a more fraternal community,”
Fear, the Cardinal said, “may also arise from within ourselves, from our self-doubts and questioning, our failures and anxieties, and above all from the reality of sin.”
He continued, “We proclaim and celebrate the fact that perfect love has been revealed in Jesus Christ because in him God has reconciled the world to himself and has given us the gift of peace through the power of the Holy Spirit by fearlessly offering himself on the cross.”
