O'Higgins Park was prepared to receive the pope at the first Mass he celebrated in the country. Four hundred thousand people joined Pope Francis in singing the conciliatory song: 'Chile, a table for everyone.'
It was not a coincidence and the pope spoke about why peace and justice were the chosen theme for the celebration.
Pope Francis said that peace and justice will not come to those who are compliant or give up.
POPE FRANCIS
'Jesus, in proclaiming blessed the poor, the grieving, the afflicted, the patient, the merciful… comes to cast out the inertia which paralyzes those who no longer have faith in change. Jesus shakes us out of that negativity, that sense of resignation that makes us believe we can have a better life if we escape from our problems, shun others, hide or close off within our comfortable existence, if we rest in a tranquilizing consumerism.'
Despite economic growth, Chile suffers from a great social tension. There are also fewer Catholics. That is why the pope delivered an optimistic yet demanding message to bury the hatchets of war and start building a prosperous country together.
POPE FRANCIS
“Do you want peace? Then work for peace. A peacemaker knows that it is not enough simply to say: ‘I am not hurting anybody.’ As St. Alberto Hurtado used to say, ‘It is very good not to do wrong, but very bad not to do good.’'
The excitement could be felt from the participants in the ceremony. Various images of Chilean saints like St. Teresa of the Andes or St. Alberto Hurtado.
