Pope says world is faced with WWIII

  • By By COLLEEN BARRY
  • Saturday, September 13, 2014 8:35pm
  • News

REDIPUGLIA, Italy — Pope Francis urged the world Saturday to shed its apathy in the face of what he characterizes as a third world war, intoning “war is madness” at the foot of a grandiose monument to soldiers killed in World War I.

Francis’ aim in recalling those who died in the Great War that broke out 100 years ago was to honor the victims of all wars, and it came at a time when his calls for peace have grown ever more urgent amid new threats in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Standing at an altar beneath the towering Redipuglia memorial entombing 100,000 Italian soldiers fallen in World War I, the pope said “even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction.”

The visit was also infused with intensely personal meaning. The pope’s grandfather fought in Italy’s 1915-17 offensive against the Austro-Hungarian empire waged in the nearby battlefields, surviving to impress upon the future pope the horror of war.

An Italian defense ministry official presented the pope with his grandfather’s military record during the commemorations, and the parents of an Italian soldier killed in Afghanistan last year presented Francis with the distinctive feathered Bersagliere cap worn by the Piedmontese corps, famed for a rugged endurance epitomized by their tradition of marching at a jog.

Francis’ grandfather, who hailed from the Piedmont region, belonged to the corps, said Redipuglia parish priest the Rev. Duilio Nardin.

The military records showed that the pope’s grandfather, Giovanni Carlo Bergoglio, was a radio operator during the Isonzo campaign aimed at piercing the Austro-Hungarian defenses. The 12 battles are memorialized at the Redipuglia monument which was dedicated by Italy’s Fascist government in 1938 on the eve of World War II.

The elder Bergoglio, who was drafted at age 31 as Italy entered the war, obtained a certificate of good conduct and 200 lire at the war’s end, according to documents discovered by the Italian bishops’ conference’s media outlets.

. With postwar Italy’s economy stalled, he emigrated to Argentina where the future pontiff — Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was born.

The pope in the past has recalled the “many painful stories from the lips of my grandfather.”

Before arriving at the monument, the pope prayed privately among the neat rows of gravestones for fallen soldiers from five nations buried in a tidy Austro-Hungarian cemetery just a couple of hundred of meters (yards) away.

In his homily during an open-air Mass at the Italian monument, the pope remembered the victims of every war — up to today.

“Today, too, the victims are many,” fallen to behind-the-scenes “interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power,” the pope said.

He lamented that the human toll of “senseless massacres” and “mindless wars” has been met with apathy. Francis urged: “Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep.”

The enduring impact of World War I, 100 years on, is evident in the visitors who continue to make pilgrimages to the monument, although in ever decreasing numbers, said Fogliano di Redipuglia Mayor Antonio Calligaris.

“The Repiduglia sanctuary until 20 years ago was always full of visitors, but it has been forgotten by institutional memory,” Calligaris said. “The papal visit is very important because it renews attention on this history.”

Days before the papal visit, several dozen mostly elderly visitors scaled the 22 granite levels reaching dramatically upward toward three towering crosses that point skyward. The largest Italian war memorial, Redipuglia entombs 100,000 Italian soldiers killed in battle, 60,000 whose identity remains unknown and 40,000 who were identified.

The nearby Austro-Hungarian cemetery, one of several in the area, contains 14,406 dead from five nations that fought under the Austro-Hungarian empire, only 2,406 identified. Among recent tributes is a Hungarian flag signed in July by relatives of a soldier named Istvan Arnter, who died on Nov. 20, 1917.

Many visitors to the Italian monument search the engraved names for their forbears.

“They are making a lot of saints these days. Even popes,” said Margherita Braga, 52, of Brescia, who was visiting the site with her Italian military veteran husband. “But for me, these are the real saints.”

Just two levels up from the altar where Francis stood, the name of a fallen soldier named Adolfo Bergoglio is engraved in a wall. Nardin, the local priest, said he is not believed to be related to the pope. But World War I historian, Col. Lorenzo Cadeddu, who has found two Bergoglios listed among the Italian casualties of World War I, said it remained a possibility.

“Bergoglio is not a common name,” Cadeddu said. “It is likely that they are related.”

More in News

Soldotna City Manager Janette Bower, right, speaks to Soldotna Vice Mayor Lisa Parker during a meeting of the Soldotna City Council in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna tweaks bed tax legislation ahead of Jan. 1 enactment

The council in 2023 adopted a 4% lodging tax for short-term rentals

Member Tom Tougas speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Tourism Industry Working Group holds 1st meeting

The group organized and began to unpack questions about tourism revenue and identity

The Nikiski Pool is photographed at the North Peninsula Recreation Service Area in Nikiski, Alaska, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion file)
Nikiski man arrested for threats to Nikiski Pool

Similar threats, directed at the pool, were made in voicemails received by the borough mayor’s office, trooper say

A sign welcomes visitors on July 7, 2021, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward council delays decision on chamber funding until January work session

The chamber provides destination marketing services for the city and visitor center services and economic development support

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Crane sentenced again to 30 years in prison after failed appeal to 3-judge panel

That sentence resembles the previous sentence announced by the State Department of Law in July

Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander sits inside Kenai City Hall on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion file)
Ostrander named to Rasmuson board

The former Kenai city manager is filling a seat vacated by former Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre

Joe Gilman is named Person of the Year during the 65th Annual Soldotna Chamber Awards Celebration at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Wednesday. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Gilman, PCHS take top honors at 65th Soldotna Chamber Awards

A dozen awards were presented during the ceremony in the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex conference rooms

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Troopers respond to car partially submerged in Kenai River

Troopers were called to report a man walking on the Sterling Highway and “wandering into traffic”

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward council approves 2025 and 2026 budget

The move comes after a series of public hearings

Most Read