At audience, pope prays repeatedly for peace

Published: 2005-09-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at his weekly audience, prayed repeatedly for peace. "Oh Lord, let your face shine upon us today for the benefit of peace and, in these times, give us and all people on earth harmony and peace," he said Sept. 28. God's "divine love becomes concrete and nearly observable in history with all its bitter and glorious events," he told some 30,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square. Today, God's redemptive and protective power "reaches us now in Christ," he said. "Oh Lord, let your face shine on us for the benefit of peace, to protect us with your powerful hand and save us from every sin ... and rescue us from those who unjustly hate us," the pope said, quoting from the writings of Pope St. Clement I. He said this first-century pope's prayer can be a prayer for the faithful today.

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