Pope Francis has said he sees “greater omens of greater destruction and desolation” in the world in a bleak outlook for the future.
Giving Mass in the Vatican, the pontiff, 85, pointed to the problems that exist in the world today with wars and injustice.
He was speaking on Sunday on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, which commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Mexico City in 1531 and he compared the difficult times now to then.
The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is now a holiday in Mexico and when the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Juan Diego in the 16th century, it was during a “complicated and difficult time for the inhabitants of the New World”.
Every year, millions of pilgrims flock to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which holds an image of the Virgin who is said to have miraculously imprinted herself on the man's cloak.
In his homily, Francis said Mary appeared then "to accompany the American people in this difficult path of poverty, exploitation and socioeconomic and cultural colonialism."
Now almost 600 years later, the world faces an extremely dangerous situation in Ukraine and appears to be at a closer point to a nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Along with this there is very high inflation, spiking energy prices, a cost of living problem and rising global poverty.
He said the world is living through “a difficult time for humanity … a bitter period, full of the roar of war, of growing injustices, famines, poverty, suffering.”
He continued saying that his vision for the future appears with “greater omens of greater destruction and desolation.”
But still despite these “omens” he did give room for positivity.
“And although this horizon seems bleak and disconcerting, with omens of even greater destruction and desolation, his divine love and his coming down to us tell us that this too is a propitious time of salvation,” the Pope added.
Pope Francis also sympathized with the caravans of Latin Americans "seeking freedom and well-being" in the U.S.
The first Latin American pope spoke off the cuff in his native Spanish to denounce the plight facing Latin Americans today and in the past.
Francis has made caring for migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy.
