Pope to pray for peace at WWI memorial

(ANSA) - Rome, September 12 - Pope Francis will commemorate the centennial of the beginning of World War I with a pilgrimage to the Italian war memorial in the village of Fontano Redipuglia, which lies close to the Slovenian border in Italy's north-eastern Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
    "In these times when not a few peoples around the world need help finding the path of peace, this anniversary teaches us that war is never a satisfactory means to repair injustices or reach solutions," the pope has written, adding he will "pray for the casualties of all wars". Fontano Redipuglia lies at the eastern end of what was the shifting front of the Italian campaign against Austria-Hungary and Germany in World War I, and today is home to Italy's largest war memorial on Monte Sei Busi in Redipuglia.
    The huge war memorial from 1938 hosts the remains of 39,857 identified Italian soldiers and 69,330 unidentified ones, while some 14,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers are laid to rest in a cemetery nearby. The memorial also includes trench fortifications and a display of artillery pieces from the so-called Great War, in which more than nine million combatants and seven million civilians died.
    As a symbol of peace, the pope will donate a lamp called Light of St. Francis to be lit during the commemoration. The lamp itself is being offered by a convent in St. Francis' hometown of Assisi, while the extra-virgin olive oil inside it is being donated by Libera (Free), an anti-Mafia organization founded by Catholic priest Luigi Ciotti to coordinate efforts against organized crime.
    The oil was made with olives from lands seized from the mafia in the southern regions of Puglia and Sicily, and which are now being farmed by Libera-affiliated cooperatives. http://popefrancisnewsapp.com/