A prayer that “the young generations of this beloved Middle East” may “be led to the threshold of a peaceful life in their countries, in the peaceful cohabitation of different religions and cultures, in a mutual competition for charity and for the building of the common good, and never again to violence, abuse or the denial of the fundamental freedom to freely profess one’s faith”. It was made yesterday afternoon by cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, in his homily at the Solemn Pontifical Mass for the reopening of the Sanctuary/Memorial of Moses at Mount Nebo, in Jordan. “If, like Moses, we spread our glance all over the surrounding land – said the cardinal, Pope Francis’s special envoy for the celebrations for the reopening of the Sanctuary –, we are aware of divisions and cross-complaints; the conflicts that for decades have made peoples fight with each other; the cry of those people who flee war and persecution in Syria and in Iraq, and find shelter in the land of Jordan; the deafness of some people who have in their hands the fate of peoples and Nations, and prefer to preserve their markets and profits instead of saving the innocent lives of women and children; the sin of those who curse God’s name by abusing their fellow humans”. “So great – the cardinal exclaimed – is the mystery of evil!”. According to Sandri, “the first way to defeat it is by letting God defeat it in us and for us! May this Sanctuary, which is reopened in the Holy Year of Mercy, remain a place in which pilgrims are taught to directly experience it”.