At the end of the Celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord, before the apostolic blessing, the Holy Father Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer.

The following are the Pope’s words of introduction to the Marian prayer:

Before the Angelus

Dear brothers and sister,

Before concluding this Celebration, I would like to greet all of you, in particular, the pilgrims from various countries, among whom are numerous young people. I wish all of you a good Holy Week, even to those who are connected through the media.

I am near to the dear people of Peru, who are experiencing a difficult moment of social tension. I am accompanying you with prayer and I encourage all parties to find a peaceful solution as soon as possible for the good of the country, especially of the poorest, respecting the rights of everyone and of the institutions.

In a moment, we will turn to the Blessed Mother with the Angelus Prayer. It was the Angel of the Lord himself who said to Mary in the Annunciation: “Nothing is impossible for God.” Nothing is impossible for God. He can even bring an end to a war whose end is not in sight, a war that daily places before our eyes heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty committed against defenseless civilians. Let us pray about this.

We are in the days preceding Easter. We are preparing to celebrate the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death – over sin and death – not over someone and against someone else. But today, there is a war. Because there is something to be won this way, according to the way of the world? This is only the way to lose. Why not allow Him to win? Christ bore his cross to free us from the dominion of evil. He died so that life, love, peace might reign.

Let the weapons be put down! Let the Easter truce begin. But not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again – no! – a truce that will lead to peace, through real negotiation that is even disposed to some sacrifice for the good of the people. In fact, what victory is there in planting a flag on a pile of rubble?

Nothing is impossible for God. We entrust this to Him through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.