Pope Francis celebrated mass this Thursday (12.09.2024) in Singapore, a country in which, he said, “its great and bold architectures”which inspired him to explain that behind any work the important thing “is the love that builds.”
In multi-religious Singapore, around 43% of its more than five million inhabitants are Buddhist, nearly 20% are Christian, 14% are Muslim, there is also a small percentage of Hindus, and the Catholic Church currently has 176,000 faithful.
And due to the large number of requests to attend the mass, a lottery had to be held to attend.
The Pope arrived at the impressive indoor stadium in a golf cart and walked around the perimeter of the stadium for half an hour while dozens of children approached him and received candy and rosaries from the pontiff.
Under the cover that incorporates an LED screen that, with 20,000 square meters, It is one of the largest in the worldFrancis stated in his homily that “even at the origin of these imposing constructions, as in that of any other project that leaves a positive mark on this world, there is not in first place, as many think, money, nor technology, nor even engineering, but ultimately love, the love that builds.”
And I add that although “in fact, there is no good work behind which there are not, perhaps, brilliant, strong, rich, creative people, even if they are always fragile women and men, like us, for whom without love there is no life, no impulse, no reason to act, no strength to build.”
“If it weren’t for that, no one here would have been able to grow such a large metropolis.the architects would not have made plans, the workers would not have worked and nothing could have been accomplished,” he added.
And he explained that “behind each of the works before us there are many love stories to discover. Stories of men and women united in a community; of citizens committed to their country; of mothers and fathers concerned about their families; of professionals and workers of all kinds and levels.”
In the morning, Francisco had asked the authorities for decent wages for migrant workers in this city, nearly a million, and in many cases they live segregated and isolated from society.
In one of the richest countries in the world, home to one of the largest number of millionaires, he warned that “we deceive ourselves into thinking that we can be the authors of ourselves, of our wealth, of our well-being, of our happiness; however, in the end life ends up returning us to the only reality, that without love we are nothing.”
The Pope concluded his day in Singapore with mass And tomorrow, after visiting a centre for the elderly and meeting with young people, he will return to Rome after the longest trip of his pontificate, 12 days and four countries (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore).
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