February 2025: Editorial

Hope the anchor

In his New Year message, Pope Francis declared that ‘brotherhood is the world’s hope’ and he called upon humanity to walk together as pilgrims of hope on the path of brotherhood. In what many feel is a messed up world the remedy is to work together without ceasing for those deeper universal values that bind us together as a human family despite the often deadly political and religious differences that divide us.

On the eve of the Jubilee of Hope last December the sight of the great cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris rising from the ashes just five years after its desolation by fire was an inspirational and awesome reminder that all things are possible when people come together and with God’s help make vision a reality.

The sight of Notre Dame in flames touched something deep in the hearts of both the French people and others around the world. Soon it was clear they were not prepared to allow the over 800-year-old monument to faith to be consigned to history. The subsequent outpouring of generosity and goodwill from all quarters went some way to match the courage of the firefighters who had saved the precious shell and contents of the building at enormous risk to their lives. The resulting miracle of rebuilding and restoration has lifted the hearts of the watching world and proved once again the human capacity when united for making a good thing out of a bad thing. The world may be in a precarious state as 2025 begins but the resurrected cathedral of Notre Dame now stands once more as a testament to faith in God as well as hope fulfilled for a united humanity and a reminder that in this Jubilee year whatever the obstacles before us hope remains our anchor.

Paul Clayton-Lea

Editor

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Official Jubilee page on CatholicBishops.ie.