VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has encouraged people to break free from the chains of personal slavery and rebuild bonds of universal brotherhood in his Lenten message.

 The pope said the “earth, air and water are polluted, but so are our souls", describing how many people harbour an "inexplicable longing for slavery" in their hearts. He warned that humanity is currently experiencing “a model of growth that divides and robs us of a future” which makes us “weary and indifferent.”

 “Today too, the cry of so many of our oppressed brothers and sisters rises to heaven. Let us ask ourselves: Do we hear that cry? Does it trouble us? Does it move us?” the pontiff questioned in his address. He urged people to turn their backs on the “globalisation of indifference” and to stop “denying the fraternity that binds us to one another.”

 Pope Francis harkened back to his words from Aug. 2023, reiterating “we are experiencing a third world war fought piecemeal”, criticising a humanity that is “capable of guaranteeing dignity to all, yet gropes about in the darkness of inequality and conflict.”

 “If our celebration of Lent is to be concrete, the first step is to desire to open our eyes to reality,” the Argentine pope encouraged. He acknowledged that “the call to freedom is a demanding one”, both personal and universal, but it is “part of a journey." 

 The pontiff closed his message on a hopeful note, imploring worshipers to “find the courage to see our world not as being in its death throes but in a process of giving birth, not at the end but at the beginning of a great new chapter of history.”