January 20, 2021
WASHINGTON D.C. – Franciscan Action Network congratulates President Biden and Vice President Harris on assuming office.
With the administration, we pledge to work for national unity and to promote equity and solidarity among our nation’s citizens. We recognize this inauguration comes at a moment of nearly unprecedented partisan and ideological division in our country. So, we offer our faith and the Franciscan tradition of peace to illuminate a path toward that unity – in service to those most vulnerable among us.
At this celebratory time, we remember President Biden’s presence in the chamber when Pope Francis addressed Congress in 2015. Pope Francis said that…
A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to “dream” of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.
Remembering these words from Pope Francis and in the spirit of our patrons, Saints Francis and Clare, we pray that the administration’s service on behalf of the common good of all Americans will indeed lift those in poverty, will guard and promote the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable, will care tenderly for God’s creation, and will advance the prospect of peace on earth. We pray, too, that this service brings unity and fellowship to our wounded nation.
May God bless you, President Biden and Vice President Harris.
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