MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
FIFTIETH WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY 2017
Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace
1. At the beginning of this New Year, I offer heartfelt wishes of
peace to the world's peoples and nations, to heads of state and
government, and to religious, civic and community leaders. I wish
peace to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and
likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one
another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in
situations of conflict, let us respect this, our "deepest dignity",[1]
and make active nonviolence our way of life.
This is the fiftieth Message for the World Day of Peace. In the first,
Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed all peoples, not simply Catholics, with
utter clarity. "Peace is the only true direction of human progress –
and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests
by violence, nor repressions which serve as mainstay for a false civil
order". He warned of "the danger of believing that international
controversies cannot be resolved by the ways of reason, that is, by
negotiations founded on law, justice, and equity, but only by means of
deterrent and murderous forces." Instead, citing the encyclicalPacem
in Terris of his predecessor Saint John XXIII, he extolled "the sense
and love of peace founded upon truth, justice, freedom and love". [2]
In the intervening fifty years, these words have lost none of their
significance or urgency.
On this occasion, I would like to reflect on nonviolence as a style of
politics for peace. I ask God to help all of us to cultivate
nonviolence in our most personal thoughts and values. May charity and
nonviolence govern how we treat each other as individuals, within
society and in international life. When victims of violence are able
to resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible
promotors of nonviolent peacemaking. In the most local and ordinary
situations and in the international order, may nonviolence become the
hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and
indeed of political life in all its forms.
A broken world
2. While the last century knew the devastation of two deadly World
Wars, the threat of nuclear war and a great number of other conflicts,
today, sadly, we find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war
fought piecemeal. It is not easy to know if our world is presently
more or less violent than in the past, or to know whether modern means
of communications and greater mobility have made us more aware of
violence, or, on the other hand, increasingly inured to it.
In any case, we know that this "piecemeal" violence, of different
kinds and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different countries
and continents; terrorism, organized crime and unforeseen acts of
violence; the abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human
trafficking; and the devastation of the environment. Where does this
lead? Can violence achieve any goal of lasting value? Or does it
merely lead to retaliation and a cycle of deadly conflicts that
benefit only a few "warlords"?
Violence is not the cure for our broken world. Countering violence
with violence leads at best to forced migrations and enormous
suffering, because vast amounts of resources are diverted to military
ends and away from the everyday needs of young people, families
experiencing hardship, the elderly, the infirm and the great majority
of people in our world. At worst, it can lead to the death, physical
and spiritual, of many people, if not of all.
The Good News
3. Jesus himself lived in violent times. Yet he taught that the true
battlefield, where violence and peace meet, is the human heart: for
"it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come"
(Mk7:21). But Christ's message in this regard offers a radically
positive approach. He unfailingly preached God's unconditional love,
which welcomes and forgives. He taught his disciples to love their
enemies (cf. Mt 5:44) and to turn the other cheek (cf. Mt 5:39). When
he stopped her accusers from stoning the woman caught in adultery (cf.
Jn 8:1-11), and when, on the night before he died, he told Peter to
put away his sword (cf. Mt 26:52), Jesus marked out the path of
nonviolence. He walked that path to the very end, to the cross,
whereby he became our peace and put an end to hostility (cf. Eph
2:14-16). Whoever accepts the Good News of Jesus is able to
acknowledge the violence within and be healed by God's mercy, becoming
in turn an instrument of reconciliation. In the words of Saint Francis
of Assisi: "As you announce peace with your mouth, make sure that you
have greater peace in your hearts".[3]
To be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his
teaching about nonviolence. As my predecessor Benedict XVI observed,
that teaching "is realistic because it takes into account that in the
world there is too much violence, too much injustice, and therefore
that this situation cannot be overcome except by countering it with
more love, with more goodness. This 'more' comes from God".[4] He went
on to stress that: "For Christians, nonviolence is not merely tactical
behaviour but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is so
convinced of God's love and power that he or she is not afraid to
tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Love of one's
enemy constitutes the nucleus of the 'Christian revolution'".[5] The
Gospel command to love your enemies (cf. Lk 6:27) "is rightly
considered the magna carta of Christian nonviolence. It does not
consist in succumbing to evil…, but in responding to evil with good
(cf. Rom 12:17-21), and thereby breaking the chain of injustice".[6]
More powerful than violence
4. Nonviolence is sometimes taken to mean surrender, lack of
involvement and passivity, but this is not the case. When Mother
Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she clearly stated her
own message of active nonviolence: "We in our family don't need bombs
and guns, to destroy to bring peace – just get together, love one
another… And we will be able to overcome all the evil that is in the
world".[7] For the force of arms is deceptive. "While weapons
traffickers do their work, there are poor peacemakers who give their
lives to help one person, then another and another and another"; for
such peacemakers, Mother Teresa is "a symbol, an icon of our
times".[8] Last September, I had the great joy of proclaiming her a
Saint. I praised her readiness to make herself available for everyone
"through her welcome and defence of human life, those unborn and those
abandoned and discarded… She bowed down before those who were spent,
left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given
dignity; she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so
that they might recognize their guilt for the crimes – the crimes! –
of poverty they created".[9] In response, her mission – and she stands
for thousands, even millions of persons – was to reach out to the
suffering, with generous dedication, touching and binding up every
wounded body, healing every broken life.
The decisive and consistent practice of nonviolence has produced
impressive results. The achievements of Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan in the liberation of India, and of Dr Martin Luther King
Jr in combating racial discrimination will never be forgotten. Women
in particular are often leaders of nonviolence, as for example, was
Leymah Gbowee and the thousands of Liberian women, who organized
pray-ins and nonviolent protest that resulted in high-level peace
talks to end the second civil war in Liberia.
Nor can we forget the eventful decade that ended with the fall of
Communist regimes in Europe. The Christian communities made their own
contribution by their insistent prayer and courageous action.
Particularly influential were the ministry and teaching of Saint John
Paul II. Reflecting on the events of 1989 in his 1991 Encyclical
Centesimus Annus, my predecessor highlighted the fact that momentous
change in the lives of people, nations and states had come about "by
means of peaceful protest, using only the weapons of truth and
justice".[10] This peaceful political transition was made possible in
part "by the non-violent commitment of people who, while always
refusing to yield to the force of power, succeeded time after time in
finding effective ways of bearing witness to the truth". Pope John
Paul went on to say: "May people learn to fight for justice without
violence, renouncing class struggle in their internal disputes and war
in international ones".[11]
The Church has been involved in nonviolent peacebuilding strategies in
many countries, engaging even the most violent parties in efforts to
build a just and lasting peace.
Such efforts on behalf of the victims of injustice and violence are
not the legacy of the Catholic Church alone, but are typical of many
religious traditions, for which "compassion and nonviolence are
essential elements pointing to the way of life".[12] I emphatically
reaffirm that "no religion is terrorist".[13]Violence profanes the
name of God.[14] Let us never tire of repeating: "The name of God
cannot be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy. Peace alone
is holy, not war!"[15]
The domestic roots of a politics of nonviolence
5. If violence has its source in the human heart, then it is
fundamental that nonviolence be practised before all else within
families. This is part of that joy of love which I described last
March in my Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, in the wake of two years of
reflection by the Church on marriage and the family. The family is the
indispensable crucible in which spouses, parents and children,
brothers and sisters, learn to communicate and to show generous
concern for one another, and in which frictions and even conflicts
have to be resolved not by force but by dialogue, respect, concern for
the good of the other, mercy and forgiveness.[16] From within
families, the joy of love spills out into the world and radiates to
the whole of society.[17] An ethics of fraternity and peaceful
coexistence between individuals and among peoples cannot be based on
the logic of fear, violence and closed-mindedness, but on
responsibility, respect and sincere dialogue. Hence, I plead for
disarmament and for the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons:
nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutual assured destruction are
incapable of grounding such an ethics.[18] I plead with equal urgency
for an end to domestic violence and to the abuse of women and
children.
The Jubilee of Mercy that ended in November encouraged each one of us
to look deeply within and to allow God's mercy to enter there. The
Jubilee taught us to realize how many and diverse are the individuals
and social groups treated with indifference and subjected to injustice
and violence. They too are part of our "family"; they too are our
brothers and sisters. The politics of nonviolence have to begin in the
home and then spread to the entire human family. "Saint Therese of
Lisieux invites us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out
on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and
friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily
gestures that break with the logic of violence, exploitation and
selfishness".[19]
My invitation
6. Peacebuilding through active nonviolence is the natural and
necessary complement to the Church's continuing efforts to limit the
use of force by the application of moral norms; she does so by her
participation in the work of international institutions and through
the competent contribution made by so many Christians to the drafting
of legislation at all levels. Jesus himself offers a "manual" for this
strategy of peacemaking in the Sermon on the Mount. The eight
Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait of the person we could
describe as blessed, good and authentic. Blessed are the meek, Jesus
tells us, the merciful and the peacemakers, those who are pure in
heart, and those who hunger and thirst for justice.
This is also a programme and a challenge for political and religious
leaders, the heads of international institutions, and business and
media executives: to apply the Beatitudes in the exercise of their
respective responsibilities. It is a challenge to build up society,
communities and businesses by acting as peacemakers. It is to show
mercy by refusing to discard people, harm the environment, or seek to
win at any cost. To do so requires "the willingness to face conflict
head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new
process".[20] To act in this way means to choose solidarity as a way
of making history and building friendship in society. Active
nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and
more fruitful than conflict. Everything in the world is
inter-connected.[21]Certainly differences can cause frictions. But let
us face them constructively and non-violently, so that "tensions and
oppositions can achieve a diversified and life-giving unity,"
preserving "what is valid and useful on both sides".[22]
I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build peace
through active and creative nonviolence. On 1 January 2017, the new
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will begin its
work. It will help the Church to promote in an ever more effective way
"the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation"
and concern for "migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and
marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of
armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and
torture".[23] Every such response, however modest, helps to build a
world free of violence, the first step towards justice and peace.
In conclusion
7. As is traditional, I am signing this Message on 8 December, the
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mary is the Queen of Peace. At the birth of her Son, the angels gave
glory to God and wished peace on earth to men and women of good will
(cf. Luke 2:14). Let us pray for her guidance.
"All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small
gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere
in their efforts to be peacemakers".[24] In 2017, may we dedicate
ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our
hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to
building nonviolent communities that care for our common home.
"Nothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. Everyone can be an
artisan of peace".[25]
From the Vatican, 8 December 2016
Franciscus
________________________________
[1] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 228.
[2] PAUL VI, Message for the First World Day of Peace, 1 January 1968.
[3] "The Legend of the Three Companions", Fonti Francescane, No. 1469.
[4] BENEDICT XVI, Angelus, 18 February 2007.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] MOTHER TERESA, Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1979.
[8] Meditation, "The Road of Peace", Chapel of the Domus Sanctae
Marthae, 19 November 2015.
[9] Homily for the Canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 4 September 2016.
[10] No. 23.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Address to Representatives of Different Religions, 3 November 2016.
[13] Address to the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements, 5 November 2016.
[14] Cf. Address at the Interreligious Meeting with the Sheikh of the
Muslims of the Caucasus and Representatives of Different Religious
Communities, Baku, 2 October 2016.
[15]Address in Assisi, 20 October 2016.
[16] Cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, 90-130.
[17] Cf. ibid., 133, 194, 234.
[18] Cf. Message for the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of
Nuclear Weapons, 7 December 2014.
[19] Encyclical Laudato Si', 230.
[20] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 227.
[21] Cf. Encyclical Laudato Si', 16, 117, 138.
[22] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 228.
[23] Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio instituting the Dicastery
for Promoting Integral Human Development, 17 August 2016.
[24] Regina Coeli, Bethlehem, 25 May 2014.
[25]Appeal, Assisi, 20 September 2016.
1 JANUARY 2017
Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace
1. At the beginning of this New Year, I offer heartfelt wishes of
peace to the world's peoples and nations, to heads of state and
government, and to religious, civic and community leaders. I wish
peace to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and
likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one
another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in
situations of conflict, let us respect this, our "deepest dignity",[1]
and make active nonviolence our way of life.
This is the fiftieth Message for the World Day of Peace. In the first,
Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed all peoples, not simply Catholics, with
utter clarity. "Peace is the only true direction of human progress –
and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests
by violence, nor repressions which serve as mainstay for a false civil
order". He warned of "the danger of believing that international
controversies cannot be resolved by the ways of reason, that is, by
negotiations founded on law, justice, and equity, but only by means of
deterrent and murderous forces." Instead, citing the encyclicalPacem
in Terris of his predecessor Saint John XXIII, he extolled "the sense
and love of peace founded upon truth, justice, freedom and love". [2]
In the intervening fifty years, these words have lost none of their
significance or urgency.
On this occasion, I would like to reflect on nonviolence as a style of
politics for peace. I ask God to help all of us to cultivate
nonviolence in our most personal thoughts and values. May charity and
nonviolence govern how we treat each other as individuals, within
society and in international life. When victims of violence are able
to resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible
promotors of nonviolent peacemaking. In the most local and ordinary
situations and in the international order, may nonviolence become the
hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and
indeed of political life in all its forms.
A broken world
2. While the last century knew the devastation of two deadly World
Wars, the threat of nuclear war and a great number of other conflicts,
today, sadly, we find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war
fought piecemeal. It is not easy to know if our world is presently
more or less violent than in the past, or to know whether modern means
of communications and greater mobility have made us more aware of
violence, or, on the other hand, increasingly inured to it.
In any case, we know that this "piecemeal" violence, of different
kinds and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different countries
and continents; terrorism, organized crime and unforeseen acts of
violence; the abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human
trafficking; and the devastation of the environment. Where does this
lead? Can violence achieve any goal of lasting value? Or does it
merely lead to retaliation and a cycle of deadly conflicts that
benefit only a few "warlords"?
Violence is not the cure for our broken world. Countering violence
with violence leads at best to forced migrations and enormous
suffering, because vast amounts of resources are diverted to military
ends and away from the everyday needs of young people, families
experiencing hardship, the elderly, the infirm and the great majority
of people in our world. At worst, it can lead to the death, physical
and spiritual, of many people, if not of all.
The Good News
3. Jesus himself lived in violent times. Yet he taught that the true
battlefield, where violence and peace meet, is the human heart: for
"it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come"
(Mk7:21). But Christ's message in this regard offers a radically
positive approach. He unfailingly preached God's unconditional love,
which welcomes and forgives. He taught his disciples to love their
enemies (cf. Mt 5:44) and to turn the other cheek (cf. Mt 5:39). When
he stopped her accusers from stoning the woman caught in adultery (cf.
Jn 8:1-11), and when, on the night before he died, he told Peter to
put away his sword (cf. Mt 26:52), Jesus marked out the path of
nonviolence. He walked that path to the very end, to the cross,
whereby he became our peace and put an end to hostility (cf. Eph
2:14-16). Whoever accepts the Good News of Jesus is able to
acknowledge the violence within and be healed by God's mercy, becoming
in turn an instrument of reconciliation. In the words of Saint Francis
of Assisi: "As you announce peace with your mouth, make sure that you
have greater peace in your hearts".[3]
To be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his
teaching about nonviolence. As my predecessor Benedict XVI observed,
that teaching "is realistic because it takes into account that in the
world there is too much violence, too much injustice, and therefore
that this situation cannot be overcome except by countering it with
more love, with more goodness. This 'more' comes from God".[4] He went
on to stress that: "For Christians, nonviolence is not merely tactical
behaviour but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is so
convinced of God's love and power that he or she is not afraid to
tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Love of one's
enemy constitutes the nucleus of the 'Christian revolution'".[5] The
Gospel command to love your enemies (cf. Lk 6:27) "is rightly
considered the magna carta of Christian nonviolence. It does not
consist in succumbing to evil…, but in responding to evil with good
(cf. Rom 12:17-21), and thereby breaking the chain of injustice".[6]
More powerful than violence
4. Nonviolence is sometimes taken to mean surrender, lack of
involvement and passivity, but this is not the case. When Mother
Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she clearly stated her
own message of active nonviolence: "We in our family don't need bombs
and guns, to destroy to bring peace – just get together, love one
another… And we will be able to overcome all the evil that is in the
world".[7] For the force of arms is deceptive. "While weapons
traffickers do their work, there are poor peacemakers who give their
lives to help one person, then another and another and another"; for
such peacemakers, Mother Teresa is "a symbol, an icon of our
times".[8] Last September, I had the great joy of proclaiming her a
Saint. I praised her readiness to make herself available for everyone
"through her welcome and defence of human life, those unborn and those
abandoned and discarded… She bowed down before those who were spent,
left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given
dignity; she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so
that they might recognize their guilt for the crimes – the crimes! –
of poverty they created".[9] In response, her mission – and she stands
for thousands, even millions of persons – was to reach out to the
suffering, with generous dedication, touching and binding up every
wounded body, healing every broken life.
The decisive and consistent practice of nonviolence has produced
impressive results. The achievements of Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan in the liberation of India, and of Dr Martin Luther King
Jr in combating racial discrimination will never be forgotten. Women
in particular are often leaders of nonviolence, as for example, was
Leymah Gbowee and the thousands of Liberian women, who organized
pray-ins and nonviolent protest that resulted in high-level peace
talks to end the second civil war in Liberia.
Nor can we forget the eventful decade that ended with the fall of
Communist regimes in Europe. The Christian communities made their own
contribution by their insistent prayer and courageous action.
Particularly influential were the ministry and teaching of Saint John
Paul II. Reflecting on the events of 1989 in his 1991 Encyclical
Centesimus Annus, my predecessor highlighted the fact that momentous
change in the lives of people, nations and states had come about "by
means of peaceful protest, using only the weapons of truth and
justice".[10] This peaceful political transition was made possible in
part "by the non-violent commitment of people who, while always
refusing to yield to the force of power, succeeded time after time in
finding effective ways of bearing witness to the truth". Pope John
Paul went on to say: "May people learn to fight for justice without
violence, renouncing class struggle in their internal disputes and war
in international ones".[11]
The Church has been involved in nonviolent peacebuilding strategies in
many countries, engaging even the most violent parties in efforts to
build a just and lasting peace.
Such efforts on behalf of the victims of injustice and violence are
not the legacy of the Catholic Church alone, but are typical of many
religious traditions, for which "compassion and nonviolence are
essential elements pointing to the way of life".[12] I emphatically
reaffirm that "no religion is terrorist".[13]Violence profanes the
name of God.[14] Let us never tire of repeating: "The name of God
cannot be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy. Peace alone
is holy, not war!"[15]
The domestic roots of a politics of nonviolence
5. If violence has its source in the human heart, then it is
fundamental that nonviolence be practised before all else within
families. This is part of that joy of love which I described last
March in my Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, in the wake of two years of
reflection by the Church on marriage and the family. The family is the
indispensable crucible in which spouses, parents and children,
brothers and sisters, learn to communicate and to show generous
concern for one another, and in which frictions and even conflicts
have to be resolved not by force but by dialogue, respect, concern for
the good of the other, mercy and forgiveness.[16] From within
families, the joy of love spills out into the world and radiates to
the whole of society.[17] An ethics of fraternity and peaceful
coexistence between individuals and among peoples cannot be based on
the logic of fear, violence and closed-mindedness, but on
responsibility, respect and sincere dialogue. Hence, I plead for
disarmament and for the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons:
nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutual assured destruction are
incapable of grounding such an ethics.[18] I plead with equal urgency
for an end to domestic violence and to the abuse of women and
children.
The Jubilee of Mercy that ended in November encouraged each one of us
to look deeply within and to allow God's mercy to enter there. The
Jubilee taught us to realize how many and diverse are the individuals
and social groups treated with indifference and subjected to injustice
and violence. They too are part of our "family"; they too are our
brothers and sisters. The politics of nonviolence have to begin in the
home and then spread to the entire human family. "Saint Therese of
Lisieux invites us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out
on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and
friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily
gestures that break with the logic of violence, exploitation and
selfishness".[19]
My invitation
6. Peacebuilding through active nonviolence is the natural and
necessary complement to the Church's continuing efforts to limit the
use of force by the application of moral norms; she does so by her
participation in the work of international institutions and through
the competent contribution made by so many Christians to the drafting
of legislation at all levels. Jesus himself offers a "manual" for this
strategy of peacemaking in the Sermon on the Mount. The eight
Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait of the person we could
describe as blessed, good and authentic. Blessed are the meek, Jesus
tells us, the merciful and the peacemakers, those who are pure in
heart, and those who hunger and thirst for justice.
This is also a programme and a challenge for political and religious
leaders, the heads of international institutions, and business and
media executives: to apply the Beatitudes in the exercise of their
respective responsibilities. It is a challenge to build up society,
communities and businesses by acting as peacemakers. It is to show
mercy by refusing to discard people, harm the environment, or seek to
win at any cost. To do so requires "the willingness to face conflict
head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new
process".[20] To act in this way means to choose solidarity as a way
of making history and building friendship in society. Active
nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and
more fruitful than conflict. Everything in the world is
inter-connected.[21]Certainly differences can cause frictions. But let
us face them constructively and non-violently, so that "tensions and
oppositions can achieve a diversified and life-giving unity,"
preserving "what is valid and useful on both sides".[22]
I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build peace
through active and creative nonviolence. On 1 January 2017, the new
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will begin its
work. It will help the Church to promote in an ever more effective way
"the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation"
and concern for "migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and
marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of
armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and
torture".[23] Every such response, however modest, helps to build a
world free of violence, the first step towards justice and peace.
In conclusion
7. As is traditional, I am signing this Message on 8 December, the
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mary is the Queen of Peace. At the birth of her Son, the angels gave
glory to God and wished peace on earth to men and women of good will
(cf. Luke 2:14). Let us pray for her guidance.
"All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small
gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere
in their efforts to be peacemakers".[24] In 2017, may we dedicate
ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our
hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to
building nonviolent communities that care for our common home.
"Nothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. Everyone can be an
artisan of peace".[25]
From the Vatican, 8 December 2016
Franciscus
______________________________
[1] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 228.
[2] PAUL VI, Message for the First World Day of Peace, 1 January 1968.
[3] "The Legend of the Three Companions", Fonti Francescane, No. 1469.
[4] BENEDICT XVI, Angelus, 18 February 2007.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] MOTHER TERESA, Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1979.
[8] Meditation, "The Road of Peace", Chapel of the Domus Sanctae
Marthae, 19 November 2015.
[9] Homily for the Canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 4 September 2016.
[10] No. 23.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Address to Representatives of Different Religions, 3 November 2016.
[13] Address to the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements, 5 November 2016.
[14] Cf. Address at the Interreligious Meeting with the Sheikh of the
Muslims of the Caucasus and Representatives of Different Religious
Communities, Baku, 2 October 2016.
[15]Address in Assisi, 20 October 2016.
[16] Cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, 90-130.
[17] Cf. ibid., 133, 194, 234.
[18] Cf. Message for the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of
Nuclear Weapons, 7 December 2014.
[19] Encyclical Laudato Si', 230.
[20] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 227.
[21] Cf. Encyclical Laudato Si', 16, 117, 138.
[22] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 228.
[23] Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio instituting the Dicastery
for Promoting Integral Human Development, 17 August 2016.
[24] Regina Coeli, Bethlehem, 25 May 2014.
[25]Appeal, Assisi, 20 September 2016.
(Vatican Radio) Saying Jesus' path is serving others, Pope Francis urged Christians on Tuesday to overcome the lure of worldliness and human ambition and warned against social climbers who are tempted to destroy the other in order to reach the top. His remarks came during his homily at the morning Mass celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.
