Aid to the Church in Need<\/a>).- The Vatican announced Tuesday that the theme for 2016\u2019s World Day of Peace will focus on a topic Pope Francis has spoken out against relentlessly since the beginning of his pontificate: indifference.<\/p>\n\t\u201cIndifference in regard to the scourges of our time is one of the fundamental causes of the lack of peace,\u201d an Aug. 11 statement from the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace read.<\/p>\n
\tThe statement coincided with the announcement of \u201cOvercome Indifference and win Peace\u201d as the theme for the next World Day of Peace, to be celebrated Jan. 1, 2016.<\/p>\n
\tIt builds off last year\u2019s theme: \u201cNo longer slaves, but brothers and sisters,\u201d which is a commitment the council said should continue with increased consciousness and cooperation.<\/p>\n
\tToday the attitude of indifference \u201cis often linked to various forms of individualism which cause isolation, ignorance, selfishness and, therefore, lack of interest and commitment,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
\tIt also stressed that peace doesn\u2019t happen overnight, but is something that must be worked for with continuous effort, as well as personal conversion and a spirit of creativity and positivity when engaging in discussion.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSuch action must urgently have recourse to build a sense of responsibility and awareness creation about the serious problems and challenges afflicting our time,\u201d such as fundamentalism, intolerance, massacres and persecutions based on one\u2019s faith and ethnicity.<\/p>\n
\tThe council also pointed to a blatant disregard for freedom and the destruction of the rights of entire peoples, the exploitation of persons who fall victim to different forms of slavery, corruption and organized crime, as well as war and the plight of refugees and forcibly displaced persons as serious problems that need to be addressed.<\/p>\n
\tAn increase of information doesn\u2019t necessarily mean there is an increased attention to the problems, unless the information is coupled with a \u201csolidarity-based openness of conscience,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n
\tIn order to achieve this, the collaboration of families, educators, teachers, people of culture, media practitioners, intellectuals and artists is essential, they said. \u201cIndifference can be won only responding together to this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tInstituted by Bl. Pope Paul VI in 1968, the World Day of Peace is celebrated each year on the first day of January.<\/p>\n
\tThe Pope gives a special message for the occasion, which is sent to all foreign ministers around the world, and which also indicates the Holy See\u2019s diplomatic tone during the coming year.<\/p>\n
\tIndifference is one of the topics most frequently brought up by Francis, and is something he has condemned since his election in March 2013.<\/p>\n
\tOn July 8, 2013, just four months after he was named Bishop of Rome, Francis visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, a primary destination of African emigrants, as a sign of solidarity with those who come to the island seeking a better life in Europe.<\/p>\n
\tIn his homily at Mass, the newly-elected Pope blasted what he called \u201cthe culture of comfort,\u201d which he said \u201cmakes us insensitive to the cries of other people, makes us live in soap bubbles which, however lovely, are insubstantial; they offer a fleeting and empty illusion which results in indifference to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn this globalized world,\u201d he continued, \u201cwe have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn\u2019t affect me; it doesn\u2019t concern me; it\u2019s none of my business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFrancis also chose the theme of indifference for his Lenten message earlier this year, titled after the biblical passage \u201cMake Your Hearts Firm\u201d from James Chapter 5 verse 8.<\/p>\n
\tAt the heart of the message was the Pope\u2019s condemnation of the \u201cglobalization of indifference,\u201d and he urged faithful to fight individualism with merciful hearts that are more attentive to the needs of others.<\/p>\n
\t\u201c(Jesus) is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us,\u201d he said, adding that often times when we live a healthy and comfortable lifestyle, \u201cwe forget about others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure\u2026Our heart grows cold,\u201d the Pope noted, explaining that today this \u201cselfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace\u2019s statement, it was emphasized that peace is possible wherever human rights are both \u201crecognized and respected, heard and known, according to freedom and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe message for 2016, they said, is a starting point for all people of good will, most specifically those who work in education, media and culture, to do what they are able in order to work together in building a more conscious, merciful, free and fair world.<\/p>\n
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