CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- When it comes to the many conflicts splintering different parts of the world, Pope Francis the Christian response must be one of nonviolence, which isn\u2019t passive, but active and has roots in a strong family life.<\/p>\n\u201cTo be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his teaching about nonviolence,\u201d the Pope said in his message for the 50th World Day of Peace, published Dec. 12.<\/p>\n
Citing the havoc wrought by the wars and conflicts that marked the last century, Francis again pointed to the fact that today \u201cwe find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war fought piecemeal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just this weekend around 70 people were killed in several terrorist attacks, including a blast outside a Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo and two bombings near a soccer stadium in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s not easy to tell whether or not the world is presently more violent that in the past, what is obvious is that the \u201cpiecemeal violence\u201d seen on various levels in the modern era leads to great suffering through war, terrorism, organized crime, human trafficking and environmental degradation.<\/p>\n
Answering violence with violence leads \u201cat best\u201d to forced migration and the misuse of economic resources, and \u201cat worst\u201d to death, whether physical or spiritual, he said, stressing that \u201cviolence is not the cure for our broken world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus himself embraced a nonviolent response to the conflicts of his time, he said, pointing to his frequent insistence to love one\u2019s enemies and to turn the other check, as well as his actions in stopping the accusers of the woman caught in adultery from stoning her and in telling Peter to put away his sword the night before he died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe true battlefield, where violence and peace meet, is the human heart,\u201d he said, quoting the Gospel passage in Mark that reads: \u201cit is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Jesus\u2019 response is to walk the path of nonviolence up to the point of the cross, \u201cwhereby he became our peace and put an end to hostility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quoting his predecessor retired pontiff Benedict XVI, Francis said the teaching of nonviolence is a realistic response to the world\u2019s conflicts \u201cbecause 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Christians, nonviolence is not merely tactical behavior but a person\u2019s way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God\u2019s love and power that he or she is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 command to love one\u2019s enemies \u201cis rightly considered the magna carta of Christian nonviolence,\u201d he said, explaining that it doesn\u2019t mean succumbing to evil, but rather responding to evil with good.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis\u2019 message for the 50th World Day of Peace was signed, as usual, Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and published Dec. 12, It holds the theme \u201cNonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instituted by Bl. Pope Paul VI in 1968, the World Day of Peace is celebrated each year on the first day of January. The 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
So far Pope Francis\u2019 messages have focused on themes close to his heart, such as fraternity, an end to slavery, including forced labor and human trafficking, as well as overcoming indifference on both an individual and a political level.<\/p>\n
His messages for the event have consistently included bold pastoral and political advice for both ecclesial and international leaders, including his push for the abolition of the death penalty and amnesty for prisoners convicted of political offenses.<\/p>\n
This year his message includes a plug for disarmament, prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons, since \u201cnuclear deterrence and the threat of mutual assured destruction are incapable\u201d of adopting a true ethics of nonviolence.<\/p>\n
Francis also issued an appeal for an end to domestic violence and the abuse of women and children.<\/p>\n
He mentioned several figures who for him are prime examples of nonviolence, including the recently canonized St. Teresa of Calcutta, Mahatma Ghandi, Pashtun independence activist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
Women are often leaders of nonviolence, he said, pointing to Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and the thousands of women in the country who through organized prayer events and nonviolent protests have succeeded in prompting high-level peace talks to end the second civil war in Liberia.<\/p>\n
Nonviolence is at times mistakenly understood to be synonymous with surrender, a lack of involvement or with passivity, however, he stressed that \u201cthis is not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Teresa of Calcutta, when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, showed that this is not the case when she said that we don\u2019t need \u201cbombs and guns\u201d to bring peace, but rather to \u201cget together (and) love one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis praised St. Teresa\u2019s ready availability toward everyone \u201cthrough her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe 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 \u2013 the crimes! \u2013 of poverty they created,\u201d he said, noting that her mission was to reach out to the suffering and \u201cbind up every wounded body, healing every broken life.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the strategy of nonviolence is to grow, it must begin in the family, the Pope said, explaining that the family \u201cis the indispensable crucible\u201d in which all members of the family \u201clearn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom within families, the joy of love spills out into the world and radiates to the whole of society.<\/p>\n
The love lived within the family radiates to the whole of society, he said, adding that \u201can 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Francis closed his message by pointing the Beatitudes as a \u201cportrait\u201d and program for both political and religious leaders and heads of international institutions, businesses and media execs to follow in exercising their responsibility.<\/p>\n
To act as a peacemaker in society and business is often a challenge, he said, because it involves showing mercy and refusing to discard people, to harm the environment or to win \u201cat any cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cActive nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and more fruitful than conflict,\u201d he said, noting that while differences will inevitably cause frictions, we can face them \u201cconstructively 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He concluded by praying that in 2017, people would continue to build peace daily through \u201csmall gestures and acts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay we dedicate ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to build nonviolent communities that care for our common home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. Everyone can be an artisan of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vatican City, Dec 12, 2016 \/ 04:34 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- When it comes to the many conflicts splintering different parts of the world, Pope Francis the Christian response must be one of nonviolence, which isn’t passive, but active and has roots in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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