Religions cannot be used for war

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – They attended and event titled “’Il Grido della Pace’ (The Cry for Peace)” in the Colosseum in Rome this week.

There were religious leaders from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism.

This is at a time the war in Ukraine, and conflicts in other parts of the world have intensified.

The 3-day peace summit was hosted by the Community of Sant’Egidio.

Pope Francis in the closing ceremony of the summit said religious cannot be used for war.  

He added only peace is holy, and no one is to use the name of God to bless terror and violence.

Pope emphasized if you see wars around you, do not resign yourselves! the people’s desire peace.”

Peace is at the heart of religions, their sacred writings, and their teaching, the Pope said.

That plea for peace, he lamented, is often stifled, not only by hostile rhetoric but also by indifference. “It is reduced to silence by hatred, which spreads as the fighting continues.”

Yet, the plea for peace cannot be suppressed he said. “It rises from the hearts of mothers; it is deeply etched on the faces of refugees, displaced families, the wounded and the dying. And this silent plea rises up to heaven.”

It has no magic formulas for ending conflict, he continued, “but it does have the sacred right to implore peace in the name of all those who suffer, and it deserves to be heard.”

“It rightfully summons everyone, beginning with government leaders, to take time and listen, seriously and respectfully.”

That plea for peace, he said, expresses “the pain and the horror of war,” which is “the mother of all poverty.”

“Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil,” continued Pope Francis.

These convictions, the Pope said, are the fruit of the painful lessons of the twentieth century, “and sadly, once more, the beginning of the twenty-first.”

“Today, in fact, something we dreaded and hoped never to hear of again is threatened outright: the use of atomic weapons, which even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki continued wrongly to be produced and tested.”

“In this bleak scenario, where, sad to say, the plans of potent world leaders make no allowance for the just aspirations of peoples, God’s plan for our salvation, which is ‘a plan for peace and not for evil,’ never changes.”

“Peace,” the Pope said, “is God’s gift, and we have implored that gift from Him.” “Yet peace must be embraced and nurtured by us men and women, especially by those of us who are believers.”

The Pope then made a series of appeals: “Let us not be infected by the perverse rationale of war; let us not fall into the trap of hatred for the enemy. Let us once more put peace at the heart of our vision for the future, as the primary goal of our personal, social and political activity at every level.”

“Let us defuse conflicts,” he said, “by the weapon of dialogue.”

“In October 1962, amid a grave international crisis, when military confrontation and nuclear holocaust seemed imminent, Saint John XXIII made this appeal: ‘We plead with all government leaders not to remain deaf to this cry of humanity. Let them do everything in their power to safeguard peace… They will, thus spare the world the horrors of a war, the terrible consequences of which cannot be foreseen… Promoting, fostering, and accepting dialogue at all levels and in all times is a rule of wisdom and prudence that attracts the blessing of heaven and earth.‘”

Sixty years later, Pope Francis observed, these words still impress us by their timeliness, saying he makes them his own.

“We are not ‘neutral’, but allied for peace”, and for that reason “we invoke the ius pacis as the right of all to settle conflicts without violence.”

The Pope expressed appreciation that in recent years, fraternal relations between religions have taken decisive steps forward. He also reiterated that religions cannot be used for war, and that God’s name can never bless terror and violence.

Pope Francis concluded by appealing for nations and peoples to never grow used to war or resigned to it, calling instead for reconciliation and voices raised together to heaven for peace.