Yesterday at noon, in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father received in audience, those who are participating in the International Meeting for Peace, promoted by the Saint Egidio Community, and which is taking place in Rome from September 29 to October 1. The theme of this encounter is The courage of hope: religion and culture in dialogue.
Your Beatitudes,
Your Eminences,
Illustrious representatives of the Churches, of Ecclesial communities and of great Religions,
Thank you very much for coming to visit. It gives me joy! You are living intense days during this Meeting which unites people of different religions and which has a significant and challenging title: The courage of hope. I thank Professor Andrea Riccardi for the words of greeting which he has offered in your name, and with him, the Saint Egidio Community, for having followed tenaciously the path laid out by Blessed John Paul II in the historic gathering in Assisi: keep the lamp of hope alight, praying and working for peace. That was in 1986, in a world still marked by division into opposing blocks, and it was in that context that the Pope had invited religious leaders to pray for peace: no more against one another but beside each other. This should not and could never remain an isolated event. You have continued to walk the path and have increased the momentum, engaging significant personalities from all the religions as well as secular humanists in meaningful dialogue. Just in the past few months, we feel that the world needs the spirit which was enlivened by this historic encounter. Why? Because the world needs peace. No! We can never resign ourselves to the suffering of entire peoples, held hostage by war, suffering and exploitation. We cannot stand by helplessly and indifferent to the tragedy of children, families, the elderly affected by violence. We cannot allow terrorism to imprison the heart through the acts of a few who seek to inflict suffering and death upon so many. In a special way, we must all continually cry out, that there can never be any religious justification for violence. There can be no religious justification for violence, none at all. As Pope Benedict pointed out two years ago, during the 25th anniversary of the Assisi meeting, all forms of religiously motivated violence should be eliminated; together, we must be ever vigilant so that the world does not fall prey to the violence which is found in every initiative of a civilization that is based on a no to God.
As leaders of the various religions, we can do a lot. Peace is everyone's responsibility. Pray for peace, work for peace! A religious leader is always a man or a woman of peace, because the commandment of peace is inscribed in the depth of the religious traditions that we represent. But what can we do? Your annual meetings suggest the path that must be taken: the courage of dialogue. This courage, this dialogue provides hope. It has nothing to do with optimism; it's something completely different. Hope! In the world, in society, there is little hope because dialogue is missing; it's difficult to move beyond the narrow vision of our own interests and to open ourselves to a true and sincere encounter. Peace necessitates a dialogue that is tenacious, patient, strong, intelligent and for which nothing is lost. Dialogue can win the war. Dialogue allows people of different generations, who are often ignored, to live together; it allows citizens of different ethnic backgrounds and different convictions to live together. Dialogue is the way to peace because dialogue encourages understanding, harmony, concord and peace. For this reason, it is vital that peace should grow, that it should spread among people of every condition and conviction: a network of peace to protect the world, and above all to protect those who most in need.
Religious leaders are called to be true partners in dialogue, to work toward the construction of peace, not as intermediaries, but as authentic mediators. Intermediaries seek to make concessions to all parties, in order to obtain something for themselves. Mediators, however, are those who seek nothing for themselves, but who give generously of themselves, becoming consumed with their quest, knowing that the only goal is that of peace. All of us are called to be artisans of peace, uniting and not dividing, extinguishing hatred and not perpetuating it, opening channels of dialogue and not constructing new walls! Dialogue, meeting one another in order to establish a world based on a culture of dialogue, the culture of encounter.
The legacy of that first Assisi meeting, nourished year after year by your journey, demonstrates how this dialogue is intimately connected to the prayer that each of us offers. Dialogue and prayer grow or perish together. The relationship of God with man is the school which feeds the dialogue with all people. Pope Paul VI spoke of the transcendental origin of dialogue and said: Religion is by its very nature a relationship between God and man. Prayer expresses this relationship through dialogue (Encyclical Ecclesiam suam, 72). Let us continue to pray for peace in the world, for peace in Syria, for peace in the Middle East, for peace in all the countries of the world. The courage of peace provides the courage of hope for our world, for all those who suffer because of war, for young people who look on, worried about their future. May Almighty God, who listens to our prayers, sustain us on the path to peace. I would like to suggest that each one of us, all of us, in the presence of God, in silence, all of us share with those around us, a sign of peace.
The Holy Father paused and all those present observed a moment of silence.
Thank you!
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for participants in the
International Meeting of Peace
Your Beatitudes,
Your Eminences,
Illustrious representatives of the Churches, of Ecclesial communities and of great Religions,
Thank you very much for coming to visit. It gives me joy! You are living intense days during this Meeting which unites people of different religions and which has a significant and challenging title: The courage of hope. I thank Professor Andrea Riccardi for the words of greeting which he has offered in your name, and with him, the Saint Egidio Community, for having followed tenaciously the path laid out by Blessed John Paul II in the historic gathering in Assisi: keep the lamp of hope alight, praying and working for peace. That was in 1986, in a world still marked by division into opposing blocks, and it was in that context that the Pope had invited religious leaders to pray for peace: no more against one another but beside each other. This should not and could never remain an isolated event. You have continued to walk the path and have increased the momentum, engaging significant personalities from all the religions as well as secular humanists in meaningful dialogue. Just in the past few months, we feel that the world needs the spirit which was enlivened by this historic encounter. Why? Because the world needs peace. No! We can never resign ourselves to the suffering of entire peoples, held hostage by war, suffering and exploitation. We cannot stand by helplessly and indifferent to the tragedy of children, families, the elderly affected by violence. We cannot allow terrorism to imprison the heart through the acts of a few who seek to inflict suffering and death upon so many. In a special way, we must all continually cry out, that there can never be any religious justification for violence. There can be no religious justification for violence, none at all. As Pope Benedict pointed out two years ago, during the 25th anniversary of the Assisi meeting, all forms of religiously motivated violence should be eliminated; together, we must be ever vigilant so that the world does not fall prey to the violence which is found in every initiative of a civilization that is based on a no to God.
As leaders of the various religions, we can do a lot. Peace is everyone's responsibility. Pray for peace, work for peace! A religious leader is always a man or a woman of peace, because the commandment of peace is inscribed in the depth of the religious traditions that we represent. But what can we do? Your annual meetings suggest the path that must be taken: the courage of dialogue. This courage, this dialogue provides hope. It has nothing to do with optimism; it's something completely different. Hope! In the world, in society, there is little hope because dialogue is missing; it's difficult to move beyond the narrow vision of our own interests and to open ourselves to a true and sincere encounter. Peace necessitates a dialogue that is tenacious, patient, strong, intelligent and for which nothing is lost. Dialogue can win the war. Dialogue allows people of different generations, who are often ignored, to live together; it allows citizens of different ethnic backgrounds and different convictions to live together. Dialogue is the way to peace because dialogue encourages understanding, harmony, concord and peace. For this reason, it is vital that peace should grow, that it should spread among people of every condition and conviction: a network of peace to protect the world, and above all to protect those who most in need.
Religious leaders are called to be true partners in dialogue, to work toward the construction of peace, not as intermediaries, but as authentic mediators. Intermediaries seek to make concessions to all parties, in order to obtain something for themselves. Mediators, however, are those who seek nothing for themselves, but who give generously of themselves, becoming consumed with their quest, knowing that the only goal is that of peace. All of us are called to be artisans of peace, uniting and not dividing, extinguishing hatred and not perpetuating it, opening channels of dialogue and not constructing new walls! Dialogue, meeting one another in order to establish a world based on a culture of dialogue, the culture of encounter.
The legacy of that first Assisi meeting, nourished year after year by your journey, demonstrates how this dialogue is intimately connected to the prayer that each of us offers. Dialogue and prayer grow or perish together. The relationship of God with man is the school which feeds the dialogue with all people. Pope Paul VI spoke of the transcendental origin of dialogue and said: Religion is by its very nature a relationship between God and man. Prayer expresses this relationship through dialogue (Encyclical Ecclesiam suam, 72). Let us continue to pray for peace in the world, for peace in Syria, for peace in the Middle East, for peace in all the countries of the world. The courage of peace provides the courage of hope for our world, for all those who suffer because of war, for young people who look on, worried about their future. May Almighty God, who listens to our prayers, sustain us on the path to peace. I would like to suggest that each one of us, all of us, in the presence of God, in silence, all of us share with those around us, a sign of peace.
The Holy Father paused and all those present observed a moment of silence.
Thank you!
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