MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE
FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
52nd WORLD DAY OF PEACE
FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
52nd WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY 2019
Good politics is at the service of peace
1. “Peace be to this house!”
In sending his disciples forth on mission, Jesus told them:
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of
peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to
you” (Lk 10:5-6).
Bringing peace is central to the mission of Christ’s
disciples. That peace is offered to all those men and women who long for peace
amid the tragedies and violence that mark human history.[1]The “house” of
which Jesus speaks is every family, community, country and continent, in all
their diversity and history. It is first and foremost each individual person,
without distinction or discrimination. But it is also our “common home”: the
world in which God has placed us and which we are called to care for and
cultivate.
So let this be my greeting at the beginning of the New Year:
“Peace be to this house!”
2. The challenge of good politics
Peace is like the hope which the poet Charles Péguy
celebrated.[2] It is
like a delicate flower struggling to blossom on the stony ground of violence.
We know that the thirst for power at any price leads to abuses and injustice.
Politics is an essential means of building human community and institutions,
but when political life is not seen as a form of service to society as a whole,
it can become a means of oppression, marginalization and even destruction.
Jesus tells us that, “if anyone would be first, he must be
last of all and servant of all” (Mk 9:35). In the words of Pope Paul VI, “to take
politics seriously at its different levels – local, regional, national and
worldwide – is to affirm the duty of each individual to acknowledge the reality
and value of the freedom offered him to work at one and the same time for the
good of the city, the nation and all mankind”.[3]
Political office and political responsibility thus constantly
challenge those called to the service of their country to make every effort to
protect those who live there and to create the conditions for a worthy and just
future. If exercised with basic respect for the life, freedom and dignity of
persons, political life can indeed become an outstanding form of charity.
3. Charity and human virtues: the basis of politics
at the service of human rights and peace
Pope Benedict XVI noted
that “every Christian is called to practise charity in a manner corresponding
to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis…
When animated by charity, commitment to the common good has greater worth than
a merely secular and political stand would have… Man’s earthly activity, when
inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal
city of God, which is the goal of the history of the human family”.[4] This is a
programme on which all politicians, whatever their culture or religion, can
agree, if they wish to work together for the good of the human family and to
practise those human virtues that sustain all sound political activity:
justice, equality, mutual respect, sincerity, honesty, fidelity.
In this regard, it may be helpful to recall the “Beatitudes
of the Politician”, proposed by Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Vãn
Thuận, a faithful witness to the Gospel who died in 2002:
Blessed be the politician with a lofty sense and deep
understanding of his role.
Blessed be the politician who personally exemplifies
credibility.
Blessed be the politician who works for the common good and
not his or her own interest.
Blessed be the politician who remains consistent.
Blessed be the politician who works for unity.
Blessed be the politician who works to accomplish radical
change.
Blessed be the politician who is capable of listening.
Every election and re-election, and every stage of public
life, is an opportunity to return to the original points of reference that
inspire justice and law. One thing is certain: good politics is at the service
of peace. It respects and promotes fundamental human rights, which are at the
same time mutual obligations, enabling a bond of trust and gratitude to be
forged between present and future generations.
4. Political vices
Sadly, together with its virtues, politics also has its
share of vices, whether due to personal incompetence or to flaws in the system
and its institutions. Clearly, these vices detract from the credibility of
political life overall, as well as the authority, decisions and actions of
those engaged in it. These vices, which undermine the ideal of an authentic
democracy, bring disgrace to public life and threaten social harmony. We think
of corruption in its varied forms: the misappropriation of public resources,
the exploitation of individuals, the denial of rights, the flouting of
community rules, dishonest gain, the justification of power by force or the
arbitrary appeal to raison d’état and the refusal to
relinquish power. To which we can add xenophobia, racism, lack of concern for
the natural environment, the plundering of natural resources for the sake of
quick profit and contempt for those forced into exile.
5. Good politics promotes the participation of the
young and trust in others
When the exercise of political power aims only at protecting
the interests of a few privileged individuals, the future is compromised and
young people can be tempted to lose confidence, since they are relegated to the
margins of society without the possibility of helping to build the future. But
when politics concretely fosters the talents of young people and their
aspirations, peace grows in their outlook and on their faces. It becomes a
confident assurance that says, “I trust you and with you I believe” that we can
all work together for the common good. Politics is at the service of peace if
it finds expression in the recognition of the gifts and abilities of each
individual. “What could be more beautiful than an outstretched hand? It was
meant by God to offer and to receive. God did not want it to kill (cf. Gen 4:1ff)
or to inflict suffering, but to offer care and help in life. Together with our
heart and our intelligence, our hands too can become a means of dialogue”.[6]
Everyone can contribute his or her stone to help build the
common home. Authentic political life, grounded in law and in frank and fair
relations between individuals, experiences renewal whenever we are convinced
that every woman, man and generation brings the promise of new relational,
intellectual, cultural and spiritual energies. That kind of trust is never easy
to achieve, because human relations are complex, especially in our own times,
marked by a climate of mistrust rooted in the fear of others or of strangers,
or anxiety about one’s personal security. Sadly, it is also seen at the
political level, in attitudes of rejection or forms of nationalism that call
into question the fraternity of which our globalized world has such great need.
Today more than ever, our societies need “artisans of peace” who can be
messengers and authentic witnesses of God the Father, who wills the good and
the happiness of the human family.
6. No to war and to the strategy of fear
A hundred years after the end of the First World War, as we
remember the young people killed in those battles and the civilian populations
torn apart, we are more conscious than ever of the terrible lesson taught by
fratricidal wars: peace can never be reduced solely to a balance between power
and fear. To threaten others is to lower them to the status of objects and to
deny their dignity. This is why we state once more that an escalation of
intimidation, and the uncontrolled proliferation of arms, is contrary to
morality and the search for true peace. Terror exerted over those who are most
vulnerable contributes to the exile of entire populations who seek a place of
peace. Political addresses that tend to blame every evil on migrants and to
deprive the poor of hope are unacceptable. Rather, there is a need to reaffirm
that peace is based on respect for each person, whatever his or her background,
on respect for the law and the common good, on respect for the environment
entrusted to our care and for the richness of the moral tradition inherited
from past generations.
Our thoughts turn in a particular way to all those children
currently living in areas of conflict, and to all those who work to protect
their lives and defend their rights. One out of every six children in our world
is affected by the violence of war or its effects, even when they are not
enrolled as child soldiers or held hostage by armed groups. The witness given
by those who work to defend them and their dignity is most precious for the future
of humanity.
7. A great project of peace
In these days, we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in the wake of the Second
World War. In this context, let us also remember the observation of Pope John XXIII: “Man’s
awareness of his rights must inevitably lead him to the recognition of his
duties. The possession of rights involves the duty of implementing those
rights, for they are the expression of a man’s personal dignity. And the
possession of rights also involves their recognition and respect by others”.[7]
Peace, in effect, is the fruit of a great political project
grounded in the mutual responsibility and interdependence of human beings. But
it is also a challenge that demands to be taken up ever anew. It entails a
conversion of heart and soul; it is both interior and communal; and it has
three inseparable aspects:
- peace with oneself, rejecting inflexibility, anger and
impatience; in the words of Saint Francis de Sales, showing “a bit of sweetness
towards oneself” in order to offer “a bit of sweetness to others”;
- peace with others: family members, friends, strangers, the
poor and the suffering, being unafraid to encounter them and listen to what
they have to say;
- peace with all creation, rediscovering the grandeur of God’s
gift and our individual and shared responsibility as inhabitants of this world,
citizens and builders of the future.
The politics of peace, conscious of and deeply concerned for
every situation of human vulnerability, can always draw inspiration from the Magnificat,
the hymn that Mary, the Mother of Christ the Saviour and Queen of Peace, sang
in the name of all mankind: “He has mercy on those who fear him in every
generation. He has shown the strength of his arm; he has scattered the proud in
their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted
up the lowly; …for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made
to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever” (Lk 1:50-55).
From the Vatican, 8 December 2018
Francis
[1] Cf. Lk 2:14:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is
pleased”.
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