Posted on 09/08/2014 2:52:46 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod
Vatican City, Sep 8, 2014 / 05:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a message to inter-religious faith leaders attending a conference on peace, Pope Francis said there are always alternatives to war and urged participants to seek avenues of dialogue.
“War is never a necessity, nor is it inevitable. Another way can always be found: the way of dialogue, encounter and the sincere search for truth,” Pope Francis said in his Sept. 7 message to conference attendees.
Organized by the Italian Sant'Egidio community, the Sept. 7-9 International Peace Meeting is being held in Antwerp, Belgium in commemoration of the centenary of the start of the First World War.
Antwerp the capital of the Antwerp province of Belgium. With a population of 510,610, it is the second largest city in Belgium, after the capital Brussels.
Leaders and representatives from various Christian churches and interfaith communities have assembled for the meeting, which is reflecting on the theme “Peace is the Future.”
In his letter, Pope Francis said the many current conflicts surrounding the anniversary of the First World War can teach us that “war is never a satisfactory means of redressing injustice and achieving balanced solutions to political and social discord.”
“All war is ultimately, as Pope Benedict XV stated in 1917, a 'senseless slaughter,'” the Pope said.
“War drags peoples into a spiral of violence which then proves difficult to control; it tears down what generations have labored to build up and it sets the scene for even greater injustices and conflicts.”
The pontiff observed how both declared and undeclared wars can destroy the future of the youth and the elderly, poison longstanding relationships of coexistence between differing religious and ethnic groups and lead to a diaspora of families and entire communities.
In the face of these consequences, many of which are happening today, the Pope explained “together with men and women of good will everywhere, we cannot remain passive in the face of so much suffering, so many ‘senseless slaughters.’”
“Here our various religious traditions can, in ‘the spirit of Assisi,’ make a specific contribution to peace,” he said. “We can do this through the power of prayer.”
“It is my hope that these days of prayer and dialogue will serve as a powerful reminder that the pursuit of peace and understanding through prayer can forge lasting bonds of unity and prevail over the passions of war.”
The Bishop of Rome said the time has arrived for “religious leaders to cooperate more effectively in the work of healing wounds, resolving conflicts and pursuing peace.”
Peace is a sign of one’s commitment to God, he said, noting that every religious leader has a call to be a man or woman of peace because of their ability to foster encounter when other options fail.
“We must be peacemakers, and our communities must be schools of respect and dialogue with those of other ethnic or religious groups, places where we learn to overcome tensions, foster just and peaceful relations between peoples and social groups, and build a better future for coming generations.”
Sant’Egidio, the organization in charge of arranging the event, is an ecclesial movement based in Italy. Focusing their apostolate on outcast groups, the community gives particular attention to the poor, the youth and the elderly, the homeless, prisoners, the disabled and impoverished countries.
Tell that to the people who lost their heads.
Contradicting himself. Just a month ago his emissary was calling for an Army to battle ISIS.
Reality check required. OR
Did God mess it up in the old testament?
Sadly, that is not true. War will always be with us like it or not. It is inevitable, and if you aren't prepared to surrender, it is a necessity.
He needs to spend a little more time contemplating the nature of evil.
“Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. “ Winston Churchill
The Bible is only valid if it makes a point the current Catholic prelate wants it to. Otherwise it is all figurative language which can mean anything or nothing depending on the prelate.
So he’s throwing out another traditional doctrine: the just war doctrine.
This guy doesn’t even try to be Catholic.
The last war the Catholics endorsed was the fascist side during the Spanish Civil War. Not even Hitler’s slaughter of the Jews warranted an endorsement of war. The Catholics were still thinking only fascists could stand up to communists. So, the whole WWII thing was confusing. How could the Pope know us weaklings in America could defeat both fascism and communism (not that we defeated them both at the same time.) Now, if you can imagine that dialogue would have stopped Hitler, or Stalin, or Mao, or Pol Pot, or Idi Amin, you can imagine that it would stop radical Islam. But, fortunately, nobody takes this guy seriously on economics, geopolitics, science, or most other things. He is infallible but just doesn’t have a clue about what he is infallible. As for me, I praise God for those who took up arms to defend the world from evil. War, ugh, what is it good for? Defending us from evil. I’ll say it again. War, ugh, what is it good for? Stopping Hitler and Pol Pot and Idi Amin.
EVI
DENTLY
yeah, this statement is only operative in a universe without evil…..
I think he headbutted a soccer ball a bit too hard or something at some point in his life.
Well, Mr. Pope, yer wrong.
War is necessary to enforce peace, as well its terms and conditions...
The Pope doesn’t like “senseless slaughter”? Well, how novel! How unique. Because, of course, everyone else just loves it. /sarcasm
You have to remember that he’s addressing a loony multi-faith peacenik conference, and will no doubt say the same thing in October when he’s at Assisi (another loony multi-faith peacenik conference).
He just says the predictable stuff that you would expect from a 78 year old liberal.
Another subject where the Pope should remain silent, doesn’t know jack about this one either.
Of course, in some conflicts you very well may reach a point where war can't be avoided, but you don't want to assume beforehand that non-belligerent means of conflict resolution won't work and that war is the only answer.
Of course. A given conflict may not be foredoomed to war.
This of course assumes both sides of the conflict are sane.
On the other hand, if five out of six conflicts can be resolved without war, that still leaves the inevitability of the one in six. Its like spinning the revolver with one bullet and pulling the trigger. What are the odds it will go off? One in six?
No, a hundred percent. Because you never spin it just once.
And sometimes the guy on the other side of the conflict is a jihadist who isn't interested in resolving the conflict.
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