Path for peace

Religions, path for peace. The commitment to peace, 25 years after the interfaith meeting promoted by John Paul II on 27 October, was reaffirmed at Assisi yesterday, in the day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world called by Benedict XVI. The event was held in the birthplace of Saint Francis with the participation of 300 exponents of various world faiths, gathered in Assisi as “Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace”. “Today’s event is an image of how the spiritual dimension is a key element in peacemaking”, said Benedict XVI, in the afternoon, in his welcoming remarks in the Piazza San Francesco, after the religious leaders had renewed their commitment to peace and exchanged a gesture of peace. A commitment to peace. “Peace is possible, today too!”, urged Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, exhorting the participants “never to resign themselves to wars and separations” and introducing the solemn renewal of the peace pledge. The pledge was read out by the representatives of various confessions (and by that of non-believers). It begins with the affirmation: “To build peace we need to love our neighbour, and respect the golden rule, ‘do to others what you would like them to do to you’. With this conviction we shall never tire of working in the great enterprise of peacemaking”. Benedict ended the reading of the peace pledge by exclaiming: “Never more violence! Never more war! Never more terrorism! In the name of God may each religion bring to earth justice and peace, forgiveness and life, above all love!”. The Pope’s words were followed by a moment of silence and the handing over to the religious leaders of a lighted lamp, then the exchange of peace. “Let us become instruments of the peace that comes from on high – exhorted Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity -; let us remember that there is no peace without justice and no justice without forgiveness”.Religion does not justify violence. In the morning, in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the representatives of the religions brought their testimonies of peace, introduced by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson , President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, and concluded with the words of Benedict XVI. “Let us renew and strengthen a search for truth to which each of us constantly dedicates himself”, said Cardinal Turkson, recalling that the 25 years that have gone by “have amply demonstrated our sense of brotherhood and solidarity”, but have also been full of challenges about the meaning of man and of history”. And Pope Benedict made reference, in his address, to the violence of terrorism, which is “often religiously motivated”, and “in this case, he said, “religion does not serve peace, but is used as justification for violence”. “The religious delegates who were assembled in Assisi in 1986 – recalled the Pope – wanted to say, and we now repeat it emphatically and firmly: this is not the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis of religion and contributes to its destruction”. “Yet it is true – the Holy Father continued – in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith. We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature”. Then there is another kind of violence: it is “a result of God’s absence, his denial and the loss of humanity that goes hand in hand with it”. “The denial of God has led, declared Benedict XVI, to much cruelty and to a degree of violence that knows no bounds”. The testimonies of religious leaders. Other than the Pope’s intervention, there were eleven “testimonies of peace” brought by religious leaders, in the morning, before the Portiuncula (chapel of Saint Francis and birthplace of the Franciscan movement). A unanimous condemnation of violence and war, especially if waged in the name of God, was expressed in them all. “We must oppose the deformation of the message of religions and their symbols by the perpetrators of violence”, declared the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. “The challenges of our time are such that no religious group can pretend to have all the practical resources it needs to tackle them”, remarked, in turn, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The General Secretary of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars, Kyai Haji Asyim Muzadi, placed the emphasis, instead, on the “mistaken understandings of religion that lead to social conflicts”. The young too must be “peacemakers”, urged Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The testimonies also included that of Rabbi David Rosen, who expressed gratitude to Benedict XVI “for having continued this process” of dialogue begun by his predecessor. And Julia Kristeva, who spoke on behalf of non-believers, said that it was the challenge of humanism to “reawaken the yearnings of men and women for freedom”.