Interesting and heart warming to see this in the light of Trump being
elected to the presidency and Pauline Hanson's One Nation popularity growing in
Australia. Why does the world seem to be getting worse not better, when there
are so many good people striving for peace and inclusion?
http://www.paceebene.org/2016/12/12/pope-francis-issued-the-catholic-churchs-first-statement-on-nonviolence-ever/
Pope Francis Issued the Catholic Church’s First Statement on Nonviolence—Ever
Posted by Ryan Hall
12.12.16
Today, Pope Francis Issued the Catholic Church’s First Statement on Nonviolence—Ever
By Rev. John Dear
Today,
Pope Francis released the annual World Day of Peace Message for January 1, 2017, called “Nonviolence—A Style of Politics for Peace.”
This is the Vatican’s fiftieth World Day of Peace message, but it’s the
first statement on nonviolence, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—in history.
We need to make “active nonviolence our way of life,” Francis writes
at the start, and suggests nonviolence become our new style of politics.
“I ask God to help all of us to cultivate nonviolence in our most
personal thoughts and values,” Francis writes. “May charity and
nonviolence govern how we treat each other as individuals, within
society and in international life. When victims of violence are able to
resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible
promotors of nonviolent peacemaking. In the most local and ordinary
situations and in the international order, may nonviolence become the
hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and indeed
of political life in all its forms.”
In his historic statement, Pope Francis discusses the violence of the
world, Jesus’ way of nonviolence, and the viable alternative of
nonviolence for today. His message is a breath of fresh air for all of
us, and offers a framework for all of us to envision our lives and our
world.
“Violence Is Not the Cure for a Broken World”
“Today, sadly, we find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war
fought piecemeal,” Francis writes. “It is not easy to know if our world
is presently more or less violent than in the past, or to know whether
modern means of communications and greater mobility have made us more
aware of violence, or, on the other hand, increasingly inured to it. In
any case, we know that this ‘piecemeal’ violence, of different kinds
and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different countries and
continents; terrorism, organized crime and unforeseen acts of violence;
the abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human trafficking; and
the devastation of the environment. Where does this lead? Can violence
achieve any goal of lasting value? Or does it merely lead to
retaliation and a cycle of deadly conflicts that benefit only a few
‘warlords’?”
“Countering violence with violence leads at best to forced migrations
and enormous suffering,” Francis continues, “because vast amounts of
resources are diverted to military ends and away from the everyday needs
of young people, families experiencing hardship, the elderly, the
infirm and the great majority of people in our world. At worst, it can
lead to the death, physical and spiritual, of many people, if not of
all.”
Practicing the Nonviolence of Jesus
Jesus lived and taught nonviolence, which Francis calls “a radically
positive approach.” Jesus “unfailingly preached God’s unconditional
love, which welcomes and forgives. He taught his disciples to love
their enemies (cf. Mt
5:44) and to turn the other cheek (cf. Mt
5:39).
When he stopped her accusers from stoning the woman caught in adultery
(cf. Jn 8:1-11), and when, on the night before he died, he told Peter
to put away his sword (cf. Mt 26:52), Jesus marked out the path of
nonviolence. He walked that path to the very end, to the cross, whereby
he became our peace and put an end to hostility (cf. Eph 2:14-16).
Whoever accepts the Good News of Jesus is able to acknowledge the
violence within and be healed by God’s mercy, becoming in turn an
instrument of reconciliation.”
“To be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his
teaching about nonviolence,” Francis writes. He quotes Pope Benedict who
said that the command to love our enemies “is the magna carta of
Christian nonviolence. It does not consist in succumbing to evil…, but
in responding to evil with good and thereby breaking the chain of
injustice.”
Nonviolence Is More Powerful than Violence
“The decisive and consistent practice of nonviolence has produced
impressive results,” Francis explains. “The achievements of Mahatma
Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the liberation of India, and of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in combating racial discrimination will never
be forgotten. Women in particular are often leaders of nonviolence, as
for example, was Leymah Gbowee and the thousands of Liberian women, who
organized pray-ins and nonviolent protest that resulted in high-level
peace talks to end the second civil war in Liberia. The Church has been
involved in nonviolent peacebuilding strategies in many countries,
engaging even the most violent parties in efforts to build a just and
lasting peace. Let us never tire of repeating: ‘The name of God cannot
be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy. Peace alone is holy,
not war!’
“If violence has its source in the human heart, then it is
fundamental that nonviolence be practiced within families,” Francis
writes. “I plead with equal urgency for an end to domestic violence and
to the abuse of women and children. The politics of nonviolence have to
begin in the home and then spread to the entire human family.”
“An ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence between individuals
and among peoples cannot be based on the logic of fear, violence and
closed-mindedness, but on responsibility, respect and sincere dialogue,”
Francis continues. “I plead for disarmament and for the prohibition and
abolition of nuclear weapons: nuclear deterrence and the threat of
mutual assured destruction are incapable of grounding such an ethics.”
The Vatican Conference on Nonviolence
Last April eighty of us from around the world met for three days at
the Vatican to discuss Jesus and nonviolence with Vatican officials, and
ask the Pope to write a new encyclical on nonviolence. Our meetings
were very positive and constructive. While there, our host Cardinal
Turkson, head of the Pontifical Office of Justice and Peace, asked me to
write a draft of the 2017 World Day of Peace on nonviolence for Pope
Francis. I sent in a draft, as did my friends Ken Butigan, Marie Dennis
and the leadership of Pax Christi International. We are glad to see our
main points, even some of our exact language, in today’s message.
Next week, we go back to Rome for more meetings on the possibility of
an encyclical on nonviolence. We won’t know if Pope Francis himself
will receive us until the day of our first meeting, but we are hoping it
will happen. We are going to encourage the Vatican to reject the just
war theory once and for all, fully embrace Jesus’ methodology of
nonviolence, and make nonviolence mandatory throughout the global
Church.
Pope Francis’ Invitation to Nonviolence
“Peacebuilding through active nonviolence is the natural and
necessary complement to the Church’s continuing efforts to limit the use
of force by the application of moral norms,” Francis concludes. “Jesus
himself offers a ‘manual’ for this strategy of peacemaking in the Sermon
on the Mount. The eight Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait
of the person we could describe as blessed, good and authentic. Blessed
are the meek, Jesus tells us, the merciful and the peacemakers, those
who are pure in heart, and those who hunger and thirst for justice. This
is also a program and a challenge for political and religious leaders,
the heads of international institutions, and business and media
executives: to apply the Beatitudes in the exercise of their respective
responsibilities. It is a challenge to build up society, communities
and businesses by acting as peacemakers. It is to show mercy by
refusing to discard people, harm the environment, or seek to win at any
cost. To do so requires ‘the willingness to face conflict head on, to
resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new process.’ To
act in this way means to choose solidarity as a way of making history
and building friendship in society.”
His concluding words should be a source of consolation as well as a challenge for us in the days ahead:
Active nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more
powerful and more fruitful than conflict. Everything in the world is
inter-connected. Differences can cause frictions, but let us face them
constructively and non-violently.
I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build
peace through active and creative nonviolence. Every such response,
however modest, helps to build a world free of violence, the first step
towards justice and peace. In 2017, may we dedicate ourselves
prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts, words
and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to build nonviolent
communities that care for our common home.
As we prepare for years of resistance to come, I hope we can take
heart from Pope Francis’ global call for nonviolence, help spread his
message, and do our part to become nonviolent people, build the global
grassroots movement of nonviolence, and uphold the vision of a new world
of nonviolence.
Read the full World Day of Peace Message here!
Press reports:
Catholic Nonviolence Initiative’s press release:
http://www.paceebene.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CNI-WDP-media-release.pdf
