Today from JP II
WORK AND PRAY SO THAT THERE IS NO MORE WAR
VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 2003 (VIS) – Made public today was a Message from the
Holy Father to military chaplains who are participating today and tomorrow
in a formation course on human rights in the Vatican, organized by the
Congregation for Bishops and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
“It is precisely when arms are unleashed,” writes the Pope in the Message
dated March 24, “that the need becomes imperative for laws that make
military operations less inhuman. Throughout the centuries, awareness of a
similar need gradually grew, right up to the progressive formation of a real
and proper juridic ‘corpus’, defined as ‘international human rights law.’
This ‘corpus’ has been able to develop thanks to the maturation of
principles inherent to the Christian message.”
John Paul II emphasizes that the military chaplains must bear witness that
“even in the hardest of battles it is always possible, and therefore a duty,
to respect the dignity of the military adversary, the dignity of civilians,
and the indelible dignity of each human being involved in armed conflicts.
In this way, reconciliation necessary for the reestablishment of peace after
the conflict is favored.”
After making reference to the present “difficult hour in history” due to
the outbreak of a new war, the Pope affirms that “thinking of the victims,
the destruction and the suffering caused by armed conflicts always causes
great concern and pain.”
“It should be clear by now that war used as an instrument of resolution of
conflicts between states was rejected, even before the Charter of the United
Nations, by the conscience of the majority of humanity, except in the case
of defense against an aggressor. The vast contemporary movement in favor of
peace – which, according to Vatican Council II, is not reduced to a ‘simple
absence of war’ – demonstrates this conviction of men of every continent and
culture.”
The Holy Father highlighted “the strength of different religions in
sustaining the search for peace is a reason for comfort and hope. In our
view of faith, peace, even if it is the result of political accords and
understanding among individuals and peoples, is a gift from God that we must
constantly invoke with prayer and penance. Without a conversion of the heart
there is no peace! Peace is only achieved through love! Right now we are all
asked to work and pray so that war disappears from the horizon of humanity.”