MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
XLIX WORLD DAY OF PEACE
POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
XLIX WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY 2016
Overcome Indifference and Win Peace
1. God is not indifferent! God cares about mankind! God does not abandon us!
At the beginning of the New Year, I would like to share not only this
profound conviction but also my cordial good wishes for prosperity,
peace and the fulfilment of the hopes of every man and every woman,
every family, people and nation throughout the world, including all
Heads of State and Government and all religious leaders. We continue to
trust that 2016 will see us all firmly and confidently engaged, on
different levels, in the pursuit of justice and peace. Peace is both
God’s gift and a human achievement. As a gift of God, it is entrusted to
all men and women, who are called to attain it.
Maintaining our reasons for hope
2. Sadly, war and terrorism, accompanied by kidnapping,
ethnic or religious persecution and the misuse of power, marked the past
year from start to finish. In many parts of the world, these have
became so common as to constitute a real “third world war fought
piecemeal”. Yet some events of the year now ending inspire me, in
looking ahead to the new year, to encourage everyone not to lose hope in
our human ability to conquer evil and to combat resignation and
indifference. They demonstrate our capacity to show solidarity and to
rise above self-interest, apathy and indifference in the face of
critical situations.
Here I would mention the efforts to bring world leaders
together at COP21 in the search for new ways to confront climate change
and to protect the earth, our common home. We can also think of two
earlier global events: the Addis Ababa Summit for funding sustainable
development worldwide and the adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development, aimed at ensuring a more dignified
standard of living for all the world’s peoples, especially the poor, by
that year.
For the Church, 2015 was a special year, since it
marked the fiftieth anniversary of two documents of the Second Vatican
Council which eloquently expressed her sense of solidarity with the
world. Pope John XXIII, at the beginning of the Council, wanted to open
wide the windows of the Church and to improve her communication with the
world. The two documents, Nostra Aetate and Gaudium et Spes,
are emblematic of the new relationship of dialogue, solidarity and
accompaniment which the Church sought to awaken within the human family.
In the Declaration Nostra Aetate, the Church expressed her openness to dialogue with non-Christian religions. In the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes,
based on a recognition that “the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish
of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or
afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the
followers of Christ as well”,[1]
the Church proposed to enter into dialogue with the entire human family
about the problems of our world, as a sign of solidarity, respect and
affection.[2]
Along these same lines, with the present Jubilee of
Mercy I want to invite the Church to pray and work so that every
Christian will have a humble and compassionate heart, one capable of
proclaiming and witnessing to mercy. It is my hope that all of us will
learn to “forgive and give”, to become more open “to those living on the
outermost fringes of society - fringes which modern society itself
creates”, and to refuse to fall into “a humiliating indifference or a
monotonous routine which prevents us from discovering what is new! Let
us ward off destructive cynicism!”[3]
There are many good reasons to believe in mankind’s
capacity to act together in solidarity and, on the basis of our
interconnection and interdependence, to demonstrate concern for the more
vulnerable of our brothers and sisters and for the protection of the
common good. This attitude of mutual responsibility is rooted in our
fundamental vocation to fraternity and a life in common. Personal
dignity and interpersonal relationships are what constitute us as human
beings whom God willed to create in his own image and likeness. As
creatures endowed with inalienable dignity, we are related to all our
brothers and sisters, for whom we are responsible and with whom we act
in solidarity. Lacking this relationship, we would be less human. We
see, then, how indifference represents a menace to the human family. As
we approach a new year, I would ask everyone to take stock of this
reality, in order to overcome indifference and to win peace.
Kinds of indifference
3. Clearly, indifference is not something new; every
period of history has known people who close their hearts to the needs
of others, who close their eyes to what is happening around them, who
turn aside to avoid encountering other people's problems. But in our
day, indifference has ceased to be a purely personal matter and has
taken on broader dimensions, producing a certain “globalization of
indifference”.
The first kind of indifference in human society is
indifference to God, which then leads to indifference to one’s neighbour
and to the environment. This is one of the grave consequences of a
false humanism and practical materialism allied to relativism and
nihilism. We have come to to think that we are the source and creator of
ourselves, our lives and society. We feel self-sufficient, prepared not
only to find a substitute for God but to do completely without him. As a
consequence, we feel that we owe nothing to anyone but ourselves, and
we claim only rights.[4]
Against this erroneous understanding of the person, Pope Benedict XVI
observed that neither man himself nor human development can, on their
own, answer the question of our ultimate meaning.[5]
Paul VI likewise stated that “there is no true humanism but that which
is open to the Absolute, and is conscious of a vocation which gives
human life its authentic significance”.[6]
Indifference to our neighbour shows itself in different
ways. Some people are well-informed; they listen to the radio, read the
newspapers or watch television, but they do so mechanically and without
engagement. They are vaguely aware of the tragedies afflicting
humanity, but they have no sense of involvement or compassion. Theirs is
the attitude of those who know, but keep their gaze, their thoughts and
their actions focused on themselves. Sadly, it must be said that
today’s information explosion does not of itself lead to an increased
concern for other people’s problems, which demands openness and a sense
of solidarity.[7]
Indeed, the information glut can numb people’s sensibilities and to
some degree downplay the gravity of the problems. There are those who
“simply content themselves with blaming the poor and the poor countries
themselves for their troubles; indulging in unwarranted generalizations,
they claim that the solution is an ‘education’ that would tranquilize
them, making them tame and harmless. All this becomes even more
exasperating for the marginalized in the light of the widespread and
deeply rooted corruption found in many countries – in their governments,
businesses and institutions – whatever the political ideology of their
leaders.”[8]
In other cases, indifference shows itself in lack of
concern for what is happening around us, especially if it does not touch
us directly. Some people prefer not to ask questions or seek answers;
they lead lives of comfort, deaf to the cry of those who suffer. Almost
imperceptibly, we grow incapable of feeling compassion for others and
for their problems; we have no interest in caring for them, as if their
troubles were their own responsibility, and none of our business.[9]
“When we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something
God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems,
their sufferings and the injustices they endure… Our heart grows cold.
As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about
those less well off.”[10]
Because we dwell in a common home, we cannot help but ask ourselves about the state of its health, as I sought to do in Laudato Si’.
Water and air pollution, the indiscriminate exploitation of forests and
the destruction of the natural environment are often the result of
man’s indifference to man, since everything is interrelated. Then too,
there is the way we treat animals, which has an effect on the way we
treat other people[11], and the cases where people freely do elsewhere what they would never dare do at home.[12]
In these and in other situations, indifference leads to
self-absorption and a lack of commitment. It thus contributes to the
absence of peace with God, with our neighbour and with the environment.
Peace threatened by globalized indifference
4. Indifference towards God transcends the purely
private sphere of the individual and affects the public and social
sphere. As Benedict XVI pointed out, “the glorification of God and human
peace on earth are closely linked”.[13]
Indeed, “without openness to the transcendent, human beings easily
become prey to relativism and find it difficult to act justly and to
work for peace.[14]
Disregard and the denial of God, which lead man to acknowledge no norm
above himself and himself alone, have produced untold cruelty and
violence.[15]
On both the individual and communitarian levels,
indifference to one’s neighbour, born of indifference to God, finds
expression in disinterest and a lack of engagement, which only help to
prolong situations of injustice and grave social imbalance. These in
turn can lead to conflicts or, in any event, generate a climate of
dissatisfaction which risks exploding sooner or later into acts of
violence and insecurity.
Indifference and lack of commitment constitute a grave
dereliction of the duty whereby each of us must work in accordance with
our abilities and our role in society for the promotion of the common
good, and in particular for peace, which is one of mankind’s most
precious goods.[16]
On the institutional level, indifference to others and
to their dignity, their fundamental rights and their freedom, when it is
part of a culture shaped by the pursuit of profit and hedonism, can
foster and even justify actions and policies which ultimately represent
threats to peace. Indifference can even lead to justifying deplorable
economic policies which breed injustice, division and violence for the
sake of ensuring the wellbeing of individuals or nations. Not
infrequently, economic and political projects aim at securing or
maintaining power and wealth, even at the cost of trampling on the basic
rights and needs of others. When people witness the denial of their
elementary rights, such as the right to food, water, health care or
employment, they are tempted to obtain them by force.[17]
Moreover, indifference to the natural environment, by
countenancing deforestation, pollution and natural catastrophes which
uproot entire communities from their ecosystem and create profound
insecurity, ends up creating new forms of poverty and new situations of
injustice, often with dire consequences for security and peace. How many
wars have been fought, and how many will continue to be fought, over a
shortage of goods or out of an insatiable thirst for natural resources?[18]
From indifference to mercy: the conversion of hearts
5. One year ago, in my Message for the 2015 World Day of
Peace, with the motto “No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters”, I
evoked the first biblical icon of human brotherhood, that of Cain and
Abel (cf. Gen 4:1-16). I meant to draw attract attention to how
from the very beginning this original brotherhood was betrayed. Cain and
Abel were brothers. Both came forth from the same womb, they were equal
in dignity and created in the image and likeness of God; but their
relationship as brothers was destroyed. “It was not only that Cain could
not stand Abel; he killed him out of envy.”[19]
Fratricide was the form of betrayal, and Cain’s refusal to acknowledge
Abel as his brother became the first rupture in the family relations of
fraternity, solidarity and mutual respect.
God then intervened to remind man of his responsibility
towards his fellows, as he had also done when Adam and Eve, our first
parents, ruptured their relationship with him, their Creator. “Then the
Lord said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not
know; am I my brother’s keeper?” But the Lord replied: “What you have
you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the
ground” (Gen 4:9-10).
Cain said he did not know what had happened to his
brother, that he was not his brother’s keeper. He did not feel
responsible for his life, for his fate. He did not feel involved. He was
indifferent to his brother, despite their common origin. How sad! What a
sorry tale of brothers, of families, of human beings! This was the
first display of indifference between brothers. God, however, is not
indifferent. Abel’s blood had immense value in his eyes, and he asked
Cain to give an account of it. At the origin of the human race, God
shows himself to be involved in man’s destiny. Later, when the children
of Israel were slaves in Egypt, God once more intervened to tell Moses:
“I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land
flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:7-8). We should note the verbs
which describe God’s intervention: he sees, hears, knows, comes down
and delivers. God does not remain indifferent. He is attentive and he
acts.
In the same way, in Jesus his Son, God has come down
among us. He took flesh and showed his solidarity with humanity in all
things but sin. Jesus identified with us: he became “the first-born
among many brethren” (Rom 8:29). He was not content merely to
teach the crowds, but he was concerned for their welfare, especially
when he saw them hungry (cf. Mk 6:34-44) or without work (cf. Mt
20:3). He was concerned not only for men and women, but also for the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, plants and trees, all things
great and small. He saw and embraced all of creation. But he did more
than just see; he touched people’s lives, he spoke to them, helped them
and showed kindness to those in need. Not only this, but he felt strong
emotions and he wept (cf. Jn 11:33-44). And he worked to put an end to suffering, sorrow, misery and death.
Jesus taught us to be merciful like our heavenly Father (cf. Lk 6:36). In the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:29-37), he condemned those who fail to help others in need, those who “pass by on the other side” (cf. Lk
10:31-32). By this example, he taught his listeners, and his disciples
in particular, to stop and to help alleviate the sufferings of this
world and the pain of our brothers and sisters, using whatever means are
at hand, beginning with our own time, however busy we may be.
Indifference often seeks excuses: observing ritual prescriptions,
looking to all the things needing to be done, hiding behind hostilities
and prejudices which keep us apart.
Mercy is the heart of God. It must also be the heart of
the members of the one great family of his children: a heart which
beats all the more strongly wherever human dignity – as a reflection of
the face of God in his creatures – is in play. Jesus tells us that love
for others – foreigners, the sick, prisoners, the homeless, even our
enemies – is the yardstick by which God will judge our actions. Our
eternal destiny depends on this. It is not surprising that the Apostle
Paul tells the Christians of Rome to rejoice with those who rejoice and
to weep with those who weep (cf. Rom 12:15), or that he
encourages the Corinthians to take up collections as a sign of
solidarity with the suffering members of the Church (cf. 1 Cor
16:2-3). And Saint John writes: “If any one has the world’s goods and
sees his brother or sister in need, yet refuses help, how does God’s
love abide in him? (1 Jn 3:17; cf. Jas 2:15-16).
This then is why “it is absolutely essential for the
Church and for the credibility of her message that she herself live and
testify to mercy. Her language and her gestures must transmit mercy, so
as to touch the hearts of all people and inspire them once more to find
the road that leads to the Father. The Church’s first truth is the love
of Christ. The Church makes herself a servant of this love and mediates
it to all people: a love that forgives and expresses itself in the gift
of oneself. Consequently, wherever the Church is present, the mercy of
the Father must be evident. In our parishes, communities, associations
and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should
find an oasis of mercy.”[20]
We too, then, are called to make compassion, love,
mercy and solidarity a true way of life, a rule of conduct in our
relationships with one another.[21] This requires the conversion of our hearts: the grace of God has to turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (cf. Ezek
36:26), open to others in authentic solidarity. For solidarity is much
more than a “feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the
misfortunes of so many people, both near and far”.[22]
Solidarity is “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself
to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each
individual, because we are all really responsible for all”,[23] because compassion flows from fraternity.
Understood in this way, solidarity represents the moral
and social attitude which best corresponds to an awareness of the
scourges of our own day, and to the growing interdependence, especially
in a globalized world, between the lives of given individuals and
communities and those of other men and women in the rest of the world.[24]
Building a culture of solidarity and mercy to overcome indifference
6. Solidarity, as a moral virtue and social attitude
born of personal conversion, calls for commitment on the part of those
responsible for education and formation.
I think first of families, which are called to a
primary and vital mission of education. Families are the first place
where the values of love and fraternity, togetherness and sharing,
concern and care for others are lived out and handed on. They are also
the privileged milieu for transmitting the faith, beginning with those
first simple gestures of devotion which mothers teach their children.[25]
Teachers, who have the challenging task of training
children and youth in schools or other settings, should be conscious
that their responsibility extends also to the moral, spiritual and
social aspects of life. The values of freedom, mutual respect and
solidarity can be handed on from a tender age. Speaking to educators,
Pope Benedict XVI noted that: “Every educational setting can be a place
of openness to the transcendent and to others; a place of dialogue,
cohesiveness and attentive listening, where young people feel
appreciated for their personal abilities and inner riches, and can learn
to esteem their brothers and sisters. May young people be taught to
savour the joy which comes from the daily exercise of charity and
compassion towards others and from taking an active part in the building
of a more humane and fraternal society”.[26]
Communicators also have a responsibility for education
and formation, especially nowadays, when the means of information and
communication are so widespread. Their duty is first and foremost to
serve the truth, and not particular interests. For the media “not only
inform but also form the minds of their audiences, and so they can make a
significant contribution to the education of young people. It is
important never to forget that the connection between education and
communication is extremely close: education takes place through
communication, which influences, for better or worse, the formation of
the person.”[27]
Communicators should also be mindful that the way in
which information is obtained and made public should always be legally
and morally admissible.
Peace: the fruit of a culture of solidarity, mercy and compassion
7. While conscious of the threat posed by a
globalization of indifference, we should also recognize that, in the
scenario I have just described, there are also many positive initiatives
which testify to the compassion, mercy and solidarity of which we are
capable.
Here I would offer some examples of praiseworthy
commitment, which demonstrate how all of us can overcome indifference in
choosing not to close our eyes to our neighbour. These represent good
practices on the way to a more humane society.
There are many non-governmental and charitable
organizations, both within and outside the Church, whose members, amidst
epidemics, disasters and armed conflicts, brave difficulties and
dangers in caring for the injured and sick, and in burying the dead. I
would also mention those individuals and associations which assist
migrants who cross deserts and seas in search of a better life. These
efforts are spiritual and corporal works of mercy on which we will be
judged at the end of our lives.
I think also of the journalists and photographers who
shape public opinion on difficult situations which trouble our
consciences, and all those devoted to the defence of human rights,
especially the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, indigenous
peoples, women and children, and the most vulnerable of our brothers and
sisters. Among them are also many priests and missionaries who, as good
pastors, remain at the side of their flock and support them, heedless
of danger and hardship, especially during armed conflicts.
How many families, amid occupational and social
difficulties, make great sacrifices to provide their children with a
“counter-cultural” education in the values of solidarity, compassion and
fraternity! How many families open their hearts and homes to those in
need, such as refugees and migrants! I wish to thank in a particular way
all those individuals, families, parishes, religious communities,
monasteries and shrines who readily responded to my appeal to welcome a
refugee family.[28]
Finally, I would mention those young people who join in
undertaking works of solidarity, and all those who generously help their
neighbours in need in their cities and countries and elsewhere in the
world. I thank and encourage everyone engaged in such efforts, which
often pass unobserved. Their hunger and thirst for justice will be
satisfied, their mercy will lead them to find mercy and, as peacemakers,
they will be called children of God (cf. Mt 5:6-9).
Peace in the sign of the Jubilee of Mercy
8. In the spirit of the Jubilee of Mercy, all of us are
called to realize how indifference can manifest itself in our lives and
to work concretely to improve the world around us, beginning with our
families, neighbours and places of employment.
Civil society is likewise called to make specific and
courageous gestures of concern for their most vulnerable members, such
as prisoners, migrants, the unemployed and the infirm.
With regard to prisoners, it would appear that in many
cases practical measures are urgently needed to improve their living
conditions, with particular concern for those detained while awaiting
trial.[29]
It must be kept in mind that penal sanctions have the aim of
rehabilitation, while national laws should consider the possibility of
other establishing penalties than incarceration. In this context, I
would like once more to appeal to governmental authorities to abolish
the death penalty where it is still in force, and to consider the
possibility of an amnesty.
With regard to migrants, I would ask that legislation
on migration be reviewed, so, while respecting reciprocal rights and
responsibilities, it can reflect a readiness to welcome migrants and to
facilitate their integration. Special concern should be paid to the
conditions for legal residency, since having to live clandestinely can
lead to criminal behaviour.
In this Jubilee Year, I would also appeal to national
leaders for concrete gestures in favour of our brothers and sisters who
suffer from the lack of labour, land and lodging. I am thinking
of the creation of dignified jobs to combat the social plague of
unemployment, which affects many families and young people, with grave
effects for society as a whole. Unemployment takes a heavy toll on
people’s sense of dignity and hope, and can only be partially
compensated for by welfare benefits, however necessary these may be,
provided to the unemployed and their families. Special attention needs
to be given to women – who unfortunately still encounter discrimination
in the workplace – and to some categories of workers whose conditions
are precarious or dangerous, and whose pay is not commensurate to the
importance of their social mission.
Finally, I express my hope that effective steps will be
taken to improve the living conditions of the sick by ensuring that all
have access to medical treatment and pharmaceuticals essential for
life, as well as the possibility of home care.
Looking beyond their own borders, national leaders are
also called to renew their relations with other peoples and to enable
their real participation and inclusion in the life of the international
community, in order to ensure fraternity within the family of nations as
well.
With this in mind, I would like to make a threefold
appeal to the leaders of nations: to refrain from drawing other peoples
into conflicts or wars which destroy not only their material, cultural
and social legacy, but also – and in the long term – their moral and
spiritual integrity; to forgive or manage in a sustainable way the
international debt of the poorer nations; and to adopt policies of
cooperation which, instead of bowing before the dictatorship of certain
ideologies, will respect the values of local populations and, in any
case, not prove detrimental to the fundamental and inalienable right to
life of the unborn.
I entrust these reflections, together with my best
wishes for the New Year, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
our Mother, who cares for the needs of our human family, that she may
obtain from her Son Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the granting of our
prayers and the blessing of our daily efforts for a fraternal and united
world.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2015
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy
[1] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1.
[2] Cf. ibid., 3.
[3] Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy Misericordiae Vultus, 14-15.
[4] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 43.
[5] Cf. ibid., 16.
[6] Encyclical Populorum Progressio, 42.
[7]
“As society becomes ever more globalized, it makes us neighbours but
does not make us brothers. Reason, by itself, is capable of grasping the
equality between men and of giving stability to their civic
coexistence, but it cannot establish fraternity” (BENEDICT XVI,
Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 19).
[8] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 60.
[9] Cf. ibid., 54.
[11] Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 92.
[12] Cf. ibid., 51.
[13] Address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 7 January 2013.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Intervention during the Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World, Assisi, 27 October 2011.
[16] Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 217-237.
[17]
“Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are
reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the
poor peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities
the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile
terrain for growth and eventually explode. When a society – whether
local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the
fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement
or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is
not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from
those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is
unjust at its root. Just as goodness tends to spread, the toleration of
evil, which is injustice, tends to expand its baneful influence and
quietly to undermine any political and social system, no matter how
solid it may appear” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 59),
[18] Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 31 and 48.
[20] Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy Misericordiae Vultus, 12.
[21] Cf. ibid., 13.
[22] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Cf. ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[29] Cf. Address to Delegates of the International Association of Penal Law, 23 October 2014.
