SUMMARY:
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Where there is no justice, there is no peace
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Other Pontifical Acts
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Where
there is no justice, there is no peace
Vatican
City, 12 May 2015 (VIS) - “Peace is built day by day. … It is not
an industrial product, it is an artisanal product. It is crafted
every day with our work, with our life, with our closeness”, said
Pope Francis yesterday to the children of the Peace Factory, the
Italian association that aims to promote multi-ethnic integration and
to raise awareness among spiritual leaders, politicians and in
education so that they use a language of peace.
Francis
answered the very direct and concrete questions posed by thirteen of
the seven thousand children who filled the Paul VI Hall. Some were
very personal: for instance, a girl asked if, like her, the Pope ever
argued with his siblings or other members of his family. “We have
all argued with someone in our family”, replied the Pope. “It is
part of life, as one sibling wants to play one game, another wants to
play a different one … but in the end the important thing is to
make peace. … Do not end the day without making peace. At times I
may be right and the other may be wrong. So how can I apologise? I
don't, but I make a gesture of closeness and the friendship
continues. … I too have argued many times, even now... I lose my
temper. But I always try to make peace. It is human to disagree. The
important thing is that it does not linger, and that there is peace
again afterwards”.
Another
child asked if the Pope ever tired of being surrounded by so many
people, and if he too needed some peace every now and then. “At
times I would like to be calmer, to rest a little more, it is true”,
he admitted. “But being with people does not take away peace. …
What takes peace away is not caring for one another. Jealousy, envy
and greed take away peace. But being with people is good, it does not
stand in the way of peace! It tires me a little because it is tiring
and I am not a young man … but it does not take away peace”.
Other
questions were more general, such as that of an Egyptian child who
asked why people in positions of power did not help schools. “It is
a question we can expand”, answered the Pope. “Why do many
powerful people not want peace? Because they live from war, from the
arms industry. Some powerful people earn from the production of arms,
and sell weapons to one country that fights against another, and then
they sell them to the other. It is the industry of death! And they
earn money in this way. As you know, greed causes so much damage: the
desire to have more and more money. When we see that everything
revolves around money – the economic system revolves around money
and not people – we make sacrifices and make war in order to defend
money. And for this reason many people do not want peace. They earn
more through war. They earn money, but we lose lives, we lose
culture, we lose education, we lose many things. An elderly priest I
met years ago used to say, 'the devil enters via the wallet'”.
The
Pope explained to another child who asked for a definition of peace
that “peace firstly means there are no wars … but it also means
that there is friendship between all, that every day a step ahead is
made for justice, so that there are no more children who are hungry,
that there are no more sick children who do not have the possibility
of receiving healthcare. Doing all of this means making peace. Peace
involves work, it is not about staying calm and doing nothing. No!
True peace means working so that everyone has a solution to the
problems, to the needs, that they have in their land, in their
homeland, in their family, in their society”.
“In
your opinion, will we all be equal one day?” was another of the
questions. “We can answer this question in two ways”, replied the
Holy Father. “We are all equal – all of us – but this truth is
not recognised, this equality is not recognised, and for this reason
some people are, we can say, happier than others. But this is not a
right! We all have the same rights. When we do not see this, society
is unjust. It does not follow the rule of justice, and where there is
no justice, there cannot be peace. I would like to repeat this with
you: where there is no justice, there is no peace!”.
The
meeting concluded with a chorus of seven thousand voices, repeating
with the Pope, “Where there is no justice, there is no peace”.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 12 May 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop
Ariel Edgardo Torrado Mosconi, auxiliary of the diocese of Santiago
del Estero, Argentina, as coadjutor of the diocese of Nueve de Julio,
(area 57,016, population 442,000, Catholics 395,000, priests 46,
permanent deacons 5, religious 103) Argentina.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
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