“May the noise of weapons cease!” Pope Francis said on September 7 at a prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square for peace in Syria.
“Violence and war are never the path to peace”, he stated with firmness in a homily during the four-hour long vigil of prayer, hymns and readings from the Scriptures and recent popes, and Eucharistic adoration.
More than 100,000 people attended the vigil in which Francis insisted that mankind “can change direction”, turn away from violence and choose the path of peace.
He issued his pressing call for the silencing of the guns in Syria and the opening of peace negotiations, even as a military attack was being planned by the USA, an attack that the Vatican believes risks expanding the conflict in the Middle East.
Diplomatically, he did not mention any country by name in his homily but his message was crystal clear given the context in which on September 1 he called for this worldwide day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria. That context was one in which violence was dramatically increasing in this country of 23 million people, and the USA was preparing to launch further violence with a planned military attack on Syria as punishment for its alleged use of chemical weapons on August 21.
France, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are among the minority of countries openly supporting the USA, but the Pope knows well that the majority of the people in the world are against such an intervention in this war-torn land where over 100,000 have already been killed in this conflict over the past two years, 2 million have become refugees and 4 million more have been displaced from their homes.
“Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death”, the Pope said, drawing much applause from the crowd that included people – laity and religious, as well as bishops and cardinals - from many countries including China, Indonesia, East Timor, Syria, Italy, the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Nigeria and other parts of Africa, though the majority were Italian.
He reminded his global audience that God made a harmonious world where people were to care for each other as brothers and sisters. To be human means to care for one another!”, but following in the footsteps of Cain who killed his brother Abel, mankind has broken that harmony, and “a metamorphosis occurs: the brother who is to be cared for and loved becomes an adversary to fight, to kill.”
The Pope recalled the many conflicts of the past and present and said, “We continue this history of conflict between brothers; even today we raise our hands against our brother. Even today, we let ourselves be guided by idols, by selfishness, by our own interests, and this attitude persists.”
In a strong denunciation of the push to military intervention, Pope Francis said, “We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death!”
He then asked the key question: “Is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?” His answer was a resounding “Yes!” With the help of God, and the help of Mary Queen of Peace, he said: “Yes, it is possible for everyone!” He said he would like “each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations” would respond: “Yes, we want it!”
He told his global audience that his Christian faith, based on the message of the Cross, tells mankind that “violence is not answered with violence; death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue and peace is spoken."
He called on all Christians worldwide, as well as “our brothers and sisters of other religions, and every man and woman of good will” to “cry out forcefully: violence and war are never the way to peace!”
He called on everyone, and especially those in positions of power and responsibility, “to look into the depths of his or her conscience and listen to that word which says: Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation.”
He urged them to “look upon your brother’s sorrow and do not add to it, stay your hand, rebuild the harmony that has been shattered; and all this achieved not by conflict but by encounter!”
“May the noise of weapons cease!”, he said. He reminded everyone that “war always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity”. He repeated the words of Pope Paul VI at the United Nations in 1965, during the Vietnam war, “No more one against the other, no more, never! ... War never again, never again war!”
“Forgiveness, dialogue, reconciliation” are “the words of peace, in beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world!”, the Pope said, and urged everyone to pray for “reconciliation and peace” in Syria and worldwide.