BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
1. EACH NEW YEAR brings the expectation of a better world. In light of this, I ask God, the
Father of humanity, to grant us concord and peace,
so that the aspirations of all for a happy and prosperous
life may be achieved.
Fifty years after the beginning of the
Second
Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the
Church’s mission in the world, it is heartening to realize
that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship
with him and sojourning among mankind, are
committed within history to sharing humanity’s joys
and hopes, grief and anguish, [1] as they proclaim the
salvation of Christ and promote peace for all.
In effect, our times, marked by globalization
with its positive and negative aspects, as well as the
continuation of violent conflicts and threats of war,
demand a new, shared commitment in pursuit of the
common good and the development of all men, and
of the whole man.
It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between
rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish
and individualistic mindset which also finds expression
in an unregulated financial capitalism.
In addition to the varied forms of
terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of
fundamentalism and fanaticism which
distort the true nature of religion, which is called to
foster fellowship and reconciliation among people.
All the same, the many different efforts at peacemaking
which abound in our world testify to mankind’s
innate vocation to peace. In every person the
desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides
in a certain way with the desire for a full,
happy and successful human life.
In other words,
the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental
moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an
integral social and communitarian development,
which is part of God’s plan for mankind. Man is
made for the peace which is God’s gift.
All of this led me to draw inspiration for this
Message from the words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called children
of God” (Mt 5:9).
Gospel beatitude
2. The beatitudes which Jesus proclaimed (cf.
Mt 5:3-12 and Lk 6:20-23) are promises. In the biblical
tradition, the beatitude is a literary genre which
always involves some good news, a “gospel”, which
culminates in a promise. Therefore, the beatitudes
are not only moral exhortations whose observance
foresees in due time – ordinarily in the next life – a
reward or a situation of future happiness. Rather,
the blessedness of which the beatitudes speak consists
in the fulfilment of a promise made to all those
who allow themselves to be guided by the requirements
of truth, justice and love. In the eyes of the
world, those who trust in God and his promises often
appear naïve or far from reality.
Yet Jesus tells
them that not only in the next life, but already in
this life, they will discover that they are children of
God, and that God has always been, and ever will be,
completely on their side. They will understand that
they are not alone, because he is on the side of those
committed to truth, justice and love. Jesus, the revelation
of the Father’s love, does not hesitate to offer
himself in self-sacrifice. Once we accept Jesus
Christ, God and man, we have the joyful experience
of an immense gift: the sharing of God’s own life,
the life of grace, the pledge of a fully blessed existence.
Jesus Christ, in particular, grants us true
peace, which is born of the trusting encounter of
man with God.
Jesus’ beatitude tells us that peace is both a messianic
gift and the fruit of human effort. In effect,
peace presupposes a humanism open to transcendence.
It is the fruit of the reciprocal gift, of a mutual
enrichment, thanks to the gift which has its source
in God and enables us to live with others and for
others. The ethics of peace is an ethics of fellowship
and sharing. It is indispensable, then, that the various
cultures in our day overcome forms of anthropology
and ethics based on technical and practical
suppositions which are merely subjectivistic and
pragmatic, in virtue of which relationships of coexistence
are inspired by criteria of power or profit,
means become ends and vice versa, and culture and
education are centred on instruments, technique
and efficiency alone.
The precondition for peace
is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism
and of the supposition of a completely autonomous
morality which precludes acknowledgment of the
ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon
the conscience of every man and woman. Peace is
the building up of coexistence in rational and moral
terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not
created by man, but rather by God. As Psalm 29 puts
it: “May the Lord give strength to his people; may
the Lord bless his people with peace” (v. 11).
Peace: God’s gift and the fruit of human effort
3. Peace concerns the human person as a whole,
and it involves complete commitment. It is peace
with God through a life lived according to his will.
It is interior peace with oneself, and exterior peace
with our neighbours and all creation. Above all, as
Blessed John XXIII wrote in his Encyclical
Pacem
in Terris, whose fiftieth anniversary will fall in a few
months, it entails the building up of a coexistence
based on truth, freedom, love and justice.[2]
The denial
of what makes up the true nature of human beings
in its essential dimensions, its intrinsic capacity to
know the true and the good and, ultimately, to know
God himself, jeopardizes peacemaking. Without the
truth about man inscribed by the Creator in the human
heart, freedom and love become debased, and
justice loses the ground of its exercise.
To become authentic peacemakers, it is fundamental to keep in
mind our transcendent dimension and to enter into constant dialogue with God,
the Father of mercy, whereby we implore the redemption achieved for us by his
only-begotten Son. In this way mankind can overcome that progressive dimming
and rejection of peace which is sin in all its
forms: selfishness and violence, greed and the will
to power and dominion, intolerance, hatred and unjust
structures.
The attainment of peace depends above all on
recognizing that we are, in God, one human family.
This family is structured, as the Encyclical
Pacem
in Terris taught, by interpersonal relations and institutions
supported and animated by a communitarian
“we”, which entails an internal and external moral
order in which, in accordance with truth and justice,
reciprocal rights and mutual duties are sincerely
recognized. Peace is an order enlivened and integrated
by love, in such a way that we feel the needs
of others as our own, share our goods with others
and work throughout the world for greater communion
in spiritual values. It is an order achieved in
freedom, that is, in a way consistent with the dignity
of persons who, by their very nature as rational beings,
take responsibility for their own actions.[3]
Peace is not a dream or something utopian; it is
possible. Our gaze needs to go deeper, beneath superficial appearances and
phenomena, to discern a positive reality which exists in human hearts, since
every man and woman has been created in the image of God and is called to grow
and contribute to the building of a new world. God himself, through the
incarnation of his Son and his work of redemption, has entered into history and
has brought about a new creation and a new covenant between God
and man (cf. Jer 31:31-34), thus enabling us to have
a “new heart” and a “new spirit” (cf. Ez 36:26).
For this very reason the Church is convinced of
the urgency of a new proclamation of Jesus Christ,
the first and fundamental factor of the integral development
of peoples and also of peace. Jesus is indeed
our peace, our justice and our reconciliation
(cf. Eph 2:14; 2 Cor 5:18). The peacemaker, according
to Jesus’ beatitude, is the one who seeks the good
of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul,
today and tomorrow.
From this teaching one can infer that each person
and every community, whether religious, civil,
educational or cultural, is called to work for peace.
Peace is principally the attainment of the common
good in society at its different levels, primary and
intermediary, national, international and global.
Precisely for this reason it can be said that the paths
which lead to the attainment of the common good
are also the paths that must be followed in the pursuit
of peace.
Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote
life in its fullness
4. The path to the attainment of the common good
and to peace is above all that of respect for human
life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception,
through its development and up to its natural
end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love,
defend and promote human life in all its dimensions,
personal, communitarian and transcendent.
Life in
its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves
peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.
Those who insufficiently value human life and,
in consequence, support among other things the
liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize
that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of
a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which
degrades human persons, and even more so the killing
of a defenceless and innocent being, will never
be able to produce happiness or peace.
Indeed how
could one claim to bring about peace, the integral
development of peoples or even the protection of
the environment without defending the life of those
who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every
offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably
causes irreparable damage to development,
peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce
surreptitiously into legislation false rights
or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and
relativistic view of human beings and the clever use
of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a
supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a
threat to the fundamental right to life.
There is also a need to acknowledge and promote
the natural structure of marriage as the union of a
man and a woman in the face of attempts to make
it juridically equivalent to radically different types
of union; such attempts actually harm and help to
destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature
and its indispensable role in society.
These principles are not truths of faith, nor are
they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom.
They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible
to reason and thus common to all humanity.
The Church’s efforts to promote them are not
therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation.
Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the
more these principles are denied or misunderstood,
since this constitutes an offence against the truth of
the human person, with serious harm to justice and
peace.
Consequently, another important way of helping
to build peace is for legal systems and the administration
of justice to recognize the right to invoke
the principle of conscientious objection in the face
of laws or government measures that offend against
human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia.
One of the fundamental human rights, also with
reference to international peace, is the right of individuals
and communities to religious freedom.
At this stage in history, it is becoming increasingly
important to promote this right not only from the
negative point of view, as freedom from – for example,
obligations or limitations involving the freedom
to choose one’s religion – but also from the positive
point of view, in its various expressions, as freedom
for – for example, bearing witness to one’s religion,
making its teachings known, engaging in activities
in the educational, benevolent and charitable fields
which permit the practice of religious precepts, and
existing and acting as social bodies structured in accordance
with the proper doctrinal principles and
institutional ends of each.
Sadly, even in countries
of long-standing Christian tradition, instances of religious
intolerance are becoming more numerous,
especially in relation to Christianity and those who
simply wear identifying signs of their religion.
Peacemakers must also bear in mind that, in
growing sectors of public opinion, the ideologies
of radical liberalism and technocracy are spreading
the conviction that economic growth should
be pursued even to the detriment of the state’s social
responsibilities and civil society’s networks of
solidarity, together with social rights and duties.
It should be remembered that these rights and duties
are fundamental for the full realization of other
rights and duties, starting with those which are civil
and political.
One of the social rights and duties most under
threat today is the right to work. The reason for this
is that labour and the rightful recognition of workers’
juridical status are increasingly undervalued,
since economic development is thought to depend
principally on completely free markets.
Labour is
thus regarded as a variable dependent on economic
and financial mechanisms.
In this regard, I would
reaffirm that human dignity and economic, social
and political factors, demand that we continue
“to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment
for everyone.”[4]
If this ambitious goal is to be realized, one prior condition is a fresh outlook
on work, based on ethical principles and spiritual values that reinforce the
notion of work as a fundamental good for the individual, for the family and for
society. Corresponding to this good are a duty and a right that demand
courageous new policies of universal employment.
Building the good of peace through a new model of
development and economics
5. In many quarters it is now recognized that a new
model of development is needed, as well as a new
approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable
development in solidarity and the common good
require a correct scale of goods and values which
can be structured with God as the ultimate point of
reference. It is not enough to have many different
means and choices at one’s disposal, however good
these may be. Both the wide variety of goods fostering
development and the presence of a wide range of
choices must be employed against the horizon of a
good life, an upright conduct that acknowledges the
primacy of the spiritual and the call to work for the
common good. Otherwise they lose their real value,
and end up becoming new idols.
In order to emerge from the present financial
and economic crisis – which has engendered ever
greater inequalities – we need people, groups and
institutions which will promote life by fostering human
creativity, in order to draw from the crisis itself
an opportunity for discernment and for a new
economic model. The predominant model of recent
decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption,
on the basis of an individualistic and selfish
mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely
in terms of their ability to meet the demands of
competitiveness.
Yet, from another standpoint, true
and lasting success is attained through the gift of
ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial
skills, since a “liveable” or truly human economic
development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic
of gift.[5] Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers
are those who establish bonds of fairness and
reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients
and consumers. They engage in economic activity
for the sake of the common good and they experience
this commitment as something transcending
their self-interest, for the benefit of present and future
generations. Thus they work not only for themselves,
but also to ensure for others a future and a
dignified employment.
In the economic sector, states in particular need to
articulate policies of industrial and agricultural development concerned with
social progress and the growth everywhere of constitutional and democratic
states. The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and
commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable; these must be
stabilized and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to
the very poor.
With greater resolve than has hitherto been the case, the concern
of peacemakers must also focus upon the food crisis, which is graver than the
financial crisis. The issue of food security is once more central to the
international political agenda, as a result of interrelated crises, including
sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some
economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the
international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work
together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level,
with the aim of enabling farmers,
especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their
activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the
social, environmental and economic points of view.
Education for a culture of peace: the role of the family
and institutions
6. I wish to reaffirm forcefully that the various
peacemakers are called to cultivate a passion for the
common good of the family and for social justice,
and a commitment to effective social education.
No one should ignore or underestimate the decisive
role of the family, which is the basic cell of
society from the demographic, ethical, pedagogical,
economic and political standpoints.
The family has
a natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies
individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual
growth and enrichment through caring and sharing.
The Christian family in particular serves as a
seedbed for personal maturation according to the
standards of divine love. The family is one of the
indispensable social subjects for the achievement of
a culture of peace.
The rights of parents and their
primary role in the education of their children in the
area of morality and religion must be safeguarded.
It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrow’s promoters
of a culture of life and love, are born and
nurtured.[6]
Religious communities are involved in a special way in this
immense task of education for peace. The Church believes that she shares in this
great responsibility as part of the new evangelization,
which is centred on conversion to the truth and love
of Christ and, consequently, the spiritual and moral
rebirth of individuals and societies. Encountering
Jesus Christ shapes peacemakers, committing them
to fellowship and to overcoming injustice.
Cultural institutions, schools and universities
have a special mission of peace. They are called to
make a notable contribution not only to the formation
of new generations of leaders, but also to the
renewal of public institutions, both national and international.
They can also contribute to a scientific
reflection which will ground economic and financial
activities on a solid anthropological and ethical basis.
Today’s world, especially the world of politics,
needs to be sustained by fresh thinking and a new
cultural synthesis so as to overcome purely technical
approaches and to harmonize the various political
currents with a view to the common good. The
latter, seen as an ensemble of positive interpersonal
and institutional relationships at the service of the
integral growth of individuals and groups, is at the
basis of all true education for peace.
A pedagogy for peacemakers
7. In the end, we see clearly the need to propose
and promote a pedagogy of peace. This calls for a
rich interior life, clear and valid moral points of reference,
and appropriate attitudes and lifestyles. Acts
of peacemaking converge for the achievement of the
common good; they create interest in peace and cultivate
peace. Thoughts, words and gestures of peace
create a mentality and a culture of peace, and a respectful,
honest and cordial atmosphere. There is
a need, then, to teach people to love one another,
to cultivate peace and to live with good will rather
than mere tolerance.
A fundamental encouragement
to this is “to say no to revenge, to recognize injustices,
to accept apologies without looking for them,
and finally, to forgive”,[7] in such a way that mistakes
and offences can be acknowledged in truth, so as to
move forward together towards reconciliation. This
requires the growth of a pedagogy of pardon. Evil is
in fact overcome by good, and justice is to be sought
in imitating God the Father who loves all his children
(cf. Mt 5:21-48). This is a slow process, for it
presupposes a spiritual evolution, an education in
lofty values, a new vision of human history.
There is
a need to renounce that false peace promised by the
idols of this world along with the dangers which accompany
it, that false peace which dulls consciences,
which leads to self-absorption, to a withered existence
lived in indifference. The pedagogy of peace,
on the other hand, implies activity, compassion, solidarity,
courage and perseverance.
Jesus embodied all these attitudes in his own life,
even to the complete gift of himself, even to “losing
his life” (cf. Mt 10:39; Lk 17:33; Jn 12:25). He
promises his disciples that sooner or later they will make the extraordinary
discovery to which I originally alluded, namely that God is in the world, the
God of Jesus, fully on the side of man. Here I would recall the prayer asking
God to make us instruments of his
peace, to be able to bring his love wherever there is
hatred, his mercy wherever there is hurt, and true
faith wherever there is doubt.
For our part, let us
join Blessed
John XXIII
in asking God to enlighten
all leaders so that, besides caring for the proper material
welfare of their peoples, they may secure for
them the precious gift of peace, break down the walls
which divide them, strengthen the bonds of mutual
love, grow in understanding, and pardon those who
have done them wrong; in this way, by his power
and inspiration all the peoples of the earth will experience
fraternity, and the peace for which they long
will ever flourish and reign among them.[8]
With this prayer I express my hope that all will
be true peacemakers, so that the city of man may
grow in fraternal harmony, prosperity and peace.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2012
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
"At a time when the Middle East is so unstable and
prone to violence, it is increasingly urgent that the disciples of
Christ offer an authentic witness of their unity, so that the world may
believe the Gospel message of love, peace and reconciliation".
