Pope Francis, at the 50th Day for Peace, at the beginning of the Year 2017, calls us to build peace “through active nonviolence” as the natural and necessary complement to the Church’s continuing efforts to limit the use of force (…/…). Jesus himself offers the strategy of peacemaking in the Sermon on the Mount. The eight Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait of the person we could describe as blessed, good and authentic. Blessed are the meek, Jesus tells us, the merciful and the peacemakers, those who are pure in heart, and those who hunger and thirst for justice.
«The Catholic Church -said the Pope- will accompany every effort to build peace through active and creative nonviolence. On 1 January 2017, the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will begin its work. It will help the Church to promote in an ever more effective way the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation and concern for migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture».
«All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts to be peacemakers». In 2017, may we dedicate ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming non violent people and to building non violent communities that care for our common home. «Nothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. Everyone can be an artisan of peace».
