Opus Iustitiae Pax – PEACE AND JUSTICE
by
Prof. Bruno Forte, Roma
"Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth Justice and Peace, Forgiveness and Life,
Love! ": these were the words which ended the message sent by the representatives of all religions invited by John Paul II to Assisi, so as to invoke God for the gift of peace, a message send to all mankind at the end of their meeting on January 24th 2002. These words were based on the firm belief expressed by the Pope himself: "Those who really welcome within themselves the word of God, good and merciful, cannot but eliminate from their hearts any form of resentment and unfriendliness. In this historical moment mankind has the need to observe gestures of peace and to listen to words of hope" (from the speech made by John Paul II during the Angelus on November 18th 2001). The backdrop for these statements was the scenario that followed the tragic events of September 11th 2001; that of a world made increasingly fragile by violence and terrorism. While until that date there may have been some who, faced with a society that thought itself advanced and free, were under the illusion that they were protected by some kind of immunity from the problems afflicting the rest of mankind, and that they were not involved in the common responsibility for rendering fairer the international economic and social-political order, that awareness that we are now faced with the same history and the dame challenges has now become inevitable for all. Simultaneously however there is a greater danger of searching for explanations for all that has happened in serious simplifications, such as considering inevitable a clash between civilisations, in particular a clash between the rich Western world and the so called third World afflicted by immense poverty, or a confrontation between religions, especially one between Islam and Christianity, the majority in the first of these two worlds.
Faced with these scenarios there is an urgent need for promoting a collective awareness, which on one hand should encourage an increased solidarity between the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the world, and on the other should encourage the cooperation of believers of all faiths in creating a peace based on justice and reciprocal forgiveness; so as to achieve this objective the necessary condemnation of terrorism is not sufficient, nor is a refusal of the logic of retaliation and of war; what is instead needed is a common testimony that all religions can become committed to the service of peace and that no believer may invoke the name of God so as to justify any act of violence whatsoever. Only a universal meeting of interests and responsibility in the creation of paths for dialogue and understanding will be capable of stimulating political action to pursue peace as an absolute priority objective and at the same time render this task effective. It is in this light that the work of John Paul II and the meeting in Assisi within his commitment, assume an extraordinary symbolic strength, which can be identified as moving in three directions. First of all the fact that believers from all the religions on the planet appeal to God, the Lord of peace, emphasises that no human presumption, and no purely ideological claim will be sufficient for establishing real peace agreements. Peace takes three participants: two parties are not sufficient; they must recognise a common transcendent horizon, common values to be followed and conformed with, in sincere moral tension. To forget God can only damage human cohabitation: aperture to the Holy Mystery and a consequent responsibility to the Eternal One are a precious and necessary condition for universal brotherhood. Peace comes from above and must therefore be incessantly invoked!
Secondly, the fact that the Pope’s appeal for a meeting in Assisi was answered by representatives of all religious faiths clearly proves that nothing can justify a division between human beings: if we are not divided by the religious dimension, which touches the very depths of the hearts and the lives of each human being and each population, nothing is permitted to divide us. Not only: far from dividing us, the common reference to God unites and invests with responsibility all mankind for that indispensable gift of peace filled with justice and forgiveness. The Decalogue of Assisi for Peace, proclaimed at the end of the day of prayer on January 24th 2002, after having stated that "violence and terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion", strictly condemned "every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or of religion". No one may or can appeal to God so as to nourish hate and violence. All religions – in their most authentic realities – are committed to create peace, because, as stated by the Decalogue itself, they educate to a "mutual respect and esteem, in order to help bring about a peaceful and fraternal coexistence between people of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions". Without ignoring the differences, the religions at the service of peace help us not to "consider our differences as an insurmountable barrier, but recognizing instead that to encounter the diversity of others can become an opportunity for greater reciprocal understanding". Above all an authentic religious spirit with which "We commit ourselves to forgiving one another for past and present errors and prejudices, and to supporting one another in a common effort both to overcome selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence, and to learn from the past that peace without justice is no true peace".
Finally John Paul II’s untiring teachings, and events such as the one held in Assisi, relaunch the path to dialogue and commitment to justice as the only one that is really human and fruitful, especially long term: it will not be the warlords or the insane proclamations of the terrorists that will guarantee justice and peace; only an encounter based upon mutual recognition of human dignity facing the Eternal One can be a guarantee for achieving credible and lasting peace agreements. The answer to the challenges of barbarities cannot be revenge, which only generates violence upon violence: the only real answer lies in justice and forgiveness. Justice requires a rigorous verification of the truth concerning responsibilities for peace, without manipulations and simplifications: punishing the innocent, bombing defenceless populations enslaved to fanatical power is not however justice. What we need is not war, but all mankind’s united commitment against barbarities and therefore the unity of all believers and all men and women of goodwill against violence in all its forms. The justice we should all feel committed to promoting is a justice that uproots the widespread causes that generate hatred, these are the poverty and the offence to the dignity of individuals and of entire populations. If instead of a race to arms people were committed to promoting the rights of the weak and peace processes at the service of justice for all, the hatred that feeds the flame of fanaticism would largely be extinguished. A greater commitment for a fair peace in the Holy Land and for the various conflicts would be worth a great deal more for the cause of lasting peace than dropping thousands of bombs or the deployment of one of the most frightening war machines! It is this different logic that we should all therefore learn to experience and propose: it is the current name of that "turn the other cheek" or that "love your enemies" which can really change the course of history. Hatred must be answered with love: and this is not trite evasion or escaping responsibilities, but rather the immensely high price to be paid for the cause of a peace that is really peace for all, because founded on justice and forgiveness.