The pontiff warns that peace is \u201cboth a gift and a commitment\u201d and urges prayer, reconciliation, and diplomacy amid a world wounded by conflicts.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV warns in a new essay that \u201cbitter nationalism tramples on the rights of the weakest\u201d and says peace is first \u201cdefeated in the human heart\u201d when people give in to selfishness, greed, and partisan interests.<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s words come from a new introduction to the English-language edition of the book \u201cPeace Be with You!\u201d, published by HarperCollins, which is otherwise a collection of previously published papal texts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live in a world wounded by too many conflicts and struck by bloody hostilities,\u201d Leo writes. \u201cBitter nationalism tramples on the rights of the weakest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling peace \u201cone of the great issues of our time,\u201d the pontiff describes it as having a \u201cdual dimension,\u201d both vertical and horizontal: \u201ca gift from God built by men and women throughout the ages\u201d and also \u201ca commitment and responsibility for each one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo says peace is a gift given through Christ\u2019s birth in Bethlehem and through the risen Lord\u2019s greeting to the disciples. Citing St. Augustine, he notes that the divine gift \u201ccalls into action the responsibility of our answer, of our \u2018good will.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, he stresses that peace must be lived concretely. \u201cPeace means teaching children to respect others and not to bully others when they play,\u201d he writes. \u201cPeace means overcoming our personal pride and making room for the other, in our family, at work, in sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cPeace is when our heart and our life are inhabited by silence, meditation and listening to God; because God never blesses violence, he never approves of taking advantage of others, or of the frenzied abuse of the one Earth that is disfiguring creation, a caress of the Creator.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope also addresses what he has called the \u201cglobalization of powerlessness,\u201d encouraging believers to respond above all with prayer. \u201cPrayer is an \u2018unarmed\u2019 force that that seeks only the common good, without exclusions,\u201d he writes. \u201cBy praying, we disarm our ego and become capable of gratuitousness and sincerity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo insists that the struggle for peace does not begin on battlefields but within each person. \u201cMoreover, our heart is the most important battlefield,\u201d he writes. \u201cIt is there that we must learn the bloodless but necessary victory over the impulses of death and the tendencies toward domination: Only peaceful hearts can build a world of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urges the cultivation of reconciliation in daily life, including \u201cnonviolent workshops, places where suspicion of others can become an opportunity for encounter,\u201d adding: \u201cThe heart is the source of peace: There we must learn to meet rather than clash with each other, to trust and not of mistrust, to listen and understand instead of closing ourselves to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Leo says responsibility for peace extends beyond personal conversion to political and international leaders as well. \u201cFinally, politics and the international community are responsible for facilitating the mediation of conflicts, utilizing the arts of dialogue and diplomacy,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n
The pope concludes by turning again to St. Augustine and praying that God grant \u201cthe blessing grace of a just and lasting peace,\u201d especially for \u201cthose who are most forgotten and who suffer the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acest articol a fost publicat ini\u021bial de ACI Prensa, serviciul de limb\u0103 spaniol\u0103 al EWTN News, \u0219i a fost tradus \u0219i adaptat de EWTN News English.<\/p>\n