“We are called to choose. We are called to choose peace every day, to reveal the truth, to stay in the complexity of conflict and reality without ever trivializing ». It is the final message of the national seminar “Educating for peace in times of war”, promoted by Italian Caritas and from theNational Office for social problems and the work of the CEI, who brought together for three days Frascati Pastoral operators of the dioceses in Italy.
The event was a first response to the invitation that Pope Leo XIV addressed to the Italian bishops on June 17 asking “That each diocese can promote education paths to nonviolence, mediation initiatives in local conflicts, reception projects that transform the fear of the other into an opportunity to meet “».
Peace is not synonymous with security, if by safety we mean the militarization of the borders, the ride to armaments, the outsourcing of the borders that concerns us very close. Currently, there are 56 wars that hurt the world and that continue to destroy dreams, stories, relationships, human lives. War is the pathology of conflict, the failure of politics: it does not solve anything, it is only functional to the redefinition of power, to the elimination of the other.
«We start from words and their meaning, because – as the Pacem in terris – Peace is based on truth, justice, love and freedom. There is no possible peace if not rooted in the truth that history delivers us and that we calls our conscience, “he said Don Marco Pagniellodirector of Italian Caritas, “as people, as a community, we are called to disarm words, study and inform us to live in the complexity of our time. Do not act, remain still as if the story was not also the consequence of our small choices, is equivalent to taking over with those who oppress. It is time for ethical and courageous choices ».
Peace is built from below and each, believing or non -believer, is called to be responsible, not to delegate, not to give in to indifference.
Among the many proposals of the participants, support for the establishment of a Ministry of Peace – recalling the Pope’s words: “If you want peace, prepares institutions of peace” – and the creation of comparison tables that, with the different components of civil society, know how to identify concrete paths and solutions as alternatives to war and rearmament.
«Let’s not resign ourselves to the cynicism of weapons and the fatalism of conflicts. The Church is called to form critical consciences, capable of denouncing injustices and generating reconciliation paths, “he added Don Bruno Bignamidirector of the National Office for social problems and the work of the CEI, “today, educating to peace means resisting the unique, absurd and dominant thought that sees in the war the way to get to peace”.
To institutions, The invitation not to consider war as inevitable to resolve international conflicts. There is no right war. Italy honors the constitution that repudiates war as a tool for resolving conflicts. He does it starting from small decisions.
To the media, The appeal to light lights, to contribute to the formation of aware, attentive citizens, to wake up from the sleep of consciences so as not to generate monsters.
In particular, civil society and Christians launched the appeal to create structured, living, inclusive peace paths that respond to the needs of our time: “We form citizens and Christians capable of living every conflict, living borders”, the appeal, “we become operators of peace. A peace that arises from dialogue, justice, from the ability to focus on the dignity of each person, certain that the future is built starting from everyday life with the mild and radical force of hope “.
