HOLY SEE SPEAKS AT UNITED NATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF PEACE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 28, 2004 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, addressed the Plenary Session of the U.N. General Assembly yesterday on Item 35, A Culture of Peace.

  Stating that "it is very clear that the world needs peace now as much as ever," he noted that "since 1967, the Popes too have played their part, sending a Message on the first day of January every year to all people of good will, each time proposing a fresh theme concerning peace and how to achieve it."

  The archbishop pointed to the work of the United Nations, listing its peacekeeping operations during the year, the creation of a Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate and the current International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. He noted that "the usually more dominant culture appears sometimes to trigger cultural reactions against true peace and create suspicions about it.  Similarly, globalization seems unable to prevent threats to peace because cultural revivalism tends to create walls that separate people from one another."
 
  "The defense of peace, so often a fragile entity, must be reinforced," he stated. "This can be achieved by cultivating in the minds of all people of good will the imperative to become in some way agents of peace. They are its architects, its builders and even its bridges."

  Citing UNESCO meetings in various regions of the world, he remarked that "we have to acknowledge that there is already a foundation to build upon in the area of inter-religious cooperation. ... These discussions covered areas such as terrorism, conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS, the role of religious leaders in easing tensions, in counteracting the hijacking of religious values for use as a pretext to justify violence and in supporting disarmament and non-proliferation." The Holy See, said Archbishop Migliore, "calls for a more energetic commitment to underline the deep linkages between the promotion of the culture of peace and the strengthening of the disarmament and non-proliferation process."
DELSS/CULTURE PEACE/UN:MIGLIORE            VIS 20041028 (340)