Vatican City, September 2015 (VIS) –
“Peace is always possible – religions and cultures in dialogue”
is the title of the 28th International Meeting for Peace, organised
by the Sant'Egidio Community. Twenty years after the end of the war
in the Balkans, it is being held this year in Tirana, Albania from 6
to 8 September. The Meetings follow the trail of St. John Paul II who
attended the first in 1986 in Assisi, Italy.
Below are extensive extracts of the
Holy Father's message to participants, dated 29 August 2015, memory
of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist.
“As historical contexts change and
peoples are called upon to face profound and at times dramatic
transformations, we are increasingly aware of the need for the
followers of different religions to meet, to engage in dialogue, to
journey together and to collaborate for peace, in that 'spirit of
Assisi' that refers to the luminous witness of St. Francis”.
“This year you have chosen to visit
Tirana, the capital of a country that has become a symbol of the
peaceful cohabitation of different religions, after a long history of
suffering. … I wished to choose Albania as the first European
country to visit, precisely to encourage the path of peaceful
coexistence after the tragic persecutions suffered by Albanian
believers during the last century. The long list of martyrs still
speaks to us today of that dark period, but also of the strength of
faith that does not bend to the arrogance of evil. In no other
country in the world has the decision to exclude God from the life of
the people been so strong; even just a religious sign was enough to
warrant punishment with prison, if not death. This deeply affected
the Albanian people, up to the moment at which they regained their
freedom, when the members of the various religious communities,
sorely tested by the suffering they had experienced, were once more
able to live together in peace”.
“It is precisely because it has its
foundations in God that 'peace is always possible', as the title of
your Meeting this year affirms. It is necessary to confirm this
truth, especially today, when in some parts of the world it would
seem that violence, persecution and abuse prevail over religious
freedom, along with resignation to protracted conflicts. We must
never become resigned to war! And we must not remain indifferent to
those who suffer as a result of war and violence. For this reason I
have chosen as the theme of the next World Day of Peace: 'Overcome
indifference and win peace'. But it is also a form of violence to
raise walls and barriers to obstruct those who seek a place of peace.
It is violence to reject those who flee from inhuman conditions in
the hope of a better future. It is violence to discard children and
the elderly from society and from life itself. It is violence to
widen the gap between those who waste the superfluous and those who
lack essentials”.
“In this world, faith in God leads us
to believe and leads us to cry aloud that peace is possible. It is
faith that drives us to trust in God and not to resign ourselves to
the work of evil. As believers we are called upon to rediscover that
universal vocation to peace that lies at the heart of our different
religious traditions, and to courageously offer it again to the men
and women of our time. I reiterate what I said in this respect when
speaking to religious leaders in Tirana: 'Authentic religion is a
source of peace and not of violence! No one must use the name of God
to commit violence! To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege.
To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman'”.
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