The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

Papal messages remind us humanity must strive for peace

(En Espanol)

“There is no need for a long talk to proclaim the main purpose of your Institution. It is enough to recall that the blood of millions, countless unheard-of sufferings, useless massacres and frightening ruins have sanctioned the agreement that unites you with an oath that ought to change the future history of the world: never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace, that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!” (Pope St. Paul VI, message to the United Nations, October 4, 1965).

In his June 2024 message for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on D-Day during the Second World War in Europe, Pope Francis echoed the words of his predecessor St. Paul VI in his 1965 address to the United Nations: “Never again war!”

These words often seem like naïve wishful thinking. War continues unabated in many parts of the world, and the best efforts of world leaders appear to be incapable of bringing about peaceful solutions to the problems that confront us.

As Pope Francis observes, the Normandy landings represent, “the disaster represented by that atrocious world conflict in which so many men, women and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, and so much destruction was wrought. It would be pointless and hypocritical to commemorate it without condemning and rejecting it definitively.”

We cannot honor the victims of senseless wars unless we speak out unequivocally against the horrors that war visits upon individuals, families, communities and nations. And, as Pope Paul VI also said, if we truly want peace, we must work for justice.

Pope Francis acknowledges that 80 years without a violent global conflict followed the Normandy invasion, but he expresses grave concern about the present and future. He says:

Although, for several decades, the memory of the errors of the past supported the steadfast determination to do everything possible to avoid a new open global conflict, I note with sadness that this is no longer the case today and that mankind has a short memory. May this commemoration help us to recover it!

We sinful human beings have short memories. Avarice and the quest for power remain destructive forces in the human breast. Nations bristle at restraints that would keep them from disregarding the sovereign rights of their neighbors and, inevitably, stronger nations seek to dominate and control weaker nations. The rich and powerful nations abuse their power over the people and resources of poorer countries, and international efforts seem powerless to prevent them.

“It is worrying,” Pope Francis says, “that the possibility of widespread conflict is sometimes once again being seriously considered, that people are gradually becoming accustomed to this unacceptable possibility. People want peace! They want conditions of stability, security and prosperity in which everyone can fulfill their duties and destinies in peace.”

Why is it that the universal desire for peace is so easily set aside? How can war be considered as an acceptable state of human affairs?

The Holy Father makes it very clear that “destroying this noble order of things for ideological, nationalistic or economic ambitions is a serious fault before mankind and before history, a sin before God.” And yet, it is a sin that has been committed unceasingly throughout human history up to and including the present day.

Pope Francis concludes his message with a heartfelt call to prayer:

Let us pray for the men who want wars, those who start them, stir them up senselessly, maintain and prolong them uselessly, or cynically profit from them. May God enlighten their hearts, may he set before their eyes the trail of misfortune they cause!

Let us pray for peacemakers. To want peace is not cowardly. On the contrary, it requires great courage, the courage to know how to give up something. Even if mankind’s judgment is sometimes harsh and unjust toward them, “the peacemakers … shall be called sons of God” [Mt 5:9]. May they oppose the implacable and obstinate logic of confrontation and be able to open up peaceful paths of encounter and dialogue. May they persevere tirelessly in their endeavors, and may their efforts be crowned with success.

Finally, the Holy Father invokes Mary, Queen of Peace, and St. Michael the Archangel, patron saint of Normandy, to intercede for all victims of war and to help us prevent the insanity of war from happening again in Europe and in every other region of the world.
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †