His Holiness Pope John Paul II Reflects on Working Toward
Peace
At
the dawn of the new millennium, we wish to propose once
more the message of hope which comes from the stable of
Bethlehem: God loves all men and women on earth and gives
them the hope of a new era, an era of peace. His love, fully
revealed in the Incarnate Son, is the foundation of universal
peace. When welcomed in the depths of the human heart, this
love reconciles people with God and with themselves, renews
human relationships, and stirs that desire for brotherhood
capable of banishing the temptation of violence and war.
. . .
To everyone I affirm that peace is possible. It needs to
be implored from God as his gift, but it also needs to be
built day by day with his help, through works of justice
and love.
To be sure, the problems which make the path to peace difficult
and often discouraging are many and complex, but peace is
a need deeply rooted in the heart of every man and woman.
The will to seek peace must not therefore be allowed to
weaken. This seeking must be based on the awareness that
humanity, however much marred by sin, hatred, and violence,
is called by God to be a single family. This divine plan
needs to be recognized and carried out through the search
for harmonious relationships between individuals and peoples,
in a culture where openness to the Transcendent, the promotion
of the human person, and respect for the world of nature
are shared by all.
In the century we are leaving behind, humanity has been
sorely tried by an endless and horrifying sequence of wars,
conflicts, genocides, and "ethnic cleansings"
which have caused unspeakable suffering: millions and millions
of victims, families, and countries destroyed, an ocean
of refugees, misery, hunger, disease, underdevelopment,
and the loss of immense resources. At the root of so much
suffering there lies a logic of supremacy fueled by the
desire to dominate and exploit others, by ideologies of
power or totalitarian utopias, by crazed nationalisms or
ancient tribal hatreds. At times brutal and systematic violence,
aimed at the very extermination or enslavement of entire
peoples and regions, has had to be countered by armed resistance.
The twentieth century bequeaths to us above all else a warning:
wars are often the cause of further wars because they fuel
deep hatreds, create situations of injustice, and trample
upon people's dignity and rights.
Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they
are fought and therefore, in addition to causing horrendous
damage, they prove ultimately futile. War is a defeat for
humanity. Only in peace and through peace can respect for
human dignity and its inalienable rights be guaranteed.
. . .
"Peace on earth to those whom God loves!" The
Gospel greeting prompts a heartfelt question: will the new
century be one of peace and a renewed sense of brotherhood
between individuals and peoples? We cannot of course foresee
the future. But we can set forth one certain principle:
there will be peace only to the extent that humanity as
a whole rediscovers its fundamental calling to be one family,
a family in which the dignity and rights of individuals-whatever
their status, race, or religion-are accepted as prior and
superior to any kind of difference or distinction.
This recognition can give the world as it is today-marked
by the process of globalization-a soul, a meaning, and a
direction. Globalization, for all its risks, also offers
exceptional and promising opportunities, precisely with
a view to enabling humanity to become a single family, built
on the values of justice, equity, and solidarity.
For this to happen, a complete change of perspective will
be needed: it is no longer the well-being of any one political,
racial, or cultural community that must prevail, but rather
the good of humanity as a whole. The pursuit of the common
good of a single political community cannot be in conflict
with the common good of humanity, expressed in the recognition
of and respect for human rights sanctioned by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. It is necessary, then,
to abandon ideas and practices-often determined by powerful
economic interests-the political, cultural, and institutional
divisions and distinctions by which humanity is ordered
and organized are legitimate insofar as they are compatible
with membership in the one human family, and with the ethical
and legal requirements which stem from this.
This principle has an immensely important consequence: an
offense against human rights is an offense against the conscience
of humanity as such, an offense against humanity itself.
The duty of protecting these rights therefore extends beyond
the geographical and political borders within which they
are violated. Crimes against humanity cannot be considered
an internal affair of a nation. Here an important step forward
was taken with the establishment of an International Criminal
Court to try such crimes, regardless of the place or circumstances
in which they are committed. We must thank God that in the
conscience of peoples and nations there is a growing conviction
that human rights have no borders, because they are universal
and indivisible.
From the problem of war, our gaze naturally turns to another
closely related issue: the question of solidarity. The lofty
and demanding task of peace, deeply rooted in humanity's
vocation to be one family and to recognize itself as such,
has one of its foundations in the principle of the universal
destination of the earth's resources. This principle does
not delegitimize private property; instead it broadens the
understanding and management of private property to embrace
its indispensable social function, to the advantage of the
common good and in particular the good of society's weakest
members. Unfortunately, this basic principle is widely disregarded,
as shown by the persistent and growing gulf in the world
between a North filled with abundant commodities and resources
and increasingly made up of older people, and a South where
the great majority of younger people now live, still deprived
of credible prospects for social, cultural, and economic
development.
No one should be deceived into thinking that the simple
absence of war, as desirable as it is, is equivalent to
lasting peace. There is no true peace without fairness,
truth, justice, and solidarity. Failure awaits every plan
which would separate two indivisible and interdependent
rights: the right to peace and the right to an integral
development born of solidarity. "Injustice, excessive
economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride
raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and
cause wars. Everything done to overcome these disorders
contributes to building up peace and avoiding war."
At the beginning of a new century, the one issue which most
challenges our human and Christian consciences is the poverty
of countless millions of men and women. This situation becomes
all the more tragic when we realize that the major economic
problems of our time do not depend on a lack of resources
but on the fact that present economic, social, and cultural
structures are ill-equipped to meet the demands of genuine
development.
Rightly then the poor, both in developing countries and
in the prosperous and wealthy countries, "ask for the
right to share in enjoying material goods and to make good
use of their capacity to work, thus creating a world that
is more just and prosperous for all. The advancement of
the poor constitutes a great opportunity for the moral,
cultural and even economic growth of all humanity."
Let us look at the poor not as a problem, but as people
who can become the principal builders of a new and more
human future for everyone.
In this context we also need to examine the growing concern
felt by many economists and financial professionals when,
in considering new issues involving poverty, peace, ecology,
and the future of the younger generation, they reflect on
the role of the market, on the pervasive influence of monetary
and financial interests, on the widening gap between the
economy and society, and on other similar issues related
to economic activity.
Perhaps the time has come for a new and deeper reflection
on the nature of the economy and its purposes. What seems
to be urgently needed is a reconsideration of the concept
of "prosperity" itself, to prevent it from being
enclosed in a narrow utilitarian perspective which leaves
very little space for values such as solidarity and altruism.
Here I would like to invite economists and financial professionals,
as well as political leaders, to recognize the urgency of
the need to ensure that economic practices and related political
policies have as their aim the good of every person and
of the whole person. This is not only a demand of ethics
but also of a sound economy. Experience seems to confirm
that economic success is increasingly dependent on a more
genuine appreciation of individuals and their abilities,
on their fuller participation, on their increased and improved
knowledge and information, on a stronger solidarity.
These are values which, far from being foreign to economics
and business, help to make them a fully "human"
science and activity. An economy which takes no account
of the ethical dimension and does not seek to serve the
good of the person-of every person and the whole person-cannot
really call itself an "economy," understood in
the sense of a rational and constructive use of material
wealth.
The very fact that humanity, called to form a single family,
is still tragically split in two by poverty-at the beginning
of the twenty-first century, more than 1.4 billion people
are living in a situation of dire poverty-means that there
is urgent need to reconsider the models which inspire development
policies.
In this regard, the legitimate requirements of economic
efficiency must be better aligned with the requirements
of political participation and social justice, without falling
back into the ideological mistakes made during the twentieth
century. In practice, this means making solidarity an integral
part of the network of economic, political, and social interdependence
which the current process of globalization is tending to
consolidate.
These processes call for rethinking international cooperation
in terms of a new culture of solidarity. When seen as a
sowing of peace, cooperation cannot be reduced to aid or
assistance, especially if given with an eye to the benefits
to be received in return for the resources made available.
Rather, it must express a concrete and tangible commitment
to solidarity which makes the poor the agents of their own
development and enables the greatest number of people, in
their specific economic and political circumstances, to
exercise the creativity which is characteristic of the human
person and on which the wealth of nations too is dependent.
In particular it is necessary to find definitive solutions
to the long-standing problem of the international debt of
poor countries, while at the same time making available
the financial resources necessary for the fight against
hunger, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, and the destruction
of the environment.
Today more than in the past there is an urgent need to foster
a consciousness of universal moral values in order to face
the problems of the present, all of which are assuming an
increasingly global dimension. The promotion of peace and
human rights, the settling of armed conflicts both within
states and across borders, the protection of ethnic minorities
and immigrants, the safeguarding of the environment, the
battle against terrible diseases, the fight against drug
and arms traffickers, and against political and economic
corruption: these are issues which nowadays no nation is
in a position to face alone. They concern the entire human
community, and thus they must be faced and resolved through
common efforts.
A way must be found to discuss the problems posed by the
future of humanity in a comprehensible and common language.
The basis of such a dialogue is the universal moral law
written upon the human heart. By following this grammar
of the spirit, the human community can confront the problems
of coexistence and move forward to the future with respect
for God's plan.
The encounter between faith and reason, between religion
and morality, can provide a decisive impulse towards dialogue
and cooperation between peoples, cultures, and religions.
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