Peace “not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation”. It entails “is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded”. In a word, it consists in “building up…
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Peace “not
only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or
fatalistic resignation”. It entails “is
a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote
experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and
the excluded”. In a word, it consists in
“building up a ‘culture of encounter’”. The Pope wrote this in letter he sent
to Bishops of Nigeria, the densely-populated African nation now in the grips of
an increasingly ruthless and ferocious terrorism, fed by “new and violent forms of extremism
and fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds”. The following is
the English text of the Pope’s message. Dear Brother Bishops, While
we walk this Lenten journey towards the Resurrection of the Lord united with
the whole Church, I wish to extend to you, dear Archbishops and Bishops of
Nigeria, a fraternal greeting, which I extend to the beloved Christian
communities entrusted to your pastoral care.
I would also like to share some thoughts with you on the current situation
in your country. Nigeria,
known as the “African giant”, with its more than 160 million inhabitants, is
set to play a primary role, not only in Africa but in the world at large. In recent years, it has experienced robust
growth in the economic sphere and has again reasserted itself on the world
stage as an attractive market, on account of its natural resources as well as
its commercial potential. It is now
considered officially the single largest African economy. It has also distinguished itself as a
political player widely committed to the resolution of crisis situations in the
continent. At
the same time, your nation has had to confront considerable problems, among
them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social
and religious grounds. Many Nigerians
have been killed, wounded or mutilated, kidnapped and deprived of everything:
their loved ones, their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and
their rights. Many have not been able to
return to their homes. Believers, both
Christian and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of
people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it
an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder. I
would like to assure you and all who suffer of my closeness. Every day I remember you in my prayers and I
repeat here, for your encouragement and comfort, the consoling words of the
Lord Jesus, which must always resound in our hearts: “Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you” ( Jn 14:27).
Peace
– as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of
political compromise or fatalistic resignation.
Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ
himself, the Prince of Peace, who has made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the man or woman who treasures the
peace of Christ as a guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker (cf.
Mt 5:9). At
the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic
effort to favour reconciliation, to
promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the
weakest and the excluded. In a word,
peace consists in building up a “culture of encounter”. And
so I wish here to express my heartfelt thanks to you, because in the midst of
so many trials and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to witness
to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness.
How can we fail to remember the priests, religious men and women,
missionaries and catechists who, despite untold sacrifices, never abandoned
their flock, but remained at their service as good and faithful heralds of the
Gospel? To them, most particularly, I
would like to express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of doing what
is right! We
give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many men and women of every social,
cultural and religious background, who with great willingness stand up in
concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose efforts are directed at
favouring a more secure and just future for all. They offer us moving testimonies, which, as
Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod for Africa, show “the power
of the Spirit to transform the hearts of victims and their persecutors and thus
to re-establish fraternity” ( Africae
Munus , 20). Dear
Brother Bishops, in perseverance and without becoming discouraged, go forward
on the way of peace (cf. Lk
1:79). Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the poor! Teach the youth! Become promoters of a more just and fraternal
society! I
gladly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I ask you to extend to
priests, religious, missionaries, catechists, lay faithful and above all to
those suffering members of the Body of Christ. May
the Resurrection of the Lord bring conversion, reconciliation and peace to all
the people of Nigeria! I commend you to
Mary, Queen of Africa, and I ask you also to pray for me. FRANCISCUS PP….
Lent is a propitious time to ask the Lord, “for each of us and for the whole Church”, for “conversion to the mercy of Jesus”. Too often, in fact, Christians “are experts at closing the door to people” who, worn down by life and by their mistakes, would instead be ready for a new start,…
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Lent is a propitious time to ask the Lord,
“for each of us and for the whole Church”, for “conversion to the mercy of
Jesus”. Too often, in fact, Christians “are experts at closing the door to
people” who, worn down by life and by their mistakes, would instead be ready
for a new start, “people whose hearts the Holy Spirit stirs to move forward”. During
Mass at Santa Marta on Tuesday, 17 March, the law of love was at the core of
Pope Francis’ reflection, which began from the Day’s Liturgy of the Word. It
began with an image: “water which is made fresh”. In the First Reading the
Prophet Ezekiel (47:1-9, 12) talks about water flowing from the temple, “holy
water, the water of God, as abundant as the grace of God: ever abundant”. The
Lord, the Pope explained, is indeed generous “in giving his love, in healing
our wounds”. Water
returns in the Gospel according to John (5:1-16), with the image of a pool —
“in Hebrew it was called Bethesda” — which had “five porticoes. In these lay a
large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled”. In this place there was, in
fact, a tradition according to which “from time to time an angel came down” to
stir up the waters, and the sick “who jumped in” at that moment “would be
healed”. Therefore,
the Pontiff explained, “there were a lot of people”. And that is also why “a
man who had been ill for 38 years” was there. He was there, waiting, and Jesus
asked him: “Do you want to be well?”. The sick man replied: “Sir, I have no one
to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, when the angel comes.
While I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me”. In other words,
Jesus is presented with “a defeated man” who “had lost hope”. A sick man, “not
just paralyzed”, Francis pointed out, but afflicted with “another, much worse
disease”, sloth. “Sloth
made him sad, lazy”, the Pope noted. Another person would have “found a way to
get there in time, like the blind man in Jericho who shouted and shouted, and
they wanted to silence him but he shouted even louder: he found a way”. But
this man, overcome by 38 years of illness, “didn’t want to be healed”, didn’t
have the strength. At the same time, he had a “bitterness of spirit: ‘Someone
else gets there before me and I am left aside”. He also had “a little
resentment”. He was “really a sad soul, defeated, defeated by life”. However,
“Jesus has mercy” for this man and says to him: “Rise! Get up, let’s put an end
to this; take up your mat, and walk”. Francis then describe the following scene:
“The man was immediately healed and took up his mat and walked, but he was so
sick that he couldn’t believe it, and perhaps he walked somewhat hesitantly
with his mat on his shoulders”. At this point other characters come into play:
“It is the sabbath and what does this man find? The doctors of the law”, who
ask him: “Why are you carrying this? You can’t, today is the sabbath”. The man
responds: “Well, you know, I’ve been healed!”. Then he adds: “The man who made
me well told me: ‘take up your mat’”. Thus
a curious thing happened: “the people, instead of rejoicing, of saying: “How
beautiful! Good job!”, wonder “Who is this man?”. The experts, in other words,
begin to investigate and discuss: “Let’s see what has happened here, the
law…. We need to protect the law”. The man, for his part, continues to walk
with his mat, “but a little sadly”. The Pope commented: “I’m bad, but sometimes
I think of what would have happened if this man would have given a nice cheque
to those doctors. They might have said: ‘Go ahead, yes, yes, this time go
ahead!’”. Further
in the Gospel Reading, Jesus “finds this man again and says to him: “Look, you
are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you. Go
ahead, keep going”. And that man goes to the doctors of the law to say: “The
person, the man who made me well is called Jesus. It’s that one”. We also read
that this is why “the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a
sabbath”. Again, Francis said, it was “because he did good even on the sabbath,
and you couldn’t do that”. This
story, the Pope said, bringing his reflection into the present, “happens many
times in life: a man — a woman — who feels sick in spirit, sad, who has made
many mistakes in life, at a certain point feels the water stirring”. It is “the
Holy spirit who moves something”. Or the person “hears a word” and reacts: “I
want to go!”. Thus “they find courage and go”. But “how often today in
Christian communities” that man “finds the doors closed”. Perhaps he hears:
“You cannot, no you cannot; you’ve made mistakes here and you cannot. If you
want to come, come to Mass on Sunday, but stop there, don’t do anything more”.
Thus it happens that “what the Holy Spirit does in people’s hearts, Christians
destroy with the psychology of the doctors of the law”. The
Pontiff said he was unhappy about this, because, he highlighted, the Church “is
Jesus’ house and Jesus welcomes, but not only does He welcome: He goes to find
people”, just as “He went to find” that man. “And if the people are wounded”,
the Pope asked, “what does Jesus do? Does He rebuke them for being wounded? No,
He comes and carries them on his shoulders”. This, the Pope stated, “is called
mercy”. God speaks of this when “He rebukes his people: ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice’”. In
his usual fashion, the Pontiff ended his reflection with a practical suggestion
for daily life: “It is Lent, we must repent”. One might say: “Father, there are
so many sinners on the street: those who steal, those in the Rom camps…”, for
example, “and we despise these people”. But this person should be told: “And
you? Who are you? Who are you, who close the door of your heart to a man, to a
woman, who wants to improve, to rejoin the People of God, because the Holy
Spirit has stirred his/her heart?”. Even today there are Christians who behave
like the doctors of the law and “do the same thing they did with Jesus”, by
objecting: “This one speaks heresy, this on cannot, this one goes against the
discipline of the Church, this one goes against the law”. And thus they close
the doors to so many people. Therefore, the Pope concluded, “let us ask the
Lord today” for “conversion to the mercy of Jesus”: only in this way “will the
law be fulfilled, because the law is to love God and neighbour, as ourselves”….
(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Silvano Tomasi has warned that unless efforts are made to protect millions of children caught up in the Syrian conflict they are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
In an statement delivered on March 17 to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Archbishop Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, made a series of recommendations following the release of the “Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic”.
Noting that since the start of the crisis in Syria, “more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes” Tomasi said this amounts to almost half of the country’s population “now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security and human dignity”.
He pointed out that many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and are in urgent need of protective measures and support.
Tomasi also observed that “to compound this tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries”.
He says that a variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their country: “Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities.”
And noting that in camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times of conflict and displacement, Tomasi said their lives in exile are full of uncertainty and daily struggles.
In his intervention Tomasi continues to focus on the lack of rights of children affected by the Syrian conflict calling on the world to deal with the situation of stateless children; to take stock of the fact that more than one and a half million students in refugee camps no longer receive an education; that the separation of family members destabilizes society and breaks down its basic social unit.
Archbishop Tomasi concluded his intervention with a call to protect these children giving them the right to a legal identity, to an adequate education and to a family.
Such measures, he said, require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. But, if the violence does not stop, he said, and the normal pace of education and development is not resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
And quoting Pope Francis during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he said: “May the violence cease and may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer, through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal responsibility.”
Please find below the full text of Archbishop Silvano Tomasi’s statement:
Mr. President,
Conflicts forced a staggering 5.5 million people to flee their homes in the first six months of 2014. This represents a major addition to the record of 51.2 million worldwide who already were forcibly displaced by the end of 2013. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic recently informed that, since the start of the crisis, “more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes. This amounts to almost half of the country’s population, now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security and human dignity. Many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and are in urgent need of protective measures and support.” To compound this tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries. Violence continues to produce victims in the Middle East in particular, but elsewhere as well, where hatred and intolerance are the criteria for inter-group relations. The human rights of these forcibly displaced people are systematically violated with impunity. A variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their country. Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities. In camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times of conflict and displacement. Their life in exile is full of uncertainty and daily struggles. “Many are separated from their families, have difficulties accessing basic services, and live in increasing poverty. Only one in two Syrian refugee children in the neighboring countries is receiving education.” Beyond the specific conditions faced by internally displaced children and those in the refugee camps of the region and beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them, it seems important to envision their future, by focusing on three particular areas of concern.
First, the world must deal with the situation of millions of stateless children, who as such according to the law, were never born. The United Nations estimates that approximately 30.000 of these children can be found in Lebanon alone. Moreover, due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive uprooting of families, several thousand unregistered children are scattered in camps and other asylum countries. These are “phantom kids” whose parents have escaped from Syria but whose name and date of birth were never registered at any office. In fact, UNICEF reports that 3.500 children “officially” do not have a family or an identity. This occurs because all personal documents have been destroyed under the rubble of war or, at times, simply because their parents did not have the time or the money to certify their birth. Stateless children cross international borders alone and find themselves completely abandoned. The number of stateless persons in the world reaches 10 million. While all face grave difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges that are even more dramatic: a child below eleven years of age and without documents has no access even to the most basic services. These children obviously cannot go to school and they are likely to be adopted illegally, recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited, or forced into prostitution. Every child has the right to be registered at birth and thus to be recognized as a person before the law. The implementation of this right opens the way for access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits that affect the future of these children. Simplifying mechanisms and requirements for registration, waving fees, advocating for refugee inclusive registration legislation, represent steps to solve the plight of stateless children.
Second, another key component that shapes the future of uprooted children is education. Both in Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of education has become extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been destroyed in Syria where more than one million and half students no longer receive an education and where attacks against school buildings continue. The extremists from ISIL already have closed a great number of schools in the zones under their control. The dangerous condition of the country does not permit children to attend school nor to have access to a proper education. The international community as a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the Syrian crisis. It was thought by many that the Syrian refugee flow was temporary and such refugees would leave their countries of asylum in a matter of months. Now, after four years of conflict, it appears likely that these refugees will remain and the locals have to learn to live side by side with them. As a result of the conflict, children are behind in their education and are missing the enjoyment of their childhood. In the camps, there are only 40 teachers for more than 1.000 students, aged 6 to 17. Most of the teachers are volunteers, and often refugees themselves. Classes focus on drawing and music to help ease the trauma; writing and mathematics are taught when books are available. In Turkey, children face additional problems because of the language barrier. These refugees speak Arabic or Kurdish so, they cannot attend public schools where only Turkish is spoken. For different reasons, whether in their home countries or in the refugee camps, children find an inadequate education system that jeopardizes their future. Everywhere there is an urgent need for an education system that could absorb these children and bring some normalcy to their lives.
Third, another disruptive consequence of the continuing violence that torments the Middle East is the separation of family members, which forces many minors to fend for themselves. The root of the destabilization of society is the generalized violence that leads to the breaking down of the family, society’s basic social unit. To prevent the further exploitation of children and to protect them properly, an additional effort should be made to facilitate the reunification of minors with their respective families.
Mr. President,
The right to a legal identity, to an adequate education and to a family are key elements and specific requirements in a comprehensive system of protection for children. Such measures require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. Access to quality education and psycho-social care, together with other basic services, is extremely important. However, children cannot benefit from such services unless they are registered at birth and their families and communities are supported to protect them better. If the violence does not stop and the normal pace of education and development is not resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
Peace in Syria and the Middle East is the priority for healthy growth of all children. With conviction, during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis stated: “May the violence cease and may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer, through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal responsibility.”
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…