War - A Grave Loss for Humanity

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Text of Archbishop Tomasi’s remarks at interreligious service for peace

1/31/2007
Catholic Online

GENEVA, Switzerland (Catholic Online) – There can be no surrender to a culture of violence and no passive acceptance that war is inevitable, said a Vatican representative to a United Nations.

In Jan. 31 remarks at an interreligious service here focused on Pope Benedict XVI’s World Day of Peace message, “The Human Person, the Hear of Peace,” Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, head of the Vatican permanent observer mission of the Holy See to the U.N. and other international organizations in Geneva, drew a clear distinction between the tolerance and respect founded on justice.

The question of “how to bring healing to the world” is answered, he said, by going “beyond mere tolerance and reach out to others on the base of respect and justice.”

“The need to move beyond tolerance resides in the fact that this is a kind of passive acceptance of others imposed by law, a first step for sure but without personal involvement,” Archbishop Tomasi told representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities.

“A civilization of tolerance is built on a mine field: when attention lowers, the mines explode,” he said.

Respect, he said, looks instead at others of different nations, beliefs or cultures as “partners in the same humanity, children of the same creator, with the same aspirations for a happy and peaceful life.”

The apostolic nuncio said that “the search for peace begins in the heart of every individual” and progresses to countries and international organizations when “founded on the respect of the person, the right to life and religious freedom, the free exercise of basic human rights, the elimination of unjust inequalities.”

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The following is the text of the intervention by Archbishop Tomasi at the Jan. 31 interreligious service for peace:

1. From different religious and cultural backgrounds, with our different histories, we come together this evening to affirm that peace is a gift to be welcomed and a task to be pursued. There is no surrender to the culture of conflict; no acceptance that clashes are unavoidable and that war is ever natural. Such confidence comes from a vision of peace that is deeply rooted in the core-values and insights shared by all faith traditions that God our Creator has endowed each person with an inalienable dignity and thus given us equality of rights and duties and established and unbreakable solidarity among all women and men.

2. I am honored to welcome you at this by now traditional occasion for a moment of prayer and reflection on peace inspired by the annual Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has centered this year on the theme: The Human Person, the Heart of Peace. The daily concerns of the Representatives of countries of the world and of International Organizations as well as of the Authorities of Geneva and of civil society organizations – all most welcome – is the search for a better way of living together and respond to the natural desire of the human family for peace.

3. But we are not naïve. The phenomenon of violence has become increasingly complex in the 21st century and it poses unprecedented challenges to the international community. The work for peace implies now closing the gap between the rich and the poor; putting an end to civil wars, to terrorism, and all armed conflicts; stopping a revived arms race and the proliferation of a variety of weapons; rejecting the glorification of violence in the media. Millions of people are affected by current wars and civilians are targeted with total disregard of humanitarian law. These victims and the millions of forcibly displaced persons call for peace, for respect of their human dignity. It is a difficult moment but we know “there is a moral logic which is built into human life and which makes possible dialogue between individuals and peoples.”

4. The search for peace begins in the heart of every individual and move forward to countries and to the international community, an orderly process founded on the respect of the person, the right to life and religious freedom, the free exercise of basic human rights, the elimination of unjust inequalities. So the question emerges of how we can bring healing to the world, of how we can go beyond mere tolerance and reach out to others on the base of respect and justice. The need to move beyond tolerance resides in the fact that this is a kind of passive acceptance of others imposed by law, a first step for sure but without personal involvement. It has been observed that a civilization of tolerance is built on a mine field: when attention lowers, the mines explode. Respect instead looks at others as partners in the same humanity, children of the same creator, with the same aspirations for a happy and peaceful life, even though the way may be different. Effective dialogue and negotiations for peace rest on the two pillars of respect and justice, the justice of daily practical relationships that tests the sincerity of our words and agreements. The process that goes from tolerance to respect and justice reaches its perfection when it discovers “that the highest vocation of every person is love.” In this realization, “we can find the ultimate reason for becoming staunch champions of human dignity and courageous builders of peace.”

5. Aramin, a former fighter, active member of Combatants for Peace, a group of former Palestinian militants and former Israeli soldiers who have teamed up to urge reconciliation, said a few days ago: “Over time, I became convinced we couldn’t solve our problems with weapons and we had to talk to the other side.” There is a clear convergence with the Message of Pope Benedict who states: “War always represents a failure for the international community and a grave loss for humanity.”

By walking together on the path of dialogue, respect, justice and love, God’s gift of peace can be ours even today.

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© Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[sirs]

And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort

[domer]

When was the last time that occurred, Sirs?

[sirs]

When was the last time that occurred, Sirs?

Iraq

[Michael Tee]

I think there's a lot to reflect on in that statement, for everybody.  I don't except myself from that, I've succumbed too often to the "Death to the Oppressor" mentality.  However, my anger was always reserved for those who struck the first blow, or those whose wealth and power permitted them to oppress others less fortunate.  If my attitude in particular, and that of "the left" in general are not exactly beyond reproach, it remains nonetheless true that we are not the problem - - oppression and injustice will always and understandably provoke a violent reaction.  The real problem is with those who commit the aggression and provoke the reaction in the first place because they have absolutely no excuse whatsoever.

<<And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort>>

Yeah, let's see just how many times the world's mightiest nation and only super-power was "forced" into war as a "necessary last resort" - Korea; Vietnam; Dominican Republic; Panama; Afghanistan; Iraq; Kossovo; Serbia; Cuba (Bay of Pigs); did I leave anything out?  Probably.   "Necessary last resort," my ass.

[sirs]

<<And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort>>

Yeah, let's see just how many times the world's mightiest nation and only super-power was "forced" into war as a "necessary last resort"

Never said or even implied "forced" as a prerequisate for last resort.  If you're going to condemn me for supposedly misrepresenting your position(s), best start practicing what you preach

[Brassmask]

And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort

Only if another country is attacking.

[Mucho]

I think there's a lot to reflect on in that statement, for everybody.  I don't except myself from that, I've succumbed too often to the "Death to the Oppressor" mentality.  However, my anger was always reserved for those who struck the first blow, or those whose wealth and power permitted them to oppress others less fortunate.  If my attitude in particular, and that of "the left" in general are not exactly beyond reproach, it remains nonetheless true that we are not the problem - - oppression and injustice will always and understandably provoke a violent reaction.  The real problem is with those who commit the aggression and provoke the reaction in the first place because they have absolutely no excuse whatsoever.

<<And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort>>

Yeah, let's see just how many times the world's mightiest nation and only super-power was "forced" into war as a "necessary last resort" - Korea; Vietnam; Dominican Republic; Panama; Afghanistan; Iraq; Kossovo; Serbia; Cuba (Bay of Pigs); did I leave anything out?  Probably.   "Necessary last resort," my ass.

You forgot St Ronnie's necesarry last resort invasion of the tiny inconsequential island of Granada!

[domer]

Even ignoring the false premises for the Iraq War, its initiation was not a last resort as, among other things, further work by the inspectors was still an option.

[domer]

By the way, this is the Catholic Church at its best: noble, caring, resolute. It is the same in its social teachings. I have just acquired a volume devoted to just that topic; I look forward to some enlightening and warming reading. That is not to say that the Church is not institutionally hidebound, which it is in spades. But when it shines, Lord, it illuminates.

[sirs]

And yet some times, war becomes a necessary last resort

Only if another country is attacking.

No, not "only".  In this new day & age it's also when terrorists are attacking

[Plane]

   War is a miserable experience , but is it really a failure of reason?

    Not everyone is convinced that war is ignoble , the Al Queda pushes the notion that war can be holy , even the stab in the back kind.

     Idon't think it would be wise to reject an oppurtunity for peace in favor of an oppurtunity for war all other things being equal , but peace requires minimums of trust that are not always availible.

     Iraq and Saddam area a good example , was it really possibe to take Saddams word on anything?

[sirs]

Idon't think it would be wise to reject an oppurtunity for peace in favor of an oppurtunity for war all other things being equal , but peace requires minimums of trust that are not always availible.  Iraq and Saddam area a good example , was it really possibe to take Saddams word on anything?

If you ask those on the left, especially here in the saloon, you'll likely get a vast majority claiming Saddam is more trustworthy than Bush     

[Michael Tee]

<<By the way, this is the Catholic Church at its best: noble, caring, resolute. It is the same in its social teachings. I have just acquired a volume devoted to just that topic; I look forward to some enlightening and warming reading. That is not to say that the Church is not institutionally hidebound, which it is in spades. But when it shines, Lord, it illuminates.>>

My thoughts exactly.  They've come a long way.

[Michael Tee]

<<If you ask those on the left, especially here in the saloon, you'll likely get a vast majority claiming Saddam is more trustworthy than Bush >>

As lying bastards, they're a perfect match.