PURSUING PEACE IN WORLD OF RELIGIOUS AND ATHEISTIC VIOLENCE

This is an address by Pope Benedict XVI during the Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World – “Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace” – held at the Basilica of Saint Mary and the Angels, Assisi, on 27 October 2011.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Distinguished Heads and Representatives of Churches, Ecclesial Communities and World Religions,

Dear Friends,

Twenty-five years have passed since Blessed Pope John Paul II first invited representatives of the world’s religions to Assisi to pray for peace. What has happened in the meantime? What is the state of play with regard to peace today?

At that time the great threat to world peace came from the division of the earth into two mutually opposed blocs. A conspicuous symbol of this division was the Berlin Wall which traced the border between two worlds right through the heart of the city.

In 1989, three years after Assisi, the wall came down, without bloodshed. Suddenly the vast arsenals that stood behind the wall were no longer significant. They had lost their terror. The peoples’ will to freedom was stronger than the arsenals of violence.

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