2024 Ten Days of Prayer for Peace “Indifference takes lives” A Message from the President of the C […]
2024 Ten Days of Prayer for Peace
“Indifference takes lives”
A Message from the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan
The pledge of 79 years ago: “We shall not repeat the evil”
The history of humanity has been a series of mistakes and a journey forward by reflecting on those mistakes. Seventy-nine years ago, at the end of World War II, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and many lives were lost. There is a memorial to the victims in Hiroshima’s Peace Park that was established after the war. It says, “Let all the souls here rest in peace for we shall not repeat the evil.” Though the Japanese grammar is vague about the subject of the sentence, the author of the inscription and its translation said that the subject of the promise is “we.” Faced with the reality of nuclear weapons, we, the human race, vowed not to repeat our mistake. However, though 79 years have passed since then, is the reality of the world really what we pledged to make it?
The endless victimization of defenseless civilians
Situations of deadly violence involving defenseless civilians are frequent in many parts of the world and once they begin, it is impossible to see the end. Even after two and a half years the war that began with Russia’s attack on Ukraine has not yet come to an end. The conflict between Palestine and Israel has become a quagmire, so far claiming the lives of more than 37,000 people in Gaza. Looking at the situation of our neighbors in Asia, chaos after the coup d’état in Myanmar continues, and there is no path to peace in sight after more than three years. The Catholic Church in Myanmar, which speaks out for peace, has come under violent attack.
The globalization of indifference
For his message for this year’s World Day of Peace, Pope Francis set the theme Artificial Intelligence and Peace.
He wrote: “The ability to conduct military operations through remote control systems has led to a lessened perception of the devastation caused by those weapon systems and the burden of responsibility for their use, resulting in an even more cold and detached approach to the immense tragedy of war.”
Amid rampant violence against human life around the world, the globalization of indifference is intensifying, and everyone is treated like a disconnected “something” on a screen. As the Pope points out, the advent of artificial intelligence has increased a sense of alienation from people and situations. But it is our brothers and sisters who are deprived of life. It is God’s gift of life that is exposed to violence. And it is human beings who are creating that violence. And it is our indifference that is encouraging it.
An invitation to be “Pilgrims of Hope”
In the face of a reality that robs many people of the hope of living and drives them to the abyss of despair, Pope Francis has set the theme of next year’s Holy Year 2025 as “Pilgrims of Hope.” The Pope, who titled his announcement of the Holy Year with a quote from the Bible, “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5), encourages us not to lose hope amid complex and difficult realities.
The Pope urges the Church to read the signs of the times and become a community whose comprehensive vision of human development brings hope to those in situations where human dignity is degraded. For this reason, he points out that pilgrimage is not simply a matter of individual piety, but a journey in which the Church creates hope in society and brings hope to those it encounters in its journey as a community.
Disturbance of God’s order
Pope St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris: Peace on Earth begins with the words, “Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order.” Therefore, the Church believes that all events that hinder the realization of God’s ordained order hinder the realization of peace. Of course, there is no doubt that the first of these is the violence of wars and conflicts that destroy God’s gift of life. Neither can we turn our eyes from the many people who have been forced to flee their homes due to such violence and have become refugees and internally displaced persons.
At the same time, the use of force is not the only circumstance that hinders the realization of the order established by God. For example, the challenges of global warming and climate change caused by environmental destruction are making daily life difficult for many people around the world. Due to the dramatic environmental destruction, people have been forced to abandon places where they have lived for many years.
People leave their homeland for various reasons, such as the deterioration of the economic situation or political persecution. Some are impoverished and discriminated against because of prejudice against their race, faith, or way of life. Various forms of trafficking deprive people of their dignity and freedom. These are just a few of the realities of a society that disregards human dignity and hinders the realization of God’s order.
The Synod’s journey in search of peace
The Church is calling on us to walk together on a synodal journey. The Synod journey that we are walking seeks to make our most vulnerable brothers and sisters companions on the journey. Only by listening to each other, supporting one another, and walking together can we reach the destination of our journey—the realization of the world that our Father desires. In a world in the depths of despair, let the Church be a pilgrim of hope.
We should be able to humbly learn from our past mistakes and try not to repeat them. It is only we ourselves who can stop the violence against life that we have witnessed time and time again.
In this Season of Peace, let us stop the violence against life that is taking place in this world and strengthen our efforts from a comprehensive perspective to realize the order that God desires. Indifference takes lives.