Against War Building a Culture of Peace

“Faced with the images of death that come to us from Ukraine, it is difficult to hope. Yet there are seeds of hope. There are millions who do not aspire to war, who do not justify war . . . . Millions of young people who are asking us to do everything possible and seemingly impossible to stop the war, to stop all wars. It is in thinking first of all of them, of young people and children that we must repeat together: Never again war! And together we must commit ourselves to building a world that is more peaceful because it is more just, where it is peace that triumphs and not the folly of war; justice, and not the injustice of war; mutual forgiveness, and not the hatred that divides and makes us see the other, the person who is different from us, as an enemy.” —Pope Francis

From the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has made concern and action for peace and nonviolence one of his signature themes. From his travels to Iraq and other war-torn regions to his prophetic homilies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he has called the world to pursue a different path. Now, with the recent crisis in the Ukraine, his powerful voice is more prophetic and necessary than ever.