POPE JOHN PAUL’S MESSAGE FOR OUR TIME: ‘ON MY KNEES, I BEG YOU TO TURN AWAY FROM THE PATHS OF VIOLENCE’
During a pastoral visit to Ireland in 1979, the Holy Father preached: “Peace cannot be established by violence, peace can never flourish in a climate of terror, intimidation and death. It is Jesus himself who said : ‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword’ (Mt 26, 52). This is the word of God, and it commands this generation of violent men to desist from hatred and violence and to repent.
I join my voice today to the voice of Paul VI and my other predecessors, to the voices of your religious leaders, to the voices of all men and women of reason, and I proclaim, with the conviction of my faith in Christ and with an awareness of my mission, that violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings. Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society. I pray with you that the moral sense and Christian conviction of Irish men and women may never become obscured and blunted by the lie of violence, that nobody may ever call murder by any other name than murder, that the spiral of violence may never be given the distinction of unavoidable logic or necessary retaliation. Let us remember that the word remains for ever : ‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword’…
To all of you who are listening I say: do not believe in violence; do not support violence. It is not the Christian way. It is not the way of the Catholic Church. Believe in peace and forgiveness and love; for they are of Christ.”
For the full text of the homily: https://thedeaconsbench.com/st-john-pauls-message-for-our-time-on-my-knees-i-beg-you-to-turn-away-from-the-paths-of-violence/
