Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, smiles as he attends a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's document, "Nostra Aetate." (CNS photo/M. Migliorato, Catholic Press Photo)

Language can unite people and build peace only if it abandons all bias that tends to divide people and lead to conflict, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

"Expressing everything in terms of balance of power—the struggles of groups and classes, friends and enemies—creates fertile ground for social barriers, contempt, even hatred and terrorism and their veiled or open justification," he told representatives of the world's religions Oct. 28 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. 

Cardinal Parolin delivered the closing address of a three-day conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's document, "Nostra Aetate." The Oct. 26-28 conference was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews.

The cardinal said that peace is often defined in a negative sense as "the absence of war" rather than in a positive manner that focuses on a person's individual freedoms.

"We must have the prophetic courage to finally go beyond 'Si vis pacem, para bellum' ('If you want peace, prepare for war')," he said.

The cardinal echoed Pope Francis' call for a "language of peace" in politics, which requires investment in an education that promotes "the knowledge and values of respect for human dignity, international cooperation and education of peace."

Respecting diversity, he added, is also fundamental in creating an environment of mutual respect and freedom to express one's own ideas and religious convictions.

Highlighting the Catholic Church's educational commitment in schools and universities around the world, Cardinal Parolin expressed his hope that religious leaders may also encourage a "humanistic education" that respects the "fundamental freedom of the person."

"If that happens, the dream of a new humanity that can interact in harmony and peace, according to the design of the biblical 'shalom' ('peace'), is no longer a utopia," the cardinal said.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024