Leading Religious Organizations Call on the Government for an Immediate Ceasefire "diplomacy must resolutely return to being the means of resolving international disputes" FULL TEXT
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The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip is now over 26,000 people killed, including nearly 10,000 children, on January 26th, as the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to limit deaths and damage in the Palestinian territory. There are thousands still missing and over 50,000 injured. Pope Francis and all the bishops and patriarchs from the Holy Land have also been calling for a ceasefire for many months now. (See more: https://www.catholicnewsworld.com/search/label/Gaza)
Leading Italian religious entities calling for peace and rejection of war and nuclear weapons on the eve of 2024.
“We cannot stay in peace.”
If you want peace, work for peace. Weapons only bring death and destruction.
We cannot remain at peace in this end of the year marked by the tragedy shattering the Holy Land, while in the heart of Europe the suffering of the martyred Ukrainian people continues.
Every reasonable appeal to end the madness of war and the slaughter of the innocent remains desolately unanswered.
It is a time that invites us to profound conversion so as not to remain inert and indifferent before choices that appear to be delegated only to the leaders of nations, the same ones to whom Pope Francis addressed himself to reiterate that “it is of no use to preserve today an authority that tomorrow will be remembered for its inability to intervene when it was urgent and necessary” (Message to Cop28, Dec. 2, 2023).
For this reason, on the eve of 2024, as citizens of this country and the world, we renew our strong urge to put the rejection of war at the center of public debate, starting with the need to ban not only the use but also the possession of nuclear weapons.
Italy has a historical and moral role to play as a promoter of a culture of peace in a scenario that appears increasingly uncertain.
For example, awareness of the irruption of artificial intelligence raises serious political questions “in the ideological context of a technocratic paradigm, animated by a Promethean presumption of self-sufficiency” (Pope Francis’ Message for the 57th World Day of Peace).
Such vertigo of omnipotence leads, now, to the paradox of entrusting to an algorithm the final decision of the lethal weapon of mass self-destruction.
It is no longer time for sterile polarization but to take seriously the appeal of Joseph Rotblat, the scientist who refused to participate in the Manhattan Project of the nuclear weapon used in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.”
Let us, therefore, begin the New Year with the month of January dedicated to peace by openly addressing the issue of Italy’s accession to the 2017 U.N. Treaty banning nuclear weapons. A great opportunity to put Europe itself back at the center of a peace process.
We also begin the new year by making a strong appeal to the government and parliament for our country to make its voice heard loud and strong to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. The slaughter of innocents must absolutely be stopped. Politics and diplomacy must resolutely return to being the means of resolving international disputes.
Similarly, we call on the Politicians of our country to take action to ensure that Europe also plays a decisive and determined role in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine: the logic of weapons only brings death and destruction.
December 27, 2023
Emiliano Manfredonia
Presidente nazionale delle Acli
Giuseppe Notarstefano
Presidente nazionale di Azione Cattolica Italiana
Matteo Fadda
Presidente dell’Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII
Gabriele Bardo e Cristiana Formosa
Responsabili nazionali del Movimento dei Focolari Italia
Mons. Giovanni Ricchiuti
Presidente nazionale di Pax Christi
Source: https://paxchristi.net/2023/12/29/leading-italian-religious-entities-calling-for-peace-and-rejection-of-war-and-nuclear-weapons-on-the-eve-of-2024/
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“We cannot stay in peace.”
If you want peace, work for peace. Weapons only bring death and destruction.
We cannot remain at peace in this end of the year marked by the tragedy shattering the Holy Land, while in the heart of Europe the suffering of the martyred Ukrainian people continues.
Every reasonable appeal to end the madness of war and the slaughter of the innocent remains desolately unanswered.
It is a time that invites us to profound conversion so as not to remain inert and indifferent before choices that appear to be delegated only to the leaders of nations, the same ones to whom Pope Francis addressed himself to reiterate that “it is of no use to preserve today an authority that tomorrow will be remembered for its inability to intervene when it was urgent and necessary” (Message to Cop28, Dec. 2, 2023).
For this reason, on the eve of 2024, as citizens of this country and the world, we renew our strong urge to put the rejection of war at the center of public debate, starting with the need to ban not only the use but also the possession of nuclear weapons.
Italy has a historical and moral role to play as a promoter of a culture of peace in a scenario that appears increasingly uncertain.
For example, awareness of the irruption of artificial intelligence raises serious political questions “in the ideological context of a technocratic paradigm, animated by a Promethean presumption of self-sufficiency” (Pope Francis’ Message for the 57th World Day of Peace).
Such vertigo of omnipotence leads, now, to the paradox of entrusting to an algorithm the final decision of the lethal weapon of mass self-destruction.
It is no longer time for sterile polarization but to take seriously the appeal of Joseph Rotblat, the scientist who refused to participate in the Manhattan Project of the nuclear weapon used in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.”
Let us, therefore, begin the New Year with the month of January dedicated to peace by openly addressing the issue of Italy’s accession to the 2017 U.N. Treaty banning nuclear weapons. A great opportunity to put Europe itself back at the center of a peace process.
We also begin the new year by making a strong appeal to the government and parliament for our country to make its voice heard loud and strong to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. The slaughter of innocents must absolutely be stopped. Politics and diplomacy must resolutely return to being the means of resolving international disputes.
Similarly, we call on the Politicians of our country to take action to ensure that Europe also plays a decisive and determined role in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine: the logic of weapons only brings death and destruction.
December 27, 2023
Emiliano Manfredonia
Presidente nazionale delle Acli
Giuseppe Notarstefano
Presidente nazionale di Azione Cattolica Italiana
Matteo Fadda
Presidente dell’Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII
Gabriele Bardo e Cristiana Formosa
Responsabili nazionali del Movimento dei Focolari Italia
Mons. Giovanni Ricchiuti
Presidente nazionale di Pax Christi
Source: https://paxchristi.net/2023/12/29/leading-italian-religious-entities-calling-for-peace-and-rejection-of-war-and-nuclear-weapons-on-the-eve-of-2024/
Amina Ghanem, 13 years old, says. We were sleeping and we heard the sound of tanks when they came and walked over the caravan in which I, my father, and my brothers lived. pic.twitter.com/aiw00DeB0s
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) January 22, 2024
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