Pope Francis says "Let us pray for peacemakers. Wanting peace is not cowardice... it requires the greatest courage" - noting that Jesus said “the peacemakers will be called sons of God”
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MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORMANDY LANDINGS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORMANDY LANDINGS
In a letter addressed to Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux and Lisieux, Pope Francis commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Allied forces landing in Normandy; also known as D-Day, which began the end of World War II. The Pope's letter commemorates the landing of the Allied Forces in Normandy on 6 June 1944 and was read during a ceremony in Bayeux Cathedral on the eve of the anniversary, in the presence of religious, civil and military authorities.
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To His Excellency Monsignor Jacques HABERT
Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux
BAYEUX
I am happy to unite, in thought and prayer, with all those gathered in this Bayeux cathedral to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy. I greet all the civil, religious and military authorities present.
We remember this colossal and impressive collective and military effort accomplished to achieve a return to freedom. And we also think of what this effort cost: these immense cemeteries where the graves of soldiers are lined up by the thousands - most of them very young, and many of them coming from far away - who heroically gave their lives, thus allowing the end of the Second World War and the restoration of peace, a peace which - at least in Europe - lasted almost 80 years.
The landing also brings to mind, arousing fear, the image of these towns of Normandy completely devastated: Caen, Le Havre, Saint-Lô, Cherbourg, Flers, Rouen, Lisieux, Falaise, Argentan... and so many others ; and we want to remember the countless innocent civilian victims and all those who suffered from these terrible bombings.
But the landing evokes, more generally, the disaster represented by this terrible global conflict where so many men and women and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, so much ruin was caused. It would be useless and hypocritical to remember it without definitively condemning and rejecting it; without repeating the cry of Saint Paul VI from the platform of the UN, October 4, 1965: Never again war! If, for several decades, the memory of past errors supported the firm desire to do everything possible to prevent a new open global conflict from occurring, I note with sadness that it is no longer the same today. today and that men have short memories. May this commemoration help us find it again!
It is worrying, in fact, that the hypothesis of a generalized conflict is sometimes once again taken seriously into consideration, that people are gradually becoming familiar with this unacceptable possibility. The people want peace! They want conditions of stability, security and prosperity where everyone can peacefully fulfill their duty and their destiny. Ruining this noble order of things for ideological, nationalist and economic ambitions is a serious fault before men and history, a sin before God.
Thus, Excellency, I wish to join your prayer and that of all those gathered in your Cathedral:
Let us pray for the men who want wars, those who start them, stir them up senselessly, maintain and prolong them unnecessarily, or cynically profit from them. May God enlighten their hearts, may He place before their eyes the procession of misfortunes they cause!
Let us pray for peacemakers. Wanting peace is not cowardice, on the contrary it requires the greatest courage, the courage to know how to give up something. Even if the judgment of men is sometimes severe and unjust towards them, “the peacemakers will be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9). That, opposing the implacable and stubborn logic of confrontation, they know how to open peaceful paths of encounter and dialogue. May they tirelessly persevere in their efforts and may their efforts be crowned with success.
Finally, let us pray for the victims of wars; the wars of the past as well as the wars of the present. May God welcome to Himself all those who died in these terrible conflicts, may He come to the aid of all those who are suffering today; the poor and the weak, the elderly, women and children are always the first victims of these tragedies.
May God have mercy on us! Invoking the protection of Saint Michael, Patron of Normandy, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, I wholeheartedly grant my Blessing to everyone.
FRANCIS
________________________________________
To His Excellency Monsignor Jacques HABERT
Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux
BAYEUX
I am happy to unite, in thought and prayer, with all those gathered in this Bayeux cathedral to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy. I greet all the civil, religious and military authorities present.
We remember this colossal and impressive collective and military effort accomplished to achieve a return to freedom. And we also think of what this effort cost: these immense cemeteries where the graves of soldiers are lined up by the thousands - most of them very young, and many of them coming from far away - who heroically gave their lives, thus allowing the end of the Second World War and the restoration of peace, a peace which - at least in Europe - lasted almost 80 years.
The landing also brings to mind, arousing fear, the image of these towns of Normandy completely devastated: Caen, Le Havre, Saint-Lô, Cherbourg, Flers, Rouen, Lisieux, Falaise, Argentan... and so many others ; and we want to remember the countless innocent civilian victims and all those who suffered from these terrible bombings.
But the landing evokes, more generally, the disaster represented by this terrible global conflict where so many men and women and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, so much ruin was caused. It would be useless and hypocritical to remember it without definitively condemning and rejecting it; without repeating the cry of Saint Paul VI from the platform of the UN, October 4, 1965: Never again war! If, for several decades, the memory of past errors supported the firm desire to do everything possible to prevent a new open global conflict from occurring, I note with sadness that it is no longer the same today. today and that men have short memories. May this commemoration help us find it again!
It is worrying, in fact, that the hypothesis of a generalized conflict is sometimes once again taken seriously into consideration, that people are gradually becoming familiar with this unacceptable possibility. The people want peace! They want conditions of stability, security and prosperity where everyone can peacefully fulfill their duty and their destiny. Ruining this noble order of things for ideological, nationalist and economic ambitions is a serious fault before men and history, a sin before God.
Thus, Excellency, I wish to join your prayer and that of all those gathered in your Cathedral:
Let us pray for the men who want wars, those who start them, stir them up senselessly, maintain and prolong them unnecessarily, or cynically profit from them. May God enlighten their hearts, may He place before their eyes the procession of misfortunes they cause!
Let us pray for peacemakers. Wanting peace is not cowardice, on the contrary it requires the greatest courage, the courage to know how to give up something. Even if the judgment of men is sometimes severe and unjust towards them, “the peacemakers will be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9). That, opposing the implacable and stubborn logic of confrontation, they know how to open peaceful paths of encounter and dialogue. May they tirelessly persevere in their efforts and may their efforts be crowned with success.
Finally, let us pray for the victims of wars; the wars of the past as well as the wars of the present. May God welcome to Himself all those who died in these terrible conflicts, may He come to the aid of all those who are suffering today; the poor and the weak, the elderly, women and children are always the first victims of these tragedies.
May God have mercy on us! Invoking the protection of Saint Michael, Patron of Normandy, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, I wholeheartedly grant my Blessing to everyone.
FRANCIS
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