Pope Francis, the superstars of radical nonviolence, and a bold move to change the politics of peace
By Christopher Hrynkow, Maria Power
Saturday, December 17, 2016 11:00 AM UTC
Pope Francis will embrace active nonviolence when he delivers his World Day for Peace address on January 1 2017. Invoking the ideology of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi, the pope will urge people of all faiths to break the cycle of violence and, noting that after enduring two world wars in the 20th century, “today, sadly, we find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war fought piecemeal”. He will call for everyone to become an “artisan of peace”.
Francis’ statement will be the 50th World Day for Peace message. In 1967, Pope Paul VI, better known for his reiteration of traditional church teaching on birth control, instituted the celebration and, each year, popes have issued a message in which they have often introduced new ideas and concepts into the social teaching of the Catholic church. These have included ecology, human rights – and perhaps the most famous mantra in Catholic social teaching – Paul VI’s message: “If you want peace, work for justice”.
This year’s message exemplifies this trend and brings into the Catholic zeitgeist a word which has been the currency of most peace activists since Gandhi came to public prominence after World War I. This word is nonviolence, an idea and ideal that is frequently misunderstood. Francis’s message explores this word in some of its fullest meanings and, in doing so, affirms the importance of a particular style of the politics of peace. This is significant because it indicates a movement in the Catholic church’s focus on war and peace from the idea of a “just war” towards an embrace of active nonviolence.
The cost of violence
For many, a common misunderstanding is that nonviolence is characterised by extreme passivity where Christians are expected to allow others to abuse them in anticipation of some future heavenly reward. Such a stance is justified by the often misunderstood teaching of Jesus “to turn the other cheek”. This gospel passage is cited in this year’s message but is situated in a very different way.
http://www.econotimes.com/Pope-Francis-the-superstars-of-radical-nonviolence-and-a-bold-move-to-change-the-politics-of-peace-453160
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20161208_messaggio-l-giornata-mondiale-pace-2017.html