{"id":1476,"date":"2017-01-16T10:29:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T10:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1476"},"modified":"2017-01-16T10:33:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T10:33:49","slug":"pope-francis-peace-is-a-gift-a-challenge-and-a-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2017\/01\/16\/pope-francis-peace-is-a-gift-a-challenge-and-a-commitment\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis: \u201cPeace is a Gift, a Challenge and a Commitment\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Speaking in the Apostolic Palace to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See during the traditional exchange of New Year\u2019s greetings with the diplomats, Pope Francis said, \u201cOne can never kill in God\u2019s name\u201d. He added that the world is \u201cdealing with a homicidal madness which misuses God\u2019s name in order to disseminate death, in a play for domination and power.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Fundamentalist terrorism is the fruit of a profound spiritual poverty and is often linked to significant social poverty. It can only be fully defeated with the joint contribution of religious and political leaders,<\/em>\u201d the Pope said.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the Pontiff touched on a variety of other issues, but said that he would be devoting the meeting to the themes of security and peace. <em>\u201cIn today\u2019s climate of general apprehension for the present, and uncertainty and anxious concern for the future, I feel it is important to speak a word of hope, which can also indicate a path on which to embark\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Holy Father pointed out some of the areas where conflict is affecting peoples lives. <em>\u201cI think particularly of the fundamentalist-inspired terrorism that in the past year has also reaped numerous victims throughout the world: in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, the United States of America, Tunisia and Turkey\u201d,<\/em>\u00a0he said. <em>\u201cThese are vile acts that use children to kill, as in Nigeria, or target people at prayer, as in the Coptic Cathedral of Cairo, or travelers or workers, as in Brussels, or passers-by in the streets of cities like Nice and Berlin, or simply people celebrating the arrival of the new year, as in Istanbul<\/em>\u201d, he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The Pope called on the international community to work for peace and security. Political authorities, Francis stated, <em>\u201cmust not limit themselves to ensuring the security of their own citizens \u2013 a concept which could easily be reduced to a mere \u201cquiet life\u201d \u2013 but are called also to work actively for the growth of peace\u201d<\/em>. This also means that \u201c<em>working for the elimination of the deplorable arms trade and the never-ending race to create and spread ever more sophisticated weaponry.\u201d Disturbingly, he said, are the experiments being conducted on the Korean Peninsula, \u201cwhich destabilize the entire region and raise troubling questions for the entire international community about the risk of a new nuclear arms race\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to quote his predecessor Saint Pope John XXIII\u2019s words in <em>Pacem in Terris<\/em>: <em>\u201cJustice, right reason and the recognition of human dignity cry out insistently for a cessation to the arms race.\u00a0 The stockpiles of armaments which have been built up in various countries must be reduced all round by the parties concerned.\u00a0 Nuclear weapons must be banned\u201d.<\/em><br \/>\nMoreover, Francis spoke on their responsibility to young people, stressing that \u201cChildren and young people are the future; it is for them that we work and build. They cannot be selfishly overlooked or forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking in the Apostolic Palace to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See during the traditional exchange of New Year\u2019s greetings with the diplomats, Pope Francis said, \u201cOne can never kill in God\u2019s name\u201d. He added that the world is \u201cdealing with a homicidal madness which misuses God\u2019s name in order to disseminate death, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}