MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY 2008
THE HUMAN FAMILY, A
COMMUNITY OF PEACE
1. At the beginning of a New Year, I wish to send my
fervent good wishes for peace, together with a heartfelt message of hope
to men and women throughout the world. I do so by offering for our common
reflection the theme which I have placed at the beginning of this message.
It is one which I consider particularly important: the human family, a
community of peace. The first form of communion between persons is
that born of the love of a man and a woman who decide to enter a stable
union in order to build together a new family. But the peoples of
the earth, too, are called to build relationships of solidarity and
cooperation among themselves, as befits members of the one human family:
“All peoples”—as the
Second Vatican Council declared—“are
one community and have one origin, because God caused the whole human race
to dwell on the face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26); they also have
one final end, God”(1).
The family, society and peace
2. The natural family, as an intimate communion of life
and love, based on marriage between a man and a woman(2),
constitutes “the primary place of ‘humanization' for the person and
society”(3),
and a “cradle of life and love”(4).
The family is therefore rightly defined as the first natural society, “a
divine institution that stands at the foundation of life of the human
person as the prototype of every social order”(5).
3. Indeed, in a healthy family life we experience some
of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers
and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern
for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age,
mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if
necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first
and indispensable teacher of peace. It is no wonder, therefore, that
violence, if perpetrated in the family, is seen as particularly
intolerable. Consequently, when it is said that the family is “the primary
living cell of society”(6),
something essential is being stated. The family is the foundation of
society for this reason too: because it enables its members in decisive
ways to experience peace. It follows that the human community cannot
do without the service provided by the family. Where can young people
gradually learn to savour the genuine “taste” of peace better than in the
original “nest” which nature prepares for them? The language of the
family is a language of peace; we must always draw from it, lest we
lose the “vocabulary” of peace. In the inflation of its speech, society
cannot cease to refer to that “grammar” which all children learn from the
looks and the actions of their mothers and fathers, even before they learn
from their words.
4. The family, since it has the duty of educating its
members, is the subject of specific rights. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which represents a landmark of juridic
civilization of truly universal value, states that “the family is the
natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection by society and the State”(7).
For its part, the Holy See sought to acknowledge a special juridic
dignity proper to the family by publishing the
Charter of the Rights of the Family.
In its Preamble we read: “the rights of the person, even if they are
expressed as rights of the individual, have a fundamental social dimension
which finds an innate and vital expression in the family”(8).
The rights set forth in the
Charter are an
expression and explicitation of the natural law written on the heart of
the human being and made known to him by reason. The denial or even the
restriction of the rights of the family, by obscuring the truth about man,
threatens the very foundations of peace.
5. Consequently, whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents
the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community,
national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the
primary agency of peace. This point merits special reflection:
everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man
and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of
its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that
obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its
children, constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace. The
family needs to have a home, employment and a just recognition of the
domestic activity of parents, the possibility of schooling for children,
and basic health care for all. When society and public policy are not
committed to assisting the family in these areas, they deprive themselves
of an essential resource in the service of peace. The social
communications media, in particular, because of their educational
potential, have a special responsibility for promoting respect for the
family, making clear its expectations and rights, and presenting all its
beauty.
Humanity is one great family
6. The social community, if it is to live in peace, is
also called to draw inspiration from the values on which the family
community is based. This is as true for local communities as it is for
national communities; it is also true for the international community
itself, for the human family which dwells in that common house which is
the earth. Here, however, we cannot forget that the family comes into
being from the responsible and definitive “yes” of a man and a women, and
it continues to live from the conscious “yes” of the children who
gradually join it. The family community, in order to prosper, needs the
generous consent of all its members. This realization also needs to become
a shared conviction on the part of all those called to form the common
human family. We need to say our own “yes” to this vocation which God
has inscribed in our very nature. We do not live alongside one another
purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men
and women, and thus as brothers and sisters. Consequently, it is
essential that we should all be committed to living our lives in an
attitude of responsibility before God, acknowledging him as the deepest
source of our own existence and that of others. By going back to this
supreme principle we are able to perceive the unconditional worth of each
human being, and thus to lay the premises for building a humanity at
peace. Without this transcendent foundation society is a mere aggregation
of neighbours, not a community of brothers and sisters called to form one
great family.
The family, the human community and the environment
7. The family needs a home, a fit environment in which
to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is
the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to
inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the
environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and
cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant
guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis
creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering
material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not
selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own
interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits
and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim
for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many
cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is
rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is
important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in
dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological
pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching
agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the
well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the
protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly
distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of
various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.
Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing
decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after
pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at
strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment,
which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and
towards whom we are journeying.
8. In this regard, it is essential to “sense” that the
earth is “our common home” and, in our stewardship and service to all, to
choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions.
Further international agencies may need to be established in order to
confront together the stewardship of this “home” of ours; more important,
however, is the need for ever greater conviction about the need for
responsible cooperation. The problems looming on the horizon are complex
and time is short. In order to face this situation effectively, there is a
need to act in harmony. One area where there is a particular need to
intensify dialogue between nations is that of the stewardship of the
earth's energy resources. The technologically advanced countries are
facing two pressing needs in this regard: on the one hand, to reassess the
high levels of consumption due to the present model of development, and on
the other hand to invest sufficient resources in the search for
alternative sources of energy and for greater energy efficiency. The
emerging counties are hungry for energy, but at times this hunger is met
in a way harmful to poor countries which, due to their insufficient
infrastructures, including their technological infrastructures, are forced
to undersell the energy resources they do possess. At times, their very
political freedom is compromised by forms of protectorate or, in any case,
by forms of conditioning which appear clearly humiliating.
Family, human community and economy
9. An essential condition for peace within individual
families is that they should be built upon the solid foundation of shared
spiritual and ethical values. Yet it must be added that the family
experiences authentic peace when no one lacks what is needed, and when the
family patrimony—the fruit of the labour of some, the savings of others,
and the active cooperation of all—is well-managed in a spirit of
solidarity, without extravagance and without waste. The peace of the
family, then, requires an openness to a transcendent patrimony of
values, and at the same time a concern for the prudent management of
both material goods and inter-personal relationships. The failure of the
latter results in the breakdown of reciprocal trust in the face of the
uncertainty threatening the future of the nuclear family.
10. Something similar must be said for that other
family which is humanity as a whole. The human family, which today is
increasingly unified as a result of globalization, also needs, in addition
to a foundation of shared values, an economy capable of responding
effectively to the requirements of a common good which is now planetary in
scope. Here too, a comparison with the natural family proves helpful.
Honest and straightforward relationships need to be promoted between
individual persons and between peoples, thus enabling everyone to
cooperate on a just and equal footing. Efforts must also be made to ensure
a prudent use of resources and an equitable distribution of
wealth. In particular, the aid given to poor countries must be guided
by sound economic principles, avoiding forms of waste associated
principally with the maintenance of expensive bureaucracies. Due account
must also be taken of the moral obligation to ensure that the economy is
not governed solely by the ruthless laws of instant profit, which can
prove inhumane.
The family, the human community and the moral law
11. A family lives in peace if all its members
submit to a common standard: this is what prevents selfish
individualism and brings individuals together, fostering their harmonious
coexistence and giving direction to their work. This principle, obvious as
it is, also holds true for wider communities: from local and
national communities to the international community itself. For the sake
of peace, a common law is needed, one which would foster true freedom
rather than blind caprice, and protect the weak from oppression by the
strong. The family of peoples experiences many cases of arbitrary conduct,
both within individual States and in the relations of States among
themselves. In many situations the weak must bow not to the demands of
justice, but to the naked power of those stronger than themselves. It
bears repeating: power must always be disciplined by law, and this applies
also to relations between sovereign States.
12. The Church has often spoken on the subject of the
nature and function of law: the juridic norm, which regulates
relationships between individuals, disciplines external conduct and
establishes penalties for offenders, has as its criterion the moral
norm grounded in nature itself. Human reason is capable of discerning
this moral norm, at least in its fundamental requirements, and thus
ascending to the creative reason of God which is at the origin of all
things. The moral norm must be the rule for decisions of conscience and
the guide for all human behaviour. Do juridic norms exist for
relationships between the nations which make up the human family? And if
they exist, are they operative? The answer is: yes, such norms exist, but
to ensure that they are truly operative it is necessary to go back to
the natural moral norm as the basis of the juridic norm; otherwise the
latter constantly remains at the mercy of a fragile and provisional
consensus.
13. Knowledge of the natural moral norm is not
inaccessible to those who, in reflecting on themselves and their destiny,
strive to understand the inner logic of the deepest inclinations present
in their being. Albeit not without hesitation and doubt, they are capable
of discovering, at least in its essential lines, this common moral law
which, over and above cultural differences, enables human beings to come
to a common understanding regarding the most important aspects of good and
evil, justice and injustice. It is essential to go back to this
fundamental law, committing our finest intellectual energies to this
quest, and not letting ourselves be discouraged by mistakes and
misunderstandings. Values grounded in the natural law are indeed present,
albeit in a fragmentary and not always consistent way, in international
accords, in universally recognized forms of authority, in the principles
of humanitarian law incorporated in the legislation of individual States
or the statutes of international bodies. Mankind is not “lawless”.
All the same, there is an urgent need to persevere in dialogue about these
issues and to encourage the legislation of individual States to converge
towards a recognition of fundamental human rights. The growth of a global
juridic culture depends, for that matter, on a constant commitment to
strengthen the profound human content of international norms, lest they be
reduced to mere procedures, easily subject to manipulation for selfish or
ideological reasons.
Overcoming conflicts and disarmament
14. Humanity today is unfortunately experiencing great
division and sharp conflicts which cast dark shadows on its future.
Vast areas of the world are caught up in situations of increasing tension,
while the danger of an increase in the number of countries possessing
nuclear weapons causes well-founded apprehension in every responsible
person. Many civil wars are still being fought in Africa, even though a
number of countries there have made progress on the road to freedom and
democracy. The Middle East is still a theatre of conflict and violence,
which also affects neighbouring nations and regions and risks drawing them
into the spiral of violence. On a broader scale, one must acknowledge with
regret the growing number of States engaged in the arms race: even
some developing nations allot a significant portion of their scant
domestic product to the purchase of weapons. The responsibility for this
baneful commerce is not limited: the countries of the industrially
developed world profit immensely from the sale of arms, while the ruling
oligarchies in many poor countries wish to reinforce their stronghold by
acquiring ever more sophisticated weaponry. In difficult times such as
these, it is truly necessary for all persons of good will to come together
to reach concrete agreements aimed at an effective demilitarization,
especially in the area of nuclear arms. At a time when the process of
nuclear non-proliferation is at a stand-still, I feel bound to entreat
those in authority to resume with greater determination negotiations for a
progressive and mutually agreed dismantling of existing nuclear weapons.
In renewing this appeal, I know that I am echoing the desire of all those
concerned for the future of humanity.
15. Sixty years ago the United Nations Organization
solemnly issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948-2008). With that document the human family reacted against the
horrors of the Second World War by acknowledging its own unity, based on
the equal dignity of all men and women, and by putting respect for the
fundamental rights of individuals and peoples at the centre of human
coexistence. This was a decisive step forward along the difficult and
demanding path towards harmony and peace. This year also marks the 25th
anniversary of the Holy See's adoption of the
Charter of the Rights of the Family
(1983-2008) and the 40th anniversary of the celebration
of the
first World Day of Peace
(1968-2008). Born of a providential intuition of Pope Paul VI and carried
forward with great conviction by my beloved and venerable predecessor Pope
John Paul II, the celebration of this Day of Peace has made it possible
for the Church, over the course of the years, to present in these Messages
an instructive body of teaching regarding this fundamental human good. In
the light of these significant anniversaries, I invite every man and woman
to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to
strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction,
which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace. I
likewise invite believers to implore tirelessly from God the great gift of
peace. Christians, for their part, know that they can trust in the
intercession of Mary, who, as the Mother of the Son of God made flesh for
the salvation of all humanity, is our common Mother.
To all my best wishes for a joyful New Year!
From the Vatican, 8 December 2007
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
