2022 was not short of disasters and tragic moments. In his message for today, the 56th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis said “at the very moment when we dared to hope that the darkest hours of the COVID-19 pandemic were over, a terrible disaster befell humanity. We witnessed the onslaught of another scourge: another war, driven by culpable human decisions. The war in Ukraine is reaping innocent victims and spreading insecurity, not only against those directly affected, but in a widespread and indiscriminate way for everyone, also for those who, even thousands of kilometres away, suffer its collateral effects – we need but think of grain shortages and fuel prices”.
Clearly, this is not the post-COVID era we had hoped for or expected. The Ukrainian war, together with other conflicts around the globe such as the terrorism in Afghanistan, the North Korean missile launches, the assassination of Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe, and the US-Iran conflict represents a setback for the whole of humanity, not merely for the parties directly involved.
Yet amid this chaos, we cannot lose hope. As Desmond Tutu once said, hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.
Pope Francis’s message is one of hope: “When tragic events seem to overwhelm our lives, and we feel plunged into a dark and difficult maelstrom of injustice and suffering, we are likewise called to keep our hearts open to hope and to trust in God, who makes himself present, accompanies us with tenderness, sustains us in our weariness and, and above all, guides our path.”
Having experienced the fragility of our own lives and the world around us, we can say that the greatest lesson we learned from COVID-19 was the realisation that we all need one another. No one can be saved alone, and embarking together with a strong sense of fraternity and solidarity is the only way leading to paths of peace.
No one can be saved alone, and embarking together with a strong sense of fraternity and solidarity is the only way leading to paths of peace
Our greatest and yet most fragile treasure is our shared humanity as brothers and sisters, children of God. Consequently, the pope reiterates that we urgently need to join in, seeking and promoting the universal values that can guide the growth of this human fraternity.
In times of crises, we come to realise that we all need each other. A crisis should not lead us to despair but is a way that should generate within us a renewed sense of solidarity that makes us more sensitive to the suffering of others and more responsive to their needs.
In our fast-paced world, the widespread problems of inequality, injustice, poverty and marginalisation continue to fuel unrest and conflict, and generate violence and even wars. Yet we are called to confront the challenges of our world in a spirit of responsibility and compassion.
In the words of Pope Francis: “We are called to let our hearts be changed by our experience of crisis, to let God, at this time in history, transform our customary criteria for viewing the world around us. We can no longer think exclusively of carving out space for our personal or national interest; instead, we must think of the common good, recognising that we belong to a greater community, and opening our minds and hearts to universal human fraternity.”