Ten years ago, Pope Francis organized a historic invocation for peace in the Holy Land in the Vatican Gardens. Ten years on, as war devastates the region, he is set to renew his appeal with a momentous gesture.
The commemoration will take place in the same place and on the same date, however, amid a totally devastated and devastating scenario, confirmed the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni.
On 8 June 2014, Pope Francis, the then-President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, made history in an unprecedented event in which the leaders planted an olive tree for peace and addressed those present in the Vatican Gardens.
During that occasion, Pope Francis reminded the presidents that our world not only “is a legacy bequeathed to us from past generations,” but also is “on loan to us from our children: our children who are weary, worn out by conflicts and yearning for the dawn of peace, our children who plead with us to tear down the walls of enmity and to set out on the path of dialogue and peace, so that love and friendship will prevail.”
In his remarks, the Holy Father also reaffirmed that peacemaking, “much more than warfare,” calls for courage.
“It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict: yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities; yes to respect for agreements and no to acts of provocation; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity. All of this takes courage, it takes strength and tenacity.”
The Pope had visited the Holy Land only a couple of months prior, where he had made a 24-26 May pilgrimage on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting between Pope St. Paul VI and then-Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem.
Now, Pope Francis renews his appeal for peace in the Lord’s homeland more than ever.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
