Pope: Come together and end violence
Whenever the Pope meets with young people anywhere in the world there are two words that recur constantly in his discourses – because they are the two words we associate most with youth: “Hope” and the “Future”. Speaking in Lebanon this evening, these words echoed with special significance and strength – spoken, as they were, in the context of the violence and upheaval that is currently shaking the Middle East and the world – and, even more so, because they were addressed to Christians and Muslims alike.
In fact, everything the Pope said to the young people, who represented their peers throughout the region, stood in stark contrast to the images and news reports simultaneously flashing across our screens. Not only did he invite them to be “peacemakers”, he urged them to “resist everything opposed to life: abortion, violence, contempt for others, injustice and war”. Not only did he encourage them to “seek beauty and strive for goodness”, he praised their enthusiasm and creativity and reminded them that “Islam and Christianity can live side by side without hatred, with respect for the beliefs of each person, so as to build together a free and humane society”.
At the same time, Benedict XVI told the young people he is aware of their frustrations and difficulties, and the serious challenges they face because of the lack of security and unemployment in this part of the world. Still, he reminded them, it is here that Jesus was born and that Christianity grew: “Not even unemployment and uncertainty should lead you to taste the bitter sweetness of emigration”, he said, “You are meant to be protagonists of your country’s future”.
Speaking to the young people, it was as though the Pope were addressing the whole of the Middle East at this particularly dramatic time: “Be completely open to others, even if they belong to a different cultural, religious or national group…Respect them, be good to them…This is the true revolution of love!”.
But the paragraph likely to get most visibility across the world at this time, is the penultimate one, in which the Pope addresses young people present from Syria: He speaks of how much he admires their courage and adds: “Tell your families and friends back home that the Pope has not forgotten you…that he is saddened by your sufferings and grief”. Then Benedict XVI, in an unequivocal appeal to the entire world, concludes: “It is time for Muslims and Christians to come together so as to put an end to violence and war”.
