“We have to take note of that Peace is never an eternal goodnot even in Europe. This awareness should move us towards responsibility and decisions!” the Cardinal admonishes Matthew Maria ZuppiPresident of the CEI and Archbishop of Bologna, in his opening speech to the conference “The Codex of Camaldoli‘ he recalled his birth in July 1943 ‘in one of the darkest moments of the long night of the war’.
“Even then there was a pope who – like Francis today – spoke incessantly of peace: Pius XII. Why The position of all 20th century popes is to endure the pain of war“In every way I can, I seek ways of peace, heal the wounds of humanity and promote the resolution of problems,” the Roman cardinal continued.
The President of the CEI, who returned from the Pope’s peace mission in Washington after having also been to Kiev and Moscow, recalled that “Pius did this, among other things, through speeches and radio messages in which he indicated the great goal: to seek peace as the basis of civic coexistence free from hate and conflict. A large community building, which the Catholics – along with many others – had to take on immediately.”
“The political presence that would shape Reconstruction and the decades that followed was reborn from the womb of culture,” Zuppi added. “One of today’s problems is just that Separation between culture and politicsnot only for Catholics, consumed in the last decades of the 20th century, resulting in a epidermal politics, sometimes ignorantfrom day to day, with few visionsmarked by modest but strongly emphasized interestsvery polarized”.
Among other things, the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna underlined that “the weakening of democracy is always a bad omen for peace” and added: “We must awaken our eyes and our minds again to break the vicious circle that makes everything impossible”.
“This is why Francis insists on peace even when it seems difficult, or on fraternity even when alienation is widespread, or on the closure of populism,” warned the CEI president again. “The insistence on maximum goals calls into question common sense, which, as Manzoni teaches, remains the enemy of common sense.”
Then an invitation to those who call themselves Christian Catholics in politics: “Today, democracy in the world seems to be weakened and on the wane. here you are an area to which Christians must devote themselvesasking what democracy should look like in the 21st century to live that political love without which politics changes or degenerates.”
According to Zuppi, “the faithful must have the courage and respect different sensibilities, questioning themselves, dialogue and listening to one another, which means that they draw inspiration from the Gospel in building the human community.” They must do it individually, but also collectively, because only by working together can they focus on the principles of social order, to use the language of the code,” the cardinal stressed. “Protagonists weaken when they don’t know how to choose the humility of confrontation and thinking together! And how much it is necessary to reach a more solid and visible “critical mass” that also involves the third sector and the social forces that represent the wealth of reflection and commitment that is widespread in the depths of our communities,” added the President of the CEI.
In another passage of his speech, Zuppi urged us to “be wary of such politics, but we often fall victim to them, caught in the delusion of digital competition, which by no means means skill, knowledge of the problems and solution to them.” That is, the betrayal of politics itself!”