Pope Says Religion Should Never be a Justification For Violence

(04 Sept. 2006) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday insisted that religion should never be used as a justification for war and appealed to hundreds of religious leaders to use their faiths to bring about peace. The Pope’s appeal came in a message that was read to 200 religious leaders of different faiths who gathered in the central Italian town of Assisi for a summit held every year since Pope John Paul II started it 20 years ago.
In order to rid the world of war and terrorism one needs to build peace in the heart through prayer and dialogue, the Pope pointed out. In the message, read by Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi, the Holy Father recognized that religion had sometimes been used to justify war, but said that such violence is not caused by faith itself but «by the cultural limits with which it is lived and with which it develops in time.»
The two-day «International Meeting and Prayer for Peace» features dozens of religious figures joined by politicians, journalists and academics leading discussions on how to end conflicts and improve dialogue between cultures and religions. Participants in the summit in the town where Italy’s patron saint, St. Francis lived include Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Shintoists. The summit will end late Tuesday, when prayers for world peace will be held across town, followed by a procession converging on the square in front of the St. Francis Basilica. The meeting’s discussion panels are focussing on poverty and conflict around the world, but are also addressing specific crises, including the future of Lebanon after the recent war.