Starting again from Assisi

On a pilgrimage together: by train, by bus, at table, in reflection; the Pope was among others, dressed in a simple white cassock, without the slightest pretence of liturgy. Once again, we heard the great message that - three times already - John Paul II and the religious leaders of the world proclaimed from Assisi: we can never kill or hate in the name of God, whose very being is love.
To a pilgrim humanity, however, which for reasons ever old and ever new cannot find peace, the pilgrims of Assisi have this time proclaimed a message that has echoed with humility and sincerity: all those who seek truth must also seek peace. God does not “belong” to religious believers as though He were their exclusive property. Frankly, the conduct of believers often makes it difficult for people to see the truth of God. While it is certainly right to condemn abusive invocations of God, as when terrorists invoke the Divine, we must remember that God cannot be excluded from man’s horizon without dehumanising man himself.
It is the charism of Saint Francis to see and feel with simplicity the presence of God in all His creatures. The same charism continues to attract people with open hearts and minds to Assisi, and helps them to embrace different identities on a shared journey of dialogue, fraternity and joy.
“The meeting of our diversities, here in Assisi,” concluded Julia Kristeva, a non-believer, “is a testimony that the hypothesis of destruction is not the only possibility.” She is right: peace, too is a possibility – though it is not only a hypothesis. Peace is a shared commitment, renewed once again in Assisi.