Card. Turkson at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima

Hiroshima, 06 August 2013: Japan on Tuesday marked 68 years since the world's first atomic bombing. Thousands of mourners gathered in Hiroshima, where one speaker described how many survivors later suffered social stigma. A bell rang out as 50,000 people marked a minute's silence at Hiroshima's peace park, near the blast's epicentre. The bomb killed at least 100,000 people, either immediately or within a few months.
‘The first Atom Bomb of 6 August 1945 at Hiroshima is a “frightful wound inflicted” upon the people of Japan and the whole human family, said Card. Peter Turkson, visiting the Peace Memorial in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing during the Second World War. He was speaking on Tuesday morning at a meeting of inter-religious leaders.

The President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is in Japan for the “Ten Days for Peace” initiative, which is marked in every diocese of the country to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which occurred respectively on 6 and 9 August 1945.

Cardinal Turkson while visiting the Peace Memorial, along with Buddhist, Shinto and Protestants, reiterated the importance of the promotion of peace, saying that "God created man for life, liberty and happiness". Cardinal Turkson also recalled the visit of John Paul II in Hiroshima in February 1981, during which the Pope defined the war as "the result of human sin and result of the work of evil."

Pope Francis made a similar clarification, said the Cardinal, that “the possession of atomic power can cause the destruction of humanity. When man becomes proud, he creates a monster that can get out of hand.” The Cardinal invited all saying ‘instead of hiding from today’s problems, let us together bravely address the social situations and structures that cause injustice and conflict.’

For “no amount of ‘peace-building’ will be able to last,” according to Pope Francis, “nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself.”
Real peace-making is to include and to integrate, added Card. Turkson.
Source: VR Sedoc