Pope says human affairs need to be imbued with justice and forgiveness

(April 30, 3012) Historic wrongs and injustices can only be overcome if men and women are inspired by justice, forgiveness and reconciliation that are derived from the law of God written in the human heart. This was the core of the message that Pope Benedict XVI sent to the participants of the 18th Plenary Session of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which from April 27 – May 1 have been discussing the theme, “The Global Quest for Tranquillity of Order. Pacem in Terris, 50 Years Later”. The overarching theme of Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” the Latin for “Peace on Earth,” is the “tranquillity of order” in society as a foundation for global peace. Pope Benedict said that the encyclical, written when the world was coming to terms is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, has much to teach us today as we struggle to face the new challenges for peace and justice in the post-Cold-War era, amid the continuing proliferation of armaments. “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness,” Pope Benedict said recalling the words of his predecessor John Paul II soon after the terrorist attacks on September 9, 2001. The German Pope said, “The notion of forgiveness needs to find its way into international discourse on conflict resolution, so as to transform the sterile language of mutual recrimination which leads nowhere. If the human creature is made in the image of God, a God of justice who is “rich in mercy”, then these qualities need to be reflected in the conduct of human affairs, he said. Forgiveness, he explained, is not a denial of wrong-doing, but a participation in the healing and transforming love of God which reconciles and restores. Historic wrongs and injustices can only be overcome if men and women are inspired by a message of healing and hope, a message that offers a way forward, out of the impasse that so often locks people and nations into a vicious circle of violence.