Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

IX ear friends, I offer you a warm welcome. I am pleased to meet you and I thank you for accepting this invitation to reflect together on the theme of mercy. As you are well aware, we are approaching the end of the Holy Year, in which the Catholic Church has pondered the heart of the Christian message from the viewpoint of mercy. For us, mercy reveals the name of God; it is “the very foundation of the Church’s life” ( Misericordiae Vultus , 10). It is also the key to under- standing the mystery of man, of that humanity which, today too, is in great need of forgiveness and peace. Yet the mystery of mercy is not to be celebrated in words alone, but above all by deeds, by a truly merci- ful way of life marked by  disinterested love , fraternal service  and  sincere sharing . The Church increasingly desires to adopt this way of life, also as part of her “duty to foster unity and charity” among all men and women ( Nostra Aetate , 1). The religions are likewise called to this way of life, in order to be, particularly in our own day, messengers of peace and builders of communion, and to proclaim, in opposition to all those who sow conflict, division and intolerance, that ours is  a time of fraternity . That is why it is important for us to seek occasions of encounter, an encounter which, while avoiding a superficial syncretism, “makes us more open to dialogue, the better to know and understand one another; eliminates every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect; and drives out every form of violence and dis- crimination” ( Misericordiae Vultus , 23). This is pleasing to God and constitutes an urgent task, responding not only to today’s needs but above all to the summons to love which is the soul of all authentic religion. The theme of mercy is familiar to many religious and cultural traditions, where compassion and nonviolence are essential elements pointing to the way of life; in the words of an ancient proverb: “death is hard and stiff; life is soft and supple” ( Tao-Te-Ching , 76). To bow down with compassionate love before the weak and needy is part of the authentic spirit of religion, which rejects the temptation to resort to force, refuses to barter human lives and sees others as brothers and sisters, and never mere statistics. To draw near to all those living in situations that call for our concern, such as sickness, disability, poverty, injustice and the aftermath of conflicts and migrations: this is a summons rising from the heart of every genuine religious tradition. It is the echo of the divine voice heard in the conscience of every person, call- ing him or her to reject selfishness and to be open. Open to the Other above us, who knocks on the door of our heart, and open to the Other at our side, who knocks at the door of our home, asking for attention and assistance. The very word “mercy” is a summons to an open and compassionate heart. It comes from the Latin world misericordia , which evokes a heart – cor – sen- sitive to suffering, but especially to those who suffer, a heart that overcomes indifference because it shares in the sufferings of others. In the Semitic languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, the root RHM, which also expresses God’s mercy, has to do with a mother’s womb, the deepest source of human love, the feelings of a mother for the child to whom she will give birth. In this regard, the prophet Isaiah conveys a magnifi- cent message, which, on God’s part, is both a promise of love and a challenge: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even though she may forget, yet I will never forget you” ( Is 49:15). All too often, sad to say, we forget, our hearts grow heedless and indifferent. We distance our- selves from God, our neighbour and even our historical memory, and we end up repeating, in even more cruel forms, the tragic errors of other times. This is the drama of evil, of the grim depths to which our freedom can plunge when tempted by evil, ever-present, waiting to strike and bring us down. Yet precisely here, before the great riddle of evil that tests Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to representatives of different religions Sala Clementina, Thursday, 3 November 2016 D INTRODUCT ION – WITNESSES OF MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION