“Pope Francis, Nonviolence and the Fullness of Pacem in Terris” is the title of a conference held earlier this month in Rome, Italy. Catholic Church leaders and participants from 28 nations gathered to reflect on Pope Francis’ work for nonviolent change. The Most Reverend John Stowe OFM Conv., Bishop of Lexington and President of Pax Christi USA, addressed the event.
It is my hope that participation in this conference will help us all to realize with ever greater conviction that nonviolence is not a passive stance towards the evil in the world, but a faith-filled stance that death and sin have been conquered in Christ's resurrection and that the risen Christ's gift of peace begins with the power to forgive.
Our prophetic pope is calling us to witness that kind of reconciliation, focused on human dignity and the interrelationship of all creation, that will make it truly possible to beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and where lion and lamb can lie down together in peace.
(You can read Bishop Stowe’s entire text at ncronline.org)
