New York (AsiaNews) "In truth, peace". Echoing the words of the Pope's message for the World Day of Peace, the Holy See restated this concept before the United Nations. It did so through its UN representative, Mgr Celestino Migliore, who yesterday addressed the 61st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations about "Culture of peace" (point 44).
After expressing the Vatican's confidence in this international institution as a "privileged forum where nations can work in concert for the promotion of peace", Mgr Migliore recalled that "reading the signs of our time in which terrorism, nihilism and fanatical fundamentalism threaten peaceful coexistence, the Pope underlined the inseparable bond between peace and truth."
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See said peace implied a truth which was common to all peoples beyond cultural, philosophical and religious diversities. "It is the idea of the dignity of every human person intimately linked to the transcendent. Thus peace will be reached once it is understood and put into practice as the realization of this shared truth, in mutual respect of cultural diversities."
According to the Holy See, the problem starts at the cultural level: even today, there are still cultures and mentalities that "deny that the basic truth of peace exists". The most dramatic example, continued Mgr Migliore, was international terrorism. "The criminal designs of international terrorism rest on false cultural roots which deny the existence of a link between truth and human life." He specified: "Such roots are identifiable in nihilism and in fanatical fundamentalism, which are erroneous ways of relating to truth."
Mgr Migliore clearly defined the causes of the lack of peace in our world, which cannot be "reduced to those of an exclusively social or political nature. Terrorism, wars, genocides and national and international injustices... can also be explained by deeper motivations of a cultural, ideological, philosophical and even religious nature. Social behaviour and political choices usually follow."
The Vatican representative ended his address by inviting the international community to first re-establish "the correct relation between truth and peace at the cultural level" to be able to "realize peace at the social and political level".
