Pope: Christ's peace does not follow worldly strategies

On the eve of the Easter Triduum in his general audience, Francis warns against the temptation of "a false peace, based on power," while "the peace of Jesus does not overpower others, it is never an armed peace." And to participants in an interfaith pilgrimage in Ukraine, he writes: "War is a shameful surrender, a defeat in the face of the forces of evil."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - A peace different to that of our worldly expectations: The peace of Jesus, was at the center of this morning's reflection by Pope Francis during his customary Wednesday general audience in Paul VI Hall. On the eve of the Easter Triduum, the pontiff, interrupting his cycle of catechesis on old age, wanted to focus on the theme: "The peace of Easter" (Reading: Jn 14:27). Words that - indirectly - also sound like a response to the criticism of Ukrainian representatives regarding the decision to invite a Ukrainian and a Russian family to carry the Cross together at the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. 

When Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem, according to the Pope, the crowd welcomed him with exultation, because they saw him as a new king, who would bring "glorious peace," who would liberate Jerusalem from Roman occupation, who would restore social peace. "But Jesus never talks about this," Pope Francis said, "He has a different Easter ahead of him. The only thing Jesus cares about in preparing for his entry into Jerusalem, in fact, is riding "a tethered colt, on which no one has ever ridden" (v. 30). "This is how Christ brings peace to the world: through meekness and mildness, symbolized by that tied foal, on which no one had ridden," Francis said.

"The peace that Jesus gives us at Easter is not the peace that follows the strategies of the world, which believes it will obtain it through force, through conquests and through various forms of imposition," continued the Pope. "This peace, in reality, is only an interval between wars. The peace of the Lord follows the path of meekness and of the cross: it is taking charge of others".

In this regard, the pontiff cited the so-called legend of the Grand Inquisitor, a story by Dostoevsky, in which a dialogue between "the Inquisitor" and Jesus is narrated. Christ is rebuked because he could have established peace in the world by bending the free but precarious heart of man by virtue of a higher power, but he did not want to do so. It is a "deception that is repeated in history, the temptation of a false peace, based on power," while instead "the peace of Jesus does not overpower others, it is never an armed peace."

Pope Francis then made direct reference to the war in Ukraine: "The weapons of the Gospel are prayer, tenderness, forgiveness and gratuitous love of neighbor. This is why the armed aggression of these days, like every war, represents an outrage against God, a blasphemous betrayal of the Lord of Easter, a preferring to his meek face that of the false god of this world."

With only a few days to go before Easter, which literally means "passover," Francis hoped that this might be the blessed occasion to pass from the worldly god to the Christian God and to move "from the expectation of a peace brought by force to the commitment to witness concretely to the peace of Jesus." "Let us place ourselves before the Crucifix, the source of our peace, and ask him for peace of heart and peace in the world," Pope Francis concluded.

Greeting the Polish faithful, he also spoke of the new situation they are experiencing as a result of the war in Ukraine, "This year you celebrate Holy Week and Easter in a special way: together with many Ukrainian guests. Easter is a family feast and you, by opening your homes to them, have become their family members." He invited them to look forward to the resurrection of Christ and peace in Ukraine.

Pope Francis also addressed the same appeal to seek peace to the rulers of the earth yesterday afternoon. In a message sent to the "Interreligious Pilgrimage of solidarity for the Ukrainian people," which departed from Romania and concluded yesterday in the Ukrainian city of Chernivts, Francis once again denounced the evil of war: "The atrocious and painful events we have been witnessing for too many days now confirm that war is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful surrender, a defeat in the face of the forces of evil." The Pope then urged us to take the path indicated by the Gospel: "May the rulers, especially those who appeal to the sacred principles of religion, listen to the Word of God which affirms: 'I have plans for peace and not for misfortune."