For the first peace day message of his pontificate, Pope Francis has chosen the theme: “Fraternity, the foundation and pathway to peace.”
The message released by the Vatican said that an overemphasis on “personal well-being” and general indifference have eroded any sense of responsibility toward others.
Announcing the theme for the celebration scheduled for New Year’s Day 2014, the Vatican said Pope Francis’s message will stress “the need to combat the ‘throwaway culture’ and to promote instead a ‘culture of encounter,’ in order to build a more just and peaceful world.”
As children of one Father, all human beings are linked to one another in fraternity, and only efforts that are born from a sense of fraternity can overcome the poverty, conflict, inequality, crime, fundamentalism and other ills facing the world today, the Vatican note said.
It continued: “The culture of personal well-being leads to a loss of the sense of responsibility and fraternal relationship…Not uncommonly, the poor and the needy are regarded as a ‘burden,’ a hindrance to development. At most, they are considered as recipients of aid or compassionate assistance.”
Everyone needs to be seen as a brother or sister, who is “called to share the gifts of creation, the goods of progress and culture,” it said.
Fraternity is both a gift and a responsibility each human being receives from God the Father, who calls people to fight against “inequality and poverty that undermine the social fabric, to take care of every person, especially the weakest and most defenseless, to love him or her as oneself with the very heart of Jesus Christ,” the Vatican communique said.
As the world becomes more and more interdependent, mutual responsibility becomes more essential in every field, “including the economy, finance, civil society, politics, research, development, and public and cultural institutions,” it said.
“The globalisation of indifference must give way to a globalisation of fraternity,” it said.
The Vatican added that Pope Francis’ message is “in continuity with that of his predecessors,” and “proposes to everyone the pathway of fraternity, in order to give the world a more human face.”
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.