By Marie Dennis
Pax Christi International Co-President
In his resignation statement, Benedict XVI, now the bishop emeritus of Rome, pointed to the great challenge these times present to the papal ministry, speaking in particular about “today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith.” Few challenges will be greater for Pope Francis than the challenge of peace—to turn the hearts, minds, and energies of 1 billion Catholics around the world to fulfilling Jesus’ resurrection promise, “Peace I leave with you.”
Exactly 50 years ago, Pope John XXIII’s great encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) ended with a prayer that Christ would “inflame the desires of all … to break through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another, and to pardon those who have done them wrong.”
Those words, heard in the intensely interconnected and violent world of the 21st century, suggest that the work of making peace at an interpersonal, national, and international level is essential to the life of a follower of Jesus…