“War is madness,” said Pope Francis at his visit to the Military Cemetery of Redipuglia today on September 13, 2014.
And he continues
“War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying.
Greed, intolerance, the lust for power…. These motives underlie the decision to go to war, and they are too often justified by an ideology; but first there is a distorted passion or impulse. Ideology is presented as a justification and when there is no ideology, there is the response of Cain: “What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper?” (cf. Gen 4:9). War does not look directly at anyone, be they elderly, children, mothers, fathers…. “What does it matter to me?”…..”Today, too, the victims are many… How is this possible? It is so because in today’s world, behind the scenes, there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power, and there is the manufacture and sale of arms, which seem to be so important!
And these plotters of terrorism, these schemers of conflicts, just like arms dealers, have engraved in their hearts, “What does it matter to me?”…….
“It is the task of the wise to recognize errors, to feel pain, to repent, to beg for pardon and to cry. “….
“With the heart of a son, a brother, a father, I ask each of you, indeed for all of us, to have a conversion of heart: to move on from “What does it matter to me?”, to tears: for each one of the fallen of this “senseless massacre”, for all the victims of the mindless wars, in every age. Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep.”
People have often asked me, why those wars in foreign lands are so important to me. Why would I feel so sad about some people being killed on the other side of the world. Why would I get so excited about things, which don’t concern me personally.
And when I tried to explain, someone asked me: “What does it matter do Iceland?”
Concerning oneself with things, which don’t concern you directly, things which you seem so powerless to change, is sometimes considered a form of madness. But the Pope begs to differ. He sees the perpetrators as mad, not those who cry for the victims.
In this time and age we are all connected, the whole of humanity, more so than in any other age before.
We get information about the farthest corners of the world, even though that information might often be skewed and distorted.
It matters to me to get to the truth, the reasons for all those wars and destruction. Because, according to our Lord Jesus, “the truth will set us free.”
Yes I know, that there is so little, so very little I can do about the sorrows of this world, the cancerous growth of violence.
But even that tiny little thing, this drop in the ocean,which I can do, I should do.
And this is why I’m here today in Lebanon and was there yesterday in Syria. I came to deliver my little drop to the ocean of mercy, my drop of tears and my drop of labor and sweat.
I’m here to pray for peace, talk for peace, walk for peace and work for peace in very small ways.
I do this because the war happening today in Syria and in all those many countries engulfed in wars or the violence which threatens to spread to other countries like Lebanon, it does matter to me, it really, really does.
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Pope Francis: War is “madness” which brings destruction
Eve's Thoughts 