Dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you!

I am pleased to welcome you, members of the Movements and Associations of the “Arena of Peace.”A year ago, you launched the great “Arena of Peace” event in Verona, with Pope Francis in attendance. In a particular way, I would like to thank Bishop Domenico Pompili of Verona and the Comboni Fathers. On that occasion, the Pope stated once again that building peace starts by standing alongside victims and seeing things from their point of view. This approach is essential for disarming hearts, approaches and mentalities, and for denouncing the injustices of a system that kills and is based on the throwaway culture.

How can we forget the courageous embrace between Maoz Inon, an Israeli whose parents were killed by Hamas, and Aziz Sarah, a Palestinian whose brother was killed by the Israeli army. They are now friends and work with one another. That gesture remains as a testimony and sign of hope. We thank them for being here today.

The path to peace demands hearts and minds trained in concern for others and capable of perceiving the common good in today’s world. For the road to peace involves everyone and leads to the fostering of right relationships between all living beings. As John Paul II pointed out, peace is an indivisible good; it is either everyone’s or no one’s (cf. Sollicitudo rei socialis, 26). It can truly be attained and enjoyed as a reality of life and integral development only if there exists in people’s consciences “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good” (ibid., 38).

In an age like our own, marked by speed and immediacy, we need to recover the patience required for this process to occur. History and practical experience have taught us that authentic peace takes shape from the ground up, beginning with places, communities and local institutions, and by listening to what they have to tell us. In this way, we come to realize that peace is possible when disagreements and the conflicts they entail are not set aside, but acknowledged, understood and surmounted.

That is why your work as popular movements and associations is especially valuable. Through concrete action “from below,” in dialogue with all parties and with the creativity and ingenuity born of a culture of peace, you are pursuing projects and activities at the concrete service of individuals and the common good. In this way, you generate hope.

Dear brothers and sisters, all too much violence exists in the world and our societies. Amid wars, terrorism, human trafficking and widespread aggression, our children and young people need to be able to experience the culture of life, dialogue, and mutual respect. Above all, they need the witness of men and women who embody a different and non-violent way of living. From local and everyday situations up to the international order, whenever those who have suffered injustice and violence resist the temptation to seek revenge, they become the most credible agents of non-violent peacebuilding processes. Non-violence, as a method and a style, must distinguish our decisions, our relationships and our actions.

The Gospel and the Church’s social doctrine are a constant source of support for Christians in this effort. They can also act as a compass for everyone, since the fostering of a culture of peace is a task entrusted to all, believers and non-believers alike, who must advance it through reflection and a praxis inspired by the dignity of the person and the common good.

If you want peace, prepare institutions of peace. Increasingly we realize that this cannot simply involve political institutions, whether national or international, but requires all institutions – educational, economic and social. The Encyclical Fratelli Tutti frequently spoke of the need to pass from “I” to “we”, in a spirit of solidarity that needs to find institutional expression. For this reason, I encourage you to remain committed and present: present within history as a leaven of unity, communion and fraternity. Fraternity needs to be recovered, loved, experienced, proclaimed and witnessed, in the confident hope that it is indeed possible, thanks to the love of God “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5).

Dear friends, I thank you for your presence today. I pray for you, that you may continue to work with patient perseverance. I accompany all of you with my blessing.