VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 224   
   DATE 15-12-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Overcome indifference and win peace: the Pope's Message for the 49th World   
   Day   
   of Peace   
   - Presentation of the Message for World Day of Peace 2016   
   - Decrees for the Causes of Saints   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Overcome indifference and win peace: the Pope's Message for the 49th World Day   
   of Peace   
    Vatican City, 15 December 2015 (VIS) - "Overcome indifference and win peace"   
   is   
   the title of the Holy Father's Message to celebrate the 49th World Day of   
   Peace,   
   to be held on 1 January 2016. The Message was signed on 8 December, Solemnity   
   of   
   the Immaculate Conception of Mary Most Holy, and the day of the opening of the   
   Jubilee Year of Mercy. It is divided into eight chapters: God is not   
   indifferent, God cares about mankind, God does not abandon us; Maintaining our   
   reasons for hope; Kinds of indifference; Peace threatened by global   
   indifference; From indifference to mercy: the conversion of hearts; Building a   
   culture of solidarity and mercy to overcome indifference; Peace: the fruit of a   
   culture of solidarity, mercy and compassion; and Peace in the sign of the   
   Jubilee of Mercy.   
    The following is the full text of the Message:   
    "1. God is not indifferent! God cares about mankind! God does not abandon us!   
   At the beginning of the New Year, I would like to share not only this profound   
   conviction but also my cordial good wishes for prosperity, peace and the   
   fulfilment of the hopes of every man and every woman, every family, people and   
   nation throughout the world, including all Heads of State and Government and   
   all   
   religious leaders. We continue to trust that 2016 will see us all firmly and   
   confidently engaged, on different levels, in the pursuit of justice and peace.   
   Peace is both God's gift and a human achievement. As a gift of God, it is   
   entrusted to all men and women, who are called to attain it.   
    Maintaining our reasons for hope   
    2. Sadly, war and terrorism, accompanied by kidnapping, ethnic or religious   
   persecution and the misuse of power, marked the past year from start to finish.   
   In many parts of the world, these have became so common as to constitute a real   
   "third world war fought piecemeal". Yet some events of the year now ending   
   inspire me, in looking ahead to the new year, to encourage everyone not to lose   
   hope in our human ability to conquer evil and to combat resignation and   
   indifference. They demonstrate our capacity to show solidarity and to rise   
   above   
   self-interest, apathy and indifference in the face of critical situations.   
    Here I would mention the efforts to bring world leaders together at COP21 in   
   the search for new ways to confront climate change and to protect the earth,   
   our   
   common home. We can also think of two earlier global events: the Addis Ababa   
   Summit for funding sustainable development worldwide and the adoption of the   
   United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aimed at ensuring a   
   more   
   dignified standard of living for all the world's peoples, especially the poor,   
   by that year.   
    For the Church, 2015 was a special year, since it marked the fiftieth   
   anniversary of two documents of the Second Vatican Council which eloquently   
   expressed her sense of solidarity with the world. Pope John XXIII, at the   
   beginning of the Council, wanted to open wide the windows of the Church and to   
   improve her communication with the world. The two documents, Nostra Aetate and   
   Gaudium et Spes, are emblematic of the new relationship of dialogue, solidarity   
   and accompaniment which the Church sought to awaken within the human family. In   
   the Declaration Nostra Aetate, the Church expressed her openness to dialogue   
   with non-Christian religions. In the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes,   
   based on a recognition that "the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the   
   people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys   
   and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well", the   
   Church   
   proposed to enter into dialogue with the entire human family about the problems   
   of our world, as a sign of solidarity, respect and affection.   
    Along these same lines, with the present Jubilee of Mercy I want to invite the   
   Church to pray and work so that every Christian will have a humble and   
   compassionate heart, one capable of proclaiming and witnessing to mercy. It is   
   my hope that all of us will learn to "forgive and give", to become more open   
   "to   
   those living on the outermost fringes of society - fringes which modern society   
   itself creates", and to refuse to fall into "a humiliating indifference or a   
   monotonous routine which prevents us from discovering what is new! Let us ward   
   off destructive cynicism!"   
    There are many good reasons to believe in mankind's capacity to act together   
   in   
   solidarity and, on the basis of our interconnection and interdependence, to   
   demonstrate concern for the more vulnerable of our brothers and sisters and for   
   the protection of the common good. This attitude of mutual responsibility is   
   rooted in our fundamental vocation to fraternity and a life in common. Personal   
   dignity and interpersonal relationships are what constitute us as human beings   
   whom God willed to create in his own image and likeness. As creatures endowed   
   with inalienable dignity, we are related to all our brothers and sisters, for   
   whom we are responsible and with whom we act in solidarity. Lacking this   
   relationship, we would be less human. We see, then, how indifference represents   
   a menace to the human family. As we approach a new year, I would ask everyone   
   to   
   take stock of this reality, in order to overcome indifference and to win peace.   
    Kinds of indifference   
    3. Clearly, indifference is not something new; every period of history has   
   known people who close their hearts to the needs of others, who close their   
   eyes   
   to what is happening around them, who turn aside to avoid encountering other   
   people's problems. But in our day, indifference has ceased to be a purely   
   personal matter and has taken on broader dimensions, producing a certain   
   "globalisation of indifference".   
    The first kind of indifference in human society is indifference to God, which   
   then leads to indifference to one's neighbour and to the environment. This is   
   one of the grave consequences of a false humanism and practical materialism   
   allied to relativism and nihilism. We have come to to think that we are the   
   source and creator of ourselves, our lives and society. We feel    
   elf-sufficient,   
   prepared not only to find a substitute for God but to do completely without   
   him.   
   As a consequence, we feel that we owe nothing to anyone but ourselves, and we   
   claim only rights. Against this erroneous understanding of the person, Pope   
   Benedict XVI observed that neither man himself nor human development can, on   
   their own, answer the question of our ultimate meaning. Paul VI likewise stated   
   that "there is no true humanism but that which is open to the Absolute, and is   
   conscious of a vocation which gives human life its authentic significance".   
    Indifference to our neighbour shows itself in different ways. Some people are   
   well-informed; they listen to the radio, read the newspapers or watch   
   television, but they do so mechanically and without engagement. They are   
   vaguely   
   aware of the tragedies afflicting humanity, but they have no sense of   
   involvement or compassion. Theirs is the attitude of those who know, but keep   
   their gaze, their thoughts and their actions focused on themselves. Sadly, it   
   must be said that today's information explosion does not of itself lead to an   
   increased concern for other people's problems, which demands openness and a   
   sense of solidarity. Indeed, the information glut can numb people's   
   sensibilities and to some degree downplay the gravity of the problems. There   
   are   
   those who "simply content themselves with blaming the poor and the poor   
   countries themselves for their troubles; indulging in unwarranted   
   generalisations, they claim that the solution is an ‘education' that would   
   tranquillise them, making them tame and harmless. All this becomes even more   
   exasperating for the marginalised in the light of the widespread and deeply   
   rooted corruption found in many countries - in their governments, businesses   
   and   
   institutions - whatever the political ideology of their leaders."   
    In other cases, indifference shows itself in lack of concern for what is   
   happening around us, especially if it does not touch us directly. Some people   
   prefer not to ask questions or seek answers; they lead lives of comfort, deaf   
   to   
   the cry of those who suffer. Almost imperceptibly, we grow incapable of feeling   
   compassion for others and for their problems; we have no interest in caring for   
   them, as if their troubles were their own responsibility, and none of our   
   business. "When we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others   
   (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems,   
   their sufferings and the injustices they endure... Our heart grows cold. As   
   long   
   as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don't think about those less well   
   off."   
    Because we dwell in a common home, we cannot help but ask ourselves about the   
   state of its health, as I sought to do in Laudato Si'. Water and air pollution,   
   the indiscriminate exploitation of forests and the destruction of the natural   
   environment are often the result of man's indifference to man, since everything   
   is interrelated. Then too, there is the way we treat animals, which has an   
   effect on the way we treat other people, and the cases where people freely do   
   elsewhere what they would never dare do at home.   
    In these and in other situations, indifference leads to self-absorption and a   
   lack of commitment. It thus contributes to the absence of peace with God, with   
   our neighbour and with the environment.   
    Peace threatened by globalised indifference   
    4. Indifference towards God transcends the purely private sphere of the   
   individual and affects the public and social sphere. As Benedict XVI pointed   
   out, "the glorification of God and human peace on earth are closely linked".   
   Indeed, "without openness to the transcendent, human beings easily become prey   
   to relativism and find it difficult to act justly and to work for peace.   
   Disregard and the denial of God, which lead man to acknowledge no norm above   
   himself and himself alone, have produced untold cruelty and violence.   
    On both the individual and communitarian levels, indifference to one's   
   neighbour, born of indifference to God, finds expression in disinterest and a   
   lack of engagement, which only help to prolong situations of injustice and   
   grave   
   social imbalance. These in turn can lead to conflicts or, in any event,   
   generate   
   a climate of dissatisfaction which risks exploding sooner or later into acts of   
   violence and insecurity.   
    Indifference and lack of commitment constitute a grave dereliction of the duty   
   whereby each of us must work in accordance with our abilities and our role in   
   society for the promotion of the common good, and in particular for peace,   
   which   
   is one of mankind's most precious goods.   
    On the institutional level, indifference to others and to their dignity, their   
   fundamental rights and their freedom, when it is part of a culture shaped by   
   the   
   pursuit of profit and hedonism, can foster and even justify actions and   
   policies   
   which ultimately represent threats to peace. Indifference can even lead to   
   justifying deplorable economic policies which breed injustice, division and   
   violence for the sake of ensuring the well-being of individuals or nations. Not   
   infrequently, economic and political projects aim at securing or maintaining   
   power and wealth, even at the cost of trampling on the basic rights and needs   
   of   
   others. When people witness the denial of their elementary rights, such as the   
   right to food, water, health care or employment, they are tempted to obtain   
   them   
   by force.   
    Moreover, indifference to the natural environment, by countenancing   
   deforestation, pollution and natural catastrophes which uproot entire   
   communities from their ecosystem and create profound insecurity, ends up   
   creating new forms of poverty and new situations of injustice, often with dire   
   consequences for security and peace. How many wars have been fought, and how   
   many will continue to be fought, over a shortage of goods or out of an   
   insatiable thirst for natural resources?   
    From indifference to mercy: the conversion of hearts   
    5. One year ago, in my Message for the 2015 World Day of Peace, with the motto   
   "No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters", I evoked the first biblical icon   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)