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DAY OF PRAYER
FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD
WORDS OF INTRODUCTION BY
CARD. FRANÇOIS XAVIER
NGUYÊN VAN THUÂN
Thursday, 24 January 2002
“How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good tidings,
who publishes peace”.
How beautiful and consoling
that the solemn convocation for peace
has found a ready and willing response
in all of you here present,
who already commit yourselves daily to peace.
We are gathered here,
at the invitation of His Holiness Pope John Paul II,
to bear witness before men and women of good will,
by our shared commitment
and by the prayer proper to each religious experience,
to our will to overcome opposition between peoples
on behalf of an authentic promotion of peace.
In the spirit of the first meeting in Assisi,
we welcome the invitation to proclaim before the world
that religion must never become
a pretext for conflicts and acts of hatred and violence,
likethose seen once more in our days.
In this historical moment
humanity needs to see gestures of peace
and to hear words of hope.
The feet of those who bring good tidings of peace
will be more beautiful still,
when, after proclaiming it solemnly on the slopes of Mount Subasio,
each of us proclaims it and puts it into practice
in the many different circumstances of daily life
on other mountains, in other cities and villages.
-Extracted from The Holy See
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