It is with great emotion that I speak in the name of the Community of Sant’Egidio in this symbolic location for France and beyond. I warmly thank the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. Ulrich, for his invitation and for constantly our path of dialogue for peace. During these days we have together returned to the heart of our faith traditions and to the religious and humanist wisdom Going deep is both an exercise in humility and endurance.
Humility, as returning to the origins makes us understand that there is something greater than our emotions, feelings or crystallised patterns. There is something that goes above and beyond us, our present and current affairs.
Endurance, against a culture of simplification that gets used to conflicts and is actually all about ego.
By returning to our spiritual origins, we have discovered an horizon that unites us and gives us hope. Even in the darkest moments, we perceive a light.
Together, tonight, following our discussions and exchanges, we want to cry out loud our protest: a cry of resistance in the face of war and so much violence: It means protesting in front of the world for all the dead (the majority being innocent victims). We protest against all this violence, all this hatred, that we regard as alien to our dream to live in peace, to the dream of so many men and women.
No! War is not our future, war cannot be our fate!
The defeat of military logic, amidst militarized international relations, urges us to say that there is a horizon that alone we cannot see. But only together. Imagine it and realize it together. We must be together, especially in the difficult moments of history, to sight this horizon that overcomes hatred, violence and war. Thus, we are grateful for these days that have enlightened us: we have renewed a spirit of resistance that reunites with that of previous generations, those who, here in Europe, searched for pathways of peace, during and after the catastrophe of the world war. They left us a legacy, stated clear and loud with simple words: War never again!
Here we imagined the return of peace in these times of wars. Together we can use our creative imagination to overcome the dark clouds of the present and to prepare for the future. We have realized the danger of dancing unconsciously on the edge of the abyss of war that makes the world run an uncontrollable risk.
I see here many young people. We want to pass on the legacy of the dream of peace from one generation to another: the younger generations must receive this gift from those who preceded them. We want to strengthen and never break this chain of solidarity between generations! The dream of peace cannot be limited to a single generation.
There is already a pathway to exit from the climate of permanent war: it was mapped out by those who came before us and who dreamed of a more just world for their children on all continents.
During the dark night, our elders are for us examples of a hope nurtured against all hope. Their hope was peace. It is also ours, this night.
We must have courage to risk peace. During this meeting, all languages and all cultures expressed themselves, in so understanding each other and discovering profoundly that there is a shared anxiety for peace, common to all. An anxiety that calls for more dialogue at all levels. We listened to each other and we have understood: we need to move away, starting with ourselves, from deadlocked positions.
Even if there is war, it is necessary to think today about the peace of tomorrow: it is the work of wisdom. Peace is our victory: not a victory against others but together with others.
A famous French anthropologist, Germaine Tillon, said that «the politics of conversation with the other» is necessary. The road of conversation and dialogue with the other eventually leads, sooner or later, to peace. This is what we have experienced these days: discussing, imagining a utopia of peace, stronger than all human logic and knowledge.
Thank you, Paris! In this city-world that has echoed all traditions, with none imposing itself on the other, today we see better that peace is possible.