Let us emulate Pope Francis
Author: Vivian Agaba. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- As Pope Francis desired to see a peaceful world, the prayer of many people is seeing the incoming Pope, among other areas of priority, focus on using his global influence to promote peace.
Across the globe, people from all walks of life, different faiths and beliefs have universally recognised and celebrated the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for his humility and simplicity, a champion of social justice among others. However, in this article, I will focus my attention on his desire to see peace in the world, by calling for an end to wars.
He advocated for a world without war, calling for collective responsibility and inter-religious harmony to build peaceful societies. On many occasions, he consistently emphasised peacebuilding mechanisms through dialogue and reconciliation, conflict prevention, inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, and protection and promotion of human rights.
In the pontiff's effort to promote peace, he made several global trips to regions experiencing conflict, and encouraged the warring factions to reconcile and promote peace in their countries. Some of those historical pilgrimages for peace include his visit to Iraq, Central African Republic, Colombia, and South Sudan.
The Pope's particular plea for peace that will forever be etched in the books of history was when he went down and kissed the feet of President Salva Kiir, and the opposition leader, Riek Machar begging them to lay down their weapons and pursue paths of peace during their retreat to Rome in April 2019.
That was the highest form of humility for the man of his calibre. The world leader of nearly 1.4 billion Catholics. No wonder, he has been described as a pontiff of peace. Despite his pleas, we continue to see armed conflicts and wars in different parts of the world.
Wars are very destructive, they not only lead to significant loss of human life, but destruction of infrastructure governments invest billions of money to build, displacement of populations, and huge impact on the global economy. In 2015, the Institute for Economics and Peace estimated that conflict and violence cost us $13.6 trillion.
In 2016 the price tag went higher, at $14.3 trillion, or 12.6 percent of global GDP, according to the World Humanitarian Data and Trends report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Imagine if we minimised these wars, armed conflicts, and invested such huge sums of money in ensuring that 250 million children globally who are not attending school, according to a new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), get an education.
This would enable them to reach their full potential, break the cycle of poverty, and this contributes to a more just and equitable world. How about investing such money in food and agriculture innovations?
This would go along way in ensuring sustainable food systems, mitigating climate change, and feeding a growing population of approximately 8.2 billion globally.
Of these, more than 281.6 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity, and a substantial portion are at risk of starvation, according to recent reports. When we talk about wars and conflicts, we not only look at the global level, but also community and national levels.
Wars have far reaching negative impact on communities including the destruction of the social fabric.
So, the onus is on all of us to promote peace at individual, family, and community levels, which are key in building strong and resilient societies, and this can have ripple effects at national and global levels. Is a peaceful world possible?
Yes, we can minimise or potentially eliminate wars by using multifaceted approaches such as promoting peace treaties, implementing disarmament agreements, promoting peace education, and international cooperation and conflict resolution mechanisms etc.
As Pope Francis desired to see a peaceful world, the prayer of many people is seeing the incoming Pope, among other areas of priority, focus on using his global influence to promote peace. In our respective spaces, let us all contribute to a peaceful world we want to see and live in. Matthew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
May peace prevail in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ukraine, and all other countries at war.
In our respective spaces, let us all contribute to a peaceful world we want to see and live in.
Ms Vivian Agaba is a journalist, editor, and Rotary Peace Fellow at Makerere University.
