The Human Person, The Heart of Peace<br/><br/>
The theme of the message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the celebration of the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2007 is “The Human Person, The Heart of Peace”.<br/><br/>
“As one created in the image of God, each individual human being has the dignity of a person; he or she is not just something, but someone, capable of self-knowledge, self-possession, free self-giving and entering into communion with others. At the same time, each person is called, by grace, to offer him a response of faith and love. Saint Augustine teaches that ‘God created us without our aid; but he did not choose to save us without our aid.’”<br/><br/>
“My venerable predecessor Pope John Paul II, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations on 5 October 1995, stated that ‘we do not live in an irrational or meaningless world... there is a moral logic which is built into human life and which makes possible dialogue between individuals and peoples.’ Peace is based on respect for the rights of all. As far as the right to life is concerned, we must denounce its widespread violation in our society: alongside the victims of armed conflicts, terrorism and the different forms of violence, there are the silent deaths caused by hunger, abortion, experimentation on human embryos and euthanasia.”<br/><br/>
“At the origin of many tensions that threaten peace are surely the many unjust inequalities still tragically present in our world. Particularly insidious among these are, on the one hand, inequality in access to essential goods like food, water, shelter, health; on the other hand, there are persistent inequalities between men and women in the exercise of basic human rights.”<br/><br/>
“Alongside the ecology of nature, there exists what can be called a “human” ecology, which in turn demands a “social” ecology. All this means that humanity, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Equally unacceptable are conceptions of God that would encourage intolerance and recourse to violence against others. This is a point which must be clearly reaffirmed: war in God's name is never acceptable! The rights described in the 1948 Universal Declaration are held to be based on man's very nature and his inalienable dignity as a person created by God.”<br/><br/>
“Let every Christian be committed to tireless peace-making and strenuous defence of the dignity of the “human person and his inalienable rights.<br/><br/>
From the Vatican, 8 December 2006.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI