Benedict XVI: Dialogue Yields Better Results
Sends Letters to the Leaders of Chile, Argentina
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In a letter sent to the leaders of Chile and Argentina, Benedict XVI affirmed that dialogue and negotiation is the most effective manner of resolving conflict.
The Pope sent the missive to Argentine President Cristina Fernández Kirchner and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on the 30th anniversary of mediation by Pope John Paul II in the Beagle conflict, which prevented an armed confrontation between the South American nations.
The letter was read today by Cardinal Odilio Sherer, archbishop of São Paulo, at a ceremony marking the event, attended by both Kirchner and Bachelet. During the ceremony, held on Mount Aymond in Chile, the foundation stone for a monument in honor of John Paul II was placed.
In 1978, Chile and Argentina were on the cusp of going to war over a longstanding border dispute over three islands in the Beagle channel. A last-minute mediation by Pope John Paul II led to the beginning of a peace process, which was completed in 1984.
In his letter, Benedict XVI recalled the “age-old” border dispute between the nations, and said that the two countries “thought that every possibility had been exhausted to come to an agreement,” and did not see the possibility to continue negotiating.
He also recalled the action of John Paul II, who sent on his own initiative a papal envoy — Cardinal Antonio Samoré — in an attempt to keep the two nations from resorting to war.
New and unique
Benedict XVI said the gesture “went beyond the initial precautions of [Pope John Paul II's] possible commitment and of the usual practice of the Holy See’s international activity.”
The Polish Pontiff, he said, decided “to offer a new and unique intervention of his own, of a more personal character.”
Benedict XVI added that his predecessor “impelled by his special sensibility to specify the mission received from the Prince of Peace,” distinguished himself “during his long pontificate for the promotion of harmony among peoples.”
The success of the mediation, he continued, constitutes still today “an example of how, in face of any controversy, discouragement must always be overcome and the path of patient dialogue and negotiation conducted with wisdom and prudence must never be regarded as exhausted.”
This dialogue was necessary “to reach a just and fitting solution through peaceful means, proper of civilized peoples, above all when its members know themselves to be, moreover, brothers and children of the one God and Father,” the Pontiff added.
Pointing to other conflicts in various parts of the world, which “have generated very grave consequences,” Benedict XVI underlined the “horrors that that pontifical mediation spared the Argentine and Chilean peoples, and also other nations of the region.”
為聖母無玷聖心凱旋的勝利奉獻
到了第六個月，天使加俾額爾奉天主差遣，往加里肋亞一座名叫納匝肋的城去，到一位童貞女那裡，她已與達味家族中的一個名叫若瑟的男子訂了婚，童貞女的名字叫瑪利亞。天使進去向她說：「萬福！充滿恩寵者，上主與你同在！」【在女人中你是蒙祝福的。】她卻因這話驚惶不安，便思慮這樣的請安有什麼意思。天使對她說：「瑪利亞，不要害怕，因為你在天主前獲得了寵幸。看，你將懷孕生子，並要給他起名叫耶穌。他將是偉大的，並被稱為至高者的兒子，上主天主要把他祖先達味的御座賜給他。他要為王統治雅各伯家，直到永遠；他的王權沒有終結。」瑪利亞便向天使說：「這事怎能成就？因為我不認識男人。」天使答覆她說：「聖神要臨於你，至高者的能力要庇廕你，因此，那要誕生的聖者，將稱為天主的兒子。且看，你的親戚依撒伯爾，她雖在老年，卻懷了男胎，本月已六個月了，她原是素種不生育的，因為在天主前沒有不能的事。」瑪利亞說：「看！上主的婢女，願照你的話成就於我吧！」天使便離開她去了。
