FIFTIETH WORLD DAY OF PEACE
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2017 Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace 1. At the beginning of this New Year, I offer heartfelt wishes of peace to the world’s peoples and nations, to heads of state and government, and to religious, civic and community leaders. I wish peace to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in situations of conflict, let us respect this, our “deepest dignity”, [1] and make active nonviolence our way of life. This is the fiftieth Message for the World Day of Peace. In the first, Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed all peoples, not simply Catholics, with utter clarity. “Peace is the only true direction of human progress – and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests by violence, nor repressions which se