Remembering history to defeat the hell of war

By Andrea Tornielli

After Luxembourg, Belgium: yet another small country, but a crossroads, "the synthesis of Europe," a starting point for its reconstruction after the monstrous tragedy of World War II. The Pope describes Belgium as a bridge, allowing concord to expand and conflicts to step back. "A bridge that brings civilizations into dialogue.  An indispensable bridge, then, for rejecting war and building peace.”

Here again,  Pope Francis repeats his unheeded appeal to Europe to remember its history, made of light and civilization, but also of wars, desires for domination and colonialism. He adds unequivocal words: “Belgium is a reminder to all others that when nations disregard borders or breach treaties by employing the most varied and untenable excuses, and when they use weapons to replace actual law with the principle of “might is right”, then they open Pandora’s box, unleashing violent storms that batter the house, threatening to destroy it.”

How can we not see the allusion to what is happening in war-torn Ukraine? The common European home is shaken and risks destruction. Because, as the Successor of Peter reminds us,  “peace and harmony are never won once and for all, “ but rather  “a duty and a mission that needs to be undertaken unceasingly, with great care and patience.  For when human beings forget the memory of the past and its valuable lessons, they run the dangerous risk of once again falling backwards, even after having moved on, forgetting the suffering and appalling costs paid by previous generations.”

There is a forgetful Europe, that only talks about weapons and is seemingly unaware of walking towards the abyss. "We are close," he added off the cuff, "to an almost world war." One cannot help but recall the heartfelt and unheeded words of ailing Pope John Paul II, when he urged the "young" Western government leaders at the time not to undertake the disastrous war in Iraq in 2003. He did so as a living witness of the horror of World War II. Now, the winds of a fragmented World War III are blowing from multiple directions: in the heart of Christian Europe, with the conflict in Ukraine, as well as in the Middle East, where massacres of innocent civilians continue, and in many other parts of the world.

A jolt of conscience is needed. What is needed, the Pope says, is " a timely and continuous cultural, social and political movement that, at the same time, is both courageous and prudent.  A movement that excludes from the future the idea and practice of war as a viable option with all its catastrophic consequences.” Because history is a teacher of life (magistra vitae), but "too often unheeded." And today, this history from Belgium, through the voice of the armless Bishop of Rome who bears the name of Saint Francis,  urges Europe to rediscover its roots and invest in the future by embracing life, not death, and the arms race, to "defeat the demographic winter and the hell of war."