On December 11, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave an intervention during a side event entitled, “Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: the Role of Faith-Inspired Organizations” held at the Church Center, across from UN Headquarters, in New York. Because Archbishop Auza was in Katowice, Poland, representing the Holy See at the 24th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, his remarks were read by Father David Charters of the Holy See.

In his remarks, Archbishop Auza addressed the many ways religious people and faith-based organizations make and build peace. He specified twelve: by inculcating a respect for the dignity of every person as loved by God; by fostering a culture of encounter, solidarity and fraternity; by opening and running schools that form the head and the heart in critical thinking; by preaching and practicing forgiveness and reconciliation; by having recourse to the arms of prayer rather than weapons of violence; by living minimally by the Silver and Golden Rule; by categorically condemning evil; by explicitly forming peacemakers; by focusing on and attempting to eradicate their own sins; by promoting integral human development; by living by ethical criteria for intervention; and by engaging in interreligious dialogue and modeling for all of society the path of peaceful co-existence and resolution of conflicts. He praised the Rondine Cittadella della Pace for its method of transforming conflicts and underlined it spiritual roots in the conversion, life and witness of Saints Francis of Assisi and Romuald, which he said show the type of conversion toward peace that our day so much needs.

The statement can be found here.