ROME — The Vatican congratulated Buddhists this week for the feast of Vesak, insisting that the two faiths have a “shared responsibility” to promote peace, reconciliation, and resilience.
The “hallowed time” of Vesak commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha, said the statement issued by the Vatican’s office for interreligious dialogue, which provides a “fitting occasion” to reflect on values “deeply rooted in our respective religious traditions.”
“Never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace, which has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!” the document said, calling for the condemnation of “the destruction caused by wars around the world.”
The continuing escalation of conflicts worldwide calls for “renewed attention to the critical issue of peace,” the text stated, as well as deeper reflection on the role of religions in overcoming the obstacles standing in the way of its growth.
File/Pope Francis (R) attends a meeting with Bhaddanta Kumarabhivasma (L), Chairman of state Sanga Maha Nayaka Committee, and Buddhist monks in Yangon on November 29, 2017. (VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images)
War is driven by “hatred and the desire for vengeance,” the Vatican asserted, and thus Buddhists and Christians must help heal the wounds “that warfare has inflicted on humanity and the earth.”
There can be no peace and reconciliation without “equity and justice in political, economic and cultural life,” the document contended.
As taught in the rituals and worship proper to our respective religious traditions, reconciliation and resilience are “the remedies needed for a culture of violence that is often justified as a regrettable but necessary response to aggressive military or terrorist actions,” it added.
Buddha imparted the timeless wisdom that “hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. It is appeased only by loving-kindness,” the Vatican statement declared.
Thus, all of us are called to “rediscover and treasure these values found within our respective traditions,” the text stated, and “to make better known the spiritual figures who embodied them.”
