In the text, addressed to more than 600 delegates from 98 countries, the Pontiff expresses that “hope is revealed as a very appropriate value for this forum that is being held in Havana, because thanks to its aspiration to be open, plural and multidisciplinary, it has the capacity to look into the reasons that move the heart of today’s man.”
This sixth edition of the event, organized by the José Martí Project of International Solidarity, began on Tuesday to celebrate Cuban National Hero José Martí’s 172nd birthday, and is taking place in the year in which the 130th anniversary of his death in combat, fighting for his homeland’s freedom, will be commemorated on May 19.
In his words, Francis reminded those attending the meeting “With all and for the good of all, for dialogue between civilizations and for a culture of peace,” that the theme of the Jubilee that the Church is celebrating this year is, significantly, hope.
Hope “is born from love and is founded on love” and “allows us to be willing to participate in the sufferings, the weariness, the disappointments and the fears that are part of the life of every man and every society,” he said.
This love, as the Holy Father expresses in his letter, “calls us to build, on the ruins that we leave in this world with our sin, a new civilization,” so that “amid the disaster that evil has left behind, we may all collaborate in the reconstruction of goodness and beauty.” He referred to the call to hope, which “on a social and cultural level we can assume as men of good will, rediscovering this precious virtue,” paying attention “to all the good that there is in the world so as not to fall into the temptation of considering ourselves overcome by evil and violence.”
“This certainty impels us to work with determination so that this hope may be translated into peace for the world,” and to abandon “the logic of violence, assuming a commitment to dialogue and the work of diplomacy to build with courage and creativity spaces for negotiation aimed at lasting peace.”
“We are all called to live in fraternal gratuity and everything we do for others affects us as individuals and as a society,” so “let us learn this lesson from love, building hope in that balance that seeks to ensure that everyone has what is necessary, teaching us to share with the poor.”
We must “open ourselves with generous welcome to others, so that we know how to contribute with what we are and have to the common good,” asserts Pope Francis in his letter to the participants in the meeting, and expresses his hope that “these wishes may help them in the work they undertake for a more just and fraternal society.”
According to organizers, the international conference will address key issues in panels, workshops, symposia and other forms of reflection and debate, aimed at contributing to the construction of a better, more just and peaceful world, which will allow us to look to the future with hope and not with worry.
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