In the last article we looked at the pathway to peace presented by Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti. In this article, we continue with his next topic: forgiveness and reconciliation.
Christ and the Adultress, 1620s, Valentin de Boulogne, Getty Museum, Los Angeles
These are critical topics for peace because we are starting today from a position of conflict. If we want peace, we must address the results of the conflicts that we have created. This requires former enemies to be reconciled and to forgive each other. The Pope summarizes our situation this way:
There are those who prefer not to talk of reconciliation, for they think that conflict, violence and breakdown are part of the normal functioning of a society. In any human group there are always going to be more or less subtle power struggles between different parties. Others think that promoting forgiveness means yielding ground and influence to others. For this reason, they feel it is better to keep things as they are, maintaining a balance of power between differing groups. Still others believe that reconciliation is a sign of weakness; incapable of truly serious dialogue, they choose to avoid problems by ignoring injustices. Unable to deal with problems, they opt for an apparent peace. (236)
He continues with:
Forgiveness and reconciliation are central themes in Christianity and, in various ways, in other religions. Yet there is a risk that an inadequate understanding and presentation of these profound convictions can lead to fatalism, apathy and injustice, or even intolerance and violence. Jesus never promoted violence or intolerance. (237-238)
We have grown accustomed to conflict and violence. Some of our cultures idolize it. This is a trap that Christians and other people of good will must avoid. Reconciliation is required for lasting peace – we must pursue it.
Conflicts in society are inevitable, but how we respond to them is up to us. Our path is always nonviolent, but that does not mean it is toothless or ineffective.
Nor does this mean calling for forgiveness when it involves renouncing our own rights, confronting corrupt officials, criminals or those who would debase our dignity. We are called to love everyone, without exception; at the same time, loving an oppressor does not mean allowing him to keep oppressing us, or letting him think that what he does is acceptable. On the contrary, true love for an oppressor means seeking ways to make him cease his oppression; it means stripping him of a power that he does not know how to use, and that diminishes his own humanity and that of others. Forgiveness does not entail allowing oppressors to keep trampling on their own dignity and that of others, or letting criminals continue their wrongdoing. Those who suffer injustice have to defend strenuously their own rights and those of their family, precisely because they must preserve the dignity they have received as a loving gift from God. (241)
This important paragraph from Fratelli Tutti frames reconciliation in terms of strength rather than submission. Christian forgiveness does not make us wallflowers – it reflects our creation in the image of an all-powerful God. We have a right to defend our God-given dignity. Oppressors must have their power taken away from them if they refuse to change. This perspective is empowering to the poor and those suffering in unjust systems, giving them permission to defend their rights.
To connect this back to the central themes of Fratelli Tutti, fraternity and social friendship require peace founded on justice. A truthful assessment of past history and its conflicts leads to forgiveness and reconciliation between social groups that were once enemies. Can we be brothers and sisters in friendship if we continue to harbor animosity and malice? These sentiments have to go. Forgiveness is the path to achieve peace. Forgiveness is a large and complex topic, but in this setting our Holy Father is calling us to seek it at every level of society to achieve the peace we all want.
What a different world we'd have with more intentional practice of reconciliation. Thank you for writing about it.