Marie Dennis, Eli, McCarthy and Ken Butigan presented papers on nonviolence at the May 11-12, 2023 Conference held in Rome entitled “Peace Among the Peoples: Sixty Years Since Pacem in Terris” sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Pontifical Lateran University. Marie, Eli and Ken serve on the Steering Committee of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, in which Pace e Bene is a participating organization. Here is a version of the paper Ken shared.

Pope Francis marked the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of Saint John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris[1] by urging the world to pray for a “nonviolent culture.”[2]  In his April 2023 “prayer intention” sent out to the 300,000 people on his worldwide prayer network, His Holiness declared, “Let us make nonviolence a guide for our actions both in daily life and in international relations. And let us pray for a more widespread culture of nonviolence that will progress when countries and citizens alike resort less and less to the use of arms."[3]

There is little doubt that Pope Francis himself, over the course of his ten-year papacy, has played a critical role in advancing nonviolence.  His appeal for the world to pray for a nonviolent culture is just the most recent call he has made to the Church and the world to take up the way of active and creative nonviolence in the face of a global culture of violence and injustice. This is a consistent theme of Pope Francis: confronting the reality of violence with active and transformative Gospel nonviolence.   In this presentation, we will investigate Pope Francis’ teaching on nonviolence and why it is foundational to the peace for which the world hungers.

Pacem in Terris

We begin with Pacem in Terris.  This landmark encyclical, which emerged in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the perilous nuclear danger it posed for the world, heralded a new direction for the Catholic Church and its work for peace and justice. Pacem in Terris widened the theological and pastoral space for Catholic women and men around the world to actively oppose war and to promote social justice as a core dimension of their faith. 

Over the succeeding decades, Pacem in Terris directly or indirectly inspired and legitimated acts of conscience for the common good, including those carried out by the “people of God” in the Catholic Church and by people worldwide. Pacem in Terris provided an ethical and spiritual foundation for building a more just and peaceful world. As theologian Fr. John Dear has written, Pacem in Terris “questioned all warfare and opened the door to a church of nonviolence.”[4] 

Pacem in Terris planted the seeds of nonviolence that have taken root over the past six decades as the Gospel’s rejection of violence has increasingly been seen as core to the way of Jesus and thus to the mission of the Church, especially as the world has grappled with the realities of violence.

Pope Francis Builds on Pacem in Terris

Nowhere has this been more evident than during the papacy of Pope Francis. Amid the enormous violence and injustice our world faces—what the Holy Father has called “a third world war in piecemeal,” a global culture of violence including permanent war, growing poverty, threats to civil liberties, ecological devastation, the enduring terror of nuclear weapons, and the scourge of the structural violence of racism, sexism, and economic injustice—Pope Francis has urged the world to confront this catastrophic suffering, not with more violence, but with a nonviolent revolution of tenderness. 

As he said to three French activists he met with recently, "Start a revolution, shake things up. The world is deaf; you have to open its ears.” Francis himself has been just such a revolutionary.  What has been clear from the beginning of his papacy is that what’s needed is a nonviolent revolution, struggling for a world where the well-being of all, especially the most rejected, the most excluded, and the most under attack, is the top priority. 

Pope Francis has relentlessly taught us that the answer to violence is not more violence. He has worked to wean humanity from its tragic belief that violence is the solution. Rather than resolving the great challenges we face, violence often perpetuates and escalates them.  His Holiness has insisted that there must be another way than violence to resolve conflict, foster justice, heal the earth, safeguard immigrants, and end war. This “other way” is not avoidance, or appeasement, or aggression, or attack.  It is a dramatically different way of being in the world, of working for peace, of building movements and systems, and of being faithful to the vision of Jesus. In a series of books, presentations, statements, and interviews, he has called us to this “other way”: active nonviolence, a core Gospel value that combines the rejection of violence with the power of love and reconciliation in action.

Pope Francis’ Teaching on Nonviolence

This was most cogently presented in his groundbreaking 2017 World Day of Peace message entitled, “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics of Peace,” where Pope Francis published the most authoritative Catholic teaching on Jesus’ nonviolence since the early Church.  In this landmark statement he proclaimed that:

“To be true followers of Jesus today…includes embracing his teaching about nonviolence”; “In the most local and ordinary situations and in the international order, may nonviolence become the hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and indeed of political life in all its forms,” and may we “make active nonviolence our way of life.”[5] 

In this landmark message, His Holiness declared, “I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build peace through active and creative nonviolence.”

By explicitly using the term “nonviolence” as frequently as he has, Pope Francis has built on a growing theological and pastoral momentum in the Church and the world:

A growing number of papal and episcopal statements have illuminated how nonviolence is a core value of the Gospel. An expanding body of theological research and biblical exegesis over the past half century has also made this point. Nonviolence education, formation and pastoral practices have begun to take root in the Church. Perhaps most significant of all, Catholics throughout the world—alongside many others from a wide range of religious, social, and cultural contexts—have been consciously living the nonviolent life as a spiritual journey and as a courageous witness for justice, peace, and reconciliation, often in environments of extreme violence. This growing leadership of the magisterium, theological and scriptural research, ecclesial programming, and prophetic faithfulness point to the rediscovery of the central place of nonviolence in the life and mission of Jesus and, thus, in the life and mission of the Church.[6] 

But Hs Holiness has not only cited the word “nonviolence” with increasing frequency.  He has concretely unpacked the distinctive dynamics of nonviolence and how it is critical to the life of the Church. 

This is evident, for example, in a speech he delivered at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in 2019, where he declared, “…I think of nonviolence as a perspective and way of understanding the world, to which theology must look as one of its constitutive elements.”[7]

This statement is made in the context of the pope’s vision of theology, which must be conducted “without a spirit of conquest, without a desire to proselytize – which is baneful! – and without an aggressive attempt to disprove the other.”[8]  Theology, instead, must have “[an] approach that enters into dialogue with others ‘from within’, with their cultures, their histories, their different religious traditions; an approach that, in keeping with the Gospel, also includes witnessing to the point of sacrificing one’s own life…”[9] 

This is a profound insight.  Not only is theology to be a nonviolent enterprise—refraining from “conquest” and “aggression,” and pursued in the spirit of dialogue and encounter—nonviolence and its qualities are “a perspective and way of understanding the world,” not simply a practice or a stance.[10]  It is a lens for seeing and navigating the world.

 How does Pope Francis understand this lens? 

First, as he says, nonviolence is a “universal value that finds fulfilment in the Gospel of Christ.”[11] 

Second, it is a way of truth that seeks the common good, which calls us to a “nonviolent lifestyle” that is “not the same as weakness or passivity:”[12]

…rather it presupposes firmness, courage, and the ability to face issues and conflicts with intellectual honesty, truly seeking the common good over and above all partisan interest, be it ideological, economic, or political.  In the course of the past century, marred by wars and genocides of unheard-of proportions, we have nonetheless seen outstanding examples of how nonviolence, embraced with conviction and practiced consistently, can yield significant results, also on the social and political plane. Some peoples, and indeed entire nations, thanks to the efforts of nonviolent leaders, peacefully achieved the goals of freedom and justice. This is the path to pursue now and in the future. This is the way of peace. Not a peace proclaimed by words but in fact denied by pursuing strategies of domination, backed up by scandalous outlays for arms, while so many people lack the very necessities of life.”[13]

Here His Holiness overturns a common stereotype that dismisses nonviolence as weak and passive. Instead, he touts its resolve and courage, but also its search for truth and for the well-being of all.  But he also shows why nonviolence is essential to true peace, instead of the “peace” that is often pursued through “strategies of domination” and “scandalous outlays for arms.” 

This “perspective and way of understanding the world” teaches us that, “Faced with too much violence spreading throughout the world, we are called to a greater nonviolence, which does not mean passivity, but active promotion of the good.”[14]  This “greater nonviolence” is composed of rejecting the temptation of violence, loving our enemies, responding to evil with good (Romans 12:17-21), breaking the spiral of violence, and creating the potential for reconciliation.[15] 

But accomplishing this requires more than words and or even specific actions.  Nonviolence is more than a strategy.  It is a profound metanoia.  Pope Francis shed light on this when he reflected on the war in Ukraine with a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople:

“Before the scandal of war, in the first place, our concern must not be for talking and discussing, but for weeping, for helping others and for experiencing conversion ourselves. We need to weep for the victims and the overwhelming bloodshed, the deaths of so many innocent people, the trauma inflicted on families, cities, and an entire people. … But we also need to experience conversion, and to recognize that armed conquest, expansionism, and imperialism have nothing to do with the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. Nothing to do with the risen Lord, who in Gethsemane told his disciples to reject violence, to put the sword back in its place, since those who live by the sword will die by the sword (Mt 26:52), and who, cutting short every objection, simply said: “Enough!” (cf. Lk 22:51).[16]

He then went on to ask, "What kind of world do we want to emerge in the wake of this terrible outbreak of hostilities and conflict? And what contribution are we prepared to make even now towards a more fraternal humanity?"  In reflecting on these questions, Pope Francis said

“As believers we must necessarily find the answers to these questions in the Gospel: in Jesus, who calls us to be merciful and never violent, to be perfect as the Father is perfect, and not be conformed to the world…. Christ is our peace. By his incarnation, death, and resurrection for all, he has torn down the walls of enmity and division between people (cf. Eph 2:14). Let us start anew from him and recognize that it is no longer the time to order our ecclesial agendas in accordance with the world’s standards of power and expediency, but in accordance with the Gospel’s bold prophetic message of peace.”[17]

Conclusion

Pope John XXIII had deep hopes for Pacem in Terris. As he wrote in his journal when reading through the manuscript in January 1963, “I begin to pray for the efficacy of this document.”[18] Despite the violence, war, and injustice that have befallen the world since Pacem in Terris was written, it is fair to say that His Holiness’ prayers were answered. Pacem in Terris opened possibilities worldwide for the Church to dramatically expand its vision and calling as a maker of peace and justice.  It is in the papacy of Pope Francis that this flowering has most come to pass.

And not a moment too soon.  Pope Francis concludes his most recent book, I Ask You in the Name of God: Ten Prayers for a Future of Hope, with this sentiment: The choice to follow the path of nonviolence and continued existence lies with us.[19]  In short, nonviolence is critical to our survival.  It is key to building peace, integral human development and a more just world. Hence in this book his declaration, “There is no occasion in which a war can be considered just.”  Hence in this book his condemnation of the possession of nuclear weapons and the proliferating arms trade.  Hence in this book his call for nations to engage in “dialogue, negotiations, listening, creative diplomacy, and far-sighted politics which can build a system not based on the power of arms or deterrence.”

His Holiness is clear: It’s nonviolence or nonexistence.[20]

How might the Church, though, awaken to this reality?

We have seen movement in this direction, from the powerful commitment that the churches in South Sudanese made this past March to active nonviolence[21], to Cardinal Robert McElroy’s recent proposal to place nonviolence at the heart of the Church’s teaching on war and peace[22], to Archbishop John Wester’s pastoral letter on nuclear disarmament rooted in nonviolence[23], to many other initiatives on every continent around the world.

If, however, Pope Francis is right, what is needed is a universal metanoia, a profound, conversion of heart from the ways of violence to a Church of active nonviolence.

Might the Synod on Synodality become the way for the Church universal to respond to this Kairos moment and assume its historic call to become a Peace Church? 

Might the Catholic bishops throughout the world establish formation in Jesus’ nonviolence in the innumerable parishes around the world? 

Might the Church’s theologians on every continent elaborate this theology of nonviolence, as a way of perceiving and understanding the calling of the People of God to become nonviolent peacemakers as core to our mission as disciples in the 21st century? 

And might Pope Francis support this faith formation and way forward by building on all of this—including his many nonviolent actions and statements—by sharing with the Church and the world an official Church teaching on nonviolence and peace? 

In any case, we have these precious words from His Holiness’s 2017 World Day of Peace message:

“May we dedicate ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts, words and deeds, and to becoming nonviolent people and to building nonviolent communities that care for our common home.”[24]

The tsunami of violence facing people in so many nations around the world—including in mine, the United States, where horrific mass shootings take place virtually every day—is a reign of unspeakable suffering.  It is now time for the Church to translate Pope Francis’ powerful vision into a new way of being the faithful, nonviolent People of God we are called to be.

ENDNOTES

[1] Pacem In Terris, Encyclical of Pope John XXIII on Establishing Universal Peace In Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty, April 11, 1963, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem.html, accessed April 11, 2023

[2] Vatican News, “Pope’s April prayer intention: ‘For a nonviolent culture,’” March 30, 2023. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-03/pope-francis-april-prayer-intention-nonviolent-culture.html Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGmqkZgCcYI

[3] Ibid.

[4] John Dear, The God of Peace: Toward a Theology of Nonviolence (Orbis, 1994). Reflection on US Catholic Conference of Bishops, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response a Pastoral Letter on War and Peace (Washington, DC, 1983).

[5] Pope Francis, Message, for the Celebration of the Fiftieth World Day of Peace, 1 January 2017, “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace”

[6]  Rose Marie Berger, Ken Butigan, Judy Coode, and Marie Dennis, eds., Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World: Biblical, Theological, Ethical, Pastoral and Strategic Dimensions of Nonviolence (Pax Christi International, Brussels, Belgium, September 2020).  Also see: Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Columbia University Press, 2011) for quantitative research demonstrating how nonviolent strategies used in civil societies around the world are twice as effective as violent ones.

[7] Speech of the Holy Father Francesco at the Meeting on the theme: “Theology of Veritatis Gaudium in the Mediterranean Context”, promenade of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy (Naples, June 20-21, 2019), 06.21.2019 https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2019/06/21/0532/01104.html [B0532]

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid. Pope Francis then sharpens this point about nonviolence as “a perspective and way of understanding the world” by declaring that “the writings and practices of Martin Luther King and Lanza del Vasto and other peacemakers help us here.”[ix]  In short, nonviolence is essential to the task of theology today, which includes drawing on the experience and insights of practitioners of faith-based nonviolence (including, significantly, Lanza del Vasto, who engaged in a forty-day fast in Rome during Lent of 1963 praying for the possibility of Pope John XXIII sharing with humanity “a statement on world peace”; the pope acknowledged del Vasto’s fast when Pacem in Terris was promulgated during Holy Week of that year.  See Lanza del Vasto, Warriors of Peace: Writings on the Technique of Nonviolence, Michel Random, ed., Jean Sidgwick, trans. (Alfred A. Knopf, 1974).  See “Chapter 5: The Great Rome Fast,” pp. 165-173.

[10] Pope Francis’ insight here reminds one of theologian John Dear’s findings: “Nonviolence may be regarded as a hermeneutical lens which brings all the traditional topics of theology, spirituality, and politics into a new focus for our age of global violence. …It is a way of talking about the essential mystery of God as revealed and embodied in Jesus and about God’s active transformation of humanity into God’s nonviolent reign of peace and justice.” Source: John Dear, “Notes for a Theology of Nonviolence,” July 19, 2017, unpublished manuscript.

[11] “Nonviolence is a typical example of a universal value that finds fulfilment in the Gospel of Christ but is also a part of other noble and ancient spiritual traditions.” ([Pope Francis on Receiving] The Credential Letters of the Ambassadors of Sweden, Fiji, Moldova, Mauritius, Tunisia, and Burundi to the Holy See, 12.15.2016.)

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Pope Francis, Audience with the Delegation of the "Anti-Defamation League", 09.02.2017 https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/02/09/0087/00213.html; Or this; “Jesus quotes the ancient law: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" ( Mt 5:38; Ex 21:24). We know what he meant: whoever takes something away from you, you will take away the same thing. It was actually a great progress, because it prevented worse retaliation: if someone hurt you, you will repay him in the same measure, you won't be able to do him worse. Closing the contests in a draw was a step forward. Yet Jesus goes further, much further: "But I tell you, do not oppose the wicked" ( Mt 5:39). But how, Lord? If someone thinks ill of me, if someone hurts me, can't I repay him with the same coin? “No”, says Jesus: non-violence, no violence.” Visit of the Holy Father Francis to Bari on the occasion of the meeting of reflection and spirituality "Mediterranean frontier of peace (19-23 February 2020) - Eucharistic celebration and recital of the Angelus, 23.02.2020.

[15] Pope Francis, Message, for the Celebration of the Fiftieth World Day of Peace, 1 January 2017, “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace”

[16] “Pope: Christian reconciliation a way toward peace amid 'senseless' war,” Vatican News, June 30, 2022: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-06/pope-francis-meets-with-ecumenical-patriarchate.html.

[17 Ibid.

[18] Pope John XXIII, diary entry for January 7, 1963 (later published in Journey of a Soul), quoted in Marco Roncalli in L’Osservatore Romano, April 6, 2023.

[19] Pope Francis, I Ask You in the Name of God: Ten Prayers for a Future of Hope, edited by Hernan Reyes Alcaide (Edizioni Piemme, 2023). Quoted in Devin Watkins, Vatican News, ‘Pope Francis: ‘War must end or world risks nuclear catastrophe’ https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-10/pope-francis-book-10th-anniversary-pontificate.html

[20] Here Pope Francis echoes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, in his final speech the night before he was assassinated, “It’s no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; its nonviolence or nonexistence.” “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968: https://genius.com/1645644?

[21] South Sudanese Council of Churches Statement on Nonviolence, March 10, 2023: https://solidarityssudan.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230323-SCC-STATEMENT-ON-THE-GOSPEL-NONVIOLENCE.pdf

[22] Dennis Sadowski, “Cardinal McElroy says church must 'redesign' just-war theory, favor nonviolent action,” National Catholic Reporter, March 3, 2023   https://www.ncronline.org/news/cardinal-mcelroy-says-church-must-redesign-just-war-theory-favor-nonviolent-action

[23]Archbishop John Wester, Pastoral Letter: Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament, https://archdiosf.org/living-in-the-light-of-christs-peace

[24] Pope Francis, Message, for the Celebration of the Fiftieth World Day of Peace, 1 January 2017, “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace”