Pope Benedict XVI On Peace, a Call From Assisi

Great timely calls for world peace are starting to happen in the run up to historic concerts July 1 and 7. Princess Diana would have loved to have seen land mines eradicated from our beautiful planet.

Here is an excerpt from a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Sunday to the crowds gathered at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, where the Pope led the praying of the midday Angelus.

I consider it my duty to issue an urgent and heartfelt appeal from this place to stop all armed conflicts that are bloodying the earth. ...

"May Weapons be Silenced and May Hate Yield to Love"

(Source: Catholic Online, CA - ASSISI, Italy, June 19, 2007, Zenith)
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Who does not want world peace?

Often, I wonder about who is not interested in world peace and why. Soon the World Bank will have a new boss. I say, why not pool the world's munitions budget through the United Nations to take good care of our planet and make poverty history? Surely the world's war industry can diversify into water, energy, agriculture, peacekeeping and policing of borders.



No choice really. I'm convinced a new world order has now arrived, made possible through the past three decades of developments in digital and satellite communications technology. Today, I believe it is feasible for billions of us to insist that world leaders get together and agree on world peace within the space of days (by July 7, 2007 to be precise!)