St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. / Credit: Alexander_Peterson/Shutterstock
Rome Newsroom, Jun 5, 2023 / 12:20 pm (CNA).
Nobel laureates, Grammy-winner Andrea Bocelli, and several former heads of state will join Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday night for the World Meeting on Human Fraternity.
The June 10 event, called “#Not Alone,” will culminate with Pope Francis signing a document calling for a commitment to human fraternity drafted by a dozen Nobel Peace Prize winners together with representatives of former Nobel Prize-winning organizations.
Young people representing different countries will also form “a symbolic embrace” by joining hands in a ring around St. Peter’s Square, according to the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, the sponsor of the event.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, described the upcoming meeting as “a great day of celebration and unity inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti, transcending a vision that restricts social friendship to ethnic or blood ties.”
Speaking at a Vatican press conference promoting the event, Jesuit Father Francesco Occhetta, the head of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, noted that participants in the event “will be given as a gift a piece of organic soil and seeds to plant and germinate as a symbol of the commitment to guard fraternity.”
Nobel laureates who have confirmed their participation in the World Meeting on Human Fraternity include Iraqi human rights advocate Nadia Murad, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, and Yemeni Arab Spring leader Tawakkol Karman.
The former presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica, Poland, and Democratic Republic of East Timor — all peace prize winners — will also participate, as well as representatives of several U.N. organizations that have been past recipients.
The World Meeting on Human Fraternity will begin with private meetings of five working groups representing Nobel laureates, the poor, environmentalists, students, and associations.
At 4 p.m. local time, Italian TV presenter Carlo Conti, the former host of Italy’s national Eurovision competition, will kick off an Italian television broadcast of the World Meeting on Human Fraternity event in St. Peter’s Square with performances by Bocelli and other Italian musical artists.
Pope Francis will join the event two hours later to listen to what emerged in the working group discussions, sign the human fraternity document, and join the symbolic embrace. Later, circus performers and street artists will take to the stage in St. Peter’s Square to perform until 10 p.m.
Town squares in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Jerusalem; Nagasaki, Japan; Brazzaville, Republic of Congo; and four other locations in the world will connect live to St. Peter’s Square for the event.
The following is a list of Nobel laureates and Nobel laureate representatives who will participate in the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, according to the Vatican:
Juan Manuel Santos, president of the Republic of Colombia from 2010 to 2018 (Colombia): Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for his resolute commitment to ending the civil war that has affected his country for 50 years.
Oscar Arias Sánchez, president of the Republic of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2010 (Costa Rica): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1987 for his efforts in promoting peace and stability in Central America, in particular for his efforts to end conflicts in the region and promote dialogue and cooperation between countries.
Lech Wałęsa, president of the Republic of Poland from 1990 to 1995 (Poland): Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his nonviolent struggle for human rights and free trade unions in Poland. As leader of the Solidarność trade union, he played a key role in the rights of workers and in the promotion of democracy in his country.
José Ramos-Horta, president of the Democratic Republic of East Timor (East Timor): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1996 for his work in favor of a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.
Jody Williams, founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and president of the Nobel Women’s Initiative (United States): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1997 for work on banning and clearing landmines.
Shirin Ebadi, president of the Defenders for Human Rights Centre (Iran): Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her commitment to the defense of democracy, human rights, and especially women and children in Iran.
Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank (Bengals): Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work in promoting economic and social development through the concept of microcredit. Through the Grameen Bank, he provided affordable finance to the poor and helped improve their living conditions.
Leymah Roberta Gbowee, president of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (Liberia): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2011. As a leader of the Liberian women’s movement, she played a vital role in ending the civil war and promoting reconciliation in her country.
Tawakkol Karman, leader of the Arab Spring (Yemen): Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. As a journalist and activist, he defended human rights, democracy, and freedom of expression in his country.
Denis Mukwege, gynecologist (Democratic Republic of Congo): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018 for providing medical care and support to women victims of sexual violence in times of war and armed conflict.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha, president and co-founder of Nadia’s Initiative (Iraq): Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018 for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.
Giorgio Parisi, vice president of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy): Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021 for the discovery of the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems, from the atomic to the planetary scale.
Maria Angelita Ressa, president of Rappler Inc. (Philippines): Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.
International Peace Bureau (IPB): Organization Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for liaising between the peace societies of various countries and helping them organize world meetings of the international peace movement. Represented by Philip James Jennings, president.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC): Organization Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1947 for its pioneering work in the international peace movement and compassionate effort to alleviate human suffering, thereby promoting brotherhood among nations. Represented by Hector Manuel Cortez, deputy secretary general.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the organization in 1954 and 1981 for its commitment to heal the wounds of war by providing aid and protection to refugees from all over the world and for the promotion of the fundamental rights of refugees. Represented by Filippo Grandi, high commissioner.
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF): Organization Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1965 for its commitment to strengthening solidarity between nations and narrowing the gap between rich and poor states. The organization is dedicated to promoting and advocating for the rights of children, working to improve their health, education, and well-being around the world. Represented by Bo Viktor Nylund, special representative.
International Labour Organization (ILO): Nobel Peace Prize Organization in 1969 for having created international legislation that ensures certain standards for working conditions in each country. Represented by Gianni Rosas, ILO office director for Italy and San Marino.
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW): 1985 Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization to disseminate authoritative information and create awareness of the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear war. Represented by Kati Riitta Maria Juva, co-president, and Onazi David, co-chair.
Peace Operations, United Nations Peacekeeping Forces: Nobel Peace Prize Organization in 1988. Its mission is to prevent armed clashes and create the conditions for negotiations between countries in conflict. Represented by Aroldo Lazaro Saenz.
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs: Organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for its efforts to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in international politics and, in the long term, for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Represented by Paolo Cotta Ramusino, general secretary.
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL): Organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its work in banning and clearing landmines. Represented by Tun Channareth, ICBL world ambassador, and Denise Coghlan, RSM, member of the board of directors.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for its efforts to prevent the use of nuclear energy for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used as safely as possible. Represented by Jacek Andrzej Bylica, IAEA chief of staff.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its efforts to build and disseminate greater knowledge of man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures necessary to counter them. Represented by Hoesung Lee, president.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): Organization Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2013 for efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. Represented by Odette Melon, vice general manager.
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN): Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and its pioneering efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons. Represented by Daniel Högsta, interim executive director.
Center for Civil Liberties: Nobel Peace Prize Organization in 2022. It has been promoting the right of expression and fundamental rights of citizens for many years. It worked hard to document war crimes, violence, and abuses of power. With its work, it demonstrates the importance of civil society for peace and democracy. Represented by Oleksandra Matvijchuk.
United Nations: Nobel Peace Prize Organization in 2001 for its work for a more inclusive and peaceful world. Represented by Miguel Angel Moratinos, undersecretary-general of the United Nations, who contributed to the creation and launch of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in 2005 and since 2019 has held the position of high representative of the UNAOC.
Oley Back Road, representing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2011 for her nonviolent fight for women’s safety and their right to full participation in peacebuilding.
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Finally, some common sense out of the Vatican. It is indeed time for a cease-fire and for peace.
Ukraine will undoubtedly have to give up the Donbass and Crimea, but that is the best and most organic solution in these circumstances. The peoples of those regions are already spiritually alienated from the Kiev regime–and rightly so.
May they now attain political/geographical independence from Ukraine and therefore from Ukraine’s overlords in the US.
Jews remember the Holocaust. Ukraine remembers the Holodomor. Zelensky, Ukraine’s Jewish president, remembers both. No sane and decent person would want to be subject to the perpetrators of ether horror. Stalin’s forced mass starvation that killed seven million Ukrainians was followed up by Russian colonization. Putin, who glorifies Stalin, now pretends that these colonists were always there and that he must conquer the rest of Ukraine to protect them. Pope Francis has been calling for cease fires and negotiations since the war began. I remember an interview with him where he was asked why he did not speak more forcefully against Putin. The pope replied that everyone knows who started this war but he wanted to let the Russians save face if they stopped it.
The holodomor was carried out by Stalin’s Jewish henchman Lazar Kaganovich. Many Russian Jews favored the Holodomor–seeing in it revenge against the goyim of Ukraine. Stalin was a philo-semite throughout the bulk of his career. His Russia even had laws punishing anti-semitism with death. The rape of Germany was encouraged by Jewish propagandist Ilya Ehrenburg.
Putin has not glorified Stalin–but, yes, he does honor the Russian army because it defended Russia, was essential to defeating Nazism, and liberated the eastern camps.
Putin is liberating Eastern and Southern Ukraine from malevolent thugs masquerading as Ukrainian patriots.
Sure. All of Russia’s numerous crimes against humanity are singularly traceable to Jews, none of it to atheistic “Christians”.
Your use of “overlords” suuggests you are not disinterested but clearly pro-Russian.
Nothing you said was remotely true. It seems to indicate you have simply swallowed the Russian propaganda line.
it SHOULD be a flag of surrender…Ukraine is outnumbered and should know when to quit.
Ukraine’s Holodomor was indeed perpetrated by a paranoid Stalin dealing with starvation and growing rebellion throughout the Soviet Union due to collectivization and consequent failure of Russia’s grain crops. Fear of losing Ukraine the politburo decided on extermination of the Ukrainian people [the Irish potato famine exacerbated by British arrogance and greed is a milder comparison]. When Nazi Germany invaded the USSR 1942 many Ukrainians turned to Germany, Hitler stupidly still considered them subhumans. Nevertheless many Ukrainians fought alongside the Germans. The wounds are so deep that it would take a miracle for reconciliation, Putin’s decision to invade and this current war makes that virtually impossible.
On the other hand Zelenskiy is a corrupt dictator. US funds have poured into Ukraine with little if any accountability. War in Ukraine and the continued support of a Ukrainian victory, whatever that is supposed to be, seems beyond any realistic assessment. Only continued suffering and enormous casualties. Negotiation and compromise are the apparent solution. On this I support Pope Francis. Chris Albrecht’s assessment for a negotiated settlement is probably the right one.
Justice defines a Christian perspective to war. Analyzing the interests of a beleaguered Ukraine, a concerned West, Russia, a settlement granting Ukraine universal sovereignty satisfies Western interests, achieves Ukraine independence, its freedom of association with the West, grants Russia its strategic interests in Crimea and the Donbas, limits its expansionist capacity.
Russia invaded Ukraine and has killed a huge number of innocent people including children and has also kidnapped innumerable children and has taken them to Russia for enslavement and brainwashing. And you and the Pope say, hey, just negotiate and compromise.
Unfortunately you both have a lot of Putin-appeasing colleagues in the Republican Party, which is why I have abandoned it.
It is true that the Catholic Church has been persecuted by Russia even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Priests and sisters arrested, many murdered. Similarly according to Catholic sources during the Ukraine war under Russian occupation. My comments are directed at a possible solution to the conflict, not appeasement. Limiting Russia to the Donbas and Crimea, and the withdrawal from all other territory is a reasonable compromise.
This is one of the hairy chestnut from the left. Do YOU have sons you want to sacrifice in a foreign war? Many of us with sons will opt out of that one. Republicans are NOT Putin appeasers, nor is Trump a Putin lover, which is yet another DEM slander accepted by credulous followers of the left. Republicans ARE however, concerned about ACCOUNTABILITY for where our aid money is being spent. WE are concerned that OUR soldiers not be killed in a war which at this moment in time should more rightfully be the responsibility of Europe. Maybe if western NATO countries spent fewer dollars on social freebies for it’s citizens and MORE on their military, they would be able to make their NATO payments and protect themselves instead of dragging us into their own continental altercations.What Republicans dont want is yet another endless war conducted on a timid social services basis. Thats good for our enemies and ALWAYS bad for us.
For example, we are now going to build a port for GAZA???? REALLY??? Brilliant!! (sarcasm).Suppose we actually return to the past war model and have a war where we pound our enemies into the ground?? Instead of slapping them with kid gloves, instead of rebuilding their infrastructure, which would never had been destroyed in the first place had they behaved like actual human beings. While I am at it, I observe some of our OWN infrastructure could afford to be rebuilt with that money, instead of funding wars which should be fought by others—the principals involved. “Republicans, they dont want to fight other people’s wars!!!” Whew!! That quite an accusation!! NOT.
LJ, you’re among the few who speak common sense.
I say we should return to a country based on our Constitution. Our Constitution states that only Congress can declare war. To fund a conflict anywhere in the world is to participate in an undeclared war. This madness needs to stop. Korea was a “police action” and not a war declared by our Congress. Viet Nam which killed 50,000 soldiers was not a war declared by Congress. If we as Americans believe an armed war is in our national interest, then let a president petition Congress to declare war. The madness needs to stop. If anyone here has not noticed, we now have a government that operates almost wholly by fiat and not accoding to our Constitution. That’s not a democracy; that’s anarchy and totalitarianism.
I’m amazed you can say this with a straight face while Putin’s armies tried to assassinate Archbishop Shevchuk, kidnap Catholic priests, burn and confiscate Catholic churches, rape Catholic women, and place Catholic children in reeducation centers to beat their language, culture and faith out of them. The Church was always free to operate in Zelenskyy’s Ukraine; it is practically an underground institution in Putin’s Russia.
Correction, Germany invaded the Soviet Union June of 1941.
Could anyone imagine Christ weighing in on issues pertaining to the Roman empire, or Herod’s administrative acts as an agent of the Romans, or what the governor of Judea was up to? Yet the Vicar of Christ seems to think that he’s just another Caesar. I think not. He should stick to the salvation of souls and the Faithful conforming their wills to God will.
Popes have intervened in the affairs of nations and empires throughout the church’s history. There are papal nuncios around the world. Saint Pius X tried to head off world war I and his successor Benedict XV tried to arrange peace talks. Saint John Paul II made things hot for the Soviet Union. Corruption? Zalenski lives in bunkers, Putin stays in palaces. Billion dollar yachts are for Russian oligarchs. Trying to expose Putin’s vast wealth has gotten a lot of people murdered. The overwhelming priority on spending for Ukraine right now is on artillery ammunition which is either bought from third parties or diverted from our own scanty production.
I am saying that Popes ought to stay out of politics. That the bailiwick of Catholic laymen. They can pontificate about Christian virtuous living but the specifics ought to be left to the laity. This Pope can hardly get his theology right but geopolitics is certainly not his area of expertise.
Actually, St. Pope John Paul II didn’t “make things [literally] hot for the Soviet Union.” Instead, he counseled Poland on a different path, which in the precise circumstances (!) of the 1980s, enabled the dismantling of the Soviet Union with almost zero shots being fired (I think limited mostly to Estonia and maybe a dozen fatalities).
From the back bleachers, four points to ponder:
FIRST, said John Paul II:
“Instead, it [the world after the geographic concessions at Yalta] has been overcome by the non-violent commitment of people [Polish Solidarity] who, while always refusing to yield to the force of power, succeeded time after time in finding effective ways of bearing witness to the truth. This disarmed the adversary, since violence always needs to justify itself through deceit, and to appear, however falsely, to be defending a right or responding to a threat posed by others” (Centesimus Annus, CA, 1991, n. 23).
Are the “circumstances” today in Ukraine anywhere near equivalent to Poland and the world in the 1980s? Or, instead, more like the Sudetenland in 1938: Chamberlain’s “peace in our time” at Munich? Or, something else?
SECOND, about the Holy See engaging in temporal matters beyond its competence or direct commission and responsibility:
Yes, “[t]he Church has no models to present, models that are real and truly effective can only arise within the framework [circumstances] of different historical situations, through the efforts of all those who responsibly confront concrete problems in all their social, economic, political and cultural aspects, as these interact with one another.” (CA n. 43, citing Gaudium et Spes n. 36). And, yet, is moral witness adavailability doomed to be gagged in the back room?
THIRD, for the United States, is the precarious choice whether we have the chops to resist, both at the same time, Russian expansionism in Europe and Chinese expansionism in the Pacific? Lessons from recent European history might teach us something about a two-front war.
FOURTH, and then there’s the question whether mutually respected mediators, if there are any, still include a Vatican which signed “not the best possible deal [!]” for the Church itself in China, and which by studied ambiguity seems to many to have surrendered its grip on moral clarity.
Editorially harmonizing of “polarities” doesn’t really get at the presence of real evil in the world.
Concerning the expression “putting the heat on the Soviets” was meant to mean the communist leaders were in political hot water so I apologize for the confusion. Still the reference was to the political involvement of Saint John Paul II which in no way suggests any violent methods. There was plenty of potential for violence on the communist side both in Poland and the USSR. I will discuss Peter D Beaulieu’s list of possible historical comparisons tomorrow . He as usual is very through but still misses several very relevant periods and influences that relate very much to today. God bless.
Unfortunately, due to history beyond his control, the Pope wears two hats-head of State and head of Church and he must juggle both at same time! 😰James Connor
I hardly consider the Vatican as a State and the Pope as a Head of State – no more than Christ would be the Head of any State. When the leader of our Church insinuates himself into politics, it usually means that we have serious mission drift going on. I know one thing for certain: I am not a citizen of the Vatican and the Pope is not my temporal leader. The Pope is Christ’s Vicar and Christ was not, is not nor ever will be the head of any State.
More careless language from PF. I am under the impression that “white flag” is universally interpreted as surrender.
Vatican “damage control department” on call again.
It’s embarrassing/infuriating.
Cleo, you are under the wrong impression. The white flag signals a parley for various purposes. I could cite many examples from many conflicts. For example, in both world wars brief truces were arranged to tend each others wounded and evacuate them. This was possible if the opponent was sane and minimally civilized but otherwise no. With Germans this was possible if the foe were ordinary line units but definitely not so with SS fanatics.
It appears that his expertise is deficient not only in matters of meteorology but in international relations as well. Who can forget his embrace of Communist China?
Less interviews.
JJR – Oh. Thanks for the correction.
Obama did nothing when Russia invaded the Krim. Biden offered Zelenski asylum but he stayed in Kiev to fight for his nation’s freedom. It’s a miracle that he is still alive.
Corrupt means nothing anymore in politics. If Russia wins Ukraine, Putin will invade more European nations and we have Eastern European countries under Russian dictatorship again or war against Europe including Nato members or WWIII. Putin needs to be defeated now. Zelenski is a freedom fighter against communist Russia and the freedom of the world. May God bless Ukraine and President Zelenski.
Russia is not a communist nation. Russia believes in private property and is friendly to Christianity. Their military even has a Cathedral in honor of the Resurrected Christ.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=russia%27s+military+cathedral&mid=25F7952CF66DECF7820C25F7952CF66DECF7820C&FORM=VIRE
By contrast, Zelensky represents the trashy Judeo-Western culture of globo-homo (in all senses of that word), transgenderism (see for instance, the Ukie army “spokesperson”), pornography, sexual “freedom”, hedonism, atheism/agnosticism, child trafficking, wokeism, liberal “democracy”, usury, graft, and all manner of corruption–and (lousy) Starbucks coffee.
When the war is over, this clown will no doubt flee to one of his villas and live the high life.
I wish we did not have THAT cathedral. Speaking as an iconographer, it is truly dreadful – I mean the concept and its execution.
It is the war or a natural evil (Putin etc.) and unnatural evil (Biden etc). I give those names as mere representations of different kinds of evil. The first does not destroy the primary building blocks of humanity: the notions of man and woman as such. The second seeks to destroy those blocks. Dugin, an ideologist of Putin, ecstatically speaks of “the fairy nuclear Apocalypse” as “an ultimate purification” while gender ideologists work on creating bloodless chaos.
Hence, we have two possibilities, or an ancient chaos of a total straightforward destruction and the new, more sophisticated way of destruction, where there is nothing certain, even “gender”.
Personally, I prefer a natural evil to an in natural evil but both are Antichrist so we (Christians) cannot join either.
Even if one believes in (which I emphatically do not) the justice of Ukraine’s cause, Catholic ethical doctrine does not believe in fighting to the last man (or, nowadays, non-binary entity?). At a certain point, it is clear that one side has the upper hand and that a nation must ask for peace terms, for the sake of their own citizenry.
Russia is winning. They captured Bakhmut, crushed the Ukie counteroffensive, and now they have captured Avdiivka. They have neutralized every western supplied “game-changer”–from HIMARS to the Abrams tank.
Yes, they take their time in war as they do in chess. But they are not interested in the propaganda war–only in the facts on the ground and the eventual result, which will come very soon when the reserve army of 300, 000 is unleashed!
That is what a tough, persistent, martial nation does.
Drink the bitter waters of defeat, O ye forces of Antichrist!
“against communist Russia”
This is funny.
if you would have lived in the Eastern nations of Europe under the Russion oppression for 40 years and East Germany behind the wall under Putin the top agent of the KGB communist rule you would not think it is funny at all. A dangerous thing that young people do not know history.
I was born in the USSR )).
You give Putin too much significance (at that time in Germany).
Speaking of history, I found it funny that you call the current Russia “communist” while the USSR fell apart in 1991.
Putin wants to restore the evil power of the USSR. He has anyone in his way who is opposing him killed. We have the testimony of those who escaped in tunnels under the wall that they built. I was born in Germany.
The Pontiff Francis, who has committed himself to thwarting justice when his friends are exposed as sex abusers (such as “Rev.” Julio Grassi from his earlier days in Argentina, and “Rev.” Rupnik, to bring us up to date), has publicly appealed for “a just and lasting peace.”
That is, he appeals to tyrants for what he refuses to the victims of his friends.
For the sake of insurance, he ought not be standing outside under cloud-cover, lest lightning strike.
As King of a tiny utopia, snuggled inside the EU and NATO, complete with a clown army and countless treasures, take my advice…
Long live dialogue. Human beings are privileged to be journeying through life in an era of dialogue and more dialogue.